howdy, just became aware because of the bSI Summit talk today. freeware scares the hell out of some people... shame i couldnt see them live. with the ldac (http://linkedbuildingdata.net/ldac2020/#programme) we discussed the idea of a l-cde (a linked common data environment) using solid (https://inrupt.com/solid)... that could frighten some people too :-)
Hi All
Very pleased to have found this group which I've been following with a lot of interest since probably February this year with h/t I'd say to @Jesusbill I think it was - I probably should have introduced myself earlier..
Long story short I'm a Structural Engineer based in Ireland who discovered a long time ago that I had a passion for structural analysis of bridge decks. There wasn't too much demand for anything other than 2 span motorway bridges here at the time, so I was moved into the mad world of building structures of all kinds where I've been basically ever since. Traveled a fair bit and worked in different places/ different sized engineering consultancies, notably north America and Australia in the mid 1990s and New Zealand in the early 2000s. Have experience with building envelopes and other construction specialisms. Probably biggest lesson learnt was that no matter where you are people are the key.
Decided in late 2000s that the construction industry is broken and that there really had to be a better way to practice; especially since the dotcom wired the world to create a #GlobalVillage and software clearly was eating everything. I like books, old and new and thought a lot about value creation. Still do. One conclusion is that designer value can be such an intangible thing that its hard for people to appreciate it before its created. But it takes lots of time and effort to create good work. Think this is true for any designer including Architect's, other design professionals, s/w programmers etc. Artists still make more money when they're dead.
Suffice to say its been quite a journey where I've learned lots of things, re-acquainted myself with computer h/w and s/w technologies at least sufficiently for my purposes. And needless to say I've gone down lots and lots of rabbit holes which I reckon could have been avoided had I encountered this group 10 years ago. But then again I've no regrets as no pain no gain as we say here. (I'm old enough to have run structural analyses via a DOS terminal and written stuff in Turbo Pascal but that's so long ago a lot of whats posted on this site and others goes right over my head - but I'm a work in progress and hoping to catch-up some day ;-))
In practice I use a lot of different s/w everyday and am pretty agnostic about whether its paid or open source. My only proviso is that whatever tools that you choose to use must provide transparency to what you do. This is the most important attribute for me. I could add that obviously any tools that you use should make things better but in the 'BIM' space clearly that hasn't worked out so well. Its mostly about people farming I reckon, selling boxes of s/w dreams - at least from what I've seen. But I suppose Marketers are designers too..
Particular open source areas of interest for me are the #freecad project which I've been following for quite a few years and huge credit to @yorik and everyone else involved there. Really tremendous progress in a relatively short space of time. I use #onshape for my very limited MCAD needs so it has been interesting to see the development side by side.
Am also very interested in #code_aster and thanks again to @Jesusbill's and others for their efforts there as this s/w has been a slow work in progress for me over the years to use directly.
@Moult what can I say except think your #blenderbim addon is really excellent. Besides from re-acquainting me with blender which I did look at years ago although back then it was completely beyond me learn or find a place for. Now, while not a production tool for me yet, I think its opening up a whole new world of possibilities. I've actually had quite a bit of fun with it. You're made a clearly very powerful s/w much more accessible and so I think it holds great promise for a better future working together in construction. Well done.
Better stop there as I could go on. Not sure how much help I can be to this group except to encourage you all with your great efforts. You are on the right path doing worthwhile work! And contributions, no matter how small, do definitely compound over time. Rgds Paul
(PS if this still is Post 101, as it was when I started writing it, the coincidence certainly resonates with me - while not 1984, it is a brave new world for sure. But whatever dystopian future arrives I've certainly decided that I'm most definitely on #TeamHuman - after all being human means that the future is as you choose it to be. So choose well ;-))
Howdy @philoktet ! About linked CDEs, maybe we should chat with the guys behind OpenProject and see what can happen there? That might be cool... maybe if OpenProject implements something we can then implement a lightweight alternative / addition to OpenProject to help demonstrate CDE data federation...
Welcome @scegos ! Very happy to have you on board! Anytime you come across something you think could be improved or a feature that would really impact you as a user on any of the projects, please post about it and we'll try to build it! Let's get this snowball growing in the industry!
