CalqFrançaisOpen CalqLearn Calq: a building from A to Z
From your first click to a complete building, one step at a time. Every lesson is done on the real board, and every picture and moving picture is taken from it.
The course follows one building from beginning to end: four storeys, shops on the ground floor and flats above. Each part is a stage a BIM project goes through: setting the project up, the site, the brief, the massing, the building elements, the rooms, the views, the drawings and sheets, the checks and the exchange in IFC.
It works to the international standards Calq is built on: ISO 19650 for naming and issuing information, ISO 7200 for the title block, IFC for the model you hand over, Uniclass and IPMS for classification and areas. Where a lesson touches a standard, it says what the tool follows.
Everything here runs on a free account. Open Calq in another tab and do each step as you read it.
Part 0Start here
Open Calq, find your way round the board, move in the views and pick up the tools.
- 0.1Open Calq and start a modelOpen the modeller in your browser, choose your language and see how a draft becomes a saved model.
- 0.2The board, edge by edgeWhere everything lives: the menus, the views as tabs, the tool palette, the right rail and the cursor line.
- 0.3Views, tabs and splitOpen any view from the + of the tabs, split the board to see views side by side and choose which view each pane shows.
- 0.4Move around a viewZoom with the wheel, pan with the middle button, orbit in 3D with Shift and the middle button, and fit the view back.
- 0.5Tools, codes and snapsTake a tool by its two-letter code, draw with the snaps, undo and redo, and find any command.
Part 1Set up the project
Before anything is drawn: how the information is named, the storeys, the structural grid and where the building stands on the earth.
- 1.1Name the information (ISO 19650)Give the model its project code, its originator and its volume, so every file, sheet and export is named to ISO 19650; fill the title block and choose the project's standards.
- 1.2Levels and storeysName the ground floor, add the storeys above, give the shop storey its height and move between the storeys.
- 1.3The structural gridLay the grid the building is set out on, add a grid line by hand and dimension every bay in one click.
- 1.4Coordinates and true northPlace the project base point, the survey point and true north, so the model stands at its real place on the earth and its IFC says so.
Coming next
The rest of the course follows the same building to its issued drawings and its IFC. These parts are being written and captured now.
- Part 2 The siteThe plot, the ground and its levels, what stands round it and the rules that apply to it.
- Part 3 The briefThe spaces the building must hold, brought in from a spreadsheet and checked against the model.
- Part 4 MassingThe building as volumes first: masses, the brush, the spine and design options to compare.
- Part 5 Building elementsWalls and their types, doors and windows, floors, roofs, stairs, ramps, railings, columns, beams and curtain walls.
- Part 6 Rooms and interiorsRooms, areas and zones, units of flats, finishes, furniture and your own parametric components.
- Part 7 Editing the modelMove, copy, rotate, mirror, array and align; grips, constraints, groups, phases and options.
- Part 8 ViewsPlans, sections, elevations and 3D; the section box, graphics, drawing styles and scales.
- Part 9 Drawings and sheetsDimensions, tags and leaders, drafting views and details, schedules, sheets, the title block and the drawing set.
- Part 10 Checks and dataThe model check, the code check, quantities, cost and carbon, and issues raised as BCF.
- Part 11 ExchangeIFC4, IFC 4.3 and IFC2X3 out, gbXML for energy, DXF and DWG; PDFs, images and meshes in.
- Part 12 Working togetherThe people on a model and their roles, live cursors, comments and sign-off from a link.
- Part 13 Calq AI and outside assistantsAsking Calq AI to build and check, and connecting Calq to the assistant you already use.
- Part 14 MasteryThe drafting commands, your own tools, rendering and the walkthrough film.