In the last February 6th and 7th, took place the FOSDEM 2021, an event organized to promote the use of free and open source software. Usually based in Brussels, the event happened online this year due to the pandemic. FOSDEM features a wide range of subjects and one of the Devrooms was about Computer Aided Modeling and Design, which held some interesting talks that gave us the state of the art of FOSS development for the AEC industry. ...

Tridify is an IFC data streaming service to facilitate BIM models visualizations. With Tridify you can easily share and view IFC models in any web browser. Although it is a proprietary service, Tridify supports open source projects, according to Jukka Muhonen, Head of Production at Tridify: ...

Another exciting news for the users of Open Source 2D CAD softwares! LibreCAD has a new release candidate for the version 2.2.0. LibreCAD is an open source 2D CAD application with a mature development that works in Linux, Windows and macOS. It has all the basic features you would expect from a 2D drafting tool, and it is suitable for development of architectural drawings such as plans, sections and elevations. If you are new to LibreCAD you can start by reading their documentation, which offers a good amount of information to understand the software and start working with it. You can also visit their forum to ask questions and search for answers. ...

For those who haven’t heard of Ladybug Tools before, it is an open source collection of free computer applications that support environmental design and education connecting 3D Computer-Aided Design (CAD) interfaces to a host of validated simulation engines. Although Ladybug Tools do ship platform agnostic libraries, it is currently primarily only usable with proprietary tools, but there is a project underway to make it available for Blender. ...

LibreDWG 0.12 is released. LibreDWG is a free C library to handle DWG files, the native file format from AutoCAD. This library aims to create an API to support softwares to work with DWG. It is currently in the beta stage, so it doesn’t have all the features implemented. However, it already handles reading, converting and writing files from scratch. It also features “SVG and Postscript conversion, converters from and to DXF and JSON, dwggrep to search for text, and dwglayer to print the list of layers.” ...

OpenProject 11.1 has recently been released. OpenProject is an open source and free web application for BIM project management. It includes most typical features you might expect from project management services, like task management, milestone planning, gantt charts, team collaboration, and issue management. There are also additional features relevant to AEC including cost reporting, time tracking, and a shared project wiki. OpenProject supports a variety of project management ideologies, like kanban, agile and scrum. It is unique compared to other open source offerings in that it also has a BIM module. The BIM module allows you to view your model, and integrates with technologies like BCF. ...

IFC.js is an open source project created by Antonio Gonzales Viegas. It is a new JavaScript library that turns any browser into an IFC viewer. It is a quick and easy way to visualize your IFC files. In addition, as it is browser based, you can also use this in mobile devices. ...

The Krita team released the first beta of their new version 4.4.2. It comes with a lot of bug fixes but also with a few new interesting features. Krita is a software for digital painting, but its features make it a good alternative to work with architectural visualization. ...

Archipack has now a new release which is compatible with Blender 2.91! Archipack 2.3.3 brings a few bug fixes and enhancements. According to its developer, Stephen Leger, the highlights of this new version are: “Auto-synchro” feature now is a global parameter so you are able to disable once for all objects. Triangular top shape for windows through “top circle” and 2 segments. Archipack is an add-on that focus on creating archviz solutions to fasten architectural modeling inside Blender. With Archipack you have access to a set of parametric tools for modeling architectural elements. Instead of creating a plane, scale it and then extrude it to create a wall, you can simply use the wall tool from Archipack. It’s not only faster to create, but the most powerful feature is the editing capability. For that, you can type in the wall dimensions, create new segments and automatically join them. All of this in a non-destructive way. The same logic applies to other tools like slab, door, window, fence, stair, roof and so on. ...

There’s been a new BlenderBIM Add-on release! The BlenderBIM Add-on v0.0.201207 comes with 50 new features and fixes. The BlenderBIM Add-on is 100% free and open source software that lets you author and document BIM data fully to ISO standards. Highlights include drastically improved material, geometry, and context IFC round-tripping, and stabilisation of the new material system. ...