CalqOpen CalqThe Calq guide
Calq is a BIM modeller that runs in a browser tab. You model walls, floors, roofs, stairs and rooms, and the plans, sections, elevations and sheets come from the same model, drawn to scale with their dimensions, keys and title blocks. It is free to draw without an account; saving makes a free account that imports IFC and CAD and exports IFC, DXF, COBie, gbXML and PDF sheet sets. The AI tools are on the paid plans, and Pro starts with a 14-day trial.
Facts
- Made in Madinah, Saudi Arabia, by Calq (founded 2024). Contact: [email protected].
- It runs in the browser (WebGL 2): no install, on Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, tablets and phones.
- Free to draw: open calq.live and draw without an account. Saving makes a free account with cloud save (3 projects, up to 10 models each, 1 GB), IFC, DWG and DXF import, every export, presentations with a public link and the assistant door.
- Pro starts with a 14-day trial and 1,200 AI credits. Checkout on Stripe takes a card and charges nothing until the trial ends; cancelled before, the account is Free and keeps everything it made.
- Starter (the AI design tools that run on Calq: plan, facade, concept and massing options, reading a plan, photo or survey image into a model, AI renders, select by words; 6,000 AI credits a month) and Pro (Calq AI, an agent that draws on the board; every tool at the assistant door; the Revit add-in, Revit 2021 to 2027, two-way, in development) are announced and not on sale yet.
- Assistants: ChatGPT, Claude and any client of the Model Context Protocol connect to one address, https://api.calq.live/mcp, sign in with the Calq account (OAuth 2.1) and build and edit its models with the modelling tools, the thinking done by the assistant itself. On every plan, Free included; the tools that run AI or a server renderer on the Calq side (reading a drawing or photo, AI renders, server images of a view, server PDF packs) are kept for a plan.
- 28 element kinds and 17 kinds of view, all from one model; every element maps to an IFC class.
- Exports (every plan, Free included): IFC4 Reference View (default), IFC 4.3, IFC2X3 Coordination View 2.0, COBie 2.4, gbXML 0.37, DXF, PDF sheet sets, MP4 walkthroughs, the PDF print of a sheet, SVG and PNG.
- Imports: IFC, DXF and DWG as native elements; BCF 2.1 and 3.0 issues; IDS 1.0 requirements; survey points as CSV, TXT, XYZ or PNEZD; LandXML; GeoJSON; images and PDF as underlays.
- Standards built in: ISO 19650-2 (UK National Annex 2021) naming, ISO 7200 title blocks, ISO 4157-2 room and door numbers, ISO 13567-2 CAD layers.
- Interface in English; metric and imperial units and scales.
- Your projects are not used to train AI models.
The guide
- What Calq isCalq is a BIM modeller and drafting board that runs in a browser tab: one model, drawings to scale, IFC out on every plan. Free to draw, without an account until you save.
- Modelling: elements and viewsThe 28 element kinds and 17 kinds of view in Calq: walls, floors, roofs, stairs, rooms and topography, drawn in plans, sections, elevations, schedules and 3D.
- Drawings and sheetsHow Calq draws: one scale per view, automatic dimension strings, keys and leaders, seven drawing styles, ISO 7200 title blocks and ISO 19650 sheet names.
- IFC and file exchangeFiles in and out of Calq: IFC4 Reference View, IFC 4.3 and IFC2X3 export checked against the official schema, COBie, gbXML, DXF, PDF; IFC, DXF, DWG, BCF and IDS in.
- Site and topographyBring a survey into Calq as points, CAD contours, LandXML or GeoJSON, see the bad rows named, grade the ground, cut a profile and seat a building on the site.
- The plan engineThe Calq plan engine lays a storey of flats: a corridor, a core, a mix of studios to three-beds, under the UK, US, Saudi or Dubai codes. A drawn flat becomes a unit every copy follows.
- Presentations and walkthroughsCompose sheets, boards and decks from the model, share a presentation by link, and export a camera walkthrough as MP4 at 720p, 1080p or 4K (with a free account).
- Calq and RevitHow Calq works with Revit: IFC and DXF today; a Revit 2021 to 2027 add-in with two-way sync of elements, views and parameters is in development for Pro.
- Calq AICalq AI is an agent inside the Calq board that draws with the same tools a person uses: walls, openings, rooms, a floor of flats, a facade, the ground. On Pro, and in its 14-day trial.
Models you can open
281 buildings in 42 ready models, each built by the same engines you draw with. Any of them opens on the board in your browser, without an account.
- DomesParametric dome models from the Pantheon, Hagia Sophia and the Dome of the Rock to Cairo, Isfahan and Samarkand: each a closed solid with its IFC class. Open them free in the browser.
- Minarets and mosquesMinarets of 25 traditions and mosques of the Levant, Anatolia, Persia, Arabia, the Maghreb, Africa and Asia, each with its mihrab, portal, merlons and dome, as BIM models you can open free.
- RoofsEvery roof family Calq draws, the irregular plans, dormers and roof lights and the regional build-ups: 51 buildings fitted out with rooms and stairs, free to open in the browser.
- Flats and the plan engineApartment blocks laid by the Calq plan engine: slabs, L, T, U, Z and courtyard blocks, bent and stepped slabs, towers, under the UK, US, Saudi and Dubai codes; and the units catalogue, a flat drawn once with its variants, repeated and edited once. Free to open and change.
- Houses, offices, clinics and schoolsHouses and villas, offices, shops and workshops, clinics, wards, schools, civic buildings and a hotel, under no code and the UK, US and Saudi codes: BIM models to open free in the browser.
- Renovations in phasesFour renovations with every element carrying its status (existing, demolished, new, temporary) so the existing, demolition and proposed views draw themselves. Free to open.
- Sites and topographySites made by the Calq ground engine from a points CSV, CAD contours, LandXML and GeoJSON, graded and read, with houses seated on them. Free to open in the browser.