Overall technological progress is one of the biggest driving forces behind various advancements in different industries. This one factor changed a variety of pre-existing processes and methodologies over the last two decades, at the very least. An excellent example of one such change is the widespread adoption of CAD software by the entire AEC industry, changing most of the legacy processes in this particular area. 

The process of manipulating models and objects became that much easier with the introduction of architectural software – although not all of the architectural solutions are built specifically for modeling and plan creation. This particular term covers a variety of different software types that are involved in the construction project realization in one way or another – BIM software, CAD software, and plenty of other examples.

The market of architectural software has plenty of questionable topics, from the confusion between the terms “BIM” and “CAD” to the fact that a high level of competition makes it difficult to choose one single software platform to use. Speaking of which, the constant confusion between CAD and BIM is not that big of a problem and could be solved with relative ease – that is exactly what we are going to do next.

CAD stands for Computer-Aided Design – generation and modification of project design data in either two or three dimensions. The overwhelming majority of industry experts use the term “CAD” to describe different forms of specialized design software – software that is the vital part of this process in the first place. The term CAD dates back to the mid-1960s, making it a far older term than BIM. The biggest goal of any CAD software is to offer a variety of different tools and features for project visualization, and most CAD solutions offer a far bigger feature set in terms of modeling than any BIM solution.

BIM can be described as Building Information Modeling (Building Information Model, Building Information Management), it is a highly sophisticated process that uses information-rich project models to improve cooperation and boost the efficiency of every single project realization phase from start to finish. The biggest point of interest for BIM is a BIM model – an information-rich project model that includes both the visual representation of the future structure and plenty of different information about the said structure. It can be an HVAC plan, a plumbing model, an electric model, and plenty of other examples being merged into a single model that is available to everyone in order to avoid conflicts and reworks down the line.

Unlike most CAD software, it is not uncommon for a BIM solution to have either limited or completely zero capabilities in terms of model modification. This is also not the only difference between CAD and BIM – they also are fundamentally different in the way they work with project models.

Any CAD solution usually deals with different design elements, down to something as simple as a shape or even a single line. A BIM solution, on the other hand (especially the ones that do not have any modeling capabilities included), works with “objects” – ready-made parts of the future structure that come with plenty of parameters, be it weight, shape, width, length, material, and so on. It can be a window, a wall, a door, a pipe, etc.

Most of BIM’s effectiveness comes from the fact that information-rich project models make it a lot easier and faster to perform various calculations, be it risk assessment, resource spending calculation, or even something as simple as clash detection – a conflict between different model elements that can be fixed at the design phase instead of fixing it on-site during the construction process, causing delays and budget overruns.

While the issue of confusion between CAD and BIM can be solved with relative ease, the problem of picking a specific solution from a large and competitive market is far more difficult in comparison. For example, the amount of information available for every single solution can be quite overwhelming to a single user, especially when it is spread out across several different web pages or resources.

As such, our solution to the problem is to compare specific apps to one another with as much detail as possible, focusing on a narrow selection of solutions in the first place. For example, we can compare solutions such as ArchiCAD, Revit, and Revizto, since all three of them belong to a different category within the same group of “architectural solutions”.

ArchiCAD can technically be considered a BIM solution, although its BIM capabilities are rather limited – it is a design/modeling solution first and foremost.

Revit is a sophisticated BIM solution from the technological giant Autodesk, it is one of the most well-known BIM offerings on the market with plenty of features and a high price.

Revizto is a versatile issue-tracking and clash detection solution with BIM capabilities that can offer quite a few unusual features, including VR walkthroughs, an excellent issue-detection model, and plenty of collaboration-oriented capabilities.

More information about this topic, including details of every single solution mentioned, can be found in an article about ArchiCAD vs Revit vs Revizto.