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[Wanted] Revit 2018

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Price
300
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No
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  1. New
  2. Excellent
So do you want to buy a new licence or just want to continue using the software?

If not for professional use its pretty easy to get a free educational account. You can create one here
You will only have to lie about your age. They dont ask what university you go to or when you graduate anymore either.
After registration you can download and install as shown in this tutrial

I believe you get a 3 year licence for all Autodesk software. However I've hound that this is per version of the software. So once you add, say Revit 2020 to your account, you can use it for 3 years. But then when you add Revit 2021 you get to use that for 3 years aswell. Essentially as long as you keep updating to the new version you will have a semi permanent licence.

The educational licence for Revit has almost no limitations when compared to paid licence. The only limitation for Revit I am aware of is that cloud services are unavailable under the educational licence.I know Autocad will put watermarks on your sheets when you export them under educational licence.
 
@drZoidberg I would not go down this route.

I personally know someone that used their software commercially, and they handed over the file for some major project.
Somehow BSA got hold of the file, found out it was for non-commercial use, which he clearly violated, and then set the lawyers on him.
I know, since I got the lawyer call, and they found out he worked on one of our projects and they needed to talk to him regarding.

Don't know exact details, but it does appear like Autodesk enforces.
(His work ended a long time ago and we switched designers, so never had contact with him again.)
 
@drZoidberg I would not go down this route.

I personally know someone that used their software commercially, and they handed over the file for some major project.
Somehow BSA got hold of the file, found out it was for non-commercial use, which he clearly violated, and then set the lawyers on him.
I know, since I got the lawyer call, and they found out he worked on one of our projects and they needed to talk to him regarding.

Don't know exact details, but it does appear like Autodesk enforces.
(His work ended a long time ago and we switched designers, so never had contact with him again.)

Totally agree with you. If you are a professional buy the software.
 
Totally agree with you. If you are a professional buy the software.

In principle, yes. But with this kind of software, some of the old arguments around digital licensing still holds. There aren't a lot of products on the market and really is controlled by a few companies. There isn't enough competition to drive prices.

For example:
You go to uni, you study to become a professional, you train on the education license and learn to use the tools. Now you enter the marketplace and the tools are not affordable. People using these tools can't go back to pencil drawings - you literally cannot compete without these tools, yet the cost of entry is very high. It's anti-competitive. I realise you could offer a few examples of similar issues, but the principle is valid.

I was hoping there could be alternate sources of licensing, but it seems the market is very closely controlled. There is no competition between companies offering these licenses.
 
I was hoping there could be alternate sources of licensing, but it seems the market is very closely controlled. There is no competition between companies offering these licenses.

It does seem like the "Software Rental" business model is the new norm.

I did also find this.
But at that price I think they are selling some dodgy product keys.

Good luck anyway.
 
Put on your peg leg and argh...

Simple truth is that there are reasonably priced cad packages around, they just won't be as convenient or feature full as top tier software. If you are using someone's kit to make money, pay for it.

When your business grows to the point that you can afford the bells and whistles pay for them.
 
In principle, yes. But with this kind of software, some of the old arguments around digital licensing still holds. There aren't a lot of products on the market and really is controlled by a few companies. There isn't enough competition to drive prices.

For example:
You go to uni, you study to become a professional, you train on the education license and learn to use the tools. Now you enter the marketplace and the tools are not affordable. People using these tools can't go back to pencil drawings - you literally cannot compete without these tools, yet the cost of entry is very high. It's anti-competitive. I realise you could offer a few examples of similar issues, but the principle is valid.

I was hoping there could be alternate sources of licensing, but it seems the market is very closely controlled. There is no competition between companies offering these licenses.

Agreed, regarding the lock-in. It's a vicious cycle.

Just be careful with using "personal" and "education" licenses to score a discount. It sometimes means that any content you produce with those tools can be licensed by the software company without notice/payment and in perpetuity. A situation that your clients would not like. Check the EULA when installing.
 
