Team 1 - Things we learned from our Presentations

Sarah Hollis was the first to present in our team. We learned about the history of automated design. It was enlightening to learn about the world before Autocad and Revit existed. She walked us through the way Autocad broke into the world of draftsmen and eventually evolved into a comprehensive, 3D model. Before Autocad, she said that designers would try NOT to change designs because it would simply take too long for the draftsmen to propagate the changes throughout the drawing sets!

Dung Tran presented about his Revit model of the Glass House, where he modeled with immense detail each of the systems within his building. Dung explored some extensions of Revit such as the structural analysis that we had never seen before. He was also very thorough in modeling subsystems such as the plumbing!

Brad DiGiovanni and Cody Johnson gave a super interesting presentation on laser scanning and BIM. They gave an overview of the applications of 3D scanning and the benefit of generating a point cloud. It was crazy to see how 3D scanning can survey, in one day, a space that would have otherwise taken multiple weeks to survey. The point cloud is super accurate - and they were discussing the future potential of putting 3D scanners on drones.

Zac and myself presented on our interdisciplinary model that we constructed in Revit based on our AE 391 design. Building a Revit model as we progressed through the design phases helped to visualize how the various systems interacted in 3D, and definitely helped to identify conflicts as they arose.

Overall, all the groups walked away with a better understanding of modeling processes. We received the whole gamut of knowledge about modeling. We started with the origins of Autocad and Revit, saw two projects utilizing the interdisciplinary capabilities of Revit, and also learned the ways that 3D scanning can be integrated with BIM to incorporate detailed, field information.

B2 - Chapter 3: Interoperability

Interoperability is defined as the ability to exchange data between different applications in order to improve workflow. Since there are many different programs and applications used in the design process for various fields of engineering it is critical for these groups to be able to convert and utilize the data from others. However, this adds repetitive steps to the process which has a negative effect on work flow. There has been a national push through the National BIM Standard (NIBIMS) to standardize the data required for these types of applications to allow data to be converted more quickly and even automatically.

One of the major challenges for interoperability is platform-to-platform exchange (1). Each individual platform has its own range of data as well as internal rules that make the object exist in terms of that program. If you were to try to share this object across platforms you would need to convert all the data as well as exchange the rules for that object. This is difficult since sometimes those rules exist in separate spreadsheets that would also need to be shared. Another problem with interoperability is that once the data is moved to a new platform the goal is usually to modify it and improve upon it to complete the project. Currently if you were to receive a model form a different platform, an engineer would have to review, modify, and update the model to make sure there are no errors before making his or her own changes. This adds time and costs to all projects and ultimately hurts workflow.

As new modeling technologies are introduced, and the existing platforms are updated to follow the NIBIMS standards for data, we will begin to see more applications that are able to operate together seamlessly. Two NASA funded companies, Boeing and General Electric, have already adapted what is now known as IGES (Initial Graphics Exchange Specifications) which allows each software company to develop only two translators for their program rather than a new translator for every exchange. IGES was a success and is still used today throughout engineering communities.

I believe that the overall capabilities of BIM technology will be hindered if the technology that promotes interoperability does not improve with it. The more complex that these programs get the harder it will be to move data between them which will ultimately hurt workflow and discourage the desire to push these technologies further.

Sources:

1.)    C. M. Eastman, “Chapter 5: BIM for Architects and Engineers,” in BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers, and Contractors, 2nd ed., Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2012, pp. 193–261.

1. Carlos Hillinger

I watched the video and it helped me gain a better understanding of how BIM works for a project. The chapter I read this week was on interoperability and I see where the advantages are with having multiple programs that are able to access the same data and build a concise model like the one in the video. Here it seems that all the components in the restaurant are stored in a central BIM library so adding them to the model seems easy. A problem may arise when a client wants to use a certain door or window that isn’t already loaded into the BIM library. It may just be as simple as adding the specs for the door to the library and having someone who runs the BIM library review and approve it to be used again on later projects. With all this data going into a single model it is also important for developers to focus on interoperability to allow the various programs being used to create it to talk to each other easily.

2. Andrew Maita

One of the portions of this chapter that stuck out to me was the highlights of how the current platforms utilize interoperability and the flaws highlights similar to what you have said here. If that person from the senior design group has to go in to eQuest and enter all the parameters of the building again it will require a lot more time than just loading in a Revit file. This also creates more opportunities for errors which would further increase the amount of time spent trying to analyze the building. It is clear that there are huge implications for businesses to focus on interoperability for these exact reasons. The time and costs that could be saved on each project would be worth the early investments.

3. Jacob Wahbeh

I think any time you make more data accessible to people you have the opportunity to streamline a process like this. Being able to have a single model with all aspects of the construction on it would make planning a construction process much easier as well as predicting those conflicts. Making the right data more available for everyone to access may also help in this area. The people handling the construction don’t need to know the make and model of the chairs that will be going inside but they would need piling dimensions or board sizes for a fence. In the few BIM videos I’ve watched on youtube it seems like there is so much information that it may just clutter the model and make it difficult for people to get to what they need in a timely fashion.  

B2 - Chapter 3 "Interoperability" - Andrew Maita

 Reading:

C. M.        Eastman, “Chapter 3: Interoperability,” in BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers, and Contractors, 2nd ed., Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011, pp. 99-150.

Interoperability is defined by Eastman as “the ability to exchange data between applications, which smoothes workflows and sometimes facilitates their automation.” Throughout the construction and design process, there are multiple applications that require the same parameters or data to run and complete their task. Through interoperability, these applications can exchange data between themselves, which can improve the time put into the work greatly. In many architecture and engineering firms, most employees must be diligent while making various changes and updates to BIM files to make sure that they are saving the right copy, not overriding things, etc. Failure to make sure everything is saved properly can result in the firm losing work, which costs time and money to redo. Through interoperability, these changes can be automatically updated and managed even though multiple people may be working on the document at once.  I have seen this specific example applied in AutoCAD, where all the .dmg files were put into a firm server and could be updated and worked on by multiple people.

