That is very useful info.
I was imagining I could model a cell system by axis surfaces that split the building in rooms and floors then, I would define wich kind of structure to use and the software would extract the lines, or faces depending on the structure.
Guess I'm thinking the same way as people that think Architect's work is just a push of a creativity button and a CAD button.
@JQL said:
Guess I'm thinking the same way as people that think Architect's work is just a push of a creativity button and a CAD button.
I think it is really useful to imagine like this how we want things to be, to choose what can be automated without loss, to help us do things that shouldn't be automated.
That's a great goal, however one thing is to expect others do develop those automation methods, the other is trying to develop them yourself.
I'm not in the position to do either. I'm still learning and will eventually figure out a way to contribute at a later stage.
Thanks!
@JQL I think it's important to know that IFC can be used to describe an enormous amount of building elements, systems and relations. But in itself it's nothing but a file format that can potentially contain these things. The Sketchup plugin that I made is meant only to be able to export more of the data that's already available inside sketchup than the native IFC exporter does. There is nothing smart in it that creates any advanced IFC relations or alternative geometry representations. So when you do not model a wall, it will not be in the IFC model. It really depends on what you want to do with the model if that's a problem. I really like the efficient cell-approach that you use in sketchup. But I don't see a contractor that's used to recieve models in revit or archicad for example using the resulting IFC model. For that I think you somehow have to fill the voids between the spaces with walls. You might be able to "generate" those with a clever plugin (most information is indirectly available). This will be the same for analytical models. The geometry there will be simpler, for daylight (honeybee? :-D) the geometry of your internal cells could probably be re-used somehow, but it needs to be properly classified/filtered somehow.
I'm still very far away from a process where the voids are filled with walls or slabs, automatically. I have no problems around here because most contractors I deal with use 2d drawings. In the future I'm thinking topologic could be a good fit for the job of auto filling.
@topologic is able to detect cells and make them speak with each other (or so it seems). However, to work with it, I have to be able to use a visual programming software that is based on python and hope that, topologic works with it one day (or I can make it work). I've been trying to get to grips with sverchok for Blender so I could eventually use it along with Ladybug tools and Topologic.
It's all very interesting and it all has great potential, but until then I think I'll just deal with IFC by remodeling the SketchUp base file if I need to.
Right now it seems my process is a continuous line from sketch to construction site. It's a pity but I'm feeling that a BIM workflow would be a massive change to it, I have to break my way of thinking in order to comply with it.
I'll keep thinking on the subject and following development around here.
Thanks for your support.
@JQL You're welcome ?
BlenderBIM and sverchok really do seem like a very cool combination for what you try to accomplish
hi everyone !
Just to tell you that there's a new release for SketchUp-IFC-Manager (3.5.0)
https://github.com/BIM-Tools/SketchUp-IFC-Manager/releases
BR
Congratulations @brewsky ! Should this be added to https://wiki.osarch.org/index.php?title=Free_software_extensions_to_proprietary_software ?
I guess you are familiar (involved?) with the Dutch BIM Basic IDM SketchUp instructions manual.
https://bimloket.nl//documents/ILS_Native_SketchUp_v2_1_ENG.pdf
Frankly, I gave up on SketchUp for some time, since there is no free desktop version anymore. A pity, as I used to organise workshops with kids 8-13 that played with SketchUp for 1h30 with nice outcomes.
But for my purposes, making any meaningful IFC from SketchUp was not worth the hassle. The process of setting up the hierarchy was cumbersome. You need to use tricks to get empty nested components to get something resembling the IFC spatial hierarchy. And I could not get properties or quantities out in any decent way.
The BIM Basic IDM linked above also hints at many of these shortcomings (e.g., writing something in the name of an object to at least get some information across is not real interoperable in my view).
Load bearing / not Load bearing property can be provided in the description of the component if desired. Do this by right mouse click on the component > dynamic components > component options > Description
@StefanBoeykens
Sorry to hear you don't like using IFC in sketchup.
It's indeed a real bummer that Trimble moved the free version of Sketchup to the cloud with only a webapp and no support for plugins, but still the payed version helps a lot of people without access to and knowledge of the big BIM tools create meaningfull models that really have value on the construction site.
We started this plugin to remove some of the hoops you'd have to jump through to get data out of sketchup as IFC because the native exporter still has some big flaws. And ofcourse this plugin is far from perfect but people are using it and I still like it enough to keep working on it :-D
It's place on OSarch is a bit dubious because the open source plugin can't be used without the proprietary product.
BTW Your comment about loadbearing is from the 2 years old english version of the manual, we still need a volunteer to translate the new Dutch version into English: https://www.bimloket.nl//documents/Handleiding_SketchUp_BIM_basis_ILS_2_0.pdf, interested? ;-)
One of the big improvements is support for common propertysets.
Let's see where BlenderBIM ends up, I hope it replaces all proprietary stuff soon!
Cheers,
Jan
@Moult said:
Congratulations @brewsky ! Should this be added to https://wiki.osarch.org/index.php?title=Free_software_extensions_to_proprietary_software ?
Thanks! Sounds perfect :-D
@StefanBoeykens said:
Frankly, I gave up on SketchUp for some time, since there is no free desktop version anymore. A pity, as I used to organise workshops with kids 8-13 that played with SketchUp for 1h30 with nice outcomes.
But for my purposes, making any meaningful IFC from SketchUp was not worth the hassle. The process of setting up the hierarchy was cumbersome. You need to use tricks to get empty nested components to get something resembling the IFC spatial hierarchy. And I could not get properties or quantities out in any decent way.
You can still get a free (non commercial) desktop version, that accepts plugins here:
https://www.sketchup.com/download/all
Quantities with the native generate report is a bit off . There are nice plugins (proprietary) that solve those issues:
Quantifier Pro
Estimator
Sketchup also includes Trimble Connect Business in it's subscriptions. It's a strong bridge to BIM management that imports IFC and other proprietary formats. I'm sorry if it's sounding like I'm advertising proprietary software in this forum, I'm just trying to make these aspects clearer.
I'm also following BlenderBIM development.
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