BlenderBIM Add-on/BlenderBIM Add-on Roadmap

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The objective of the BlenderBIM Add-on project is to provide a complete free software workflow in an OpenBIM production pipeline. The ability to work from early feasibility and concept phase, project coordination, detailed design, fabrication & construction, facility management and building maintenance, post-occupancy evaluation, and tear-down.

This is an ambitious goal, and some of these responsibilities lie outside the scope of the Blender package. The end-result will be a toolkit of Unix-style utilities which offer all of the required functionality, some of which integrate into the Blender interface, and others which will not. A roadmap is provided here for those who want to know where the project is headed.

History

A small commercial building project was first designed in Blender. We were then faced with the task of remodeling it in Autodesk Revit. We figured it would be easier to build an entire BIM application and construction documentation tool from scratch rather than face the pain of remodeling it in Revit. It turned out that it was.

A day later, the project began on August 29, 2019, with 83 lines of code that demonstrated that Blender geometry could be exported into IFC.

The first packaged build for the public, changing it from an experimental set of scripts into a distributed package was done a month later, on October 13, 2019.

Version 0.0.X

The version 0.0.X series are highly unstable, rapidly changing, alpha-quality software. The X will be substituted with the current date. This is the current state of the project.

At this stage, the BlenderBIM Add-on is very new, but we encourage early adopters and people who want to push the boundaries of what's possible in BIM. Users should expect bugs, and changing behaviour. Users are highly encouraged to try to push the tool and report bugs.

The primary objective during this version series is to build features, find some early adopters, start a community, and make it possible to achieve productive, commercial-grade output. We're going to release early, release often, and don't mind if we break a few things along the way, so long as we move towards a better future. During this, we hope to demonstrate to the industry what free software is capable of, and build the world's most advanced OpenBIM authoring package.

Version 0.X.X

The first 0.X.X release will mean that most of the basic features are there, and we know we can produce output. The objective then shifts to polishing, increased testing, improving stability, improving usability, writing tutorials and documentation, and optimisation. We also aim to battle test the package in as many commercial projects as possible, and build up small teams of people heavily using the BlenderBIM Add-on and IfcOpenShell suite of tools. This is loosely scheduled for 2021.

By this stage, there will also be increasingly tangible costs involved, such as server costs for hosting, build servers, asset libraries, and so on. This is only set to grow, and so there needs to be an added focus on a community development model. For the community to sustainably grow and to support free software developer participation, models for funding developer resources will need to be developed. The concept for this is not commercial, but similar to the Blender Foundation approach, or KDE Community Fund approach. It could also be based on free software payment initiatives like Liberapay.

Version X.X.X

The first version 1.0.0, and subsequent releases, will mean that the BlenderBIM Add-on is now a stable product. A company should now be able to replace their entire proprietary toolset with free software. A bright future for the industry where we can now easily collaborate with high quality open data standards and a culture of openness and transparency.

The priority is now placed on optimising the workflow to create better buildings. To improve sustainable design, more beautiful buildings, happier places, with informed quantitative and qualitative decision-making that spans between GIS, BIM, environmental sciences, design psychology, and more.

The current TODO list

The following TODO items are highly specific, actionable improvements to be made to the BlenderBIM Add-on. This is a working document, and will shrink and grow over time as more items are planned or items are finished.

  • Autodetect profile extrusions and create them as extrusions to improve round-tripping instead of manually assigning profiles
  • Implement a search to the classifications UI
  • Store camera setup settings data in the SVG, based off the BCF standard
  • Push single object attributes to an IFC file
  • Push single object psets to an IFC file
  • Scrape buildingSMART pset and attribute documentation to allow for descriptive tooltips
  • Add support for integer attributes, not just string values with casting
  • Create a UI in Blender to integrate with a Git repository
  • Re-use and improve FreeCAD's recycler to optimise IFC files
  • Visualise diffs in IFC data within Blender
  • Decide on a good asset library extension for Blender to drag and drop components (Integrate with PyClone)
  • Round-trip basic parametric data using custom psets
  • Create a proof of concept of (proper) BIM and GIS integration with OGC datasets and a web viewer
  • Return to supporting all of the structural entities. (Note: not specific enough, please expand)
  • Support all of the construction sequencing entities. (Note: not specific enough, please expand)
  • Migrate sheets and views to use a list UI instead of a dropdown for better usability. (Proof of concept already done with MeasureIt-ARCH)
  • Rendering graphic settings should be remembered and restored on a view by view basis.
  • Absolutely positioned files which are transformed upon import should retain their transformation data in IFC geolocation entities.
  • Add BCF export support for IFC clash
  • Support round-tripping circular extrusions natively
  • Support round-tripping arc extrusions natively
  • Support multi-materials in native geometry round-tripping
  • Stabilise opening element boolean support in native geometry
  • Create a UI to run IFCPatch through Blender
  • Basic integration with MeasureIt-Arch to allow for parametric annotations

BlenderBIM Add-on Changelog

A summary of the changes in all versions released so far can be found in the BlenderBIM Add-on Changelog.