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BlenderBIM Lost Spatial Structure

  1. T by terry_c on 7 Jan 2024, edited 9 Jan 2024 #

    I have a problem with a project that I have been developing in BlenderBIM, to use as an example to local Architects in Brisbane. I am a new user, with previous BIM experience, and would really like to encourage design professionals to investigate using BlenderBIM.

    The problem that I have with the linked project, is that I seem to have lost Spatial Structure data. In the Project Overview tab, Spatial Manager fails to open any options. Also (I feel must be related), the Building and Site empty Objects show no Object Metadata (IfcElement Not Found). So I am not able to add Aggregates or Parts manually.

    On top of this just not "being correct", it has the effect of not operating on any 'Exclude' statements involving Storeys, in Object Property Sets, for the creation of drawings.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated. The project is still a work in progress, and still needs tidying and refining, but I would like to post it as a work study for anyone to access, when finished.

    https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/37m7g52n7xohw83d45a3n/Woodburn-240101.ifc?rlkey=vxmmy2nv8is44x9hc2he3u7as&dl=0

    https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/srewjywy2s74z2y7784x7/Woodburn-240101.blend?rlkey=letu25xqlo78bs5ir5ypqsbph&dl=0

  2. T by theoryshaw on 7 Jan 2024 #

    Might be because the link or path to the IFC was broken.

    Maybe try linking it back to it like this.

    In general, especially if you're a relatively new BB user, it's best practice to not even save the .blend file. It 'can' be done saving both the .blend/.ifc at the same time, but there can often times be syncing errors. It's best practice to just open and save the .IFC only.

  3. T by theoryshaw on 7 Jan 2024 #

    Would suggest using 'Shift + E' to extend a wall to a roof. That way you don't have to mess around with voids.

    You can use 'Shift + G' to regenerate the wall if you move the roof slab for example.

  4. T by theoryshaw on 7 Jan 2024, edited 7 Jan 2024 #
  5. T by terry_c on 8 Jan 2024 #

    @theoryshaw said:

    Might be because the link or path to the IFC was broken.

    Maybe try linking it back to it like this.

    In general, especially if you're a relatively new BB user, it's best practice to not even save the .blend file. It 'can' be done saving both the .blend/.ifc at the same time, but there can often times be syncing errors. It's best practice to just open and save the .IFC only.

    Thanks so much for having a look at the files. The link path to the IFC seems fine on my end.

    Thanks for the advice on using the IFC file only, I'll be sure to do that in future. I originally went down the combined blend/ifc path because I was familiar with shader & UV editing in blender and didn't see how to save the materials, but I think I now see that can be done in IFC using IfcSurface Styles.

    @theoryshaw said:

    Would suggest using 'Shift + E' to extend a wall to a roof. That way you don't have to mess around with voids.

    You can use 'Shift + G' to regenerate the wall if you move the roof slab for example.

    I was aware of using "Shift + E" to extend walls to the roof, but hit a problem when I had a couple of walls that needed to extend to 2 separate roof slabs.

    @theoryshaw said:

    I did notice, however, if you open just the .ifc itself, the file doesn't open at all... well on my end anyway.

    If that's the case for you as well, I would open a bug report here: https://github.com/IfcOpenShell/IfcOpenShell/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+sort%3Aupdated-desc

    Yes. the IFC file opens on my end but shows no objects. All my types can be seen in the BlenderBIM tools, and other things like Profiles & Materials are there. I will report a bug. Thanks for the link.

  6. A by Andrej730 on 8 Jan 2024 #

    Yes. the IFC file opens on my end but shows no objects. All my types can be seen in the BlenderBIM tools, and other things like Profiles & Materials are there. I will report a bug. Thanks for the link.

    Hi! If something strange occurs you can check system console (Window -> Toggle System Console) - there usually some error traceback to narrow down the search. From the traceback it seemed that there is something invalid about the styles and turn out there were 3 IfcSurfaceStyles (list is below) that didn't have any styles assigned to them - since they are not referenced anywhere you can just remove them from the file manually and it will work.

    
#367737=IFCSURFACESTYLE('Handle_material',.BOTH.,$);

#368521=IFCSURFACESTYLE('Handle_material',.BOTH.,$);

#369307=IFCSURFACESTYLE('Handle_material',.BOTH.,$);

    Since this file was created in BBIM then there might be a way to create this kind of invalid IfcSurfaceStyle in BBIM. Any ideas how to reproduce this issue?

    About the original issue

    The problem that I have with the linked project, is that I seem to have lost Spatial Structure data. In the Project Overview tab, Spatial Manager fails to open any options. Also (I feel must be related), the Building and Site empty Objects show no Object Metadata (IfcElement Not Found). So I am not able to add Aggregates or Parts manually.

    It seems that IfcBuilding and IfcSite were somehow removed from project's ifc without being removed from Blender. And without any subelements for IfcProject it now fails to load the spatial structure.

  7. T by terry_c on 9 Jan 2024 #

    Thanks @Andrej730

    Getting everything back now after deleting the surface styles. I was probably trying out surface styles and then backed out, which caused the problem.

    I have been able to add new IfcBuilding and IfcSite objects, and manually set the appropriate aggregates, and then re-assigned all objects to the appropriate spatial containers - not as tedious as it sounds as you can grab them in multiple selections from an elevation view in the 3D window.

    The Grids needed to be redone, and they are not playing nice yet - still working on them.

    This forum is so great. Thanks to you all. I hope to develop more expertise and be able to give back in the future.

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