CAD, BIM & 3D

This week, for the first time, BricsCAD is released for the three major Operating Systems available: Windows, Linux and now also OSX. After getting rid of its IntelliCAD legacy, the Belgian company Bricsys retargeted BricsCAD as a DWG-compatible development platform for all kind of CAD uses: 2D drafting, 3D modelling and rendering, custom development, Mechanical Design and (a long time since the demise of the “Architecturals” module) now also for BIM Functionality. Let’s start with that first: How does BricsCAD approach BIM? From the Release notes: “Instead of creating a set of dedicated BIM primitives like walls, slabs, columns, etc..., each with their own restricted behavior and properties, we opted for offering maximum flexibility. Any 3D Solid can be used in a BIM model” This is interesting and in line with the way freeform and modelling software approaches BIM: define any geometry and classify it afterwards (e.g. SketchUp, Rhinoceros). BricsCAD is DWG based, but supports IFC impor...

As part of a temporary promotion of Packt Publishing’s video tutorials, you can order any video course for the fixed price of $10.   I can honestly recommend my own video course on “ Building an Architectural Walkthrough using Unity ”, which is almost 3 hours long and takes you through the necessary steps from beginner to intermediate user. It is focused on the things you need to know: getting CAD or BIM models into Unity, setting up a character to walk around, improve lighting and materials and add some usable interaction, with a scripting primer. And finally, the application is compiled for use on an iPhone, but the process is very similar for Android. So act quick, while supplies last…

I recently got a chance to take a few online courses on the Udemy platform. This is an online market-place for courses, which are mainly video-based. It serves both as a teacher and student platform and is (deliberately) not meant as an academic platform. When approved, you can become an instructor too and publish your courses and put a price on them. When you put a price on your course, it takes an additional approval step for the teacher, but after that, the system does everything: registrations, payments (using Paypal) and even entering into promotions and discount offers. As a teacher you can generate discount/coupon codes, so you can give selected audiences free or cheaper access to your course. I plan on making my future tutorials available in English on this system and maybe have a discount code for my students, but that depends a bit on my employment situation… The course system is well structured, with sections, lectures and quizes, with the possibility to add accompanying ma...