Creativity is one of the most admired traits a person can have. It’s something that is associated with effective problem solving and with producing work that is inspiring and beautiful.
For students looking to make their mark as they help with the design and modeling of buildings, being creative can be a valuable asset. Of course, computer-aided design is also a domain of work in which it is important to be precise and to meet the specifications outlined by an employer or client. This means the application of creativity in this field requires you to meet a delicate balance.
Want an idea of how to properly unleash your creativity while studying or working with BIM? Here’s what you need to know.
Creativity in BIM Courses Can Mean Using Standard Tools in a Creative Way
An important thing to understand when thinking about creativity in BIM is that being creative doesn’t always mean modeling something with stunning or unique aesthetics. Rather, creativity is often related to solving an unusual problem by creatively applying familiar tools, with the end result being a building that might look totally ordinary.
When trying to get a model just right, consider playing with things like the visibility of objects, 2D and 3D perspectives of the model, enabling and disabling the feature allowing you to snap one object to another, and other tools you encounter when using a CAD software program. Shifts in perspective or approach could reveal important insight into the project you are working on, and experimenting with this could help you achieve greater levels of productivity and success.
Combine Multiple Tools Creatively Throughout Your BIM Courses
As students in BIM courses quickly learn, BIM is not a technology or a particular process, but rather a philosophy about how to design and model structures. What this means is that students and professionals working with this philosophy don’t necessarily need to stick to just the applications specifically designed for BIM in order to accomplish their work.
For example, even though Revit is an industry-standard app for creating impressive BIM models of structures, detail-oriented BIM professionals sometimes prefer to use AutoCAD. This is because AutoCAD is generally a little better at creative, precision line work, making it a good fit for smaller projects requiring more detailing—like an interior remodeling project, for example.
Combine different tools to arrive at creative solutions to your projects
However, the fact that Revit can import projects made with AutoCAD makes it easy to use Revit to add additional dimensions of information—cost, time, usability, and more—to projects initially created with AutoCAD when necessary. In other words, the potential for creating a BIM model that looks great and retains the functionality required by a project’s specs is limited only by how creatively you choose to approach it.
Allowing Apps to do Much of the Heavy Lifting Frees Your Mind for Creative Thinking
The more work you have to do, the greater your mental load, and the less energy you have to devote to approaching a project creatively. One of the greatest benefits of the apps used in BIM work is that they have many little features built in that are meant to save you time and effort, making it easier to devote more attention to finding creative solutions to your work.
Take a bit of time when starting BIM and CAD online courses to get to know some of these features. Explore keyboard shortcuts and note down the ones you find most useful, and use the internal notes function to keep track of changes to your model. On a more advanced level, you can even configure Revit so that double-clicking doesn’t open the object in the family editor (something that slows modeling down for many newcomers). Take some time to look for other settings and tools to enhance your productivity, and make use of any that you find helpful. Saving yourself a little effort here and there is a great way to lighten your mental load and free yourself up for a more creative approach to your work.
Do you want to take on an interesting, creative career modeling objects and structures?
Contact Digital School to learn more about doing CAD training online!
