Custom CAD & BIM automation software development

You are looking for a company to build the tool your engineering department, your workshop or your users are missing: an add-in that automates a repetitive task, a configurator that turns an order into drawings, a link between your CAD files and your ERP. That has been WIIP's business since 2008, from France, for clients across Europe.

From start to finish, you deal directly with the person who designs and develops your software. No middleman between your requirements and the code, and a single point of contact who is accountable for it.

What I develop

Add-ins for your CAD software

New commands, palettes and dialog boxes built into the software your teams already use, so that what takes an hour today takes one click: numbering elements according to your rules, automatic dimensioning, quantity take-off, checking drawings against a CAD standard.

Automated production of drawings and documents

Drawings, sheets, bills of materials, cut lists, inspection reports: anything that follows a rule can be produced by a program from your data, with no re-keying and nothing forgotten.

Configurators

Your customer or your sales rep picks a model, its dimensions and its options; the configurator checks that the choices are consistent and produces the 3D model, the drawings, the parts list or the quote. As a desktop application, inside the CAD software or online.

Product data management (PDM) and ERP integration

Approval workflows, rules on lifecycle state changes, properties written into the title block, bills of materials exported to your ERP or a web service: your design data follows the path your organization has decided on.

Interoperability

Reading, writing and converting the formats you need: DWG, DXF, STEP, SVG, glTF, XML or Excel files coming from other software, calls to a web service. It is often the missing link between two programs that do not talk to each other.

Which software

My main field is the Autodesk range, which I have worked with for more than fifteen years. Each product has its own page, with its technologies and examples:

AutoCAD, and its compatible platforms BricsCAD and ZWCAD — see Custom AutoCAD Development;
Inventor — see Custom Inventor Development;
Revit — see Custom Revit Development;
Vault — see Custom Vault Development;
Autodesk Platform Services, for web applications and the 3D viewer — see Custom APS Development;
CAM: PowerMill, PowerShape, PowerInspect — see Custom CAM Development.

I also work on other CAD software, such as SolidWorks, SketchUp or Rhino3D, and on standalone programs that need no CAD software on the workstation. Development is done in C#/.NET, with the vendors' official programming interfaces. I also take over existing developments in AutoLISP, VBA, VB.NET or C++.

How a project runs

First call — A video call to understand your needs, with no commitment. If your documents are confidential, I sign your non-disclosure agreement before receiving them.
Scoping — We start from your real files and a few representative cases, including the hardest ones. Together we set the business rules, the user's workflow and what the tool delivers. When a technical point is in doubt, I check it in the software before committing.
Fixed-price quote — You receive a written proposal: scope, deliverables, schedule and acceptance criteria, for a fixed price. A large project is split into phases — a prototype, then the production tool — and each phase is ordered separately: you decide on the next step once you have seen the result.
Development and deliveries — You receive intermediate versions with their installer, so you can try them on your own files without any procedure to follow. Your feedback is taken into account along the way, not at the end.
Acceptance testing — The business scenarios agreed during scoping are replayed in the software, with your users. The phase is accepted when they pass.
Go-live and follow-up — The source code and the documentation are handed over to you. A warranty period follows acceptance; a maintenance contract can then take over, to fix defects and port the tool to each new annual release of the software.

Examples of projects

These projects were carried out for manufacturers, engineering firms and software publishers. I keep my clients' names confidential.

Formwork — An AutoCAD add-in chooses joist compositions and positions props or towers, horizontally and vertically.
Joinery — Drawings of fences, gates and railings are produced in AutoCAD from the XML files of a commercial product configurator.
Quality control — In Inventor, the dimensions and geometric tolerances of a drawing are collected to produce the inspection report automatically.
BIM libraries — For a publisher of commercial kitchen design software, the Revit families of several manufacturers are exported in batches to its catalogue, with the power ratings measured for every combination of options.
Product data management — In Vault, an approval workflow writes the approver's name and the date into the title block, and bills of materials are sent to the ERP.
Configurators — An online configurator for commercial kitchens, and a scaffolding configurator that produces the parts list and the quote.

More examples, sorted by software, on the Examples of achievements page.

Autodesk Authorized Developer

WIIP is a member of the Autodesk Authorized Developer program, which gives early access to pre-release Autodesk software and to the vendor's technical teams. Your tools are ready when the next release comes out.

I am also the author of the Revit - Conception de bâtiment series, published since 2014 by Éditions ENI: I know these products from their users' side as well as from their programming interfaces.