CAD, BIM & 3D

I have been using TextWrangler as my OSX power text editor for quite some time. It is free, runs fast and efficient and is quite versatile. For many code formats, there are adequate syntax highlighter settings available: C++, php, html, xml and many more. However, for domain-specific languages, you are often on your own. I’ve created and improved some highlighters which you can freely download. You have to install them in the correct folder, for TextWrangler to recognise them. /Users/<user name>/Library/Application Support/TextWrangler/Language Modules I assume (have not tested), that they also work for BBEdit, the big brother of TextWrangler, which will have a very similar path upon install. IFC - Industry Foundation Classes I do hope that you know what this is… This is the beginning of the IFC definition file. It is an XML file, with a series of recognised words underneath <dict> in the <array> tag. I’ve copied them from a long listing of IFC classnames. They are d...

Disclaimer: I was asked (politely) by somebody from Cometdocs if I would be interested in reviewing this iOS app. This is my personal review and there was no financial compensation, but the software vendor was willing to provide additional information where needed. From PDF to CAD drawings This isn’t my first blog post on this subject and probably won’t be the last either. http://cad-3d.blogspot.com/2014/03/able2extract-converting-pdf-back-to-cad.html http://cad-3d.blogspot.com/2013/05/from-pdf-back-to-dwg.html Despite the fact that 2D CAD drawings are widely used and shared, many of them only in the form of a non-editable PDF. Or so the CAD drafters assume. Regardless of your motivation to return an exported PDF into editable format, I assume here that it is not to circumvent any copyright protection measures. Cometdocs PDF to AutoCAD (dwg) Cometdocs has several PDF related apps available in the App Store. Here we specifically look at PDF to AutoCAD (dwg) ( https://itunes.apple.com/...

Disclaimer : I received an offer from Packt Publishing to review the book “ 3D Printing with RepRap Cookbook ”, written by Richard Salinas. Packt Publishing is a print-on-demand service, from which I already bought several books, ebooks and for whom I also authored my Unity for Architectural Visualization book and the Building an Architectural Walkthrough with Unity video course. I received the eBook version free of charge, but the review is solely my own, personal opinion.   https://www.packtpub.com/hardware-and-creative/3d-printing-reprap-cookbook Intro In contrast with my previous review on 3D Printing with SketchUp , this book is more independent of the software, but focuses on particular hardware. I don’t have such a machine within arms reach, but I do have access to a local Fab-lab where several CNC, lasercutting and 3D printing machines are available for visitors. So what does this book offer? It is a quite extensive book at 346 pages. The layout and quality is similar to...

Disclaimer : I was politely asked by the developer of this software to feature a review on my blog. They offered a free license code, so I could test out the software properly, but provided no other compensations and did not interfere with the actual review. They were available for questions, but the review is my personal opinion. What is Able2extract? The software allows you to convert PDF documents into editable digital documents in various formats. They focus on Microsoft Office formats (Word, PowerPoint and Excel), but also on CAD users, by allowing conversion into the AutoCAD DWG or DXF format. There is a Standard and a Pro version, with the major difference the addition of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in the Pro version, which will allow conversion of graphics into characters or text. http://www.investintech.com/able2extract.html The program is fairly easy to use. You load a PDF, define pages or selection areas to extract and then choose an output format. The...

This blog post is more a personal note, to share with the readers, whoever you may be, from wherever you may live. I have a few plans that I'd like to share with you. If you comment, you have the chance of steering it a bit. After all, what's blogging just for the sake of yourself. Unity for Architectural Visualization I'm about to finish the last revisions for the final chapters of my upcoming book Unity for Architectural Visualization. I do hope I live up to the expectations. It will be published by Packt and they have a pre-order page ready: http://www.packtpub.com/unity-for-architectural-visualization/book ArchiCAD Summer School Next week, I'm heading off to Cardiff (Wales) for the ArchiCAD Summer School 2013. There will be a BIM Teacher gathering, the introduction of ArchiCAD 17 (which I'm already using) and Artlantis 5 (which I'm using less, since moving more to Cinema4D, but interesting nonetheless). I will be too late for the openBIM day, a...

Disclaimer : I was politely asked by Emily Donalds from Cometdocs to possibly feature a post on their PDF to AutoCAD webservice. While wary about advertisement, this is an open and free offer and useful for CAD users. On http://www.convertpdftoautocad.com you can (obviously) convert PDF files to the AutoCAD DWG format. In a time were probably every single PDF containing CAD drawings was originally created as a digital drawing anyway, it makes sense to optimise on this kind of drawings. You can go to the website and, without creating an account or registering, you can upload a PDF from your computer. It should not exceed 40MB and you need to be willing to enter your e-mail address, cause the conversion process will happen on their servers. The service is free and upon testing, was reasonably fast. The example I tried was a PDF from a elderly care centre provided during a research project and was originally drawn digitally (although I'm not aware of the exact software th...