[Plugin] SketchUpBIM: Building Modeling made easy!

fionmacool

This is a brilliant start Dex. It will scare the bejaysis out of many BIM... let's call them "enthusiasts" out there. I have wanted to see SU being used this way for ages, and due to not being well versed in programming, I have been only an armchair supporter. Here is a post I created in June 2010 on the SketchUpIreland blog regarding SU and BIM:
http://sketchupireland.blogspot.com/2010/06/sketchup-natural-bim-platform.html#links

Keep up the good work! Will be delighted to see a metric version of the plugin and a function for creating objects. I know everyone wants everything perfect and they want it yesterday- but seriously- thanks for doing this!

Elibjr

d_e_x,

Wow, I just want to say thank you and your crew for starting such an awesome plugin. I have used Revit and this reminds me of those basic principles. I think you should try to figure out a way to do specific opening sizes for windows and doors, curtain walls, and foundations next. Putting together a quick tower was simple. If the slabs were generated as components and not just groups that would be even better ... maybe. That way you could put a railing on a balcony slab and have it replicate to each successive level. This is the first time I could tell my "Autodesk evangelists" friends that Sketchup is so much more capable that any closed source product.... if not for ideas like this. This is why Blender is so great too, It's people like you and Fredo6, TIG, Didier Bur, Thomthom, Chris Fullmer, Jim, Al & Rich Hart, Whaat and so may more that make this the most dangerous site for any high end software company. It's stuff like this that will make (and have made) companies like Next Limit, Chaos Group, Autodesk and others to take note. Keep up the good work... also thank the admin for creating this website. This is why Sketchup will become the most powerful design package in the world... can wait for version 9!

brewsky

@elibjr said:

If the slabs were generated as components and not just groups that would be even better ... maybe.

I've been thinking about the same thing, but I think using groups is the best thing here, otherwise the component-selector gets cluttered with sooo many walls and slabs...
Maybe the best approach is to after creating the building-parts to combine the slab-group and railing-components as one big component if you need this repetition?

d_e_x, what are your thoughts on this?

Cheers,
Jan

Bep

Maybe interesting , http://www.ifcwiki.org/index.php/Free_Software

Bep

d_e_x

@utiler said:

WOW, d_e_x; I'm excited!!!!! This is a very impressive project!
I'm going to make some notes and post some questions as soon as I can..
Congratulations on such a fine start!!

Thanks Andrew, I'll look forward to it!
dex

d_e_x

@fionmacool said:

This is a brilliant start Dex. It will scare the bejaysis out of many BIM... let's call them "enthusiasts" out there. I have wanted to see SU being used this way for ages, and due to not being well versed in programming, I have been only an armchair supporter. Here is a post I created in June 2010 on the SketchUpIreland blog regarding SU and BIM:
http://sketchupireland.blogspot.com/2010/06/sketchup-natural-bim-platform.html#links

Keep up the good work! Will be delighted to see a metric version of the plugin and a function for creating objects. I know everyone wants everything perfect and they want it yesterday- but seriously- thanks for doing this!

Thanks I have started following your blog - very interesting and thought-provoking.

Metric units are on top of the development stack. "function for creating objects" - could you explain what you mean't here? No specifics required, I just would like to understand your suggestion; the way you are thinking about it.

d_e_x

@elibjr said:

d_e_x,
Wow, I just want to say thank you and your crew for starting such an awesome plugin. I have used Revit and this reminds me of those basic principles. I think you should try to figure out a way to do specific opening sizes for windows and doors, curtain walls, and foundations next. Putting together a quick tower was simple.

specific sizes for windows and door is already possible in this initial version and foundations is on the development list. Curtain walls (wow!), once I get a development team of 10, I'll pounce on the non-structural primitives as well Actually, now that I think about it, I know of a simple way to implement curtain walls.

@elibjr said:

If the slabs were generated as components and not just groups that would be even better ... maybe. That way you could put a railing on a balcony slab and have it replicate to each successive level.

my thoughts in the follow-up post.

