Auto Grid Height Adjustment

Are you tired of seeing the grid marker heads inside the columns and beams?

Well, I used to be!

Thanks to ArchiCAD 15 it is no longer an issue but we thought some of you may not know this little trick so Jothi prepared the video below:

Enjoy!

Jothi Shanmugam
Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Build Qatar Live

Have you heard of these crazy competitions!

BIMers team up and they try to design and virtually collborate a project within 48 hours. Non-stop!

Image from BuildQatarLive

Well, in BIM industry it is pretty prestigious competition.

As a person who needs to sleep min 8 hours a day, I highly respect the every and each team member. Yes, not only the ones who win:)

This time the site is located in Qatar and teams from all over the world are invited! It will start on November 27th, Tuesday and will be completed on Thursday!

More information is available from here!

By the way, they are giving out some prizes as well. I think free software etc.

Come on... Register... You can do it:)

How to snap 2D Lines in 3D View? by Mahmoud Qenawi

Hi All,

I received a very nice comment to my previous post. It's from Mahmoud Qenawi.

I don't know him at all but I think I am missing a lot.

He sent me a video which is very very nice and smart. He basically developed Jothi's methods to make 2D Drawings visible in 3D.

Jothi's method is great for quickly importing DWG and compare the with the model in 3D however if you want to play in 3D, you can not snap to the line end etc.

Is it a big problem? No!

But it's a so cool to have that option too.

This is what Mahmoud Qenawi shows in the following video:

He basically takes Jothi method one step further and converts the drawing to Morhp so that we can see and snap to it in 3D View!

Very cool, isn't it?

Mahmoud,

We are waiting for more videos from you:))

Have a fabulous day!

Cheers,
Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

BIM Checklist

Hi All,

I know it has been very long time since my last post and I am sorry about it. I was in Turkey for my sister's wedding and then a lot of business travels within GCC. I hardly found time to sleep during last month.

However I am back and ready with a new post.

The following is one of the most common questions I have encountered.

"Which BIM Software is the best?"

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Well the answer changes from person to person because all the BIM Softwares developed significantly during the last few years. They are all good but some of them are better. What makes some of them better is your requirements.

For instance you can do concrete modeling in ArchiCAD but if you want rebar then you have to send the model to Tekla. Or Graphisoft MEP Modeler is good for coordination however for Fabrication I would recommend CADmep+.

But really, I don't find it very analytic and scientific to ask this question to the vendors. I understand they are the ones who knows the products best but they don't know you.

 Image courtesy of Rawich / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If I were you, I would create a "BIM Checklist" containing the items that your company needs and give it to the vendors and let them fill. Then you just need to compare.

None of them will fulfill all the requirements but then you can assign priority to certain items.

A Contractor recently did this in the UAE and I think it was very smart of them.

I can hear you asking which software they selected:) Well, first of all  they are still evaluating. Secondly, even after evaluation that may not mean anything for your company since these evaluations can differ from project to project.

Himm! I talked so much and gave lots of advise. If I were you, I would say "Enough of talk, give us something useful."

And yes, I think this is what I should do:)

Here comes a draft checklist to help you creating yours:)

BIM CHECKLIST

1. Repository for all project related documents and models
2. Drawing version comparison
3. Model version comparison
4. Change management report for 2D drawings and 3D models
5. Integrated communication system
6. Ability to assign different access rights
7. Integrated RFI Management
8. Create Models from LOD 100 to LOD 500
9. Physical work area location breakdown structure and location systems. This should be done without effecting documentation.
10. Costs and quantities per location
11. Schedule comparison of baseline to actual to forecast
12. and more....

Good luck!
Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

10 ways to guarantee BIM failure!

First 9 of them are real case stories that led to failure. 10th has not yet but still very dangerous;)

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

1- Don't hire an experienced BIM Manager.

 

2- Don't train your team properly.

3- Find someone from your organization whose maximum interaction with latest technology is iPhone and make him BIM Manager.

4- Make sure that the above BIM Manager thinks that he knows all about BIM because he attended some seminars and read some case studies.

5- Don't get training and never ever run a small pilot project to fully understand the capabilities of the BIM Tool before making mass number of license. Instead, just rely on vendor's word.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 
6- See the BIM requirement chapter in the tender documents and say "oh well, we will think about it if we get the project".

7- Believe that there is only one "way" to succeed with BIM on each project.

 Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 
8- Believe that having a model only for coordination is BIM and you can produce shop drawing with the traditional method which has nothing to do with BIM. Further more claim this is much cheaper.

9- Prefer ideal workflows to realistic ones.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

10- Final and the most important one: Be arrogant to Diyane and irritate her although she is nice, kind and respectful towards you:)


Congratulations! You are ready to fail now:)))

Have a wonderful day without any failures!
Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

Maybe IFC works better in cold regions, especially under -20 degrees:)

A couple of days ago, I was speaking with one the Graphisoft Product Managers and I mentioned him that IFC is not the most trusted file format in the Middle East.

After this statement of mine, I was expecting a response like this:

"Ohhh I know! It has to be developed further but we are fully dedicated to OPEN BIM and we believe IFC is the future."

But no, that wasn't the answer.

He was pretty much surprised with my statement and he said he was recently visiting large Scandinavian contractors using ArchiCAD and they were extremely happy with IFC.

WOW! Very unexpected answer!

Since then I have been trying to find a good answer why IFC has totally different reputation in the Middle East and Scandinavian countries. Following are the possibilities I could think of:

• Maybe it's easier to manage IFC files on smaller projects.
• Maybe Scandinavians are more experienced with BIM.
• Maybe Scandinavians has lower expectations from IFC and they are happy with whatever they get:)
• Maybe IFC works better in cold regions, especially under -20 degrees:)

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 Puff! I really don't know!

Have a great Sunday!
Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com

How to view 2D Lines in 3D?

A long lasting issue!

Viewing 2D lines in 3D! Some says it is crucial some says no need for such feature...

If you are asking my opinion, my answer is "YES". I didn't know how to do it until Jothi came up with this video.

I hope you enjoyed it:)

Diyane Koseoglu
www.bimes.com