NXT BLD (Next Build) and NXT DEV (Next Development) 2025, a dual-focus conference from AEC Magazine, included several sessions on a relatively new topic in the AEC world: autodrawings. Also called automated drawings or autonomous drawings, these are CAD drawings that are automatically generated from BIM models — saving users substantial time and effort in the essential step of creating project deliverables.
Robert Graebert, CTO at Graebert GmbH, gave a presentation on the subject titled, “Autodrawings — Fast, Cloud-Ready DWG Production for BIM.” His presentation discussed the automation capabilities that are already available in Graebert’s own ARES Commander and ARES Kudo, and have also been integrated into other developer’s products, including Snaptrude, DraftSight Premium, and Qonic.
Cloud CAD has been around for ten years, Robert noted, and it is now entering a new phase with the integration of automation technology — an evolution that Graebert is spearheading. He described the phases this way:
- Phase 1, Desktop: “Very powerful, but isolated; I work locally, I work alone, but I get all the benefit of my local resources.”
- Phase 2, Connected Cloud: “[Onshape] really showed that you could do full CAD operations in a browser, and that brought all these benefits of connectivity, multiplayer, and just being together. But fundamentally, what you were doing was still very similar to what you would do on desktop, [in terms of] the way you interacted with the product.”
- Phase 3, Automated Cloud: “I do believe the value becomes even greater … it’s not just about editing in a browser, multiplayer, but also [about being] much more productive.”
Robert also explored the following “universal headaches” in his presentation:
- DWG deliverables are still mandatory in the AEC world;
- Token licensing is an expensive way to deal with occasional users; and
- Simply exporting BIM to DWG isn’t enough, because the BIM model continues to change.
This article provides an overview of key points, but you can watch the entire talk by Robert Graebert, as well as other recorded presentations, on the NXT BLD and NXT DEV conference website. (If you haven’t attended a NXT conference in the past, you will need to register for a free account on the site before you can view the presentations.)
Headache #1: DWG Drawings Are Not Going Away
Although they may perform their design work in BIM, firms still need to provide their deliverables — to contractors, owners, or facilities management professionals — in DWG format. “That, I think, is a problem that’s not going to go away,” Robert Graebert predicted.
So what’s the best solution for this persistent headache? Turn it from a time-consuming hassle to a hands-off project that’s completed automatically. Robert walked the audience through the simple steps for using ARES Kudo’s Online Drawings Automation technology:
- Choose the job type from a list of preconfigured options (such as “BIM to 2D DWG Drawings,” or “BIM Data Extraction”).
- Select the source file(s) in cloud storage, such as Revit and/or IFC BIM models.
- Define parameters such as sheet size.
- Specify whether it will be a one-time or recurring job, and schedule the job for a future time/date if desired.
- Choose the destination for the files that will be produced by the automated process.
Progress status is displayed for each job in the queue, and optional email updates let users know when their job is complete.
This drawing (above) was generated in Qonic from a BIM model (top), using Graebert automation technology. In addition to being automatically generated, it was also auto-labeled, auto-styled, and auto-dimensioned.
Headache #2: Occasional Usage Can Be Surprisingly Expensive
“We’re working now in a world where we have all these different tools, and I think specifically when you have occasional usage, there are some pricing issues that we should talk about,” Robert Graebert noted. He explained that the replacement of floating licenses with named licenses for all AutoCAD users, and Autodesk’s introduction of Flex Tokens for occasional use, can result in high costs for companies that have occasional CAD users.
In his example of professionals who need to interact with DWG content for just one hour per week, “that adds up over a year to thousands of euros or dollars” for a single user. “Then [multiply that] by a thousand people, and it quickly goes into the millions,” Robert said.
He went on to describe an alternative approach, which Graebert offers for users who don’t need CAD all day, every day: the ARES Trinity Flex Cloud license. This type of license is basically floating or concurrent named user licensing, Robert explained: “You still log in with your account, but you are only using the license for the amount of time you’re actually using it.” While the numbers vary depending on the amount of use per person and the number of part-time users within a company, “we see at least a 10x reduction” in software costs for those types of users, he said.
Headache #3: The BIM Model Evolves After Drawings Have Been Created
“The old idea that you have a BIM, you create a drawing, and then you just finish that and send it off is sort of broken, because the BIM keeps changing, the 3D geometry keeps changing — so we think it’s really important that that connectivity stays in place,” Robert Graebert said.
The answer here is to incorporate BIM intelligence inside the DWG files, and to retain the link between the originating model and the drawings generated from it. “What’s important is that these drawings that we showed really are not dumb drawings; they contain references to the original BIM data … if it’s in the model, we’ll consume it.”
When the BIM is updated, the DWG drawings can be updated accordingly — without being recreated. And if CAD users add information to the DWG files after they are generated, that is preserved through any updates. “If you changed the model and you made certain annotations or you added something, everything is associative, and so they will move; if you move a wall, it doesn’t matter, everything you did in CAD will level up. That’s really important: productivity does not get lost because you’re just redrawing, redrawing, redrawing,” Robert said.
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