BimCraft help

BIM authoring. Start at the top if you are new; jump to a walkthrough if you know what you need.

Written for BimCraft 0.3. The same help is inside the app: press F1. Open BimCraft

Getting started

What's new in 0.3

Drawings in 3D, a section plane for IFC models, a view cube, movable panels, a built-in DWG reader, and cut-off project files that open as far as they go.
Getting started with BimCraft

What BimCraft does today, how to open your first model, look at it in 3D, change one value and save a copy.
The BimCraft screen

A tour of every bar, panel and button, by its on-screen name, and how the screen changes for each kind of file.
Files BimCraft opens and saves

Every format BimCraft opens, what it keeps, what it saves, where saved files go, and what changes between browsers and when you are offline.

Walkthroughs

Open an IFC model and look around in 3D

Open an IFC file, orbit, pan and zoom, and use Fit, Top, Front and Side to get your bearings.
Show and hide storeys, spaces and edges

Turn storeys off to see inside a building, show rooms and spaces, and switch the edge lines on and off.
Cut an IFC model with a section plane

Slice the 3D model from the top, front or side to see inside, move the cut by dragging or typing, flip it, and pick what the cut shows.
Pick an element and read its properties

Click any element in the 3D model to highlight it and read its name, type, tag, GlobalId, property sets and quantities.
Change IFC properties and save an edited copy

Change an element's name, tag, description or a property value, undo, and download a new IFC file while the original stays as it was.
Change a type property for every element of a type

Tell type properties from instance properties, change a value on the type so every element follows, and check that one element's own edit stays its own.
Read a project or family file

Open an .rvt, .rfa, .rte or .rft file and read its release, worksharing, project information, family parameters, links and preview picture, without the program that made it.
Get a project file into 3D through IFC

Export IFC from the program that made a project file, open the IFC in BimCraft, and know what the export keeps.
Open a whole project folder

Point BimCraft at a project folder to see every model, its backups and links at once, and let the Start here box suggest which file to work on.
Check a folder for damaged copies, missing links and leftovers

Use the folder report to find cut-off model files, pick the newest complete backup, see which links are missing, and spot lock and temp files.
View a DWG or DXF drawing

Open a DWG or DXF, move around model space and sheets, read coordinates, and see what is not drawn yet.
See a DWG or DXF drawing in 3D

Switch a drawing's model space to 3D to see elevations, thickness, 3D faces, meshes and blocks, orbit round it, and see what is not drawn yet.
Work with layers and sheets

Turn drawing layers on and off, switch between model space and sheets, and understand how sheets show the model through their viewports.
Find linked drawings and pictures

Show a drawing's linked drawings (xrefs) and title-block pictures, by opening its folder or adding the files by hand.
Check a drawing in print view

Switch a DWG or DXF to print view to see it black on white with its line weights and without the layers that never print.
Build an equipment schedule and export CSV

Turn the item tags in a foodservice drawing into an equipment schedule, filter it, jump to each item on its sheet, and download it as CSV.
Place equipment and furniture from the library

Find an item in LibraryCraft, a file or the open drawing, place it on a storey of an IFC model with a ghost preview, turn it, snap it to a wall, and save.
Swap a placed item, and update items from the library

Replace one placed library item with another while keeping its place and item number, and check LibraryCraft for newer versions of everything in the model.
List library credits and sign in to the library

See every library item used in a model with its license and attribution, copy the credits or download them with the schedule, and sign in to see your team's items.
Copy, paste and duplicate library items

Copy a placed library item and paste it where you click, in place beside the original, or into another model; copy any other element's properties as text; undo and redo.

Coming from other software

Coming from other BIM and drawing programs

How habits from desktop BIM authoring and DWG viewing map to BimCraft, and the differences that trip people up.

Reference

BimCraft settings

Choose whether rooms and spaces show, whether edges are drawn and which view a model opens in, and start placing with wall snap on.
Keys and mouse

Every key, mouse, trackpad and touch action in BimCraft, grouped by what you are looking at.
What BimCraft reads from each format

Exactly what BimCraft reads from IFC, project and family files, DWG and DXF, and what it leaves alone.
Properties panel fields

What every field in the Properties panel and the File, Drawing and Folder panels means, and which ones you can change.
Folder report: roles, statuses and links

Every label in the folder report, what it means, and how the Start here suggestion is chosen.
Browsers, devices and memory

What differs in BimCraft between Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, on Mac, Windows and Linux, with a mouse, a trackpad or touch, and how big a file it can take.
Online and offline

What BimCraft loads from the site, how Save for offline makes IFC models and DWG drawings open with no connection, and why nothing you open is ever uploaded.

Troubleshooting and limits

Troubleshooting

Messages BimCraft shows, what causes them, and what to do, for opening files, folders, 3D models, drawings and edits.
What is not built yet

What this BimCraft build does not do yet, and what to use instead today.

All tutorials