How to Use BIM QuickDraw in BricsCAD BIM

Quick answer: Quickdraw makes conceptual modeling easy, automatically adding BIM data as you go, and can build anything from a single room to a whole building. Once launched, it stays active until you explicitly exit it or run another command.

Room and Wall Settings

BIMQUICKDRAW opens the Quick Draw command context panel, where you can set room dimensions (typing directly or using the field arrows), wall placement configuration, snapping options, and Auto adopt sizes, which pulls dimensions from nearby rooms automatically.

To change wall justification, press Ctrl while the Quickdraw justification Hotkey Assistant widget is displayed at the bottom of the screen (it shows when HOTKEYASSISTANT is set to 1 and Display Hotkey Hints for BIMQUICKDRAW options is ticked in the Hotkey Assistant Configuration dialog).

The Magnetic Snapping Feature

Move the cursor close to an object while Quickdraw is active, and it snaps automatically. Options include:

1. Align to the origin.
2. Align to existing walls: either to the wall itself, or to the extents of the wall.
3. Align to lines: to grid lines, to X- and Y-aligned lines and line segments, or to parallel lines.

Worth knowing about grid lines specifically: if you use Quickdraw to copy a story, gridlines only copy along if the grid is assigned to the same spatial location as the ground floor slab and walls. Otherwise, gridlines within the ground slab’s boundary project onto the top floor’s slab purely as a visual aid, disappearing once you exit BIMQUICKDRAW.

Creating an L-Shaped House

1. With the Quad cursor in the No Selection state, select Quickdraw from the Model tab, click its ribbon icon, or type BIMQUICKDRAW. You’re prompted for the first point (use the Quick Draw command context panel to adjust settings before clicking).
2. Select a point in the drawing area for the first corner (use magnetic snapping to start from the origin if you want).
3. Drag to define the building’s footprint. With Dynamic dimension (DYN) on, the current width and length display in dynamic dimension fields; type values, press Tab to switch between them, and press Enter or click to accept. Press Enter or Esc to leave the command, or keep going to create more rooms.
4. Place the cursor inside the existing building to add more rooms; the dynamic fields show distances to the adjacent walls. With Auto adopt sizes checked, the new room’s walls match whatever wall you snap to (uncheck it in the command context panel to avoid this). The cursor’s layout adapts if it aligns with one or two existing walls. Specify your new walls’ first point using the distances from existing walls, then draw them the same way as steps 2 and 3.
5. To remove a section of an existing wall, align the cursor with it from the inner side of the building, then click and drag outside; the outer wall turns red to mark it for removal.
6. Select a second point; the red-highlighted wall deletes automatically, and an L-shaped room is created.

Aligning at the outer side instead and dragging inside removes part of the slab rather than a wall.

Creating a Story and a Roof

Starting from an existing simple building, this workflow adds two extra stories, a floating overhang, and a flat roof.

1. With the Quad cursor in the No Selection state, select Quickdraw from the Model tab or type BIMQUICKDRAW.
2. Click the Add Story icon next to the building for three options: fully copy the top floor (every feature, windows, doors, interior walls, and furniture, except doors on the ground floor’s outer walls), copy just the slab and outer walls of the top floor, or finish the building with a flat roof.
3. For the first new story, choose Full copy. Interior walls, interior doors, and windows in exterior walls copy across, but the ground floor’s exterior door doesn’t. Furniture only copies if it’s assigned to a spatial location (use BIMIFY, the same command confirmed on this hub’s structural steel page, to assign it, and the new furniture inherits the new spatial location automatically); walls always inherit the spatial location of the slab they’re created on.
4. Repeat step 2, choosing Copy the slab and the outer walls this time, to create the top story.
5. To create an overhang, remove parts of the second floor’s outer walls: snap the cursor to the corner of two outer walls from inside the building, then click and drag outside; those walls turn red to mark them for removal.
6. Repeat step 2 once more, choosing Finish the building with a flat roof.

Using Quickdraw from a 2D Layout

1. Open a 2D floorplan, rectangular or L-shaped (drawing a simple one with (POLY)LINE also works, using BIMQUICKDRAW‘s default wall thickness; the cursor also snaps to double lines inside Xrefs and to entities via ESNAP).
2. With the Quad cursor in the No Selection state, select Quickdraw from the Model tab, click its ribbon icon, or type BIMQUICKDRAW.
3. Hover over one of the outer walls; its thickness automatically adapts to the distance between the parallel lines in the 2D drawing. If those lines aren’t well-aligned to the X or Y axis, the cursor (which is perfectly X-Y aligned) won’t snap to them, run OPTIMIZE first to align them exactly.
4. Draw the outer walls, using magnetic snapping to follow the 2D drawing’s lines.
5. Hover over one of the inner walls, using magnetic snapping the same way; its thickness adapts automatically too.
6. The 2D plan transforms into a 3D model. Use the same story and roof methods covered above to continue building from here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does copying a story with Quickdraw always bring gridlines along with it? Only if the grid is assigned to the same spatial location as the ground floor’s slab and walls; otherwise, gridlines only project onto the top floor visually and disappear once you exit the command.

Why doesn’t my furniture copy over when I add a new story with Full copy? It only copies if it’s assigned to a spatial location; use BIMIFY to assign it first.

What happens if my imported 2D floorplan’s lines aren’t perfectly aligned to the X or Y axis? Quickdraw’s cursor won’t snap to them, since it’s perfectly X-Y aligned itself; run OPTIMIZE to correct the lines first.

How do I remove a wall section without removing part of the slab instead? Align the cursor with the wall from the inner side of the building and drag outside; aligning from the outer side and dragging inside removes slab instead.