Digital Engineering – August 2019

DESIGN ||| Software Review

42 DE^ | Technology for Optimal Engineering Design August 2019 /// DigitalEngineering247.com

Beyond AutoCAD

Although BricsCAD doesn’t include every function found in

AutoCAD, the list of missing features is shrinking. For example,

BricsCAD V19 adds a Block Editor, a dedicated environment

for creating and editing blocks.

While working in this environment, you see only the objects

that are part of the block, but the capabilities are much differ-

ent from AutoCAD. For example, to create a parametric block

in BricsCAD (analogous to a dynamic block in AutoCAD), you

must add parameters to the block, save the block as a separate

drawing and then insert it using the BIMINSERT command.

Once inserted, you can select an instance of the block and then

use fields in the Properties panel to adjust parameters.

These differences can affect compatibility. When you open

a drawing created with AutoCAD that includes dynamic blocks,

those blocks function in BricsCAD just as they do in AutoCAD,

but you cannot edit the blocks in BricsCAD.

When you open a BricsCAD drawing in AutoCAD, however,

parametric blocks lack their parametric capabilities and cannot be

modified using AutoCAD’s block editor, but upon reopening the

drawing in BricsCAD, those blocks are once again parametric.

In other respects, BricsCAD goes beyond AutoCAD’s ca-

pabilities. A perfect example is the new Blockify tool, which

searches the drawing for an identical set of entities and replaces

them with block references. Also new to BricsCAD V19 is a

PDF Import command that lets you import geometry from a

PDF file, similar to the function added to AutoCAD 2017.

Like that release of AutoCAD, the new tool in BricsCAD

does fine converting TrueType text into MTEXT. But, since the

PDF format doesn’t recognize AutoCAD SHX fonts, text that

had originally been defined with SHX fonts is stored in the PDF

file as geometry. When that PDF file is imported, the SHX text

becomes polyline geometry. AutoCAD 2018 solved this problem

by introducing a text recognition tool that converts the geome-

try representing text back into actual text objects. Unfortunately,

BricsCAD does not yet include that capability.

Other New Features

BricsCAD V19 also adds an improved dimensioning tool that lets

you apply multiple types of dimensions using a single command,

similar to functionality introduced in AutoCAD 2016. But the

new Nearest Distance function is unique to BricsCAD. When you

select one entity and then select another, the program displays the

shortest distance between them. You can then move the second

entity in relation to the first by simply changing the dimension.

The new release also introduces Adaptive Grid Snap, which

lets you manipulate objects using concise values without key-

board entry. After moving the cursor over an object, you press

and hold the left mouse button to display a Manipulator widget.

When you move the cursor over one of the widget’s axes and

press the left mouse button again, the program displays a dy-

namic ruler. You can then move the object using the ruler. The

ruler resolution adapts based on the current zoom factor.

New data linking tools let you link data from an Excel

spreadsheet directly into a table within the drawing. Once you

have established a link, any changes you make in the linked

Excel spreadsheet are automatically pushed to the table in the

BricsCAD drawing.

Advanced Mechanical Capabilities

Over the past few releases, Bricsys has been enhancing the pro-

gram’s BIM and mechanical design capabilities. For DE readers,

we focused almost exclusively on the mechanical tools. Brics-

CAD Mechanical now includes a library of 30,000 parametric

parts. These individual drawing files can be inserted as blocks by

dragging and dropping them from the Components panel and

then modified by adjusting parameters in the Properties panel.

Users can also create associative exploded representations of

assemblies without modifying the assembly. Exploded represen-

tations are stored as dedicated blocks. Each part in an exploded

representation is linked with the corresponding part in the as-

sembly. Exploded views can contain one or several steps.

You can animate steps, generate drawing views of the ex-

ploded representation and place balloon annotations on cor-

responding drawing views. New in V19 is the ability to auto-

matically constrain and parameterize solid models in a single

operation. And again, BricsCAD goes beyond AutoCAD in its

ability to apply constraints in 3D and 2D.

BricsCAD Mechanical also incorporates some rather sophis-

ticated sheet metal capabilities, including the ability to model

Tools in BricsCAD Mechanical let you create

associative exploded representations of assemblies.

Parametric parts chosen from a library of 30,000

objects can be inserted by dragging and dropping

from the Components panel and then modied by

adjusting parameters.

DE_0819_Review_BricsCAD_Cohn.indd 42 7/11/19 11:23 AM