CAD

BlenderBIM updates and new features: Version v0.0.210829

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 153 new features and multiple bug fixes!

Here is a list of the new features and bug fixes from version v0.0.210829:

  • New bunny rabbit furniture asset 🙂 It’s the BlenderBIM Bunny!
  • You can now insert doors, and we distribute a sample demo and site library
  • You can now calculate costs from direct resources and indirect task-based resources
  • You can now edit resource base quantity
  • BCF is now available on PyPI!
  • Choose from project units instead of hardcoded ones for georeferencing map units.
  • Resource base costs are now supported with all the features coming from the cost module.
  • You can now edit nested arithmetic cost values by using spreadsheet-like formulas
  • Many more operators now apply to all selected objects insted of one-by-one.
  • Cost values are now serialised and shown as formulas
  • You can now count elements, tasks, and resources parametrically for cost items
  • Only equipment and labour resources can now have time-based usages
  • You can now store productivity rates and calculate resource work parametrically based on productivity
  • You can now manage psets on resources
  • You can now parametrically derive task durations from resource utilisation
  • Improve groups and systems interface to be accessible from individual objects.
  • IDS code for GSOC is now finalised with IDS schema 0.4.1 implemented.
  • Detect units from project libraries, and convert nested double aggregates
  • Implement new ICOM-based UI for managing process inputs, outputs, and resources
  • Non-rooted subcontract resources are now allowed.
  • Block the user from creating sub resources under a subcontract resource.
  • Simple prototype integration to run an OpenLCA analysis from Blender
  • Project libraries are now sorted alphabetically for convenience
  • Hide types collection when importing assets.
  • Improved file selection filters to filter by the right file type.
  • Various code cleanup, optimisations, tooltips, and descriptions.
  • Minor iterator optimisation to prevent inverse check for associated materials
  • Rudimentary handling of purging voids and fills
  • Windows now move with openings and walls when toggled.
  • Filtered imports is now much faster and works with omitted aggregates
  • IfcZip and IfcXML can now be set manually, and prevent double loading when importing, which can save 20 seconds for large file imports.
  • Improve usability by distinguishing disable versus remove icons.
  • Work schedule psets are now supported, so you can set work day/week/month durations
  • OpenCDE API now validates data against the schema.
  • Complete IfcSIUnitName exponents are now available.
  • Keep active object as active when creating ifc file.
  • Keep active object when removing from containers.
  • Add tooltip to CopyToContainer Operator.
  • IfcCobie : Prevent executing operator if no ifc file.
  • BlenderBim : Improve BCF project UX.
  • New site project library for stuff like site sheds and cranes
  • Improve UX of task tree by shifting buttons and changing column widths
  • Cost subtotals that are calculated from per X units are now supported
  • Cleanup : Use clear instead of while…remove loop for optimised list refreshing.
  • Extract Docs is bundled with IfcPatch module.
  • You can now assign rates from a schedule of rates to a cost plan
  • You can now browse a schedule of rates alongside a cost schedule
  • UoM and unit rates are now shown for schedule of rates in costing
  • You can now insert windows in walls.
  • You can now assign / unassign cost items in a schedule of rates to type products
  • You can now add and edit context dependent units including dimensional exponents
  • Import of CSV-based schedule of rates is now possible
  • Half complete “add window” tool prototype
  • Implement metric constraints in the ifcopenshell.api.
  • Improve ifc patch arguments User Experience.
  • Improved accuracy of boolean modifiers for dynamic voids
  • Demo library now includes a window type. Neat.
  • Walls and slabs (or any vertical or horziontal layer) now auto recalculate origins after editing
  • Adding openings now intelligently detect the shape of the element you are voiding.
  • A Blender material is now always applied even if indirectly applied through a set or usage.
  • New feature to select the type’s Blender object of the active object.
  • New convenience button to add an empty for a type with no representation
  • You can now create shapes of profiles when debugging.
  • Bug where auto spatial containment assignment failed when you were not in a container.
  • You can now edit psets of profiles
  • New profile browser with basic profile edit and remove feature.
  • You can now import profile definitions from a library
  • Added some named dimensions for units.
  • Implement cost identification numbers and big cleanup to cost schedule UI
  • New utility to get the exponential dimensions of named unit types
  • Implement ability to add SI units
  • New feature to toggle default project unit assignment
  • You can now edit the unit basis of a cost value for a schedule of rates
  • You can now assign resource-based parametric quantities to cost items
  • Implement task-based parametric cost item quantities
  • Changing task scheduled dates now auto updates its related quantity take off data
  • You can now remove cost quantities in bulk.
