BricsCAD


BricsCAD is a software application for computer-aided design, developed by Bricsys nv. The company was founded in 2002 by Erik de Keyser, a longtime CAD entrepreneur. In 2011 Bricsys acquired the intellectual property rights from Ledas for constraints-based parametric design tools, permitting the development of applications in the areas of direct modeling and assembly design. Bricsys' headquartered are in Ghent, Belgium, has additional development centers in Nizhny Novgorod and Novosibirsk, Russia; Bucharest, Romania and Singapore. Bricsys is a founding member of the Open Design Alliance, and joined the BuildingSMART International consortium in December 2016.
In 2018, Bricsys nv was acquired in full by Hexagon AB of Sweden.

BricsCAD editions

The BricsCAD software, is currently on version V20 available for the Windows, Linux and macOS operating systems, and has six editions:
Trial customers can use the RUNASLEVEL command to change the edition of BricsCAD during their trial period.
BricsCAD BIM, BricscAD Mechanical and BricsCAD Ultimate, were released in late 2018. Prior to V19, the BricsCAD BIM product was delivered as a module named "BIM for BricsCAD" this was an extension of BricsCAD Platinum. BricsCAD Mechanical was added for V19. It includes upgraded functionality from the pre-V19 "Sheet Metal for BricsCAD" module.
All BricsCAD editions use the Open Design Alliance Drawing API software development platform, giving BricsCAD read and write capability of the DWG file format, made popular by Autodesk's AutoCAD. BricsCAD reads and writes.dwg files directly, from AutoCAD. The software is capable of most contemporary AutoCAD release functions. BricsCAD is currently localized in 18 language versions.

Communicator for BricsCAD

Communicator for BricsCAD is an add-on that imports and exports 3D CAD data for data exchange with major Mechanical CAD programs and several industry-standard neutral file formats. The BricsCAD Communicator works with BricsCAD Pro for single part import/export, and BricsCAD Platinum/BricsCAD Mechanical for assembly import/export.

BricsCAD Shape

In January 2018 Bricsys released a free-of-charge conceptual modelling tool called BricsCAD Shape. This is derived from the BricsCAD Platinum solid modelling core.
The geometry domain of BricsCAD Shape is equivalent to that of BricsCAD and the native file format of both products is.dwg. BricsCAD Shape has a simplified user interface that reduces command options to a minimum for support of effective solids modelling. BricsCAD Shape also includes a library of parametric windows and doors, materials libraries and a set of 3D furniture and objects.

Bricsys 24/7

Bricsys also provides a cloud collaboration SaaS Common Data Environment called Bricsys 24/7. Prior to 09 November 2017, Bricsys 24/7 was known as Chapoo.
It comes in two versions:
BricsCAD implements many AutoCAD Application Programming Interfaces. In general, BricsCAD provides a nearly identical subset of AutoCAD-equivalent function names. In the case of non-compiled AutoCAD applications, these programs can be loaded and executed directly in BricsCAD. Specifically regarding LISP routines, BricsCAD supports AutoCAD Vl, Vlr, Vla and Vlax functions. Bricsys also supports developers who wish to use LISP encryption, BricsCAD cannot read AutoCAD FAS files.
Most compiled application programs developed for AutoCAD's Advanced Runtime eXtension facility require recompilation with the BricsCAD Runtime eXtension libraries. BRX is source code-compatible with AutoCAD's ARX 2018, with a few exceptions. Bricsys also supports the deprecated Autodesk Development System through BricsCAD's SDS interface.

Partners

Bricsys works with application development partners to bring AEC, Civil, GIS and mechanical CAD tools.
Bricsys offers LGS 2D and 3D, two component technologies that enable 2D and 3D constraint management. Bricsys offers licensing of these modules to software developers that build products on Windows, MacOS, and Linux, for integration into their own software products. Licensees for these modules include ASCON, Cimatron and others.

Comparison of speed

According to BricsCAD advocates, BricsCAD's OpenLISP-based run-time environment is faster than AutoLISP.