@CadGiru said:
Qty takeoff
Noob question...
Does anyone have a simple exporter of basic quantities from BlenderBIM..
Looking for a simple qty output from Selected
thx in advance
@CadGiru sorry for a late response. I believe the IFC CSV Import/Export in BlenderBim can do want you want. You just need to use the "Add CSV Attribute" button on the "IFC CSV Import/Export" sub-panel located in the Blender "Scene properties" panel for the quantities you want to export.
@jtm2020hyo said:
@iosvarms
about a 5D bim software, do you mean an ERP for the budget? I could suggest implement PyERP to BlenderBim, this open-source software is focused in BIM process.
... another one is Odoo, they have a lot templates and samples for free.
@jtm2020hyo by ERP do you mean Enterprise Resource Planning? A full 5D Bim software must be cable of taking 3D and 4D information to provide cost estimates from a bill of quantities which can be used during the construction phase for cost control. If PyERP can do this, then it could be worth exploring.
I tried again PyERP but looks like the developer already left the project, I think the best open source is Odoo for this case but is need to create a module for Blender.
here a video for inspiration:
PD: PyERP is an Odoo fork for BIM, and Odoo is can be ERP or CRM, and more
@jtm2020hyo said:
I tried again PyERP but looks like the developer already left the project, I think the best open source is Odoo for this case but is need to create a module for Blender.
The really active OpenERP fork (Odoo was OpenERP before they made community angry as I was told) is Tryton. I don't if they PyERP features are in third parties but it is python based, it might be not too much hard too add it.
G&W Software in Germany has the California tool and an Add-ON BIM2AVA. it is SQL based and the geometry work with an Elite-CAD software (CH?). They are open to new solutions for the CAD part. AVA software in DE/CH/AT is the typical budgeting tool for the AEC industry. It is supposed to be 4D and 5D, not sure what this all implies in BM. Theoretically one can have Article,Pricing,BOM,Bill and maintenance Contract out of one BIM-Id. In the german countries, everything is very well regulated from HOAI (tabulated engineer or architects fees) to VOB (executor contract). A lot can automated.
@lukas does it open source?
@Moult @Cyril @jtm2020hyo I think Odoo is good enough, and uses PostgreSQL too, so, I will help in product design and development if there be some friends who're keen to work on its programming side
no California is not opensource... :-( some x thousands a year for support and updates.. and a lot of modules one has to buy each.
I saw OpenProject has BIM support since 10.4 .. but no cost related things. (but scheduling, tickets, collisions)
@CarpgianeDS this is a great question, and the unfortunate answer is that I'm not aware of any, and nobody seems to have added anything to the AEC software directory on the wiki. If you want to simply visualise construction tasks without schedule linking as a one-off, then Blender is more than capable if not overqualified for the job. However, when it comes to gantt-chart model linking, I'm not aware of anything. Yet.
Maybe, you can try your luck a little with OpenProject -as they support project schedules and support BIM, but I don't know if they can link the two meaningfully, generate timelines, visualise sequences, or do the partial model editing (slab splitting, for example) and so on that Synchro can.
It has been on the roadmap for a little while to start tackling these entities in the BlenderBIM Add-on, as well as been proposed in the Epic Games Megagrant application. I have also been contacted by a firm who does sequencing who wanted to write some code for it, but although the offer was good, no code came out of it.
So, if nothing else... watch this space?
I just stumbled across CharonIfc "A library to extract information from an IFC file to produce Technical Documentation like Specifications and Bill of Quantities." based on IfcOpenShell, license GNU GPL v3, developer Davide Vescovini. No idea how it works, but might be easy to adapt for blenderBim/Freecad.
Also, (Italian language) cost estimate program working on ubuntu, same developer as above:
https://forum.ubuntu-it.org/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=449475&hilit=preventares
mentions it being developed in python with libraries gtk (gnome), pysqlite2. The last update from the developer dates from april 2018.
https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=54215
a source of inspiration?
There are now experimental scripts that are able to convert a P6 (Oracle Primavera) XML into an IFC Task tree with some basic metadata like task schedule start / finish times, whether it is a milestone, as well as the name of task. Once in IFC, there is another experimental script which allows you to generate a gantt chart from the IFC data. There is now a super barebones "sequence" module in the BlenderBIM Add-on which will display all the tasks in the file which you can filter. Relevant commits:
https://github.com/IfcOpenShell/IfcOpenShell/commit/7e7cfbdd5f16c6753025c75fada10c70b30b6304
https://github.com/IfcOpenShell/IfcOpenShell/commit/780ea707b02310f0ec07f749207bd32b8a0c6871
https://github.com/IfcOpenShell/IfcOpenShell/commit/6bcfa5946f70b12323c4ed92d5c3851a5d228fb6
The minimum viable product is a few more features like assigning, assigning, and viewing model element relationships to tasks, and then generating a construction sequence animation from the tasks and workplan. It's relatively straightforward, I believe.
