BlenderBIM updates and new features: Version v0.0.201207

A significant amount of people think about Blender as a 3D modeler and platform to render realistic images to visualize your designs. It can help a lot in this regard, but that is only part of its role in architecture. With Add-pons like BlenderBIM, you can expand Blender and include authoring and document BIM data. That opens a world of possibilities for Blender to have an entire open-source workflow.

When using the BlenderBIM Add-on, you can create IFC files in compliance with ISO standards. A new version released recently has about 146 new features and multiple bug fixes!

Here is a list of the new features and bug fixes from version v0.0.201207:

• Add support for quads in meshes when converting from DXF to IFC
• Work plan attributes can now be modified
• Work schedule attributes can now be modified
• Work calendar attributes can now be modified
• You can now assign and unassign project declarations for project libraries
• Geolocation MicroMVD now supports checking true north
• You can now add/remove material profiles in a profile set
• You can now assign parameterized profiles to material profiles
• You can now edit cost schedule attributes
• Cost items can now be added to cost schedules, as well as child cost items
• You can now just select doors/windows when adding voids for usability
• You can now create IFC project libraries
• Assigning aggregates can now be done in bulk
• Structural member axis orientation can now be specified
• Spatial container assignment can now be done in bulk
• You can now assign summary tasks to a work schedule
• You can now toggle expansion of the cost schedule tree.
• Material profile set usages are now supported
• Spatial aggregations are now auto-assigned upon creation.
• Spaces are now always imported by default, using the same spatial tree structure for consistency.
• Multiple cost item summaries are allowed, and you can now remove cost items.
• You can now assign task trees to work schedules
• Removing subgraphs of the IFC now uses batching by default
• If you are already authoring a file, exporting no longer prompts for a file location
• You can now copy classes in bulk
• You can now edit task attributes
• New UI to edit both task trees and task attributes.
• You can assign task predecessors and successors
• Collection assignments for spatial structure are now auto-synced on export
• You can now load project libraries and browse type products
• Selecting an IFC file dialog now only filters IFC files for convenience
• In a project library, you can now toggle declared products
• New support for task times
• Work schedule UI now shows start and finish times.
• You can now assign / unassign building elements as constructed products to tasks
• You can now generate Gantt charts from work schedules
• You can now append product types from another project or project library into your project
• You can now assign products to cost items
• You can now import work schedules from P6 XML exports
• You can now add crew and subcontractor resources
• New bSDD library for developers
• Resources may now be assigned and unassigned to products
• You can now edit cost item quantities.
• You can now edit cost item values with subtotal calculations.
• New “cha-ching” noise when you’re checking out cost schedules
• You can now assign derived quantities from products to cost items
• You can now import predecessors and successors from P6 XML
• “Counting” cost quantities now auto count the number of assigned products for convenience
• Work schedules can now be assigned to work plans
• OAuth support in bSDD now available.
• New work calendar UI.
• New system to modify calendar working and exception/holiday times, with support for recurring times.
• Improved time and date support in date utilities.
• Support all recurrence types and time periods in work schedules
• Pset API use cases are now decoupled from the BlenderBIM Add-on
• P6 XML root level activities are now supported on import
• Support assign, edit, and unassign lag times for task sequence relationships
• Support importing calendars from P6
• Support multiple versions of P6 XML imports
• Support importing P6 sequence types
• You can now edit sequence relationship attributes
• You can now select all products assigned to a task
• New support for IfcDuration in date utility.
• Support purging when removing nested tasks in a schedule
• Grouped tasks now support deriving start, finish dates, and elapsed durations in the task tree
• Support importing activity and calendar assignments from P6
• You can now visualize construction progress at a particular date in your work schedule
• You can now generate construction sequencing animations within a date range
• You can now change animation speeds for generated construction sequences with different speed controls
• You can now add, edit, and remove structural load cases
• Microsoft Project XMLs can now be imported as construction sequencing schedules
• Support nested tasks in MS Project XML imports
• Add support for point orientations for structural analysis
• Implement support for adding/removing load groups
• Arithmetic formulas are now supported for cost value components
• New IfcPatch recipe for cleaning up IFCs that store quantities in properties instead of quantity sets
• New IfcPatch recipe to convert units of an IFC file
• Calendars can now be shown in the work schedule task tree
• Derived durations now calculate working days based on the working calendar
• Calendar task inheritance is now supported
• P6 XML lag times are now imported
• Updating durations of a task now auto-refresh the finish dates based on the calendar
• New module structure for BCF XML v2.1 and v3
• You can now edit a structural connection coordinate system
• User-friendly drop down to select relevant quantities for associated products on cost items
• Links cost item products now auto-update quantities when they are assigned or unassigned
• New utility functions for copying and deep copying IFC elements
• You can now copy cost values from one cost item to another
• You can now filter products assigned to a cost item or schedule
• Implement structural load management and assigning activities with named loads
• Importing IFC4 files with tessellation meshes are now significantly faster (like 8x)
• Qto module has now various methods to do bulk object quantification and quantity populating
