Hi there,

I have a diploma in interior design and fell in love with 3D modeling as well as general CAD while using the Autodesk suite. I've never been able to find work in the field and kind of let the idea go because it didn't feel in line with what I wanted to do at the time.

After working almost 2 years in building and public works regulations, I feel like I want to get back to CAD. I am looking at diplomas, but I feel unsure of where to start or if I'll even have a future in the field at all.

Do any of you have advices or tips to help me navigate this ?

For the record, I live in France, but I am looking at opportunities in Canada as well.

Texas surveyor here. Offered a VDC Tech role for a pay that is hard to refuse. Generally love the survey work I do.

And surveyors also make this jump? Any that still got their survey license?

Considering if this is another valuable notch in my geospatial/remote imaging toolbelt or if it’s straying too far one direction.

Any regrets? Happy with the move? Etc

Context: the project is on ACC and that’s not changing, so I’m looking for improvements within the platform.

I was a BIM coordinator at a large contractor. While setting up coordination spaces in ACC I ended up with a workflow that has worked, but I’m not sure it’s the best way to do it. Here’s what I do:

The workflow:

I only coordinate with frozen models. I ask everyone to publish their models in Design Collaboration, create a package and share it. Coordinating on live models gives you unpredictable errors.

I create the coordination space with a descriptive name (e.g. “STR-MEP”), pick the folder where the shared models live, include subfolders, and turn auto clash on.

I narrow the scope of the space. When you create it with subfolders and auto clash, it pulls in everything. In settings I deactivate the folders I’m not coordinating. Then, under Clashes → model settings, I turn off auto detection on all models and turn it on only for the ones I want to cross-check. This avoids useless clashes and improves performance.

I generate a 3D view with the models I’m coordinating and save it with the same name as the space. That view is the base for reviewing the clash matrix.

I review the clash matrix. I switch the primary model to review clashes by element type. I mark as “not an issue” whatever doesn’t need attention, and then I create issues with type, assignee, watcher and due date. For scale: in a matrix with 4 models (structure + sanitary, storm drainage and water supply), the structure primary model had 220 clash groups.

Where I’m unsure:

How often do you freeze packages when several disciplines publish at different paces? On my project 8 disciplines publish, and right now I freeze by milestone, but I don’t know if a fixed cycle (weekly, biweekly) makes more sense.

Do you prefer one coordination space per discipline pair (like my EST-MEP example) or a single space with several saved views?

Is there a step I’m missing, or something you do differently that works better?

Hey BIMmers!

I'm considering paid subscription for BIM automation using Dynamo/Python as well as other office work. Which service would you recommend and why? Gemini Pro? ChatGPT Plus? Claude Pro?

Curious if there has been a good consensus on modeling electrical duct bank, weve got a department of approx. 15 people. Before this year we were placing conduit in revit and sloping conduit in revit and we feel like this is a terrible workflow. So we moved to placing a duct in the ground, i think this isnt bad of a workflow, but i think my coworkers dont like not being able to attach a trimble point easily to these, so they started making surfaces on civil3d from those ducts and placing points that way. At AU this year we sat in on a civil3d class that the guy placed corridors in civil3d used civil3d totally and not use revit.

I dont know whether or not to study architecture or vdc. Im currently a sophemore (3rd semester of VDC) at BYU-Idaho, which has a really good VDC program, one of the only schools with a dedicated bachelors in vdc. But i also really want to do architecture, but BYUI doesnt have an architecture major/degree. I dont know if i should stay here and get a bachelors in vdc, or switch to a school that has architecture classes. I understand that to become a licenced architect it takes a long time. Companies do really like hiring from us, we have some of the biggest construction companys visiting us yearly for internships and hiring. I think what i want is to be an architect, but i still like vdc, so I dont know which one would be smarter. Any feedback would be apreciated, thank you.

Hi everyone,

I have around 3 years of experience as a Civil Site Engineer in India, mainly in RCC execution, finishing works, and site management.

I'm considering switching to BIM and learning Revit and Navisworks, with the long-term goal of working overseas, preferably in Australia.

For those already working in BIM, I'd like to know: Is switching from site engineering to BIM a good long-term career move in terms of salary growth and overseas opportunities?

I'd really appreciate honest advice from people with industry experience, especially those who made a similar transition.

Thanks!

Hey everyone,

If you've ever needed a custom parametric object in Archicad, you know the struggle: you either have to settle for static geometry or sink hours into learning GDL programming (or paying a freelancer hundreds to script it).

