Automation in CAD Modeling

⚡️ 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗪𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 on Manual CAD-BIM Checks! Automate Your Data Validation. Three years ago, checking just a couple of parameters in a Revit or IFC file could take hours — waiting for someone to open it in a vendor-specific tool, just to validate a few values. Today, you can do it yourself in a minute, and you don't need any special software. For too long, working with CAD-BIM project data meant juggling multiple programs and file formats, with manual validation slowing down every stage. But that’s rapidly changing. With open, automated pipelines, you can validate CAD-BIM data across all major formats — instantly and independently. Why you will end up using a pipeline: 1. 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄: One process for all common CAD-BIM formats (RVT, DWG, IFC, DGN any versions) 2. 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲: Built on n8n (open-source and offline) and Python — fully transparent, easily auditable 3. 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗟𝗟𝗠: Need to change a rule or automate more? Just ask ChatGPT or Claude to generate new code (upload an example of a finished workflow from our GitHub to the chat) — integrate it in seconds, with no vendor lock-in or “click-heavy” proprietary UI 4. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘁𝘆: Yours data is yours, and you don't need to upload it to third-party storage or closed environments to work with it Remember when implementing IDS, BEP, or AIA requirements meant a ton of manual steps? Today, it’s just a few nodes in your automated workflow. If you want to see how it works, simply download the pipeline from GitHub and run the check in n8n within minutes. Try it now: 🔗 𝗚𝗶𝘁𝗛𝘂𝗯: https://lnkd.in/e5pFKYsz 𝗣𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗡𝗼. 𝟯: n8n_3_Validation_CAD_BIM_Revit_IFC_DWG.json And we're opening up 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗔𝗖𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: ✅ Revit 2015–2025 (all versions supported) ✅ IFC (complete coverage: 2x3, 4.1–4.X) ✅ DWG files of all versions No more format barriers. 𝗡𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘀: “I can’t open this CAD file” is now a thing of the past. No more version conflicts. Just seamless data extraction. This approach democratizes CAD-BIM data access across organizations, enabling project managers, QA teams, and stakeholders to verify deliverables independently. If you have any questions or need training for your team, please send me a private message. ♻️ Feel free to share this post with colleagues who are navigating the complexities of plugins and APIs just to work with CAD-BIM files. I’d love to hear your ideas or specific examples of use cases you would like to automate — share them in the comments or send me a private message.

GenCAD - Turning Images into Editable 3D Designs Creating CAD models is still slow, manual, and often frustrating - especially when dealing with complex geometries. That’s why a team at MIT developed GenCAD, a new AI-powered system that generates parametric, editable CAD models directly from images. 👉 Instead of working with meshes or point clouds (which are hard to edit), GenCAD focuses on real-world engineering needs: - Modifiability - Manufacturability - Cross-modal generation (image → CAD) 🔍 How it works: GenCAD combines: - Autoregressive transformers (to model CAD command sequences) - Contrastive learning (to align images with CAD representations) - Latent diffusion (for high-quality generation) 📄 Paper: https://lnkd.in/eahBwEfC 🔗 Website: https://gencad.github.io/ 💻 Code: https://lnkd.in/eJgrNBqs

Today’s a big day for the built environment. For as long as I can remember, dating back to architecture school, I recall conversations about automating scan-to-BIM—𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘭. The holy grail meant this: walk a space with a laser scanner, press a button, and get accurate as-builts in structured formats like BIM and CAD. It's been a decade of noise: inflated promises around BIM, digital twins, and AI in design technology. Disillusionment followed. Most modeling pipelines were either manual, half-baked, or both. 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱, 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗢𝗗𝟮𝟬𝟬 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴—𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁—𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆, Integrated Projects 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗕𝗜𝗠𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸. It’s v1 of our automated architectural modeling pipeline, modeling in seconds what would normally take us days. All BIMIT projects will now be powered by First Draft. Shifting our focus from BIM producers to product managers of our own engine. To start, we’re using it internally to prove to ourselves that we can deliver on what we already promise customers: • 95% on-time delivery • Fast-tracked as-builts • LOD200+ BIM, CAD, and IFC files But this internal rollout has broader implications for AECO and laser scanning professionals: Soon, you’ll be able to... • Upload a registered point cloud (up to 50GB) • In under 1 hour • Get a multi-level LOD200 Revit model • Including existing architectural elements • And derivative CAD & IFC files • All delivered securely in a SOC2 compliant platform • Enabling accurate floor area verification and material takeoffs Why does this matter? 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝟴𝟬% 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀-𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁𝘀. Without them, it’s hard—if not impossible—to improve buildings proactively and at scale. And we don’t have time. Improving the built environment requires better data, delivered faster and more affordably than ever before. That’s why we exist. And it’s still very much day one.

Today, Backflip AI is unveiling a new Foundation model that can build precise, engineering parts in existing 3D design packages. This breakthrough will dramatically accelerate the pace of hardware development and drive down the cost of manufacturing. Our new AI model solves the long-standing pain of converting a 3D scan into a parametric CAD model. In one click. We finally did it. 3D scanners map the surface of an object with incredible precision, quickly generating millions of data points, but they produce micro surface textures that can’t be manufactured with traditional tools. Our technology automatically converts these intricate surfaces into clean geometries designed for existing 3D CAD and manufacturing software. The first model will be available to early users in a month. You can access it online, or through a SOLIDWORKS plugin. After the AI generates a 3D model, it will drive Solidworks to create a native file with a full feature tree you can edit. Here's a cool article from Michael Alba at engineering.com (link in the comments). There are two target users for this new AI model. The obvious one is existing CAD designers who want to save hours of their life by automatically converting a scan to CAD. We're so excited to be done doing that by hand. The second set of users is much bigger. For a given automotive factory, there may be 1-2 CAD engineers, and 2,000-5,000 brilliant, mechanically savvy technicians assembling the cars / keeping the lines running. But many don't know CAD. Our new AI model will flatten the learning curve and help them get all the parts around them into parametric CAD. In the near future, everyone will be able to create the world around them.