Hi Paul @scegos, very nice to hear your background and story, I am sure your mentality and your experience can help in various ways, thanks for the encouraging words. I agree that people are the key so I am very positive about where we're heading :)
@Moult OpenProject has a BIM version from 10.4. But they (OpenProject company - not the community) might want to make the most money out of it. I couldn't find any guide to install BIM version on a standalone server. I tried to edit some environment variables and was able to make it OpenProject BIM on my server. From what I've seen, they're using IfcOpenShell at backend to convert ifc models so that they can be viewed in browser. I didn't know Ruby or Rails, so I couldn't dig deeper into the code base to see how they called IfcOpenShell, but my OpenProject BIM install has been converting my models forever.
Would it be possible to find an opensource alternative to OpenProject for a CDE at the moment?
@htlcnn said:
@Moult OpenProject has a BIM version from 10.4. But they (OpenProject company - not the community) might want to make the most money out of it. I couldn't find any guide to install BIM version on a standalone server. I tried to edit some environment variables and was able to make it OpenProject BIM on my server. From what I've seen, they're using IfcOpenShell at backend to convert ifc models so that they can be viewed in browser. I didn't know Ruby or Rails, so I couldn't dig deeper into the code base to see how they called IfcOpenShell, but my OpenProject BIM install has been converting my models forever.
Would it be possible to find an opensource alternative to OpenProject for a CDE at the moment?
@Moult, @htlcnn there is solid from inrupt, the small Version withbthe Data pods won’t do. But there is solid server as opensource which can connect to other servers and build a peer2peer network which can be used as a CDE for the parties involved. A no-cloud solution :-) thing is you actually run graph data base behind that and you will have to use ifc2rdf or similar (ifcOWL) to make use of it.... but the performance is not of this world. We have a Modellviewer working with it, so we have each Modell in a crazy data base and in a viewer, no DMS (documents yet) but we can link to any source. Have a look here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335947234_Towards_a_Decentralised_Common_Data_Environment_using_Linked_Building_Data_and_the_Solid_Ecosystem?enrichId=rgreq-0c5cbd84660a43d0040bcc0995b19dbd-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzMzNTk0NzIzNDtBUzo4MDUyMjUyNzUzNDI4NDhAMTU2ODk5MjA3NDExMA%3D%3D&el=1_x_2&_esc=publicationCoverPdf
Hi everyone,
My name is Kai Zhu, I am a Graduate architect living and working in Melbourne, Australia. I have a keen interest in computational design for the built environment and am very keen to contribute to the OS community. I am able to code in Python and C#.
Cheers!
Welcome @kaiaurelienzh go ahead and ask some questions, take a look around the wiki (maybe help out a bit there) and let's see what happens. I'd love to standardize the software pages so they list the programming languages ... so much to do. Maybe this section will have some interest for you: https://wiki.osarch.org/index.php?title=AEC_Free_Software_directory#CAD_.2F_BIM_Design_Development
@Moult said:
demonstrate CDE data federation...
Just heard a great podcast on this subject from BILT https://biltacademypodcast.buzzsprout.com/1104947/6097810-episode-five-decentralization-part-1
Welcome @kaiaurelienzh ! Great to hear you can code! Since you know Python, I highly recommend this resources - 15 minutes through it, you should be able to slice and dice OpenBIM data quite well: https://wiki.osarch.org/index.php?title=IfcOpenShell_code_examples
From there, you can start contributing code / features / bugfixes to projects like the BlenderBIM Add-on, FreeCAD, or various IFC utilities like IfcDiff, IfcClash, IfcPatch, IfcCSV, etc. You can also talk live to any developers who can guide you on your first contribution!
Hello kids! What a long strange trip it's been. My journey here is a recent dive back down the rabbit hole. I spent many early years pursuing a fit for my construction nerd disposition, mostly residential construction. I always felt something would come of the BIM process. I used to get the Autodesk trial software every year and go like hell for the 30 days trying to make something of it. Never seem to put anything together but I liked the concept and it fit well into my dream eradicating the cookie cutter construction prevalent, especially in the entry level, in residential housing. The crash of 2008 sent me on my way to another career and all was forgotten until recently exploring the thought of building again. I always swore that I would never get back into construction after seeing the crap being constructed my last few years. All in the name of low costs with big square footage. But now I'm looking for another career change and little pieces of the puzzle are coming together in an interesting way. I suppose I would have never been aware of any of this, outside of Autodesk, if it wasn't for Microsoft taking my beloved Windows XP. I read the writing on the wall, and while I floated down the denial river on Windows 7 Pro I was looking for alternatives. In comes Linux and I installed Arch Linux on my laptop to explore, and this lead to being open to other open source software and methodologies. Most recently I was looking to replace Sketchup since they went to a subscription model as most others have. This lead to Blender, Blender lead to Archipack, Archipack lead to BlenderBIM, BlenderBIM lead to this introductory post. I'm afraid I don't really have much in skills to enhance this project however I do hope you will allow me to explore and tinker. I have a lot to learn just to get my head around the possibilities but if my intuition is correct it will be worth the trouble. They say there are no dumb questions but that doesn't rule out the occasional inquisitive idiot. I will try not to be a bother if you can allow me to follow along. I spent my last years of residential construction as purchasing/ estimating director for a very small builder so, if nothing else, I will have some insight on that process. It seems most of this is professional level/ commercial architecture but there is an enormous market for this in residential but it would be a paradigm shift of exponential proportion to pull it off. That is not my goal right out of the gate but does factor in to my interest in learning more about what is possible in today's technology. Also, the payoff would be enormous if this were to become a player in that sector. Anyway, I have a long way to go. You have a nice forum here and seems to be a productive bunch. Thanks for having me.