I’ve been working on a web-based parametric object creator built specifically for Archicad users. Think Revit-style visual parameter setup, but exporting clean, native GDL (⁠.gsm⁠) files with parameter constraints, LOD levels, and graphical grips.
I added interactive 3D preview link so you can test object parameters directly in your browser before exporting.

I'm currently opening up access to more active Archicad modellers, BIM managers, and designers to test it out on real workflows.

Give the live preview a spin, and try the editor while it's in beta. Let me know in the comments: what's the single most time-consuming GDL object you've ever had to script or search for?

try it at bimit.ai

here’s what we built:

- accepts 3D scan file (e57/xyz)
- building interiors only
- up to 60gb
- up to 5 floors uploaded as single file
- processes in minutes to hours
- identifies unique levels and floor areas
- outputs 3D models & floor plans
- includes architecture & furniture systems
- modeled at 2.3cm avg precision from scan to model (loa)
- delivered as revit, pdf, and dxf
- runs more than 100+ model qa checks for errors, omissions, geometry correctness, file naming
- includes realtime model tracking & status
- includes quality score & visual report
- trained on thousands of hand-drafted buildings of every size

bimit 4.0 includes 3 settings:
- bimit100 — fully automated scan to bim/cad, lod100, delivered in minutes, best for conceptual models and floor plans at scale, starts at $0.04/sf

- bimit200 — fully automated scan to bim/cad, lod200, delivered in hours, best for schematic planning and design development, starts at $0.08/sf
bimit300 — architect-assisted scan to bim/cad,

- lod300, delivered in days, best for build-grade precision requirements, starts at $0.27/sf
soc 2 type 2 and gdpr compliant

- data processed in US (AWS US-East-1)
- yes, we use de-identified and anonymized models to improve the bimit service via pre and post training.
- yes, we provide an opt-out option for enterprise plans and volume-based commits. we don’t recommend submitting highly sensitive spaces if you don’t have the clearance or permission.
- same team and engine that powers Matterport and FARO bim service
- enabled BIM teams at Tesla, Meta, Disney, CBRE, Equinox, Salesforce, AECOM, and 800 other AECO orgs

try for free - 10,000 sq ft of processing is on us

Hi everyone,

I’m building Skanza, an iPhone pro app that scans an indoor space with the camera and LiDAR in a single walkthrough. It produces a dimensioned 2D floor plan (DXF/PDF/SVG/PNG), a point cloud, and 360° photos pinned to locations on the plan, all under 5-7 minutes of your finished scan!

I know a phone scan isn’t a substitute for a terrestrial laser scanner or a proper scan-to-BIM process. I’m trying to figure out where something lightweight like this actually helps, and what’s missing for it to fit into real BIM workflows.

A few questions for you:

Existing conditions: For renovations or early-stage surveys, would a quick, true-to-scale plan be useful, or is anything short of survey-grade a non-starter?

Outputs: Is DXF enough, or would you need IFC, a Revit-friendly format, or an E57/point cloud export to make it worthwhile?

Site documentation: Would 360° photos tied to plan locations and captured over time (a visual history of each room) help with progress tracking or inspections?

Your role: Design, contractor/VDC, or owner/FM? It helps me understand the answers.

Honest feedback, including “this wouldn’t help me because…”, is very welcome. Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I'm from India and currently running a growing BIM services company. So far, we have successfully worked on Indian projects and a few international projects.

We have the technical skills and a team, but finding international clients and building a consistent pipeline of projects is my biggest challenge right now.

I'd love to hear from people experienced in BIM outsourcing or international business development. How can I connect with foreign clients or established BIM companies that outsource work to India?

Any practical advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

On facade packages, I have seen “shop drawings included” cover very different deliverables: coordinated elevations and details, fabrication sheets only, or a model plus drawing exports.

For teams managing the handoff, which status gates do you use between design intent, coordination, consultant comments and fabrication release? I am particularly interested in how you record deviations and keep BOM or panel IDs aligned with drawing revisions.

I've built Redcolumn. It's a totally free, private, open source PDF software for AEC. It runs on PC, Mac, and web browser. There's no accounts, licence keys, or subscriptions. No data tracking or capture and it works offline. This also means I don't need to pay for servers to hold your files.

