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Why I Use BricsCAD for Point Cloud to BIM (And Why Most Teams Overlook It)

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 11:17:27 GMT

Let’s be honest—when it comes to Point Cloud to BIM, most teams default straight to Autodesk Revit.

Not because it’s always the best tool for the job, but because it’s the most familiar.

The problem? Point cloud data doesn’t behave the way traditional BIM tools expect it to.

And that’s exactly where BricsCAD starts to make a lot more sense.

Before going any further—this isn’t a paid promotion, and I’m not affiliated with BricsCAD. This is based purely on project experience.

BIM Software Wasn’t Built for Reality

Most BIM tools—especially Autodesk Revit—are built around idealised geometry:

Straight walls
Perfect alignments
Clean, predictable inputs

Point clouds are the opposite.

They’re messy. Incomplete. Full of inconsistencies. And if you’ve worked on refurbishment or existing buildings, you’ll know—that’s reality.

Trying to force that into rigid parametric rules is where time gets lost.

BricsCAD Doesn’t Fight the Data

What stands out immediately with BricsCAD is that it doesn’t try to “correct” reality—it lets you work with it.

You’re not forced into predefined object behaviour from the start. You can:

Interpret geometry naturally
Model irregular conditions without workarounds
Apply structure and data after you’ve captured the shape

That shift alone makes a huge difference on scan-heavy projects.

The Flexibility Gap Is Real

Here’s the part most people don’t talk about:

In tools like Autodesk Revit, you often spend more time fighting the software than modelling the building—especially when the geometry isn’t textbook-perfect.

With BricsCAD, the process feels much closer to how people actually think when interpreting a scan:

Sketch it
Adjust it
Refine it
Then classify it

It’s a small shift in workflow, but a big shift in efficiency.

AI That Actually Helps (Not Just Marketing)

There’s a lot of noise around “AI in BIM,” but in BricsCAD, some of it is genuinely useful.

Plane detection and geometry recognition tools can take a lot of the repetition out of modelling—especially on large datasets.

It’s not magic, and it won’t replace good judgement—but it does speed up the boring parts.

Direct Modelling Is Underrated

One of the biggest advantages—and one that’s often overlooked—is direct modelling.

Being able to push, pull, and reshape geometry without rebuilding families or breaking constraints is incredibly valuable when working from scan data.

In comparison, more parametric-heavy tools like Autodesk Revit can feel restrictive when you just need to respond quickly to what’s in front of you.

It’s Not About Replacing Revit

To be clear—this isn’t about saying Autodesk Revit is “bad.”

It’s not. It’s still the industry standard for a reason.

But Point Cloud to BIM is a very specific use case—and it exposes some of the limitations of traditional BIM thinking.

BricsCAD fills that gap surprisingly well.

Final Thought

If you’re working on:

Existing buildings
Refurbishment projects
Heritage assets
Or anything driven by scan data

…it’s worth questioning whether your current tool is actually helping—or just familiar.

Because in this space, flexibility beats convention more often than people admit.

Need Help with Scan-to-BIM?

At Bimlead, I help teams implement practical, efficient BIM workflows—including point cloud modelling, automation, and ISO 19650 alignment.

Get in touch to see how we can improve your digital delivery.

Move Elements to another Level (Revit / Dynamo)

183:789920446 (Abdul Shaikh) — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 14:46:08 GMT

Move Elements to Another Level While Keeping Overall Height Unchanged.

This Dynamo script will move all the objects from one level to another level whilst keeping the overall height of those objects unchanged. In other words, the object remains where it was in terms of actual height from the datum, however, the level reference changes.

Revit - Look for missing numbers in a sequence such as door schedule or sheet list using Dynamo

183:789920446 (Abdul Shaikh) — Sat, 24 Sep 2022 14:02:19 GMT

Revit - Look for missing numbers in a sequence using Dynamo

Islamic Patterns adaptive components (Revit)

183:789920446 (Abdul Shaikh) — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 08:49:10 GMT

Revit adaptive component islamic pattern

The families are to be used within a mass driven pattern based curtain wall. These have been tested with a 2m x 2m grid. There are several parameters to tweak the families so that the appearance can be controlled on various grid sizes. Materials and finishes can be added / changed as required. Pattern border can be turned off and on as required.

Multiple .dwg's on Drafting Views each

183:789920446 (Abdul Shaikh) — Sun, 08 May 2022 10:20:38 GMT

Place .dwg's in drafting views

Often, it is required that cad details are to be placed in revit drafting views for cross-referencing. This is a fairly rudimentary task if there are a couple of cad drawings, however it becomes extremly tedious when hundreds of cad files are to be placed on separate drafting views for each one of them.

Please download the dynamo script below and follow the video instructions above. Several dynamo packages may need to be installed before this works properly.

Duplicate Sheets with Views using Dynamo (Pre-Revit 2022)

183:789920446 (Abdul Shaikh) — Sun, 08 May 2022 06:33:43 GMT

Duplicate sheets is now in-built in Revit 2022 onwards

Duplicate sheets with views is now in-built in Revit release 2022 onwards so this script is useful for revit 2021 and previous release only.

Revit - update date format to dd/mm/yy

183:789920446 (Abdul Shaikh) — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 13:28:21 GMT

Free Dynamo Script to update revit date to dd/mm/yy format

Sheet Issue Date parameter in titleblock family & Project Issue Date in Project Information are both set up by default to show the American date format (mmddyy). When a new sheet is created in revit - it generally picks up the American date format even if you are in the UK or elsewhere (where ddmmyy format is used).

