AI delivers 3D BIM model from 2D sketch
While AI is in full hype cycle and not a day passes without some grandiose AI claim, there are some press releases that raise the wizened eyebrows at AEC Magazine HQ.
North Carolina-based start-up, Higharc, has demonstrated a new AI capability which can automatically convert 2D hand sketches to 3D BIM models within its dedicated housing design system. This type of capability is something that several generic BIM developers are currently exploring in R&D.
Higharc AI, currently in beta, uses visual intelligence to auto-detect room boundaries and wall types by analysing architectural features sketched in plan. In a matter of minutes, the software then creates a correlated model comprising all the essential 3D elements that were identified in the drawing – doors, windows, and fixtures.
Everything is fully integrated with Higharc’s existing auto-drafting, estimating, and sales tools, so that construction documents, take-offs, and marketing collateral can be automatically generated once the design work is complete.
In one of the demonstrations we have seen, a 2D sketch of a second floor is imported, analysed and then automatically generates all the sketched rooms and doors, with interior and exterior walls and windows. The AI generated layout even means the roof design adapts accordingly. Higharc AI is now available via a beta program to select customers.
Marc Minor, CEO and co-founder of Higharc explains the driving force behind Higharc AI. “Every year, designers across the US waste weeks or months in decades-old CAD software just to get to a usable 3D model for a home,” he says.
“Higharc AI changes that. For the first time, generative AI has been successfully applied to BIM, eliminating the gap between hand sketches and web-based 3D models. We’re working to radically accelerate the home design process so that better homes can be built more affordably.”
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AI demo
In the short video provided by Higharc, as seen below, we can see a hand drawn sketch imported into the Autolayout tool. The sketch is a plan view of a second floor, with bedrooms, bathrooms and stairs with walls, doors and windows indicated. There are some rough area dimensions and handwritten notes, denoting room allocation type. The image is then analysed. The result is an opaque overlay, with each room (space) tagged appropriately, and a confirmation of how many rooms it found. There are settings for rectangle tolerance, minimum room areas. The next phase is to generate the rooms from this space plan.
We now switch to Higharc’s real-time rendered, modelling and drawing environment, where each room is inserted on the second floor of an existing single floor residential BIM model, where walls, windows, doors and stairs are added and materials are applied. This is simultaneously referencing an image of the sketch. The accurate BIM model has been created, combining traditional modelled with AI sketch-to-BIM generation.