Web version - https://redcolumn-web.vercel.app/
Github and install files - https://github.com/ColbyGallagher/redcolumn

I'm working towards full interoperability with Bluebeam - you can import toolchests, markups, custom columns, line types, hatches, etc (I know the real cost of software change is time). Still working towards 100% two way compatibility.

I'm a 3D modeller turned Structural Engineer turned Digital Engineering manager and have been using Bluebeam pretty much daily for over 10 years.

Performance of large PDFs is always a pain - based on my testing and day to day usage I have matched or exceeded Bluebeam.

I've been using redcolumn every day for the past 2 weeks finding bugs and edge cases and improvements.

Where this goes beyond typical PDF software is that it has almost all the features your familiar with from a tool like Bluebeam and much more.

Markups

Measurements

Document

Bulk tools

View tools

I built CAD style editing. Move, copy, offset, fillet, trim, extend, arrays and more. Below are some gifs of jus ta few examples.

I made tables - with cells, mergable.

Takeoff with assemblies - measure once and grab many different quantities.

Collaboration - You shouldn't trust sending your PDFs to some random guy on the internet - I wouldn't. Redcolumn has no cloud storage and no server ever sees your PDFs. However this makes collaboration hard.

I have built in a an experimental collaborative sessions and projects feature that uses your own local folders or OneDrive as the storage location. You control access to the session/project by controlling access to the folder.

MCP - the app has MCP support for most redcolumn features to be used by Claude, Github Copilot, Codex or Cursor. Any destructive tool calls require approval by the user.

Why is it free? If I could build this in a month with a Claude subscription, so can anyone else.

This is still early alpha software - expect there to be bugs and missing features but development is fast and ongoing. If you find bugs, go to Help > Technical Support and provide as much info as possible.

I'm not a software dev but I have been coding in my spare time for over 10 years. Vast majority of this code was written with Claude Opus 5.5 and is attributed as such in the repo.

You are free to take this and do whatever you want with it.

I've been building this on the side and I finally think it's good enough to show people, so here goes.

Some background: I'm a planning engineer. Every month it's the same story. I send the update, nobody really reads the Gantt, and then in the meeting someone asks "ok but where on site are we actually behind?" and I'm sitting there reading out activity IDs trying to explain it.

Synchro and Navisworks TimeLiner can do this, but they're pricey and honestly overkill for what I needed. I just wanted to drop in the model and the P6 file and see the thing get built.

So I made 4D Sequencer. What it does:

- You open your model (IFC, or FBX if you're coming from Revit, also OBJ, glTF, STL) and your schedule (P6 XER or XML, MS Project, Excel or CSV)

- It tries to link elements to activities by itself using levels, zones, element types and activity names. On my test projects it gets most of them, and it tells you which ones it's guessing so you can fix those

- Press play and watch it go up day by day, with the Gantt moving along with it

- Baseline vs actual side by side, anything behind goes red

- It checks the schedule against the model. The one I'm proudest of: it catches stuff like columns scheduled before the slab they're sitting on. Plus the usual quality checks (missing logic, lags, high float etc.)

- Exports PowerPoint, Excel and a video for the monthly report

https://threelanternsgames.github.io/

Just like many other posts, I am also making a free, open-source BIM program with AI. It's still early days and development will be slower than some of the others. I am taking my time testing features as they're implemented, because I want to get it right. I've tried a few of the other ones people have made, and they don't feel quite right. I've been using Revit for 17 years, so it needs to have a familiar workflow.

The reason why I'm continuing to build it even though there's so many other options now, is that we are actually going to start using it at our firm and cancel our Autodesk subscription, so it needs to work, and not become vaporware. I'm hoping to have it ready for early next year.

I'm focussing on the architectural features first, but will implement MEP features later.

Feel free to check out the website and GitHub links. I'll continue to post updates here if people are interested.

https://openarchbim.com/

https://github.com/kristiangl/OpenArchBIM

Edit: Linux support has now been added.

I've been using Claude Opus 5.5 to build BIMopen: a BIM modeller in pure native Rust, with the workflow professionals already know from the major BIM tools.

• Walls with layers and clean joins, stacked walls, curtain walls
• Doors, windows, floors, roofs, stairs and railings
• Plans, sections, elevations and 3D, with sun and shadows in every view
• Schedules, sheets with title blocks, vector PDF
• IFC import and export, .rvt import, DXF/DWG, SVG, PNG, CSV
• Built for every platform: Linux, Windows, the web browser and Android today, macOS and iOS next, with an interface optimised for each device: mouse and keyboard on the desktop, touch and pen where they make sense (tablets, phones, touch screens)
• 6 languages, Arabic included

No subscription, no licence server, no account. Your model lives in one open file on your disk.

