The importance of a BIM Execution Plan

During the course of our work we come across a lot of companies involved in BIM projects via our training and consultancy services. I am constantly seeing companies involved in BIM projects without a BIM Execution plan or an inadequate BIM Execution plan and the project running into trouble, costing more then it should or BIM just not working.

The BIM Execution plan which should be the first stage of any BIM process and should also be signed and agreed before the project starts.

 The BIM execution plan is a document that outlines the goals of the BIM process, how the collaboration will work, what is required by each party in the BIM process.

We are seeing companies running into some of the following issues,

• Modelling more than is required
• Not modelling enough and having to go back at the end of the project to add additional detail
• Revit users using different versions of Revit. (Revit is not backwardly compatible)
• Models at the wrong spatial location and not integrating successfully
• Different software’s being used and no plan on how to integrate them
• Collaboration not working or no collaboration
• BIM process not working

All the above add to the costs of a project and are down to bad or no planning. A BIM project has to be run different to a CAD project. Planning is the key to a successful BIM project and the BIM Execution plan is a major part of that.

A BIM project should not start without an agreed Execution plan.  For more information on a successful BIM project see my previous blog http://siscin3d.blogspot.ie/2015/09/requirments-for-successful-bim-project.html.

When a BIM project falls apart, people blame BIM. It’s not the fault of the BIM process it’s the lack of planning and understanding of the process.

The move to BIM is a real positive for the industry when done correctly. Before you engage in a BIM project ensure you have a BEP (BIM Execution Plan)

Dan Deery is the managing director of Siscín. Dan has over 20 years in the construction industry and has been using BIM since the mid 90’s. He also worked as a programmer for a CAD software company. Siscín  specialise in BIM Consultancy, Customisation, training,visualisation and animation for the Infrastructure, Engineering, Construction, Facilities and Architectural industries. Check out our Website www.siscin.ie

Practical Use of Dynamo BIM - Updating Title Blocks

In this article I want to describe a very practical use of Dynamo BIM.

We often have a situation where we need to update titleblocks. It can be very time consuming to have somebody sit and update the Revision and Issue Status on a 100 drawing sheets. But it has to be done.

With 5 nodes in Dynamo we can make these changes in seconds. Here is our scenario. We have 100 drawing sheets in our Revit model. The issue status is currently Tender.

We need to change this to Construction on all 100 drawings. If it takes about 1 minute to change this manually on each drawing thats 100 minutes. We also run the risk of the modeller getting bored and going for a cup of coffee or mis-spelling on some of the sheets.

This is where Dynamo Bim is our best friend. I can write the program and have the whole job done in under 3 minutes. How mush time and money does that save.

all we have to do is place the nodes shown in the image below into your Dynamo BIM workspace.

 

Categories: This nodetells Revit to get the Sheet Category

All Elements of Category: This node selects all the sheets in the model.

These nodes are then wired together

Element.SetParameterByName: This  node is wired to the All Elements of Catagory node. It allows us tos pecifiy a parameter, in this case the parameter to change is Issue Status. 

Run the above code. All 100 drawing sheets are changed.

 

Dynamo BIM can be used for all those time consuming laborious tasks that we don’t like doing. Especially when the pressure is on and we have to get drawings issued.

Where can you learn more. Come along to one of our 1 day Dynamo BIM workshops.

These workshops are held regularly throughout Ireland,UK and ocassionally in the UAE. If you wish to find out more information, please feel free to contact us at info@siscin.ie

If you would like us to run a workshop in your area please contact us and we can organise a workshop.

If you have any questions on anything in this blog or any other blog please feel free to contact me at dan@siscin.ie. 

Dan Deery is the managing director of Siscín. Dan has over 20 years in the construction industry and has been using BIM since the mid 90’s. He also worked as a programmer for a CAD software company. Siscín  specialise in BIM Consultancy, Customisation, training,visualisation and animation for the Infrastructure, Engineering, Construction, Facilities and Architectural industries. Check out our Website www.siscin.ie

IFC - What is it - Why is it important

After my last blog on 2016 – The Year of the UK BIM Mandate  

I have a had a number of questions about Open BIM and the IFC file format.  In this blog I want to try and explain a little about IFC. As this is a blog it is only a brief overview of a huge subject.

