Revit and AutoCAD are large software packages. Make sure you have several GB of hard-drive space available before you attempt these installations. Below is a description of the process for Revit, but you would use the same approach for AutoCAD (Windows) as well. While Revit and AutoCAD are both available as Windows software, only AutoCAD is equally available on the Mac.

For Revit, make sure you install the same version that we have in the labs if you intend to move files between your computer and the lab. Revit does not allow to save as older version files.

Installation (Windows)

  1. Go to autodesk.com/education and click on “Get Products”. This brings you to the list of software that is available to you.
  2. Sign in if you have an Autodesk account. If you don’t you will be prompted to make one. Use your @umass.edu email for that so that you can take advantage of educational versions.
  3. Once you are signed in, click on the appropriate “Get Started” or “Get Product” link.
  4. You should see a selection option as shown below. Pick the appropriate annual version and language first.
  5. You have two installation options now:
    1. “Install”: This will launch the web installer that should automatically download and install the software. Keep in mind that you are downloading huge files (several GB of data). It is best to connect your computer to a wired internet connection or to make sure that you have fast and reliable WiFi before you choose this option.
    2. “Download”: This lets you completely download the installation files before you start the installation. Use this option if the “Install” approach fails. A good practice is to go to a fast library computer and download the installation files to a USB drive. Then insert the USB drive into your computer and install from there.
  6. Once you start the installation process, you should get a screen that looks similar to this:
  7. You can install everything that ships with Revit if you have enough space on your computer (leave everything checked). But if you want to conserve HD space, consider un-checking all or some of the optional items (you will see the rquired space change):
    1. FormIt plugin
    2. Enhanced content libraries (always install the base library, though)
    3. Enhanced material libraries (unless you plan on doing much rendering in Revit
  8. Now just let the installation complete.
  9. As a final step, clean up (delete) all of the installer files (they are many GB). You can find them in your “Downloads” folder and under “C:/Autodesk”.

Testing Your Installation

  1. Start Revit and see that it does not show any errors. Some dialogs that may come up are:
    1. Data collection – You can just confirm this.
    2. Add-Ins – Revit asks you whether you want to load this once or always. Typically “always” is the best option if you know the add-in.
  2. On the startup screen (shown below), click on “New (Models)…” to create a new project. On the following dialog, click the dropdown and make sure you can see several templates. Then click on “Browse…” and see that it opens to the “English-Imperial” folder that should contain several more templates (RTE files). If everything looks roughly like shown below, then your templates are correctly installed.
  3. Now start a new project with any of the template files.
  4. When the project is open and Revit is fully loaded, go to the “Insert” tab and click on “Load Family”. When a dialog opens, make sure you can see several folders in the “English-Imperial” folder. Most of them should have Revit RFA files in them. At the least, look for the “Titleblocks” folder and see that the common sheets are in there (A, B, C,…). If everything looks like shown below, then your standard family libraries are correctly installed.
  5. If any of the templates or family libraries are missing, then you can re-install them using the files on Autodesk’s page (e.g. here).