Use the free dynamo script below to update all sheet issue date parameter (on all sheets) and the project issue date parameter in Project Information. Note this will change the date on all sheets to today's date and in dd/mm/yy format . Please follow the quick tutorial above to run this script in Dynamo Player.

As always we hope you find this quick script useful and we welcome any comments that you may have.

Download the dynamo script (requires email input)

Elevation colour options - Revit

183:789920446 (Abdul Shaikh) — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 11:45:07 GMT

By using view filters & avoiding complex design options

A question was asked in a BIM forum:

"We like to show the building elevation with 2 or 3 different color options for the client to choose from. Elevations do not change, just the paint is changing. I know I can copy the building over 3 times and give each one different colors, but these are massive buildings and I am hoping to avoid that. Also, I don't think we can use the "design Option" for the pain only.

How would you offer multiple looks for the same building? Any suggestion would be appreciated."

The simplest way to achieve this is by applying view filters to each of the duplicated elevations and then applying various colour / hatch options to duplicated elevations in the vg settings.

For example - see above image showing four colour options for the same elevation. I have duplicated the south elevation four times, applied the same 3 view filters to each elevation picking out the family types that I needed in the options.

Above image shows the rule-based filters created for each of the family types that needs colour changed. Except in-place families and wall sweeps etc.; most of the family types can be picked out. It is also worth playing with the 'AND' and 'OR' rules within the dialouge box - this gives some interesting results.

Below image shows how the wall colour and patterns can be overwritten simply by using the vg command for each elevation.

Hope this little tutorial is useful. The revit file used for this blog can be downloaded here (requires email)

Health & Safety Risk Register & Signs Using Revit

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 16:16:17 GMT

Health & Safety signs - revit template and cad blocks

As part of a project we were assigned - we were asked to build a risk assessment template in revit. We think this will be a good tool for others looking to create a risk assessment in revit & so we have made it available as a free download.

Each category of signage (Emergency / Warning / Mandatory etc.) is built as a family that consists of several types of sub-families within it. Risk assessment is created using Note block function in revit. In the template 'Warning signs' shown as yellow triangles is creating the risk register, however any other category can easily be made to create another register if needed.

The note block lists every instance of warning you place in the model & if you remove a warning sign, the associated risk is removed from the schedule. The signs are based on HSE guidance https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/l64.htm

Also available to download below is the .dwg version of these signs.

Revit signs look slightly different to .dwg signs as we had to optimise them to retain the auto scale ability. It will be interesting to know how others tackle creating risk assessment registers in Revit and BIM systems so please feel free to comment. One of the systems I have come across is Bimsafe https://www.bimsafe.co.uk/ which looks interesting and might be a good tool.

The revit template and cad file can be downloaded here (email required)

ISO 19650 Drawing Numbering

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 00:24:07 GMT

About BS EN ISO 19650-1:2018

ISO 19650 is a international standard produced to remove barriers to collaborative working. Part 1 of this standard; ISO 19650-1 Organization of information about construction works - Information management using building information modelling. Part 1: Concepts and principles - provides recommendations on how to manage building information. Part 2 of this standard; ISO 19650-2 Organization of information about construction works - Information management using building information modelling. Part 2: Delivery phase of assets. - provides information management requirements in the delivery phase of assets. Buy / Download BS EN ISO 19650-1:2018

It is expected that majority of large scale projects in the UK and elsewhere follow this standard to be in line with the latest industry protocols. The UK BIM Alliance published a guide to help individuals and businesses in the UK understand the fundamental principles of this standard. This is now incorporated in UK BIM Framework Standards & Guidance.

Drawing Numbering Convention

According to ISO, issued drawings should follow Project – Originator – Volume/System – Level/Location – Type – Role – Number – Suitability – Revision.

For detailed explanation of each field please read guidance by NG Bailey or by Viewpoint

Bimlead have prepared a Autodesk Revit® & Graphisoft ArchiCAD® project template with in-built parameters related to the ISO drawing numbering convention. We have provided a example A1 title block for both the software and have included the A1 titleblock as well as shared parameter file for Revit. The users can add other titleblock templates such as A2 & A3 as required by modifying the A1 template provided.

Below is a description of how the Field information within each software is driven by the parameters. Status and Revision codes are driven by metadata but can be easily incorporated into titleblocks if needed. The templates can be downloaded from our Tools section above (requires email input). If you have any comments, please feel free to let us know in the comments section below or email us using the contact form, we will be happy to help.

If you have any requirements to develop a bespoke Revit / Archicad template for your firm, please let us know - we are happy to help!

Online Free Event by BIMLEAD

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 16:01:59 GMT

RAL Colours in Revit

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 22:11:18 GMT

RAL is a colour standard widely used in the Construction Industry

Revit does not come with in built RAL chart. By default, only colours Revit comes with is RGB & Pantone. In RGB system, each colour is defined by its associated red, green and blue attribute, whereas Pantone system uses a altogether different way of defining colours based on PMS number.

This all works fine for the graphics industry where standard colours are defined in Pantone or RGB, but when it comes to the AEC industry, none of the colours - for example, for cladding materials etc. are defined by RGB or Pantone. This gives a slight issue for matching RGB colours to their nearest RAL colours as this has to be done in cases where a realistic render image of the design is to be produced.

Now thanks to Tobias Zetterberg from Autodesk Inventor forums who has painstakingly mapped each RAL colour to its nearest RGB value to provide us with a ready to use asset library. The file can be downloaded from our Tools section above (require email details)