Tutorials BimCraft help 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.
Written for BimCraft 0.3. The same help is inside the app: press F1.
If you know Revit, most of BimCraft will feel familiar in words and unfamiliar in scope. The single most important difference: this build reads and inspects models and edits IFC data. It does not author like Revit yet. You cannot draw walls, place families, make views or sheets, or save a project file. What you can do is open almost any building file on any computer with a browser, see what is in it, check a whole project folder, and correct the data in an IFC model.
Habits mapped
| If you are used to | In BimCraft |
|---|---|
Opening an .rvt in Revit to see the model | BimCraft opens the .rvt as a file card: release, project information, links, preview. For the 3D model, export IFC and open that. Read a project or family file |
| Checking which release a file was saved in before opening it | The card says "saved in Revit …" at the top, without upgrading or touching the file |
| The Project Browser | No browser of views and sheets. An IFC model has Storeys and Elements lists; a drawing has sheet tabs |
| The Properties palette | The Properties panel on the right, for the element you clicked. IFC property sets instead of parameter groups |
| Instance and type parameters | Instance property sets, and sets marked "(type)". A type change applies to every element of the type, as in Revit. Change a type property for every element of a type |
| Edit Type | No dialog: click a value in a "(type)" set and type |
| Selecting many elements, filters, Select All Instances | One element at a time. Not built yet |
| The view cube and the navigation wheel | A view cube in the bottom-right corner, four buttons (Fit, Top, Front, Side) and free orbit. No navigation wheel |
| Shift and middle-drag to orbit, middle-drag to pan | Left-drag orbits, right-drag (or ⇧Shift and drag) pans, wheel zooms |
| Floor plans, sections, section boxes | One Section plane at a time (XX); no section box or 2D plans. Cut an IFC model with a section plane |
| Hide in view, isolate, visibility/graphics | Storeys on and off, Spaces and Edges. No per-element hiding yet |
| Rooms | IFC spaces, hidden at first. Click Spaces |
| Save, Save As, synchronize with central | Save as IFC downloads a new IFC file. The original never changes. No central, no worksharing |
| Undo with ⌘ZCtrl+Z | Works on IFC edits until you save. Change IFC properties and save an edited copy |
| Manage Links | Open the project folder: every link is checked and marked In this folder, Same name found, Library file or Not in this folder. Open a whole project folder |
| Audit, or opening a file to see if it is corrupt | The folder report checks every copy and backup for being cut off, in seconds. Check a folder for damaged copies |
| Picking the right file from a messy folder | The Start here box suggests one, with reasons |
From viewing DWG files
If you open DWGs in AutoCAD or a DWG viewer:
| If you are used to | In BimCraft |
|---|---|
| Model and layout tabs at the bottom | Tabs above the drawing: Model and one per sheet |
| ZOOM Extents, double-click the wheel | Double-click, FF or Fit |
| Pan with the middle button | Drag with any button |
| The layer manager | The Layers list: tick to show, untick to hide, All on and All off |
| The xref manager | Linked drawings on the right, with Shown or Not found, and Add linked drawings… |
| Plot preview | Print view or PP: black on white with line weights. It does not print |
| Data extraction of block attributes | The Equipment tab for tagged foodservice drawings, with Download CSV |
| Measure, draw, edit, save as | Not in BimCraft. The CadCraft drafting app draws and edits |
Differences that trip people up
- It runs in the browser, and the browser is careful with your files. BimCraft can only read files and folders you hand it, by choosing them or dragging them in. It cannot open a file by itself, and it cannot save over one. Every save is a download.
- Nothing is uploaded. The words "upload" in some browsers' folder dialogs are the browser's own wording. The files stay on your computer.
- IFC is the model format. A project file opens as a card because its 3D content is undocumented. Treat IFC as the way models travel into BimCraft.
- Edits are copy-on-write. Changing one element's value never changes its neighbors, even when the exporter shared that value between them. Type properties are the deliberate exception.
- No project, no views. BimCraft shows one file at a time and remembers nothing about it after you close the tab, except the names of recent folders in Chrome and Edge.
- Mac keys. Where Revit's Windows shortcuts use Ctrl, BimCraft's shortcuts use ⌘Ctrl: Command on a Mac.
- Your mouse habits. Orbit is the left button, not Shift and the middle button. You will try the old way a few times.
See What is not built yet for what to use instead today.