Modelling · Indo-Revit

BIM software online — Revit-style modelling in a browser

Indo-Revit is the BIM authoring module inside CivilOS: free building information modelling software that opens in a browser tab, with no installation, no licence server and no student watermark. You set out levels, raise walls on them, host doors and windows in those walls, lay floors, drop columns and beams, then look at the result in 3D and in elevation and schedule what you have built.

It is meant for the person who needs a coordinated model rather than a set of unrelated lines — an architect or civil engineer on a house, a shop, a small office block or an institutional building; a student learning what a hosted element actually is; a contractor's technical team who has been handed an IFC file and needs to open it and read it before quoting.

What you can do

Feature	What it does	Export
Levels	Set storey datums once — plinth, ground, first, terrace — and build every element against them instead of guessing heights	IFC4
Walls	Walls with a real thickness placed level by level, so the model has a fabric and not just an outline	IFC4
Hosted doors and windows	Openings that belong to their wall and are cut by it; move or re-thicken the wall and the opening follows	IFC4
Floors	Slabs bounded on a level, giving you the plate area the model is standing on	IFC4
Columns and beams	Frame members placed against the same levels as the walls they sit with	IFC4
3D view	See the model as a building while you are still authoring it, not after an export step	—
Elevation views	Elevations generated from the model rather than drawn again by hand	—
Schedules	Lists of what has been modelled — the element counts and sizes you would otherwise tally by eye	On screen
IFC4 export	The neutral openBIM handover file that consultants and public clients ask for	.ifc
IFC inspector	Open an IFC file and read its entity tree, so a handover file is something you can check rather than trust	—
BIM Studio (3D)	Companion 3D building and site model with structure X-ray and 40+ tools	GLB · GIF · DXF
Interior Studio	Rooms, furniture and finishes with a walk-in eye-level 3D view	—

The hosting relationship is the whole point of modelling this way. A door drawn as a gap between two wall lines is a drafting convention that has to be re-checked every time the wall changes. A hosted door is a fact about the wall — which is why the schedule can count it, the elevation can show it and the IFC file can carry it to somebody else's software with its relationship intact.

How it fits an Indian project

A model is not the deliverable in most Indian jobs; the sanctioned estimate, the BOQ and the running bill are. CivilOS is arranged around that reality. Before the model there is Space Planning, which produces an NBC-referenced space programme and layout with no AI involved in the arithmetic. After the model, quantities move into BOQ & Estimation and are priced against CPWD DSR 2023 — the full 3,047-item schedule shipped as data — or against a State PWD schedule of rates, with rate analysis, revision snapshots, a sanctioned estimate and an RA bill in the government format.

Reinforcement is detailed separately in the Quantity Survey and BBS module to IS 456, IS 2502, SP 34 and IS 13920, with every row carrying the formula that produced it so a departmental checker can verify rather than recompute. Site follows in QA/QC with 13 IS-code checklists and signed reports. And because a project team in India is rarely monolingual, the whole interface runs in 24 languages including Hindi, Telugu and Tamil.

How to model a building

Open the Revit-style tab and create your levels first — plinth, ground floor, first floor, terrace — with their real heights.
Raise the walls on the lowest level, giving each wall its actual thickness rather than a single line.
Host the openings. Place doors and windows into the walls so each one cuts its own opening and stays attached to its host.
Lay the floors for each level so the model has slabs, and check the enclosed plate area you get.
Place columns and beams against the same levels, keeping the frame consistent with the walls around it.
Copy upward. Build the next level against its own datum instead of drawing a second, unrelated storey.
Review in 3D and elevation, then read the schedules to see whether what you modelled is what you intended.
Export IFC4 for handover — and use the IFC inspector to open the file you just wrote and confirm what is inside it.

What CivilOS does not do

No .rvt files. Indo-Revit is Revit-style authoring, not Revit. It is an independent product, unaffiliated with Autodesk, and it neither opens nor writes .rvt. Interchange is via IFC4.
No clash detection or model coordination. There is no Navisworks-type federation, no clash matrix and no issue-tracking round trip.
No 4D or 5D simulation. The model is not linked to a programme bar or a cash-flow curve. Scheduling lives in the separate CPM module and cost in the BOQ module.
No structural analysis or design. Nothing here solves a frame, sizes a beam or checks a section. There is no ETABS or STAAD-type solver in the product.
No MEP calculation. CivilOS carries MEP symbols and discipline layers such as E-POWR and M-PIPE for drafting services on a plan, but no load, duct, pipe or sizing calculation of any kind.
No rendering engine and no point clouds. The 3D views are working views, not photoreal images, and scan data cannot be brought in.

A model is a draft until an engineer signs it. Geometry, schedules and quantities produced here are for checking. Design responsibility, structural adequacy and statutory approvals remain with the licensed professional on record.

Where a free browser BIM tool fits

Desktop BIM suites are built for the hardest end of the problem: a federated model across architecture, structure and services, parametric family content built to an office standard, hundreds of coordinated sheets issued and re-issued, clash workflows, links into analysis and simulation, and a shared model several people edit at once. Firms buy those licences because that work genuinely needs them, and nothing in a browser tab replaces it.

The part a free browser tool serves well is everything upstream and to the side of that. Getting a real, hosted, level-based model out of an early concept quickly. A small practice whose project is one building rather than one campus. A student who needs to understand hosting and levels without a machine that can carry a licence. A contractor or a client who has been sent an IFC and simply needs to open it, look at it and read what is inside. And a quantity-first workflow, where the model exists mainly so the BOQ, the estimate and the bill are defensible.

Frequently asked questions

Is CivilOS the same as Revit?
No. Indo-Revit is Revit-style BIM authoring, meaning it follows the same working idea of levels, hosted elements and views generated from one model. It is a separate, independent product, it is not affiliated with Autodesk, and it does not open or write .rvt files. Where the two differ we say so on this page.

What does hosted mean for a door or a window?
A hosted opening belongs to the wall it sits in rather than being drawn on top of it. The wall carries the opening, so moving the wall moves the door, and the opening is cut by the host instead of being faked with a gap in the geometry.

Can I export IFC from a browser BIM tool?
Yes. The model exports to IFC4, the neutral openBIM format that consultants, contractors and government clients ask for. There is also an IFC inspector so you can open an IFC file and read its entity tree before sending it on or after receiving it.

Does CivilOS do clash detection or 4D and 5D simulation?
No. There is no clash detection, no Navisworks-type coordination, no 4D construction sequencing and no 5D cost simulation tied to the model. Programme is handled separately in the CPM scheduler and cost separately in the BOQ and estimation modules.

Can it analyse or design the structure?
No. CivilOS models, schedules and quantifies. It does not solve a frame, size a member or check a section; there is no ETABS or STAAD-type analysis anywhere in the product. A licensed structural engineer must design and sign off the structure.

Is it useful for BIM work in India?
It is aimed at Indian practice: the space programme module references the NBC, quantities are priced against CPWD DSR 2023 or State PWD schedules of rates, reinforcement detailing follows IS 456, IS 2502, SP 34 and IS 13920, and the interface runs in 24 languages including Hindi, Telugu and Tamil.

What does it cost and do I need to install it?
It is free and runs in a browser tab with no installation. You can install it as a PWA if you want an app icon and its own window. AI assistant features are subject to fair-use limits.

Start modelling free in Indo-Revit → levels, hosted openings, schedules, IFC4