• IFC drawings now roundtrip as a Blender camera object
• Mesh evaluation when updating geometries is now faster thanks to disabling boolean calculations
• You can now select all products that are part of a group
• Old annotation system now creates IFC elements again. Text and misc animations now work with the new WIP drawing system.
• Users can now regenerate the linework or annotation layers in the new WIP drawing system.
• BCF imports now autodetect the BCF version
• 2D representations are now reimplemented in the new WIP drawing system.
• OCC is now no longer necessary, resulting in fewer conflicts with other addons and a significantly smaller file size.
• Assigning a representation to a type product now syncs the mapped representations of all product type instances
• Project and version data for BCF XML v3 is now supported in the library
• New support for API listeners for parametric modifications when authoring native IFCs.
• The search UI is only shown if an IFC is present.
• New UI to add type instances.
• Adding a new type instance now snaps it to the storey you’re working on
• Typed dumb walls now inherit wall thicknesses from the type of material
• You can now generate walls from sketching
• New wall join tool with support for T-junction joints, butt joints, and miter joints
• You can now unjoin walls
• You can now join walls in bulk
• Stroke generated walls now auto-detect joints where possible
• You can now generate walls from the cursor position, perpendicular to walls in the current storey
• Improved handling of non-manifold elements with openings
• Polygons coplanarity is ensured when updating geometry
• New wall align tool with support for the center, interior, and exterior alignment
• New formwork calculation tool to generate formwork meshes
• Dumb walls now auto-calculate length, width, height, and simple volumes
• Dumb walls now auto-generate wall axis upon updating
• 2D curve geometry can now be created again
• Copying objects in Blender now auto-copy them in IFC too
• Layer set usages now inherit the layer set from the typed product.
• Total layer set thickness is now shown in the UI
• BCF XML v3 now supports all aspects of BCF XML v3 except for the new documents system in the library.
• Dumb walls now auto-update thickness if the layer thickness changes.
• New date picker UI in the visualization interface
• New wall tool with hotkeys for rapid wall creation.
• New wall flipping feature, with support for aligned walls.
• Super barebones UI to show space boundaries for energy analysis.
• Point lights (IfcLightSourcePositional) are now supported and can be exported
• New wall split feature.
• MVDs now reflect the design transfer view by default.
• IFC header metadata can now be edited.
• API listeners can now be removed
• IfcOpenShell API now uses standardized Pythonic setting names
• Raster underlays are now supported in the new WIP drawing system.
• New walls are now selected when created.
• Project data directory is now customizable and actually works.
• Dumb slabs are now parametric and inherit thicknesses from their type materials
• Changing wall types now auto-updates the thickness
• Updating any attribute (duration, start, or finish now calculates the other attributes)
• Parametric engines are now loaded on startup
• Experimental use case serialization feature in preparation for version control and logging
• Dumb slabs now update thicknesses based on layer thicknesses and type assignment if changed
• Dumb slabs now roundtrip the Blender solidify modifier
• New feature to recalculate schedule metadata, including early start and finish dates, late start and finish dates, total float, and critical paths.
• Schedule metadata is now calculated using calendar dates
• Dumb walls and slabs are now always exported as parametric solids instead of meshes
• Fix rotation check-in geolocation MicroMVD validation
• Fix bug where people and organization Id data was not recorded in IFC2X3
• Fix bug where syncing upon export was just broken
• Fix bug where extrusion direction was incorrectly detected for some mesh to solid conversions
• Fix bug where partial imports broke when whitelisting only spatial elements
• Fix bug where presentation layers couldn’t be added
• Fix bug where dropdowns didn’t refresh when you started a new file
• Fix bug where adding a new material didn’t make it available for assignment to objects
• Fix bug where editing pset templates just broke
• Fix bug where saving is done twice in authoring mode
• Fix bug where box representations could be duplicated when adding new bodies and ensure that styles are synced
• Fix bug where edit mode syncing didn’t work if you edited many objects at once
• Fix bug where you couldn’t assign objects to a freshly created layer
• Fix bug where import mesh cleaning would inadvertently mark meshes as edited
• Fix bug where syncing was not maintained across file saves
• Fix bug where you shouldn’t be able to reassign classes of non-rooted elements
• Fix bug where deletion syncing may fail on freshly created objects
• Fix bug where a new Blender file will remember old pset templates and libraries.
• Fix crash when pressing undo after assigning an IFC class to an object.
• Fix bug where UI didn’t update when a type name was changed
• Fix bug where migrating an IFC version may explode the filesize.
• Fix bug where activities not in WBSes wouldn’t import from P6 XML.
• Fix bug where empty material slots caused errors
• Fix bug where edit pset use case didn’t import the right module
• Fix bug where related openings weren’t deleted if you deleted a product.
• Fix bugs related to grid name syncing, axis delete and copy, and grid deletion
• Fix bug where objects might be unlinked from non-IFC collections
• Fix bug where the logic behind detecting swept disk geometry was faulty
• Fix bug where assigning types and synchronizing geometry was unstable.
• Fix crash when switching representations for type products
• Fix bug where IFC2X3 files did not correctly generate 2D representations
• Fix bug where you were unable to remove a representation
• Fix bug where type instance cubes were missing a face.
• Fix bug where active object edits would not be synced
• Fix bug where certain objects couldn’t be deleted
• Fix bug where objects with the same name failed to be synchronized
• Fix bug where switching drawings didn’t work when in a local view.
• Fix bug where drawings couldn’t have a slash in their name