Revit LT

Autodesk has announced a new version of Revit that they are calling LT. It is the formal repackaging of the Autodesk Labs Project Spark. Users referred to it as a Revit Lite then and it seems Autodesk agreed with the branding.

When you visit the product site you will see it's being paired up (suite pricing) and compared with AutoCAD LT as well as the obvious comparisons with the full featured Revit. A number of posts and tweets have run down the list of things that it doesn't have. Chief among the features that are missing are worksets, design options, rendering (only through Autodesk 360), no export to IFC, conceptual massing, interference checking, and parts or assemblies. The intended customer is the small firm, small enough that no network licensing either is a detriment.

I worked for a firm years ago that this product could work for, a small office where each person did their own work for the principal. Sure, there were projects or design considerations that the missing features would prove frustrating but a single seat of full Revit would probably have covered it, collaboration with outside parties that is. I also worked for another guy once that it would fit perfectly but he'd never pay for it. Still using an ancient version of another brand and probably will until retirement. I have also provided support to small firms via my Revit Lifeline that LT could serve well. I can't help but wonder how they'll feel having paid for full Revit with a less expensive option now available?

It seems unlikely to me that Revit LT will truly serve any notion of BIM other than "lonely BIM". Then again it isn't uncommon to hear people working in the market LT is focused on saying something like, "BIM doesn't matter to what we do." The downside of that perspective is Revit LT may not either.

[Edit 9/6/2012: I received an email from Autodesk regarding Design Options. Revit LT is intended to include Design Options when it is released. It was not part of Project Spark so that information was carried over into the current press release and web site preparation.]