One of the challenges I see a lot is an Architect will need to model a kitchen unit, so they go to BIM Object or another library and download a model. There are two problems this creates; firstly the 3D element itself contains an enormous number or polygons which can cause performance issues, and second the Architect is at risk of over-specifying that particular unit when really they just wanted it as a placeholder.

So I built 3DAssetStudio.com to alleviate some of that, I've been slowly picking through the various different categories of assets that might be needed and ended up with over 500 core types, which have 4,000+ presets, which can be adjusted parametrically into millions of combinations. I used FreeCAD script and then built a compiler, so now I can add new elements quite quickly, and the URL parameters configure the asset, so sharing or bookmarking models is really easy.

I'm not sure what to do next, for now I've set a 20 models/week download limit just in case I find a commercial strategy that works, but it's all open to play around with without signing up.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49805715

Points: 2

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Rick and Alex here, co-founders of Cogram. We’ve been making project-management software for architects and engineers since 2023, and are now experimenting with a second product.

Cogram Studio (studio.cogram.com) is a CAD and BIM workspace for AI agents to create three-dimensional models and dimensioned drawings.

Studio runs FreeCAD (https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD) 1.1 headlessly, using the OpenCASCADE (https://github.com/Open-Cascade-SAS/OCCT) geometry kernel. It imports and exports STEP, IFC, STL, DXF and FCStd files. Studio exposes an MCP server, so you can operate it from Claude Code, Codex, ChatGPT, or other agents. Tools cover scripting against FreeCAD, inspecting the model visually, CRUD operations on views, tables, and sheets, importing terrain, etc. Studio also provides a built-in agent based on Pi (https://github.com/earendil-works/pi) and a basic UI for 3D model inspection, measurement, view, table, and sheet creation.

There are two ways to try it:

1. Bring your own agent. Point Codex or Claude Code at studio.cogram.com/skill.md and ask it to follow instructions there. This starts a one-hour Studio session and opens the modelling environment in your browser, connected to your agent. You need to confirm sign up only if you want to save the session.

2. Use Studio’s built-in agent. Submit a prompt at studio.cogram.com and sign up. You receive 50 free credits.

Here are two models created by agents:

- A simple bookshelf (https://studio.cogram.com/view/shr_1agb21nd4) with two sheets

- The Colosseum (https://studio.cogram.com/view/shr_3tm32c64y) [large, can take minutes to load], with two sheets showing dimensioned and annotated views.

For now, Studio works best when you use it iteratively. If you ask an agent for a finished, complex model and “let it rip”, it may produce something that looks convincing but doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Agentic modelling feels roughly like where agentic programming was in 2024: useful for speeding up repetitive or bounded tasks but not yet reliable enough to complete long, complex jobs. Recent models have improved at CAD. We expect progress to accelerate as models become even better at reasoning across the different representations used in architecture and engineering: geometry, drawings, images, materials, physical constraints, specifications, regulations, code, etc.

Early users and our own experience suggest that agents are already useful design collaborators. They can help with repetitive CAD work, fabrication options, part sourcing and cost estimates. We expect that as models improve, agents will be able to explore many different designs, run simulations, and check constraints across an entire project. CAD will become a shared workspace for humans and agents. Because design decisions made in CAD shape much of what is eventually built, even modest improvements could have wide effects.

We’d love to hear your feedback and ideas if you give Studio a try. We’re also hiring across product, engineering and commercial roles. If you’re interested in working on interesting problems involving AI and the physical world, please take a look at our open positions at https://cogram.com/about#careers.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49501620

Points: 6

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Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47808341

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We manage infrastructure using BIM models in Autodesk Viewer. We needed to show aerial imagery and street maps underneath the 3D models, synced to the camera in real-time, so that we can give some context to the shown infrastructure.

The hard part: coordinate transforms. A Revit model's internal coordinates are in feet, rotated, translated, and offset from a local CRS projection, which itself needs to be converted from WGS84. The library ray-casts the camera frustum onto a ground plane, converts the hit points to lon/lat, determines which XYZ tiles to fetch, stitches them into a canvas, and maps the result onto a THREE.js plane, all updating on camera change. ~500 lines of JavaScript, MIT license, one peer dependency (proj4).

We would love to hear community feedback! The reason we decided to open-source is quite common: we couldn't find something similar to this that would not require a significant change to our workflow.

Hope others will find benefit from this library.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47500091

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  The demo loads the BayArena stadium with 324 floodlights carrying real EULUMDAT photometric data embedded in the IFC file. 

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