3D Modelling

Lazy Man’s Guide to BricsCAD® Shape User Problems - Joachim's Journey Part 17

By Joachim Corijn 5 min March 9, 2020
Lazy Man’s Guide to BricsCAD® Shape User Problems - Joachim's Journey Part 17

In this post we tackle some of the most common pitfalls new users face learning BricsCAD® Shape (the free software from Bricsys) with my Lazy Man's Guide to BricsCAD Shape User problems.

So, you've eagerly downloaded BricsCAD Shape and started to play but you thinking "Why isn't BricsCAD Shape working the way I expect?" "What am I doing wrong?" Don't worry. I'm here to help with some of the most common BricsCAD Shape frustrations!


The commands in BricsCAD Shape aren't working/behaving the way you expect.

Reason 1: You're not using right-click or hitting Enter. -- It might sound silly, but this is a really common mistake.

Solution: Try right-clicking or hitting Enter to execute your command. Right-Click or hit Enter! I insist.

Reason 2: You're not reading the command line.

Solution: See that thing in the bottom left corner? Read it, it tells you what to do. If you double-click it, it expands. Hit F2 to open it in a new window.Lazy Man’s Guide to BricsCAD<sup>®</sup> Shape User Problems - commandline-1024x577


Objects aren't placed where you would expect them to be or the object seems to jump randomly

Reason: Snaps are "moving" the object.
See that red icon? That indicates where the object is going to be placed. If you click the mouse button it goes to that location.

Lazy Man’s Guide to BricsCAD<sup>®</sup> Shape User Problems - red Snap point-1024x663

This red snapping point is the source of your problems.

Solution 1: Turn of snaps: hit F3 to turn snaps on and off.

Solution 2: Type a value into the blue boxes and right-click or hit Enter when the object is in position. Yep, really.
You can manually set the position of an object: type into the little blue boxes. Hit Tab to cycle through the options. Right-click or hit Enter to accept.
If you click the mouse, the object will snap to the red widget.

Lazy Man’s Guide to BricsCAD<sup>®</sup> Shape User Problems - enter


You can only select faces of entities

Solution: Hold Ctrl when hovering over an object. Faces are highlighted in orange, whole objects are blue.Lazy Man’s Guide to BricsCAD<sup>®</sup> Shape User Problems - ctrl


You can't select an entity.

Reason: The object you are trying to select is hidden/covered by another object.

Lazy Man’s Guide to BricsCAD<sup>®</sup> Shape User Problems - tab

Note faces are orange, whole objects are blue.

Solution: Hit Tab. This will cycle through the selection options.


You can't deselect entities

Solution: Hit Esc. Nice and simple.


You can't draw a line

Reason: You did draw it, you just can't see it.

Solution: Rotate the viewport or try and select it with a selection box.Lazy Man’s Guide to BricsCAD<sup>®</sup> Shape User Problems - line


You can't find/don't understand the Quad

Reason: You're moving the mouse too much.

Solution: Let the mouse rest over an object for a little longer.
Those who wait are rewarded with options and suggestions.Lazy Man’s Guide to BricsCAD<sup>®</sup> Shape User Problems - quad


When you change viewport it's really zoomed out

Reason: When you use the LookFrom Widget (the circular thing in the top right corner) to change the view, it fits everything on your drawing into the workspace.

Solution: Delete unwanted content.Lazy Man’s Guide to BricsCAD<sup>®</sup> Shape User Problems - lookfrom


You can't find a command

Solution: Try typing it in. For simple commands like "rotate" or "line", you can just type them in!
It's almost like BricsCAD Shape is reading your mind. Look at the bottom left corner of your screen to see the magic at work.Lazy Man’s Guide to BricsCAD<sup>®</sup> Shape User Problems - commandline


You can't draw vertically

Reason: By default, BricsCAD draws "in 2D" (along the x/y plane). To draw from another angle you need to use DUCS (Dynamic User Coordinate Systems.)

Solution: Enter a 2D command (e.g. line), hover over the face of a cube. When this changes to blue hit Shift. The face will turn darker blue and you will be able to draw from this angle.Lazy Man’s Guide to BricsCAD<sup>®</sup> Shape User Problems - shift

What's next?

In this CAD lesson, we reviewed common, first-time BricsCAD Shape, user problems. Is there anything you think I've missed off my guide? Are there any topics you want me to cover? Then let me know in the comments below!


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Watch the webinar "BricsCAD Shape in 10 minutes"


More CAD lessons:

  1. What is BricsCAD Shape?
  2. Download & Install
  3. Get started
  4. The Interface
  5. Commands
  6. Selecting Objects
  7. Transform
  8. Materials
  9. Components
  10. View Styles
  11. Layers
  12. Editing Entities
  13. More way to Edit Entities
  14. Arrays
  15. Dynamic User Coordinate Systems
  16. Export files and images
  17. Lazy Man's Guide
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