Big news this week – Autodesk Revit LT 2013 and the AutoCAD Revit LT Suite 2013 are now available for purchase on the Autodesk eStore in both North America and Europe. They’re currently English-only, but I understand a German-language version will be available soon. I had a couple requests for an expanded post on the capabilities of Revit LT and its comparison to Revit, so it seems like a good time to do that—considering you’re now able to actually go out and buy it. :-) The first places I always go to for a new product like this is are the features list and the comparison matrix. Let’s start with some highlights from Revit LT: All the advantages of a single, coordinated model. Imagine working with beams, walls, and doors that know what they are, and aren’t just lines on a screen. Change an element in one view, and all views that show that element will also automatically updates. It’s like magic. Visualize in 3D, then document in 2D. The world is 3D, even though we often represent it in 2D. Get the best of both worlds here, when you’re able to see exactly how things fit together in three dimensions, then automatically generate the necessary 2D views. Automatic Schedule Generation. With Revit LT, your schedule contents are driven by the elements in your model, helping reduce the amount of time you have to spend to make sure that keynotes and references are kept up to date. Photorealistic Cloud Rendering. If you add Subscription to your Revit LT purchase, you’ll get access to Autodesk 360 Rendering that you can use to produce compelling visual images of your designs. Apply materials and add lighting elements (sun or artificial) to see what your projects will look like before they’re complete—and in a fraction of the time it would take to render the same image on a single desktop machine. And here are some Revit-only features: Simultaneous editing of models (but you can link models in Revit LT) In-product photorealistic & ray trace rendering Conceptual massing & in-place modeling Interference checks & copy/monitor Point cloud import Energy analysis API access Network licensing Revit LT is designed for those of you out there who are thinking about the move to BIM, but maybe aren’t ready for or don’t need some of the items on that second list. If you’re not sure whether you’re ready or not, that’s what the trial is for! Free 30-day trial.

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