Try Our New CAD Tools

Preview

After chasing Better Building 2D drawing feedback for the better part of a year, we've finally pushed a first release of our new CAD tools.

Our goal is to make life easier, offer more flexibility, and nudge you toward using the platform for more than just ticking a compliance box.

The feature set starts with finally letting go of the PNG-only upload limitation, so PDF's are now in play. On top of that, you get snapping straight to the PDF and a few different ways to draw accurately instead of being stuck with just the one. From there it moves into proper editing and transformation of zones, plus quicker ways to distribute glazing across zones.

To try it out, head to any 2D model and hit the 'New CAD (Preview)' toggle in the top left corner. And if something misbehaves or you simple don't need the full tool set, you can always toggle back.

We really want to hear from you on this one. The more we hear, the more we listen, and the more we actually action. Tell us what works, what doesn't, and what you wish it did.

The Intro I 5 Mins

So what has changed? Let's get into it with a 5 min intro that covers the main features. From revised drawing methods, PDF uploads, detailed snapping, and more, this is very much a slice of things to come.

Importing & Calibration I 5 Mins

The main uplift here is the acceptance and cleaning up of PDF's. No more converting PDF's to PNG's, if that works for you. You can also snap to imported PDF's!

Drawing I 13 Mins

Here, we have focused on how we can enable overlapping of zones, moving away from the restrictions of needing to snap to an opposing node to complete a zone. We have also added some really handy grid guidelines that can be pulled into position to enable better snapping and zone detection.

Editing

For Editing, we have focused on slitting, merging and splitting zones and some tools to quickly fillet or chamfer corners junctions.

Transform

Transforming a zone means copying, mirroring, flipping and rotating.

Glazing I 6 Mins

Focused on more early stage design, our Glazing tools focus on how you can quickly distribute broad glazing distribution to zones or even the whole building.

Measure

This one is pretty obvious, with the main intro simply adding to other tools to create a functional measuring tool.