BricsCAD and AutoCAD® feature comparison

BricsCAD versus AutoCAD® feature comparison.

Drawings
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
Native DWG file format (thru AutoCAD 2021) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Password Protection ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
eTransmit ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Sheet Set Manager ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Geographic Location ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Drawing Compare ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Cloud Collaboration ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Interface
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
Dark and Light Color Themes ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Industry standard commands, aliases, and variables ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Command Line (Autocomplete, Midstring,

Clickable options)

 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Start tab ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
File (Drawing) tabs ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Model and Layout tabs ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Layout Manager ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Menu bar ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Toolbars ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Ribbon ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Tool Palettes ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Contextual Right-click Menus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Contextual Quad Menu ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Status Bar ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Workspaces ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Searchable Settings (Variables) Dialog Box ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Lockable Interface ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Clean Screen Mode ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Drawing Explorer ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Customizable User Interface (CUI) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Structure Browser ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Selection, snap & track
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
Selection Filtering (QSELECT) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Add Selected ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Select Similar ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Selection Cycling ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Entity Snaps (Osnaps) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Polar Tracking ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Zintersection 3D snap ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Nearest Distance ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Adaptive Gridsnap ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Real-time boundary detection ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
2D Dynamic UCS ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
3D Dynamic UCS ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Drawing tools
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
Line, Polyline, 3D Polyline, Spline, Ray, Xline ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Multiline and Multiline Styles ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Circle, Arc, Ellipse, Elliptical Arc ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Polygon, Rectangle, Region, Donut, Point ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Helix ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
2D Parameters, Constraints ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
2D Autoconstrain ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 1 1
Annotation tools
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
Dimensions, Dimension Styles ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Multi-leaders, Multi-leader Styles ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Single and Multi-line text, Text Styles, Text Editor ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Hatches, Gradients, Hatch/Gradient Editor ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Wipeouts ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Revision Clouds ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Attributes, Attribute Editor ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Tables, Table Styles ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Fields ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Data Extraction ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Data Linking ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Annotation Scaling ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Spell Check ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
AutoCAD Mechanical Compatibility: Read, Display, Edit (with limitations) - - - ✓ ✓ - -
Editing tools
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
Move, Copy, Rotate, Scale, Stretch, Mirror, Align ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Trim, Extend, Lengthen, Break, Join ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Fillet, Chamfer ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
CopyGuided ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
MoveGuided ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Grip Edit ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Properties panel ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Manipulator (3D Gizmo) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Draworder ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Undo Per Entity (Property History) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Optimize ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Simplify ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Reference tools
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
Blocks, Block Editor ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Dynamic Blocks 2 2 2 2 2 ✓ ✓
Block Face Camera ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Blockify ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Associative Arrays ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Dwg (Xref) Attach, Clip, Bind, Edit ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
PDF Attach, Clip ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Image Attach, Clip, Adjust, Transparency ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Point Clouds Colormap - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Visualization tools
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
Layers, Layer States ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Transparency ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Visual Styles ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
LookFrom (ViewCube™) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Match Perspective ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Lights - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Sun Properties - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Materials - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Render - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Animation Editor - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Walkthrough navigation - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
ANIPATH command - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Modeling tools
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
ACIS Modeling - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Solid and Surface Modeling - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Solid Primitives - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Mesh Primitives - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Polysolid - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Union, Subtract, Intersect, Interfere - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Extrude, Revolve, Loft, Sweep, Thicken - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Twist - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Fillet, Chamfer - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Slice - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Multi-slice - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
T Connect, L Connect, Connect with Nearest - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Extract Edges - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Direct modeling - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Deformable (Freeform) Modeling - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Audit, Simplify ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Stitch - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
3D Parameters, Constraints - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
3D Autoparametrize - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
3D Blockify and ParametricBlockify - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
3D Parametric Design Tables - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Section planes - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Drawing Views: Base, Projected, Section, Detail and Break Views - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
3D Threads - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Point Cloud Align - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Point Cloud Bubble Viewer ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Civil tools
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
TIN Surface Modeling - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Civil Points - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
TIN Volume Surface - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Grading - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Alignments - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Profiles (Vertical Alignments) - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Corridors - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Civil 3D Object Enabler ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Boundary Trim - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Building tools
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
CAD-based BIM features - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Structural Modeling Toolset - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Project Database - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Library Database - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Site, Building and Stories - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Windows and Doors - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Fully Parametric BIM Component Creation - - ✓ - ✓ - -
3D Spaces - - ✓ - ✓ - ✓
Quickdraw - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Quickbuilding - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Point Cloud Floor Detection - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Point Cloud Projection - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Point Cloud Geometry Detection - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Point Cloud FitPlanar (geometry detection) - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Propagate - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Custom BIM Properties - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Drawing Customizations - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Analytical Model - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Python Scripts (Beta) - - ✓ - ✓ - -
Manufacturing tools
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
Mechanical Browser - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Parts Library ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Piping - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Assembly Modeling - - - ✓ ✓ - -
Exploded Views - - - ✓ ✓ - -
Kinematic Analysis - - - ✓ ✓ - -
Bill of Materials - - - ✓ ✓ - -
Balloons associated with BOM and Drawing Views - - - ✓ ✓ - -
Sheet Metal Design - - - ✓ ✓ - -
3D Solids to Sheet Metal Parts Recognition and Conversion - - - ✓ ✓ - -
Corner Relief for Adjacent Edge Flanges - - - ✓ ✓ - -
Lofted Bends - - - ✓ ✓ - -
Other features: Junctions, Miters, Tabs, Form Features - - - ✓ ✓ - -
Coloring - - - ✓ ✓ - -
Diagnostic & Repair for Invalid Sheet Metal Features - - - ✓ ✓ - -
Batch Processing - - - ✓ ✓ - -
Import, export, output
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
Print/Plot ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Publish/Batch Plot ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
CTB & STB Table Files ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
PC3 Printer Configuration Files ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Named Page Setups ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
PDF Import, Export ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
DAE Import, Export ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
IFC Import, Export - - ✓ - ✓ - ✓
3DM Import, Export - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
LandXML Import, Export - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Import Civil 3D - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
RFA Import - - ✓ - ✓ - -
SKP Import - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
DGN Import ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
RVT Import - - ✓ - ✓ - -
DWF Export ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
SVG Export ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
FBX Export ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
STL Export ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Point Cloud Export (see below the available formats) - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - 3
las - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - 3
pts - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - 3
Point Cloud Import (see below the available formats) - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - 3
las - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - 3
laz - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - 3
pts - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - 3
ptx - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - 3
e57 - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - 3
rcs - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
rcp - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓

