Upload a drawing and turn it into a structure. CAD drawings (DXF, or a PDF exported from CAD) are read automatically: closed shapes and filled squares become columns, the grid comes from them, beams run between neighbouring columns, parallel line pairs become walls and the bays become slab panels. Scans and photos are traced with snapping tools after calibrating on a known dimension. Check and edit the members, see the building in 3D, take off quantities and price them with the PWD Schedule of Rates 2022 (Revised) or Australian rates, and design the members — RC frames with the BNBC 2020 engine or in the 3D Frame Studio, steel portal sheds, houses through the house estimator and retaining walls right here.
Scope & limitations
Automatic reading works on clean CAD plans; always check what was found against the drawing. Preliminary sizing and budgeting only — final designs need a structural engineer. Drawings are read in your browser and never uploaded.
What the Drawing to Model Studio does
Open a drawing: a DXF from any CAD program (DWG must be saved as DXF first), a PDF exported from CAD, or a scanned plan or photo in PNG or JPG. Set the scale from the DXF units, the PDF drawing scale (1:100 and so on) or by calibrating on a dimension you know. Choose what the drawing shows: an RC framed building, a house or granny flat, a steel shed or portal frame, or civil items such as retaining walls, drains and footings.
Read the drawing finds the members in vector drawings: columns from closed rectangles, filled shapes, circles and I-sections (layers named COL help), the grid from the column centres, beams between neighbouring columns, slab panels between grid lines and walls from pairs of parallel lines; retaining walls, drains, strip and pad footings come from layers with those names. For scans and photos, or to fix what was read, trace with the column, beam, wall, slab and civil tools, which snap to line ends, column centres and grid intersections.
The model table lists every member with editable sizes, the 3D view builds the frame storey by storey, and the estimate takes off excavation, concrete, formwork, reinforcement, brickwork, plaster, finishes, steel and sheeting and prices them at the PWD Schedule of Rates 2022 (Revised) for the chosen region or at indicative Australian rates you can override. Design runs the BNBC 2020 building engine on the frame (earthquake, wind, drift, beams, columns, footings) or sends it to the 3D Frame Studio, sizes portal frames, sends houses to the house estimator and designs cantilever retaining walls for sliding, overturning and bearing. Export to Excel, CSV, JSON, PNG or print, and the Cost & BOQ panel turns the same quantities into a tender BOQ.