Here is a highly censored screenshot of a gantt chart generated from IFC with these experimental scripts:
@Moult , would it be possible to read the tasks from the ifc file on import and group collections with the linked elements? and what would the precedence calls look like?
@c4rlosdias the BlenderBIM Add-on now supporting reading tasks from the IFC file on import. The UI is very basic for now and doesn't even support things like work plans yet, but at least is shows whether tasks exists and gives a list of them.
When you say "group collections with the linked elements" are you asking if it is possible to link model elements to the schedule? If so, the answer is not yet. It is fairly trivial to implement, just takes time :)
For precedence calls, I assume you're referring to sequences, i.e. the dependencies that say that the slab must be built before the walls. This is not currently handled. Again, fairly trivial (P6 exposes this in an XML tag called "Relationship" and IFC uses "IfcRelSequence"), but currently swamped with work.
Thank's @Moult , Sorry for my bad english....
A heads up that Jon Mirtschin has very helpfully provided an IFC2X3 example from his implementation (back in 2013!) - this will be a great resource to make sure that we are all implementing it correctly. I haven't had the chance to look through it yet, but thought I'd share it in case somebody is curious.
Link here: https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/logistic-phases-and-time-in-ifc-definitions/2432/16?u=moult
Sounds promising! I've had a play around with the new phasing feature in Twinmotion. I think that something similar in Blender Bim or Blender as a separate add on would be quite useful. To begin with it could be used solely as a high level visualisation tool similar to Twinmotion, for tender submissions, concepts etc. and then eventually be developed into something more robust and intuitive.
Hello everyone,
I'm starting here and I hope to be able to contribute.
@lukas said:
a source of inspiration?
I made a new post on the FreeCAD forum about the continuity of this WorkBench. Please, I would like to know your opinion. Thanks
@walpa the approach taken here is agnostic to Blender. Therefore, the P6 XML -> IFC conversion code can be reused between the BlenderBIM Add-on and FreeCAD. Similarly, the Gantt chart generation code can also be reused between the BlenderBIM Add-on and FreeCAD. In fact, the code does almost nothing - it reuses the jsgantt-improved web-based gantt chat project's code, and just formats the data in the JSON structure that it expects. So long as you're working with IFC, we can share code.
@Moult
1- I will refactor the code I made for FC, to make more "agnostic" and more MVD, so that it can be reused. I made a mess trying to learn :)
2- I started the code to import XML file generated by MSProject and LibreProject, I will stop for now until I finish (1) and resume after following your model. I don't have access to P6, can someone post some XML generated by P6, to compare the two structures?
3 - taking the opportunity: if an attribute is set to None in a python class, IfcOpenShell.file.create_entity() changes to '$' automatically or it is necessary to code it.
Thanks
@walpa
Awesome! Excited to see where this goes!
Unfortunately, I only have proprietary P6 schedules...
If you don't specify an attribute to create_entity(), it will automatically assume it as null, and represent it as $ in IFC-SPF.
@Moult
1- Notice when available
3-I have other doubts in IfcOpenShell, I will post in the official forum to not pollute this one.
I am not aware of any construction specific costing software that is free software.
Here the proprietary standards are tools like CostX, RIBiTwo. Ping @iosvarms - what was the software you used? I'm trying to find the video recording I took of it.
Qex_Studio is in our software list https://github.com/gorovt/Qex_Studio
https://wiki.osarch.org/index.php?title=AEC_Free_Software_directory#Project_Management
@walpa your experience in Brazil is universal with little variations. IMO a lot of firms or individuals have bespoke solutions to their estimation, budgeting and costing needs. Also, I think most firms/companies hide their cost information as a competitive advantage during bids/tenders. So there is little incentive to build an open source project costing software. However, for any open source project costing software to be successful/relevant and challenge the AEC industry, it must bring some value to the table. For me, that means the software should have the following features/qualities/capabilities;
It must tie/link measured quantities to geometry (very difficult I guess)
It must have a cost database (very obvious)
It must a link all measured quantities to a standardized measurement document such as NRM
It must be IFC complaint (BIM capability)
It must have estimating functionalities which are linked to the cost database
It must generate BoQ (automated is preferable)
It must have functionalities for interim valuation and final accounts
I know all the points above are not easy to implement, but are needed to justify the development of an open source project costing software.
@Moult that would be Vector. Definitely not open :)
@duncan what I see on the github page of Qex_Studio looks good. Although its not in English but from the snapshots presented, I think manual entry of quantities must be done. Also, it seems to be linked to some sort of work breakdown structure and cost database. I may be wrong, but I don't think it has BIM capabilities.
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