What is IFC

IFC is a file format that is independent from any one BIM authoring program such as Revit, Aecosym, ArchiCAD, Tekla etc. It stands for Industry Foundation classes. The format is developed by a non profit organisation called BuildingSmart .

Without getting too technical. It is an XML specification which is implemented by the software vendors into their software.  Some do it better than others which we will talk about later.

What’s different about IFC then other file exchange formats (dwg, Step etc). IFC  exports both

• Geometry

•  Information (Data behind the model)

An IFC file is a text file that describes all the graphics & data in themodel. If you export a file from your software you can open it in text editor and it will look similar to the screen shot below 

• 
  Don’t edit the IFC file in a text editor unless you really know what you are doing.
  
  
  There are different versions of IFC as shown below
• IFC4 (March 2013)
• ifcXML2x3 (June 2007)
• IFC2x3 (February 2006)
• ifcXML2 for IFC2x2 add1 (RC2)
• IFC2x2 Addendum 1 (July 2004)
• ifcXML2 for IFC2x2 (RC1)
• IFC 2x2
• IFC 2x Addendum 1
• ifcXML1 for IFC2x and IFC2x Addendum 1
• IFC 2x
• IFC 2.0
• IFC 1.5.1
• IFC 1.5
•  

Why is IFC important

IFC is very important because a BIM project cannot be done in one software. We need a way of exchanging graphics & data from one software to another.

The information in a model is often forgotten about but is essential to the success of the BIM process. It may not be important for your clash detection but it is important to other members of the BIM team such as the contractor, QS, FM manager and others.

Majority of BIM authoring software’s support IFC. IFC is constantly under development and constantly improving so you have to ensure you are using the latest update of your software’s IFC importer/exporter.

 

For example if you are using Revit you can download the latest version of IFC from the Autodesk apps exchange store. https://apps.autodesk.com/en

This IFC export update also gives you an alternative interface to the standard Revit IFC interface.

Are there issues exporting to IFC

IFC is only as good as the software that exports it and the software that imports it. What I mean by this is that IFC is only a specification. Each software company will implement IFC differently to suit the objects in their software. Some better then others.

For example in previous versions of Revit, Wall profiles didn’t export very well. Autodesk have improved their implementation of IFC over the last few versions and now the wall profiles export correctly.

Don’t round trip your IFC exports. Don’t export out of one program such as Revit and then import it back into Revit again.

Every IFC exported object is given an IfcGUID. This is a global unique identifier assigned to every object. This IfcGUID will live with the object so each time it is exported the object will always have the same IfcGUID unless you delete the object and redraw another object in it’s same place.

How do I know if it is an export or an import problem?

I often use a program called XBim http://www.xbim.net/ XBim is an independent IFC viewer. If it looks ok in XBim then it’s not an export problem it’s most probably an import problem.

Conclusion

If you are using IFC on your project ensure that the IFC guidelines are clearly laid out in the BIM execution plan. Ensure everybody is using the same version.

 You may encounter problems using IFC between different programs. But there is nothing new about that. There has always been issues going between different programs. When you encounter problems exporting/importing find out where the problem is and address it by learning more about IFC and find a workaround.

We will be running regular BIM courses throughout Ireland & the UK throughout 2016. Please contact us at info@siscin.ie for further details

If you have any questions on anything in this blog or any other blog please feel free to contact me at dan@siscin.ie.

Dan Deery is the managing director of Siscín. Dan has over 20 years in the construction industry and has been using BIM since the mid 90’s. He also worked as a programmer for a CAD software company. Siscín  specialise in BIM Consultancy. Training,visualisation and animation for the Infrastructure, Engineering, Construction, Facilities and Architectural industries. Check out our Website www.siscin.ie