@elibjr said:

This is the first time I could tell my "Autodesk evangelists" friends that Sketchup is so much more capable that any closed source product.... if not for ideas like this. This is why Blender is so great too, It's people like you and Fredo6, TIG, Didier Bur, Thomthom, Chris Fullmer, Jim, Al & Rich Hart, Whaat and so may more that make this the most dangerous site for any high end software company. It's stuff like this that will make (and have made) companies like Next Limit, Chaos Group, Autodesk and others to take note. Keep up the good work... also thank the admin for creating this website. This is why Sketchup will become the most powerful design package in the world... can wait for version 9!

thanks a ton for the encouragement!

d_e_x

@brewsky said:

@elibjr said:

If the slabs were generated as components and not just groups that would be even better ... maybe.

I've been thinking about the same thing, but I think using groups is the best thing here, otherwise the component-selector gets cluttered with sooo many walls and slabs...Maybe the best approach is to after creating the building-parts to combine the slab-group and railing-components as one big component if you need this repetition? d_e_x, what are your thoughts on this?
Cheers,
Jan

jan,

In SketchUpBIM, all elements that CAN be defined and stored with the help of parametric properties ONLY, are categorized as Groups. Generally speaking, these elements are structural engineering primitives like walls, columns, and beams. Other elements that require additional architectural details like fences, door/window casings etc may qualify as components. It becomes very interesting with elements like slabs - in such elements, the architectural world starts to overlap the structural engineering world. I have seen these challenges in my past life

We are looking at a very exciting feature that will become a critical addition to the software in a future version. And for this feature, we might have to switch some of our primitives to components. So, I think the choice between Groups and Components are in part determined by their intention of use. In our case, and in this first version, groups were sufficient.

d_e_x

@bep said:

Maybe interesting , http://www.ifcwiki.org/index.php/Free_Software
Bep

excellent resource; would come in very handy when we start working on the IFC Import/Export functionality.

Thanks Bep!

Jpac

By any chance would this effort by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory work with your efforts?
http://openstudio.nrel.gov/
It looks like energy modeling using intelligent SketchUp models. I've not used it, but it looks intriguing.

bigstick

OpenStudio does a good job simplifying EnergyPlus for SketchUp users, but its usability was (when I last used it, and I suspect still is) a bit complex and involved compared with what most of us are used to.

I'm sure it will be a must-have tool in due course, but I can't see how it could be practically linked to SketchUpBIM.

In OpenStudio you have to redefine your spaces in SU using new geometry which OpenStudio understands. There are strict rules about relationships between spaces and whether they touch or not. How spaces are created is (or was last time I used it) critical.

It's very very complicated to turn a complex 3d model into a simplified energy model automatically, and even if you do it, there may be so many anomalies and things that need to be corrected, that it will probably be a lot quicker and easier to remodel your spaces from scratch, snapping to existing surfaces.

So quite apart from the complexity of linking with OpenStudio (there's a lot here for the guys to do in making the basic BIM premise work well), I wonder whether there is much point in doing it at all.

Keep on going as you are d_e_x, we're all pumped and rooting for you

driven

Error Loading File /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/SketchUpBIM no such file to load -- /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/SketchUpBIM

hi,
something's not quite right, I get this 'on load message' on mac and
if I have SuSolid.rbs active, I get
Error Loading File /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/SketchUpBIM no such file to load -- /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/SketchUpBIM/susolid

it functions but the Toolbar always opens on start even when I turn it off before closing so it won't.

john

d_e_x

@driven said:

Error Loading File /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/SketchUpBIM no such file to load -- /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/SketchUpBIM
hi,
something's not quite right, I get this 'on load message' on mac and
if I have SuSolid.rbs active, I get
Error Loading File /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/SketchUpBIM no such file to load -- /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins/SketchUpBIM/susolid

John, SuSolid.rbs is not a SketchUpBIM file. So, this should not reside in the SketchUpBIM folder. Is it possible that you have a few files/plugins mixed up on your computer? We have tested the plugin on Mac, and it works fine without any errors.
The SketchUpBIM.zip file contains the SketchUpBIM sub-folder and the SketchUpBIM.rbs file. You need to copy this sub-folder and the file under the /SketchUp 8/SketchUp/Plugins folder. Hope this helps.

@driven said:

it functions but the Toolbar always opens on start even when I turn it off before closing so it won't.
john

Yes. Thanks John. This is a noted limitation on the Mac. In the next version, we will add some explicit code to fix this.

driven

@d_e_x said:

John, SuSolid.rbs is not a SketchUpBIM file. So, this should not reside in the SketchUpBIM folder. Is it possible that you have a few files/plugins mixed up on your computer?