Additional formats available with BricsCAD Communicator (see below)

 - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - + / -
CATIA V4 4.1.9 − 4.2.4 - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
CATIA V5 V5R8 − V5−6 R2021 - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
IGES up to 5.3 - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Inventor V11 − V2022 - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
JT 8.x, 9.x, 10, 10.2, JT 10.3, and JT 10.5 - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
NX 1 − NX 195311 − NX 1953 - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Parasolid 9.0.x − 33.0.x - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Pro/E / Creo 16 − Creo 8.0 - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Solid Edge V18 − SE 2021 - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
SolidWorks 2003 − 2021 - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
STEP AP203, AP214, AP242 - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
STL All (Graphical data only) - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
VDA−FS 1.0 − 2.0 - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
XCGM R2012 − 2021 1.0 - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Programming
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
ActiveX ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Extended Entity Data Editor ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Script Recorder ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Full LISP Support (vl, vlr, vla and vlax) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
Solutions Development System (SDS/ADS) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
DCL engine ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
COM API - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
VBA Projects Support - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
.NET - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
BRX (ARX) - ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - ✓
TX (Teigha eXtensions) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
CUI menu files support, with Diesel expressions ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Licensing
BricsCAD AutoCAD®
Lite Pro BIM Mechanical Ultimate LT Full
Multi-platform Licenses ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Perpetual ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Perpetual + Maintenance ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Subscription ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Network Multi-user ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Volume (Perpetual) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ - -
Academic ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

(1) You can automatically apply geometric constraints but you cannot automatically apply a combination of geometric and dimensional constraints.

(2) You can manipulate dynamic block insertions but you cannot create dynamic block definitions.

(3) In the Autodesk® product suite, Recap is needed to import non-native point cloud formats and convert to AutoCAD's native rcs/rcp. For las/laz/pts/ptx, Map 3D and/or Civil 3D may be sufficient.