Welcome @Auraria ! It's a diverse industry, so every new usecase presented to us helps build stronger tools! Please let us know your thoughts when using the tools and we'll do the best we can to support / build / fix / things :)
Hi all!
I just started to look into open source projects I could contribute to, to hone my python skills and stay up to date with BIM. This seems to be a great place for both :)
Quick profile:
I worked as a joiner in Germany and graduated as an architectural technologist in Denmark, where I live now.
Welcome @Kibar! As a joiner, you might be interested in the work by @Andyrexic in his Home Builder project here: https://community.osarch.org/discussion/221/home-builder-for-blender/p1
Good day to everybody. (By the way, could the forum be organized to have the newest posts appear first?)
I'm an architect in Boston, Massachusetts and am starting to teach myself some programming. I'm very interested in open BIM but also a long way from being able to contribute anything from a programming standpoint. So I'm mainly here to listen & learn. Perhaps I can chip in regarding architecture or building construction.
Welcome Vince - I'm a landscape designer in Western Mass.
Welcome to OSArch, @vincecb ! I think the forum is already organised such that newer threads appear first. Or did you mean something else?
@Moult @vincecb the best thread for discussions about the forum is this one: https://community.osarch.org/discussion/156/forum-questions#latest then the relevant people are more likely to join in. Just a service message from your friendly moderator.
Hello.
I’m Xavier from Barcelona, Spain. I’m an architecture technologist with studies in building construction and electronics. Nowadays working at a building construction company, in the integrated services branch.
I have experienced in the past with 3D software in windows and Linux systems, a far as the 3DS4 in MS-DOS, I mean. Time flies. Two years ago I studied a BIM Manager course and discovered all the potential in the methodology.
At my free time I love to improve my domotic system with Home Assistant, testing VR, 3Dprinting...you know, the usual “<em>Geek package</em>”. When I discovered the OSArchwiki my mind blow. BIM with Blender and Freecad it’s just the next natural step for me.
Thanks to everyone for sharing, I’m ready to learn and share too with this great community.
Welcome to OSArch, @xavitron ! I'm glad you enjoyed the wiki! We're actually in the middle of a website redesign and cleanup - it'd be great if you could give your thoughts in this thread!
Hi everyone,
My name is Simon, and I'm an architect in Chicago, Illinois, USA. I'm a heavy Revit user at work, but I'm always looking for new FOSS workflows that can realistically be implemented in a commercial environment, but also for my personal work. Right now I'm exploring the BIM side of FreeCAD and just found Blender BIM, and will be looking at that more extensively going forward.
@Moult @duncan @Jesusbill thanks folks! Sorry the late reply, only now I got a notification from the website.
I am totally up to do a talk/session/workshop at any point. Please contact me directly at casas at arch.ethz.ch and we'll sort it out!
Welcome @simon_c ! We're working hard on being able to provide those FOSS workflows! Please keep on testing, and let us know your thoughts, and that can help us prioritise things to work on / fix.
Hi, I'm Arthur, I work with electrical projects, especially industrial drawing. I'm starting to learn about BIM, because the company I work is interested. I already can see how it helps, however we do not have a library, and I do not understand how to build one yet. I found this by Dion Moult videos, that was an introduction to what I need.
Hi @Arthur, welcome. What sort of library are you thinking of? Have you seen the symbol library of Dia? http://dia-installer.de/shapes/index.html
Which of @Moult s many videos did you see?
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