Coming from another program
Drift borrows from several programs. If you know one of them, this page tells you where your habits carry over and where they don’t.
Everywhere: the command palette (Ctrl+K) finds any command by name, and ? lists every key.
From Revit
| In Revit | In Drift |
|---|---|
| Temporary dimensions on a picked wall | The same: pick one line and dashed dimensions appear. Click a value to type a new one; the lock makes it permanent; drag the far end’s square to measure to something else. Temporary dimensions. |
| Tab to cycle and pick chains | Tab highlights the chain of connected curves under the pointer; click picks it. |
| Thin lines (TL) | W, or the status bar. |
| Families | Blocks, with a library of US doors, windows, cabinets, fixtures and furniture, named “Family – Type”. Blocks. No parametric blocks yet: each size is its own block. |
| Sheets, views, view titles, scales | Views are drawn on the canvas with the View tool (a named crop at a scale) and dragged onto sheets from the Views list. Reframe a view’s crop and every sheet it’s on follows. Unlike Revit, a view can go on several sheets. Each placed view has a title and a number. Architectural and engineering scales are there. Sheets and output. |
| Crop region, Crop Region Visible | A view’s crop shows on the canvas with its name, with grips to reframe it. View → View crops (Shift+Alt+B) shows or hides them all, a view’s Crop switch just that one. Crops are rectangles, not rotated, and never print. No separate annotation crop yet: dimensions and notes are cut at the crop. |
| Hide in view / hide on sheet | Each dimension and note can be off the canvas and / or off sheets. Not per view yet. |
| Drafting vs model patterns | The same distinction for hatches. |
| Dimension text: below, prefix / suffix, replace with text (EQ) | Under line, Prefix / Suffix, Show instead, and chips for TYP, EQ, VIF and others. |
| Section and elevation marks | Section mark and Elevation mark, with the sheet number in the flag. They don’t create views. |
| Constraints (padlocks, EQ) | Full sketch relations and driving dimensions, as in SolidWorks (below). |
What’s different: Drift is 2D only. There are no walls, rooms or schedules: a wall is two lines.
From AutoCAD
| In AutoCAD | In Drift |
|---|---|
| Command line | The command palette (Ctrl+K), plus one-key tools: L line, C circle, A arc, R rectangle, T trim, E extend, O offset, M mirror, F fillet. |
| Typing a distance after picking a direction | The same: start drawing, point the way, type the length, Enter. Tab moves to the angle. |
| Ortho (F8) / polar tracking | X and Y lock the segment to an axis; Angle snap in the status bar steps the angle (1°, 5°, 15°, 45°). |
| Object snaps | End, mid, centre, quadrant, nearest and the origin, always on. Hold Alt to place without snapping. Intersection isn’t a snap yet. |
| Object snap tracking | Inference lines: hover a point, move away, and a dashed guide shows when you’re level with it or above it. |
| Layers, ByLayer | The same model: colour, line weight and line type by layer unless set on the object. Layer 0 always exists. |
| Blocks, INSERT, BEDIT, EXPLODE | Make block, Place block (I), double-click a copy to edit in place, Explode. Blocks go to and from DXF. |
| BHATCH, pick points | Fill / hatch (H): click inside an area. Hatches are associative. .pat files import. |
| Paper space layouts and viewports | Sheets and views. A DXF’s layouts come in as sheets. |
| MOVE, ROTATE with base point | G and R with the selection, B to pick the base point or pivot; type values. |
| COPY | Shift+D, or Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V. |
| PEDIT join / OVERKILL | Edit → Check sketch… joins gaps; the status bar finds overlapping curves. |
| DWG | Not supported. Use DXF. |
What’s different: geometry in Drift can carry constraints. With Auto relations on, a line drawn nearly level becomes exactly horizontal and stays that way. Turn Auto relations off (top bar) to draw plain, unconstrained geometry, closer to AutoCAD.
From SolidWorks
Drift’s sketcher is modelled on the SolidWorks sketch.
| In SolidWorks | In Drift |
|---|---|
| Smart Dimension | Dimension (D): click geometry, place the label; the kind follows. Type the value straight away. |
| Add Relations | The Inspector’s Add relation buttons, the right-click menu, or the relations pie (Q). |
| Blue / black / red status | The same colours (white instead of black on the dark theme), and the DOF count in the status bar. |
| Driven dimensions | Offered automatically when a dimension would over-define the sketch; switch with Driven (reference). |
| Equations / global variables | Parameters → Variables, with sliders. Link a dimension by typing a variable’s name into it. |
| Configurations | Variants, with ghosts. |
| Construction geometry (For construction) | Alt+C. |
| Sketch fillet / chamfer | F (F again for chamfer). Size on the canvas by moving the pointer, or type it. |
| Convert entities, offset, mirror, patterns | Offset (O), Mirror (M), linear and circular patterns in the Inspector. |
| Repair sketch | Edit → Check sketch… |
| Drawings | Sheets with views, title blocks (modern, ISO 7200, ASME Y14.1) and ISO or ASME dimension styles. |
| Splines | The pen tool (P) draws Bézier curves the Illustrator way. |
What’s different: there’s one sketch, no features or 3D. Drift adds Blender-style keys for moving and rotating (G, R, X / Y, B), and Revit-style temporary dimensions.
From Illustrator or Affinity
| In Illustrator / Affinity | In Drift |
|---|---|
| Pen tool | The pen (P) works the same: click for corners, drag for smooth points, Alt breaks a handle, click the first point to close, Enter or Esc ends an open path. Alt-click a point to make it smooth or a corner. |
| Direct selection of anchors and handles | Handles show on picked or hovered curves; drag anchors and handles directly. |
| Stroke weight and colour | The top bar’s Stroke colour, weight and line type; Fill colour. |
| Artboards | Sheets, at real paper sizes and true scale. |
| Align and distribute | Not yet. Use relations (horizontal, vertical, symmetric, equal) instead; they keep things aligned as you edit. |
| Transform box | Corner and side handles scale and stretch; just outside a corner turns. Shift keeps the shape, Ctrl scales about the middle. |
| Smart guides | Inference lines and snapping. |
| Space to pan | Middle or right drag, or two fingers on a trackpad. |
What’s different: everything has a real size, in millimetres or inches, and is placed by typed values and constraints rather than by eye. Dimensions you add hold the geometry.
Next
Start with Your first sketch.