Does this replace shop draftsmen?

No. Shop drawing automation removes the tracing and retyping pass so draftsmen can focus on judgment and constructability. The agent lays out sheets, dimensions, and schedules from the Revit or AutoCAD model, but a human still reviews tolerances, build sequence, and trade-specific details. Firms typically reassign experienced staff toward coordination and RFIs instead of manual redrawing.

What sheet formats are supported?

Labs engagements support Revit sheet sets through the VitruAI + Revit integration and AutoCAD DWG output through VitruAI + AutoCAD. Each deployment calibrates to the firm’s title blocks, revision-cloud styles, and annotation standards so generated sheets match existing shop sets. Mixed environments, where Revit drives plans and AutoCAD holds legacy details, are also supported with project-specific configuration.

How does the BOM tie work?

Each line on the panel schedule and BOM ties back to a Revit element ID or an AutoCAD entity handle, so quantities always trace to a specific modeled object. When the model changes, the BOM updates on the next run, keeping counts aligned with the geometry and parameters. The same pattern underpins BIM-to-BOQ automation, so cost and fabrication teams can work from a single, model-linked quantity source.

When does this ship as a productised release?

Shop drawing automation is available now as a Labs engagement under MSA + Appendix, where VitruAI co-builds the workflow against one live project. Productised release follows once at least three design-partner deployments validate the rule pack across different trades and model standards. Firms that join the Labs cohort influence supported detail types, template structures, and integration depth with the Shop Drawings Agent.

Use Case Roadmap

Shop Drawing Automation

Shop drawing automation generates fabrication-grade shop drawings from a Revit or AutoCAD model, using the firm’s shop-drawing template and fabrication BOM standard to produce dimensioned details, panel schedules, and BOM-tied plates. It outputs a sheet-laid-out shop set ready for the trade contractor and is available now as a Labs engagement under MSA + Appendix.

Shop drawing sets generate directly from the Revit or AutoCAD model instead of being redrawn from PDFs or scanned plots.
Panel schedules and BOMs auto-tie to Revit element IDs or AutoCAD entity handles for traceable quantities.
Re-runs on model revisions update only changed sheets, keeping revision clouds and histories aligned with the latest design.

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How it works

From redraw-the-set to read-the-model.

Workflow today

01

Project awarded

Week 0. The trade contractor wins the package and needs fabrication-grade shop drawings before procurement can lock quantities. The team receives the architect’s Revit model or PDF set plus a generic specification, but no drawings in the firm’s shop format. Estimating hands over marked-up prints and a rough panel schedule in Excel.

Week 0
02

Drafting team redraws from the architect’s set

Week 1–4. Drafters trace architectural plans and elevations into the firm’s Revit or AutoCAD template, rebuilding every dimension, tag, and detail by hand. Panel schedules live in Excel, disconnected from the model. Any mismatch between the architect’s Revit model and the traced shop drawings goes unnoticed until coordination. Pre-award layouts from pre-sales drawing production are often discarded and rebuilt.

Week 1–4
03

Revisions cascade

Week 4+. RFIs and design clarifications arrive sporadically. Each change means re-tracing affected areas, updating dimensions, and manually checking panel counts against the latest model. Old sheets linger in circulation. Panel schedules drift away from the live Revit or AutoCAD geometry because no one has time to reconcile every element. Coordination meetings become about finding which sheet is current.

Week 4+
04

Fabrication chases clarifications

Week 6+. Fabrication discovers mismatches between the shop drawings and the architect’s intent: misaligned openings, incorrect panel sizes, or outdated hardware schedules. The team pauses production, requests clarifications, and issues revised DWGs or PDFs. Rework and scrap increase, and the contractor absorbs delays that started with manual shop drawing production rather than model-driven output.

Week 6+

Workflow with VitruAI

01

Run the Shop Drawings Agent

Day 1, ~2 hours. The team runs the Shop Drawings Agent against the Revit central model through the VitruAI + Revit integration or an AutoCAD DWG export through VitruAI + AutoCAD. The agent reads the model geometry, views, and parameters, then maps them into the firm’s shop-drawing template, title blocks, and revision-cloud conventions. Pre-sales layouts from earlier pursuits can be referenced instead of rebuilt.

Day 1, ~2 hours
02

Review the generated set

Day 1–3. The agent emits fabrication-grade shop sheets: dimensioned plans, elevations, and details, plus panel schedules and BOM-tied plates that reference Revit element IDs or AutoCAD entity handles. The drafting lead reviews dimensions, checks tolerances, and resolves fabrication-side decisions such as jointing, fixings, and build sequence. Any redlines are applied once in the model-linked views rather than traced across multiple sheets.

Day 1–3
03

Re-runs on revisions

Ongoing. When the architect issues an RFI response or revised model, the team scopes a re-run to affected views and sheets only. The agent regenerates those sheets, preserving title blocks and sheet numbers while updating dimensions, tags, and schedules. Revision clouds and deltas carry forward according to the firm’s standard. Because panel schedules and BOMs are model-tied, quantities update with each run, similar to the BIM-to-BOQ automation workflow.

Ongoing
04

Ship to fabrication

Week 1–2. The contractor issues a shop drawing set that aligns with the live model, with revision-ready clouds and a BOM that matches modeled elements. Fabrication teams work from DWGs or PDFs generated from the calibrated Revit or AutoCAD environment, with clear traceability back to the source geometry. The same automation pattern extends later to pre-award scenarios handled by pre-sales drawing production, keeping workflows consistent across the project lifecycle.

Week 1–2

Common questions