I've become accustomed to the software industry where there are various good tools to choose from (usually) using various licensing models. It's just a surprise looking into another model and seeing the old archaic models that them hardy harr harrrrs fought against all those years. I feel bad for people in those industries. There are plenty of CAD tools around sure, but if you aren't modeling you aren't competitive - that's a fact. So you actually cannot transition from casual to entrepreneur to a business owner, which is sad. That is so normal now in the software industry... you can scale up. Here you either go work for an already established business that can afford the license or you use inferior tools - and that is both sad for the entrepreneur and generally bad for innovation and progress. Sorry "the next Frank Lloyd Wright" - you couldn't afford it...
 
Sorry "the next Frank Lloyd Wright" - you couldn't afford it...

Pretty sure Frank Lloyd Wright made his designs using a pencil and paper. ;)

Yes, tools make it easier. I am an elec eng, and licensing costs has forced to stick to open source tools at the moment.
Luckily there are great PCD CAD and simulation software, all free.
 
For example:
You go to uni, you study to become a professional, you train on the education license and learn to use the tools. Now you enter the marketplace and the tools are not affordable. People using these tools can't go back to pencil drawings - you literally cannot compete without these tools, yet the cost of entry is very high. It's anti-competitive.
There’s a barrier to entry sure, but that’s not anti-competitive behaviour, you can increase your rate to cover the licensing cost.
If you wanna undercut the rest of the market by lowering your operating costs go ahead but you really can’t justify it.

Adobe is expensive but they’re the industry standard so everyone sucks it up and pays the price even though there are tons of other tools as an example.
 
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Be VERY careful of using a REVIT educational version specifically!
Revit WATERMARKS your file and there is no way of ever getting it recovered to a commercial version. (by yourself)

I know this from personal experience - I used to be a Revit instructor - many varsity students while working holiday jobs worked on their own educational versions of the software, once it was saved on an educational version it is watermarked permanently - you have to send the file in to Autodesk to get it rectified.
Big architecture firms had to explain to Autodesk why they let students work for them without providing them with software licences.

The watermarks are in the borders of all printouts - you can cut them off - which students normally do for varsity projects - but they always print
 
Pretty sure Frank Lloyd Wright made his designs using a pencil and paper. ;)

Exactly... what would happen if a pencil and paper were licensed yearly at R30,000?

I hear what everyone is saying... but it's not just that Revit is the better tool - it has become the standard.. and many universities specifically train on it, due to education license i presume. It just feels like a bit of a trap. And the point about pricing is not true. Not every community in South Africa can't pay the same for architectural services. You need to submit plans to council, but if you are living in Pofadder, the local architect can't charge the same as the studio in Sandton. And everyone needs plans - so whether you're building a massive skyscraper or a braai-kamer, you need to use the same tools. Architects can't swap out tools depending on their project, otherwise they would be limiting their own abilities. "Sorry, my pencil can only draw two-story buildings." Look, there's no doubt Revit are great. All i am saying is that there is too little competition in the market leading to a lack of licensing models. I would love to see a monthly license option or an option to purchase the software - like before 2014. The current model is very cash-grabby. Yearly, expensive license. We need flexibility.
 
@wmdvanzyl
I did my own plans for my alterations using Draftsight. (All versions used to be free, now only the MacOS and Linux versions are).

Got my brother in law, who is an architect to sign-off. Now that is the other issue. Not being allowed to do your own drawings, and being forced to go to an architect/draftsman in order to get your plans ready for council submission.
 
Have you seen what council submission lloked like 50 years ago comapred to now. It bonkers. Best any government can do is stay out of the way of it's citizens. Having said that, some things that end up being built are disasters... and somehow we need to protect the future owners of a property. Whether the local council is by any means capable of doing this is another issue alltogether.
 
Depending on what you are using Revit for you can maybe get away with the Revit lt version that is $55 per month.


I bought autocad lt 2017 before they moved to subscription model so got lucky with a perpetual license.
 
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