BricsCAD BIM Examples

Every once in a while I will do a set of house or building plans , and up until now I have been using old fashioned 2D BricsCAD to draw the building - it works, but there are pitfalls at every step, making sure things match, between plans, and then if something changes, look out, and then if we need to pull quantities off of the drawings for cost estimation we get into another nightmare.  

I am considering switching to the BIM tools, but I don't know how they measure up when it comes to creating drawings; sure we can create a pretty model of a modern looking building (see the tutorials on the Bricsys TV website) but a model gets you nowhere with a builder.  I am wondering if some other users, whom are using the BIM tools, could post a couple of screenshots of drawings created with the BIM tools? I would just like to get an idea of how things look in the final output as I am still learning the tools and haven't gotten that far with them yet.  When it comes to building a North American style house with the BIM tools, has anybody created something that they could share a few screenshots of?

Comments

  •  Hi Scott,

    I have been using BricsCAD for a while and for the renovations of my own house that I am doing myself I started working in 3D. I already had 2d plans because I have lived there 10years so concentrated on areas that I was working on. I drew each and every timber member, each window etc. which is pretty onerous - but this was my own house and I was learning 3D. As a logical next step I learnt to use the sectioning tools to make my 3d drawing create 2d output for professional drawings. I then got my office (civil engineering) to go over to creating 3d models that would be sectioned into 2d drawings and have become confident that the 2d output is very usable professionally. 

    Now more recently the need to use 3d more effectively to develop designs conventionally from outline concept with client, then more detailed council development approval drawings, then finally construction drawings as led to exploring BIM.

    We are using BIM to create whole elements (walls, roofs etc.) with the main objective at THIS stage being:

    - to better control the section output in 2d (you create compositions that affect wall thickness, shading etc.);
    - Speed (working with whole elements is much faster than individual lines; and
    - Rendering (we are engineers, but still need to present things to clients!). We use Artisan, which is available on the Bricsys website.

    I know that BIM is much more than this, however we are working toward this and honing 3d modelling skills etc in the meantime.

    I think that when getting to construction or fabrication stage will result in much of the BIM being discarded or be mixed in with individual timber/steel elements (in, say, a house). 

    I attach some pdfs and jpgs of our kitchen - you can see the individual members vs the BIM. The 2d drawings are cut from the same 3d model that was rendered. I start broad, and then slowly add the detail (my wife needs to see the handles and colours to make choices). The walls are BIM and the cupboards are mostly just solids.

    The example is only a kitchen but does show the detail that comes out of a 3D model. I have only added the text to Paperspace and have not manipulated the section at all in this example. I can send some more stuff on houses if no one else contributes.

    The beauty of 3D Model (and BIM is a logical next step) is that it opens up so much more to your design than a simple 2d drawing! Look at the renders I attached - I put the actual spot lights in ceiling and bay window and the 3 pendant lights. I also put lights inside the glass fronted cabinets. My wife is using the model to experiment with colour. With a bit of practise you soon become VERY fast in 3d and I would honestly NEVER go back. With all that you still get to cut the professional 2d sections that you need to build the job.

    Alan

    AML-16BAR-K001 REV B KITCHEN SECTIONS.pdfAML-16BAR-K002 REV B KITCHEN SECTIONS.pdf

    imagereal_time_KITCHEN46(2).jpg

    AML-16BAR-K003 REV B KITCHEN PLAN.pdf

    imagereal_time_KITCHEN48.jpg
  •  Hi again Scott,

    See attached a simple model created to explore the feasibility of installing a goods hoist in an existing building. The building is all pre-cast concrete. Part of the structure has been drawn using BIM elements and the rest is just 3d elements but the result provides some control over how the sections come out. The sections shown are raw (unedited) except for the dimensions. This is at concept stage but the model will be used to create the 2d sections and elevations for Council Approval and then for detailed civil/structural design, so nothing is wasted. I created a 3d PDF to send to the client so he can view the 3d model in Adobe Reader (it is freely available). When I send it for tender I could also give the contractor the 3d CAD file or, if he is less sophisticated he can use the 3d PDF (and the 2d design drawings).

    So, my recommendation is to start using BIM on a job that is not too complex or urgent; but leap in! Happy to assist.

    Alan

    3D Rev D.pdf3D MODEL.dwg

  •  Come on people, this is a relevant question Scott has asked; a drawing is an engineer/draftsman's end product. I am interested to see what others are doing with BricsCAD BIM and 3D to get a finished product.
  •  Come on people, this is a relevant question Scott has asked; a drawing is an engineer/draftsman's end product. I am interested to see what others are doing with BricsCAD BIM and 3D to get a finished product.