  • Parametric quantity breakdowns for cost items are now shown
  • Assigning a product to a cost item now also assigns a quantity in one step
  • New interface to view physical products assigned to a cost item
  • Distribution IFC-extended pset definitions for parametric costing and modeling
  • Implement resource quantity sets for parametric quantification
  • Implement task quantity sets for parametric quantification
  • Parametric types can how define a default layer set direction.
  • You can now parametrically create profile / layer based objects of any type, no longer limited to walls, slabs, etc.
  • You can now add and edit monetary units, and basic editing of other unit types.
  • Updating model quantities now auto refreshes parametric quantities in cost schedules
  • Copying an object / class now also copies pset and qtos
  • BlenderBIM and ifcopenshell.api features to enable adding and editing resource time information
  • You can now import a cost schedule from an IFC project library
  • You can now create curve shapes from the debug panel too
  • You can now customise cost category columns in the cost schedule tree
  • Ifc5d can now parse cost category breakdowns in CSV form
  • You can now import cost schedules as CSVs into IFC in Blender
  • New Ifc5D utility for converting and generating analysis of IFC cost data
  • Feature to enable assigning Construction Resources to Tasks
  • You can now import materials from a project library
  • A whole bunch of drawing improvements, though not yet exposed to the user. Watch this space!
  • Deleting a material set from a type now also purges usages from type instances
  • New feature to copy the material of the active object to selected objects.
  • Switching BCF viewpoints is now sigificantly faster on large projects.
  • BCF cameras now support global absolute coordinates with a Blender offset
  • Clearer licensing across codebase.
  • New feature to extend columns, beams, and members to a target
  • Units for cost items are now autodetected
  • New utility to derive the unit of a property or quantity.
  • You can now delete unit assignments
  • New unit utility to auto detect SI unit dimensional exponents
  • You can now view all assigned project units
  • You can now toggle whether decomposed elements are parented in blender when editing, so voids/fills etc move with you.
  • Walls are now dynamically voided when joining, so you can join/unjoin voided walls
  • Add new inverse_relationship in selector for bounded by relationships.
  • New BCF-API client and OpenCDE Foundation-API client system.
  • Add sample docstring and type hints for IfcPatch recipe.
  • IfcClash is now able to be built as an isolated Python binary. Hooray!
  • Using global keyword is not mandatory but may help debugging
  • Add documentation for how to use IfcClash.
  • New hppfcl IfcClash packaged for the BlenderBIM Add-on. New MacOS support.
  • Improve Debug Panel UI.
  • Improve UI for multi input string fields.
  • New ifcopenshell.geom.tree based broadphase collision for IfcClash instead of aabbtree.
  • Add descriptions to IFC Search function.
  • WIP experimental hpp-fcl and aabbtree-based IfcClash
  • Fix bug where style attributes couldn’t be edited.
  • Fix example and document quirk to prevent memory related bug.
  • Fix warnings when no people or organisations existed.
  • Fix bug where removing material from IfcMaterialList removes all occurences of the material.
  • Fix bug where the pset templates with multiple applicable entities only checked the first entity
  • Fix errors if no ifc file.
  • Fix errors in console due to accessing empty enum.
  • Fix error when trying to select type if type is not set.
  • Fix error when adding opening with None object.
  • Fix error when filling opening with None object.
  • IFC Cobie : Fix Elements not being assigned in selector.
  • Fix bug where changing slab layer thicknesses didn’t work if it didn’t have a solidify modifier already.
  • Fix bug where walls now grow or shrink from their origin point.
  • Fix bug where you could accidentally have a layer set with zero thickness which caused object creation to fail.
  • Fix bug where removing objects fails. Now using a breadth-first search and maintain insertion order on remove_deep().
  • Fix bug in work schedule cascading where some cascades wouldn’t work and non-working dates would lead to an infinite recursion
  • Fix bug where editing a schedule finish date by itself wouldn’t work
  • Fix bug where you couldn’t delete non active task columns
  • IfcClash now has logging and fix bug where exclude clash filters on large files was very slow
  • Fix bug where IFC project libraries could not be imported as a file.
  • Fix bug where you couldn’t load the add-on in background mode.
  • Fix bug to prevent users from appending a project library asset twice
  • Fix bug where you couldn’t use userdefined types for type elements
  • Fix bug where wall origin recalculations will shift openings
  • Fix bug where FM types for COBie were not selected properly
  • Fix bug where undoing broke the IFC link for child objects
  • Fix builds to use name “blenderbim” instead of “blender28-bim” which now confuses people since 2.9 is out.
  • Fix bug where materials weren’t created when importing assets from a library
  • Fix error due to trying to patch non-existent file
  • Fix IfcPatch pyinstaller script to make it easier to distribute ifcpatch.
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