Any project starts with a sketch. And among the tools, the most creative and intuitive are pencil and paper. The desire, or rather, the need to go beyond pencil and paper, is no longer in doubt. But at the same time, there remains a desire to maintain the flexibility and simplicity of hand sketching.
Programs focused on conceptual drawing of a project, as a rule, have a minimal set of tools and provide limited opportunities for creating models, the use of which, in most cases, is limited to presenting a future project to a potential customer. Making changes to such a model is quite complex, especially in the case of modeling at the level of surfaces and networks.
The opposite approach is the use for these purposes of full-fledged 3D modeling and visualization systems, or even professional CAD systems, designed to provide a full cycle of design work. This approach may seem more intelligent because the efforts spent at the stage of developing the concept will not be wasted and the sketch model you have created will form the basis of the future BIM model. However, the disadvantages of this approach are quite obvious - it will take much more time to develop sketches using professional CAD systems than when performing the same work using a program intended for conceptual design.
As a compromise solution, the SketchUp software product can be used, which has recently taken, in fact, a leadership position, combining simplicity, intuition and convenience. Fast installation, extensive libraries, access to video tutorials - all this allowed SketchUp to gain enviable popularity. However, here, too, there were some significant drawbacks. The offered free version of SketchUp works with surfaces and meshes, but absolutely no 3D solid modeling capabilities.
At the same time, solid modeling support is essential. This is primarily due to the fact that solid modeling provides high mathematical accuracy. In addition, solids can be edited many times without losing integrity, and the number of such changes is practically unlimited. You can radically change the solid model and it will correctly accept all of these changes, including the sculptural deformation that is applied to create artistic elements. This approach, combining intuitiveness, simplicity and solid modeling capabilities, is the basis for the new innovative product from Bricsys, called BricsCAD Shape.
What is BricsCAD Shape?
BricsCAD Shape is a free conceptual 3D modeling application. It is a compact and fast product using the standard DWG 2018 format. It is worth paying attention to the last point, which is very important. Using the classic DWG format not only provides accuracy at the level of professional design systems, but also allows you to transfer the model created in BricsCAD Shape to any CAD or BIM system, and continue working with it, instead of starting the entire model development from scratch.
As you can see from the above screenshot, BricsCAD Shape has a very simple interface. The program was originally created as a conceptual design tool and is addressed to architects and designers, so there is nothing superfluous in its interface. By the way, the developers' sense of humor is in good harmony with respect for the professionals in their field. One of the men in the drawing box is French architect Jean Nouvel. Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando, Le Corbusier and many other outstanding architects of the past and present can also be found in the character library.
The idea behind the BricsCAD Shape interface is that most of the work the user can do with just 18 buttons on one panel. Some of these buttons have drop-down menus with additional set of commands. If necessary, you can even enable the command line familiar to AutoCAD and BricsCAD users, which is hidden by default. But try to work without it and use the intelligent quad-menu borrowed from BricsCAD and you will see that this interface element significantly saves time and reduces the number of operations. The secret of BricsCAD Shape's convenience is simple - most operations are performed using direct modeling tools, and at some point it seems that you really have a pencil and a sheet of paper in your hands.
Using the DWG format looks even more logical and justifiable when you look at the entire Bricsys product line. BricsCAD's flagship BIM product uses the same format as the basis for implementing BIM information modeling technology. From a Bricsys perspective, BricsCAD Shape is just the beginning of the value chain. After passing the approval procedure and successful approval of the sketch, the model is transferred to BricsCAD BIM, where its automatic parameterization is already performed, the automatic classification of building elements, spatial reference and saturation of the model with IFC-compatible information about the purpose, materials, manufacturer and other characteristics of its constituent elements.
In view of the above, it is quite obvious that, first of all, the BricsCAD Shape program is intended for the market of architectural and construction applications. But nothing prevents you from using it for other purposes, for example, for viewing and editing.dwg files, or as a prototyping tool.
How do I get the program? You can download BricsCAD Shape from the official website. There are no huge files and multi-step installation processes here. There is only a regular download of the distribution kit of about 200 MB. My loading time was 2 minutes 37 seconds. It took 38 seconds to install the program, including waiting for my answers. The first launch and registration were completed in 15 seconds. After that, the "Getting Started" window opened. It took another 10 seconds to open the first drawing.
Thus, in just 4 minutes I started working with Shape. This is even less than the time it takes to read this text.
Well, to top it off, a few more words about what else, besides the interface and technologies, attracts me to this product. First, it is completely free, including for commercial use. Second: after agreeing on the draft design, I automatically receive a sufficiently detailed BIM model. And the third, very important circumstance: I use Shape in the office on Windows, at home on Ubuntu, and on the MacBook on the road. Even OpenOffice cannot boast of such flexibility, let alone all sorts of CAD systems.
In general, in my opinion, the product turned out to be quite interesting and, at least, deserves to install it and try to sketch a couple of sketchy models. As they say, it is better to see once.
