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AI drafting for structural

AI Drafting for Structural Engineering

Structural engineers often finish the analysis long before the drawings catch up, because every member size, footing mark, and connection still has to be tagged, scheduled, and detailed by hand. Nomic drafts framing plans, foundation plans, schedules, general notes, and typical details in CAD in your house style, from the members your engineer of record selected, and checks the set against the IBC, ACI 318, and AISC 360 editions you name.

Start for freeAll drafting work
Last reviewed: November 2026

You send

  • Architectural plans, sections, and the column grid
  • Your engineer's marked-up framing sketch or analysis export
  • The geotechnical report
  • Your detail library, CAD standards, and past structural sets
  • The IBC, ACI 318, AISC 360, and ASCE 7 editions the project follows

Nomic hands back

  • Framing and foundation plans as DWG files
  • Footing, column, beam, and lintel schedules in Excel and on the sheet
  • Typical details and general notes in your house style
  • Revision clouds on every change and a list of open questions for the engineer of record
1234567ABCW21x44W21x44W21x44W14x2218K5 @ 5'-0" O.C.TOP OF STEEL EL. 128'-6" | 3" COMPOSITE DECK + 3-1/4" LW CONC.27'-3"27'-0"27'-3"27'-3"27'-0"27'-3"94'-8"1AFRAMING PLANSCALE: 1/8" = 1'-0"N1234CONSULTING ENGINEERSREVISIONS1ISSUED FOR REVIEWPROJECTNORTHGATE MEDICALSCALE1/8" = 1'-0"DATE09/14/2026KEY PLANSHEET TITLEFRAMING PLANSHEET NUMBERS-201

On the sheet

Framing Plan, annotated

A structural framing plan with columns on the grid, girders, infill beams, and the lateral system.

  1. 1Steel column at each grid intersection
  2. 2Girder on the grid line, sized on plan
  3. 3Joists with spacing and span arrow
  4. 4Moment connection in the lateral frame

The problem

The design is done and the sheets are not

Once the engineer settles on W16x26 infill beams, W24x55 girders, and a 3 in. composite deck with 3-1/4 in. lightweight topping, someone still has to tag every beam with size, camber, and stud count, draw the column schedule, lay out footings and grade beams on the foundation plan, and pull the right typical details from the last three jobs. When the architect shifts a column line 2 ft or adds a shaft opening, a stack of plans, sections, and schedules changes at once.

Structural general notes are where small misses hide. IBC 1603 requires the design loads on the construction documents, so live loads, snow, wind, and seismic data all have to match the calcs. Notes copied from a prior project carry an old concrete strength, the wrong ACI edition, or a special inspection list that does not fit this building, and the plan reviewer is the one who reads them closely.

01 / Plans

Framing and foundation plans from the engineer's design

Attach the architectural plans, your engineer's marked-up framing sketch or analysis export, and the geotechnical report. Nomic draws grids, columns, beams, and openings on your layers, tags each member as your engineer selected it, and lays out footings, grade beams, and slab edges on the foundation plan.

  • Beams and girders tagged with size, camber, and stud count
  • Footings, piers, and grade beams marked and dimensioned to grid
  • Slab edges, openings, and depressions coordinated with the architect
02 / Schedules

Schedules and details in your house style

Nomic builds footing, column, beam, and lintel schedules from the marks it drew, and pulls typical details from your detail library and past projects so they look the way your firm draws them. Each detail is coordinated to the sizes on the plans.

  • Footing, pier, column, and lintel schedules in Excel and on the sheet
  • Typical connection, slab edge, and foundation details in house style
  • General notes with design loads filled in from the calcs
03 / Check

Checked against the building code and the calcs

Nomic checks its own sheets against IBC Chapters 16 to 23 and the material standards you name, the geotechnical report, and the architectural set. Every finding cites the code section or document, and the member design and the stamp stay with your engineer of record.

  • Design loads in the general notes compared to the calcs
  • Footing depths compared to the frost depth and bearing in the geotech report
  • Untagged members and grid mismatches with the architect flagged

Checked against

The code and documents behind every sheet

Name the editions the project is designed to and Nomic checks its own drawing against them before handing it back. Your engineer or architect of record makes the final call and stamps the set.

  • IBC Chapters 16 to 23
  • ASCE 7 loads
  • ACI 318 concrete
  • AISC 360 steel
  • The geotechnical report
  • Your firm CAD standards and detail library

How it works

From a sentence to a stamped set

  1. Step 1

    Ask for the drawing

    Say what the sheet needs to show and attach the backgrounds, markups, cutsheets, or photos. A sentence is enough to start.

  2. Step 2

    Nomic drafts it in CAD

    Nomic works in CAD on its own computer, on your layers and blocks, following how your firm drew the same thing before. It saves real DWG files to the project.

  3. Step 3

    Nomic checks its own work

    The drawing is checked against the code editions you name and the source documents. Everything Nomic drew is clouded, and open questions are listed.

  4. Step 4

    Your team reviews and stamps

    Your engineers and architects review the clouded changes, make the final call, and issue the set under their own stamp.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Nomic works in CAD on its own computer and saves DWG files for framing plans, foundation plans, schedules, general notes, and typical details. It drafts from the members and footings your engineer selected and follows your firm's detail library and drawing style.

No. Your engineer of record decides the members, connections, and foundations and stamps the drawings. Nomic drafts from the analysis output or markup your engineer provides, checks the drawings against the code and the calcs, and lists anything it could not resolve.

Yes. Nomic reads your detail library and the details on past projects and drafts new or updated details on your layers, hatches, line weights, and text styles, with dimensions and callouts in the format your firm uses.

No. Nomic is not a plugin. It saves DWG files you open in AutoCAD or any DWG editor, plus a change list your modeler links into the Revit model if your structure is modeled there.

Nomic checks against the IBC chapters on structural design, materials, and foundations, plus ASCE 7, ACI 318, and AISC 360 in the editions you name. It also compares the sheets to the geotechnical report, the architectural grid, and your engineer's calcs.

Keep reading

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AI Drafting for Structural Engineering: Plans, Details | Nomic