The reason I am pointing it out is that I definitely don't have the files or folders "mixed up", it looks more like you have an 'susolid' method in your scrambled file that's at odds with an 'susolid' method in 'SuSolid.rbz' which is also scrambled.

I can't see into either .rbz files, but I only see the generated error from yours.

john

TIG

If 'you' [or others] use FILE in compiled scripts you can get weird results - e.g. if another tool has done the same and loads 'adjacent' to yours.
Your base-level loader in the Plugins folder doesn't need to be compiled [what's confidential about a 'loader' ??] - so it can be a .rb file and successfully use FILE - but avoid any FILE references inside .rbs files !

d_e_x

@driven said:

The reason I am pointing it out is that I definitely don't have the files or folders "mixed up", it looks more like you have an 'susolid' method in your scrambled file that's at odds with an 'susolid' method in 'SuSolid.rbz' which is also scrambled.

@tig said:

If 'you' [or others] use FILE in compiled scripts you can get weird results - e.g. if another tool has done the same and loads 'adjacent' to yours. Your base-level loader in the Plugins folder doesn't need to be compiled [what's confidential about a 'loader' ??] - so it can be a .rb file and successfully use FILE - but avoid any FILE references inside .rbs files !

verified the following:

"suSolid" is not used in SketchUpBIM as a method name or otherwise.
FILE is not used in the 'loader' script or any other script files. The code uses a lot of "require" statements to reference other files. Is this in any way a cause of concern?

In any case, we plan to test this on a clean Mac with a new installation of SketchUp. In the meantime, if any other Mac users have come across this warning/error, please let me know.

Dex

d_e_x

1500+ Downloads! In less than 3 weeks!!

Thank You all for your support!

SketchUpBIM on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/SketchUpBIM

SketchUpBIM on RubyLibraryDepot: http://modelisation.nancy.archi.fr/rld/plugin_details.php?id=934

andras2

Hi. This tool is very welcome. However, unfortunately BIM is not only 3D modeling. What about switching btw. 2D/3D view? Wall components, profiles, hatching, schedules all that takes something Building Information Modeller. Architects who use BIM also create the 3D and 2D documentation at the same time like in case of Archicad or Revit or a very cheap and very good Ashampoo 3D Architect or visualbuilding.co.uk something Arcon style. I hope you are taking in consideration these things as well otherwise it is just Building Modelling without Information. This initiate is very good I hope you develop an affordable and useful BIM product in the near future. Good luck.

d_e_x

@andras2 said:

Hi. This tool is very welcome. However, unfortunately BIM is not only 3D modeling. What about switching btw. 2D/3D view?

Hi Andras, the current version allows the users to seamlessly switch b/w 2D and 3D views. The tool uses Layers in SketchUp to switch b/w plan and 3D views. Addition of elevation views is also on the product roadmap.

@andras2 said:

Wall components, profiles, hatching, schedules all that takes something Building Information Modeller. Architects who use BIM also create the 3D and 2D documentation at the same time like in case of Archicad or Revit or a very cheap and very good Ashampoo 3D Architect or visualbuilding.co.uk something Arcon style. I hope you are taking in consideration these things as well otherwise it is just Building Modelling without Information.

Documentation is a very important component of BIM. There are several ideas floating in our team - one of them is to use Layout and enhance its functionality to a higher level for engineering documentation. Layout API is not available today; however it might be possible that Google may expose it at some point. Otherwise, we'll have to look for some other free/cheap option.

@andras2 said:

This initiate is very good I hope you develop an affordable and useful BIM product in the near future. Good luck.

TIG

On the issue of documentation I have recently been working with someone on a similar project for O&Ms, and it was finally decided to use an MHT format file.
You can write one in Word and it's like a zip file containing all of the usual html stuff.
You can add text, tables, images, sets of Layout pages [as images] etc...
You can index/bookmark-link it within itself, or to external files kept within its own subfolder, even open files/apps on the host PC, OR go out onto the www - so linking to manufacturer's sites for specs etc is very easy...
You can link images as bookmarks... and with a little effort you can split images into separately linked areas, so that clicking on a particular part of an image goes to a specific link etc [click the door and the door-guy's site opens, click the window etc]...
You can even add javascript bits [but that needs a manual edit of the HTML code!]

An MHT file opens in your current Browser like IE [needs a plugin for FF etc].