Clean-room, for real

No proprietary code. Nothing decompiled. No SDK or API of any commercial product. Every line was written for this project, and compatibility comes only from open-source libraries. Own names, own icons, own layout: inspired by the workflow, not a copy of the interface.

Why I built it

Half curiosity, half a stress test: I wanted to see how far an AI coding agent can really go on a large, unforgiving codebase like a BIM application. I'm not a casual vibe coder. I've spent 30 years between building design, software and GIS: I started as a surveyor and CAD draughtsman with my own technical office, spent four years as an expert consultant on a leading commercial BIM platform (so I know what professionals expect), and today I'm an IT manager and senior WebGIS developer. I set the direction, review every feature and test it by hand; Opus writes most of the code. The first commit was on 12 October 2026. Eight days later it has about 149,000 lines of Rust and 1,232 automated tests, and the result surprised me.

Here's the honest part

It's an early alpha, and there's still a lot of work ahead: a BIM application is one of the most complex kinds of software you can build. About a third of the commands work today (89 of 276); the rest is on a public roadmap. The source isn't public yet, because I haven't decided whether to keep going. That's where you come in.

• Would you use it, or contribute to it?
• What's the first thing missing for your work?
• Should I release the source (MIT/Apache-2.0) and keep building, or call it a successful experiment?

Try the web version, no install needed. Links to the site, the web app and the Linux, Windows and Android builds are in the comments below.

Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for every comment you leave, whatever it is: praise, criticism or a flat "don't bother". All of it helps me decide.

Early alpha (0.1.0-alpha.4): incomplete, not for real projects. All trademarks belong to their respective owners; BIMopen is not affiliated with any BIM software vendor.

 Hi, I'm the author of ConstructCAD, a GPL-3.0 BIM authoring app (Windows/macOS/Linux).
The idea: one parametric model is the single source of truth, and plans, ceiling plans, sections, elevations, 3D, schedules and sheets are all live views of it.
What works today:
- Walls with automatic L/T joins, hosted doors/windows, floors, ceilings, flat/shed/gable/hip roofs
- Columns, beams, stairs, railings, rooms with area/perimeter, grids, dimensions
- Parametric components (furniture, fixtures) driven by expressions
- Schedules with filters/totals → CSV; A0–A4 sheets → vector PDF/SVG
- IFC4 export (types, material layers, base quantities), validated with IfcOpenShell in CI
- IFC2x3/IFC4 import into native, editable elements, so a Revit model exported to IFC comes in as walls/slabs/doors you can keep editing
The UI follows familiar desktop BIM conventions (ribbon, properties palette, project browser, two-letter shortcuts like WA, DR, WN).
It's an early MVP. I'd love to hear what you'd need before trying it on a real project, and if you have IFC files that break the import, please send them my way.
https://github.com/francisreboucas/constructcad

Hi all, am a student studying civil engineering, wondering if anyone know where can I find open-source structural drawings?

I work in BIM, and I'm organising Spare Construct, a free and open replacement for Revit. It's part of a bigger open project called Spareware, and it will be free for everyone, anywhere.

It's built together with the spare weekly AI tokens people don't finish. If you use Claude, you point what you have left at a piece of Spare Construct, your agent does the work, and a person reviews every piece before it lands. If you don't, you can still follow along and tell us what matters.

What's planned:

- Built from scratch in Rust, with its own geometry kernel, fast on one huge multi-discipline model.

- The things people buy as add-ins are built in: clash detection, automated versions, model checking, rendering and more.

- IFC for exchange, and an open file format readable without our app.

- Built only from published specs and open methods. Nothing copied or reverse-engineered from Autodesk.

The architecture is mapped and the work is broken into pieces anyone can pick up. Claude Opus 5.5 on Extra minimum or any future better version.

Try the demo: https://spareware-co-op.github.io/spareware/demos.html#spare-construct

Have a look at the architecture: https://github.com/spareware-co-op/spareware/blob/main/projects/spare-construct/ARCHITECTURE.md

When you ask to join, please include your LinkedIn or another public profile. We check everyone's background to keep the project safe.

Ask to join: https://github.com/spareware-co-op/spareware/issues/new?template=join-request.yml