    Hi Alan, (et-al) 

    I posted something similar (slightly tenuous) under another title, I didn't get any response, so I thought I would post this one again, as I’ve still not been able to find a movie tutorial on the below. Structured movie tutorials demonstrate the ability of software quite instantly & may even be a key point in purchasing a product without too much hesitation. Having said that, I also believe an overview movie tutorial, just touching on the key points is equally important. Consideration of this by BRICSCAD HQ would be worth while I'm sure. Kudos on this goes to CHIEF ARCHITECT cad website, a good example of how to sell your product. (I'm not a user by the way)

    Ps. nice plans Alan.

    -------------------------------------------------------------

    I'd like to see a movie on how BRICSYS-CAD-BIM extracts the 2D plans from the 3D model & deals with all the levels of plan presentation, i.e. Hatching, Line weights, Fills, Text & Symbols. This seems to be the missing punchline to their limited video tutorials on the BRICSYS WEBSITE. I use a variety of Architectural CAD software tools, DataCAD for 2D in conjunction with SketchUp, as never really got on with DC 3D. Quite a few 3D Architectural CAD/BIM software products have adopted SU Layout feature for your 2D model extracted plans for presentation from the 3D model. Is this similar in BCB..? a movie tutorial on this one..!

    My ultimate goal though is to have one software tool that I'm comfortable with. I've not seen BRICSYS-CAD-BIM before, but I do like the 3D approach whereby you can draw in the 3D environment. It initially looks like SU & BCB have been merged together as one. My endeavours to find a 'One-for-all' has led me to SPIRIT (a turbo charged version of DataCAD - long story) which I purchased, but no real flight time yet for real projects. Then recently a few others, looking only, (including BCB to date) SU/PLUS-SPEC, VISUAL-ARQ, FORM-Z, ELITE-CAD & ACCA software - EDIFICIUS. The latter is too good to be true when you look at the purchase cost.

    I've created a YOU-TUBE Channel where all the above are located in terms of video tutorials for anyone to explore. Please see link below:-

      https://www.youtube.com/user/MrCADCHANNEL

    There are more extensive ones on SPIRIT, but I'm still uncertain which CAD Tool I should run with for a 'One-for-all' (been saying this for an age). However, drawing in a 3D environment is my current thinking which may drive my decision.

    Over & out.

    Clayton

  • Yes, I too am at just this stage, of getting 2D output from 3D model (and the great, unique thing with Brics is that there's no difference between a '3D model' and a '3D BIM model').
    I know that a lot of effort and re-working is going on to make this (and all the rest of BricsBIM) really mature and capable for forthcoming v17. So maybe that's why there's not so much info currently available on what is somewhat interim procedures and capabilities.
    Nevertheless, we do need to swop guidance on what we have now, for the time being.
  • Thank you all for the information, Alan, those are some great looking renderings and the drawings look pretty good - I think a cabinet shop would be quite happy with those.  I do have to agree, 3D is the way to go, after building a rock drill model in BricsCAD and comparing this to the old 2D way I often wonder how designers years ago managed to design and build these complex machines just using a T-square and some paper - today, by comparison we have it pretty easy.

    Tom, it sounds like there is a big improvement coming down the line later this year with V17, I am curious to know if this is going to alleviate some of the current stumbling blocks that I am running into.  It does make sense that there is little in the way of documentation on creating the drawings from the BIM model if this section of the software is being completely revised.
  • I was thinking about Tom's last comment and thought I would pose a query to the Bricsys team: 

    "If work on the software is in progress to redesign the BIM drawing generation system, what features are currently being added or what changes are being made to those that already exist?"

    I do realize that new features are something that are typically held back from the public until the release date to prevent a competing company from using those ideas in their software; I think a lot of users are currently looking at the BricsCAD BIM tools as a solution to drive their architectural designs, and insight here might help sway users, whom are uncertain, to the BricsCAD BIM system.  In my opinion, the public doesn't need to know everything at this stage, especially any "first in the industry" items, but the smaller details and features that have been implemented in other software packages would be a great selling point to get more users on board.


  • Hi Scott,
    I think several people tried to get idea of how to use BricsCAD BIM in production (how to create 2D documentation), but think that currently the BIM module is in kind of "Alpha" stage, so few people are using it in production. Most of the people talking on forums are experimenting. Bricsys did a big step with V16 with getting 2D drawings out of 3D model, but there are still lots of thing missing for it to be production-ready without lot of workarounds and experimenting on your user's side (which takes a lot of time). I think this is the reason there  hasn't been any official "create 2D construction documentation in BIM" yet, because it's not ready yet.

    @Alan - thanks for sharing your work and experience. The kitchen render looks really nice considering it's rendered in CAD software.

    Tomas
  • Hi,
    new tutorial about views/sections creation:
    https://www.bricsys.tv/m/?bim-sections-m254

    Tomas
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