I did some research the other day after being steered towards the Autodesk Labs website by John Zore, our new Autodesk rep.  The thing that we had been talking about was the idea of a Revit “Lite” for those that want to participate in the BIM process without having to learn the entire program.  Project Spark seems to be the beginnings of a Revit “Lite” software but I haven’t been able to see where it really differs from the current version of Revit.

The idea of a Revit Lite is interesting.  It could conceivably give subcontractors, manufacturers, and suppliers the ability to enter the BIM stream at a much different angle and possibly speed up the adoption of using Revit.  By providing a much smaller tool set focus  can be placed on the individual needs of the user.  For example, a furniture dealer who only needs to place components for furniture or furniture systems, would have an easier time learning and using Revit without the distractions of learning how to build stairs or manage worksets.

I like the direction that Autodesk is taking with Project Spark.  The concept of an easy to use, mass distributed BIM software starts to allow everyone to participate.  This should remove one of the final barriers for BIM adaption, that being the cost of learning and buying the software.

Here is link to the Project Spark website: http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/spark/