Interoperability is not always implemented or used efficiently. For example, students taking AE design classes or senior design will have to design a building from the ground up and do various analyses on it. To run an HVAC analysis on their building, students can use eQuest to model the building at set a variety of parameters. At the moment, there is no way for a student to automatically upload say a Revit or AutoCAD file into eQuest to get an exact analysis of the building that they designed. Instead, they would have to go into eQuest and re-enter all dimensions and details about their building. Interoperability has traditionally used file-based exchange systems like DXF and IGES to transfer files between different applications. If the applications that are trying to be used cannot utilize these file formats, interoperability may not be able to be implemented.

In this day and age, interoperability can be a key component to any system. Interoperability can enable the design and construction process to be sped up greatly because it lets many of the applications work with one another to take out more of the repetitive work. 

Comments:
Carlos H: As other students have mentioned, I think the addition of a video to your post really helped to hammer the point you were trying to explain home. I agree with you point about the most important stage of the building being the BIM planning. The more efficiently the initial BIM plans are in the early stages, the more money, time, and effort will be saved in the long run.

Allison A: I like the way you added a real life experience to your write up because it helps to show how what you were writing about had an application that many of us may have experienced. I agree with you that BIM applications for owners and managers are great tools to be used to help improve the construction process greatly.

Mariano A: I found your writing on the debate between 3D and 2D BIM models to be really interesting. I think that 2D drawings will always be needed due to the fact that models in plan view may be easier to read and understand since they are not 3D. I do think that rendering in 3D bring a lot to the table for showing an accurate model of what you are producing.

B2 - Chapter 3 'Interoperability' - Sarah Hollis

By definition, interoperability is ‘the ability of computer systems to exchange and make use of information’ (Eastman, 2013). In most architects offices or engineers offices around the world there will be a BIM manager; someone who’s job it is to collate all changes and ensure they are all saved to the main model in order for other contractors to view and make comments. Advancements in BIM repositories are hoping to eliminate this laborious and time-consuming job replacing it with self-managed BIM repositories which have the ability to synchronize and manage the changes made in all different fields to the model. For this, a developed understanding of the coding required for mechanical, architectural, electrical and civil standards are needed. Both computer scientists and those in the field are required to develop this process and to agree on the standards laid out by this merging of forces. In some respects, this may bring to light some common errors between different fields, due to differing standards being used.

There are some major issues which still need to be overcome in order to have an effective exchange of data between applications. Eastman wrote that ‘measurements lack tolerance properties’, what I think he means by this is that there may be a range of values for a particular object or body property, this could be due to construction errors, weather, code standards etc. Another problem is in translation; this is not so much in terms of different languages but it is more problematic when data exchange is required between two different alphabets; interoperability at its current stage of development is not yet truly reliable to exchange data and merge models written in different alphabets.

Interoperability is not a new concept, it has been going on since the 1970’s with the earliest examples being the translation of Intergraph. For storm water management application SWMM, .txt files are being used, this is another example of data exchange between applications reducing the need for employees to copy data from one application to another.

Thomas Sisson - Blog Post 2 - Interoperability

Reading:

C. M. Eastman, “Chapter 3: Interoperability,” in BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers, and Contractors, 2nd ed., Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011, pp. 99-150.

Interoperability, in short, is the ability for multiple disciplines to collaborate on a single model, or be able to import/export their model to another discipline without any fuss. This means that there needs to be a single backbone to every software, and every program that is used during design and construction. This single backbone can be a common library of objects used throughout a building, or just a specific way that these objects are defined and ready by the program which allows the object to behave the same way no matter what software or program it is input to. In a way, this is almost like a Rosetta stone for BIM, where each program is different, but a building model can easily be translated because there is a keystone guiding the way. Obviously, this analogy is highly flawed, since a Rosetta stone in this case would be a program to program specific translation, rather than a single standard that each program uses. The key point is the same, though, where all programs need to be able to look at the same building and offer their specific service. A key example would be a building designed in Revit, which would then need a thermal energy analysis in eQuest. Currently, the transition is bulky, and requires a specialized user of eQuest to take the Revit model and translate what they see into eQuest schematically, or in other words by scratch. The issue in this method is that if there are any changes made to the eQuest model, or the Revit model, the change must then be made in the other program. This introduces a halt in the workflow, and increases labor on both the building design, and the mechanical design. Another example is SAP2000, which uses a stick and node construction of the building to model the structural design. If the building model is changed, a specialized structural engineer must then change the SAP2000 model and the process is similarly effected. This is incredibly inefficient and a way to have the same model be translated into all three programs would greatly increase productivity and improve workflow.

Some companies are already implementing multi-disciplinary design into their program, with a key example being Autodesk. Currently, the company has modeling, BIM, drafting, utilities, structural, and mechanical programs which, while being completely proprietary, can allow easy transitions between disciplines. The issue lies within the proprietary part, since the implementation of this kind of approach would induce a single company holding all the market power. In short, if any firm wanted to optimize their design, they would need to be using Autodesk software. This induces monopolies within the industry. Ideally, a completely open source approach to BIM could solve any issues with interoperability very quickly, but such an approach would not be favorable to a profit-driven market and therefore would not survive. As such, interoperability needs to be treated as a regulation on companies, where their programs can still compete, but they need to follow a standard.

The key function of interoperability currently is certainly to improve workflow within the building industry, but the use extends much further.  The topic relevant to this course is the ability for interoperability to impact the automation of a building’s design. As noted, specialized technicians are needed to complete the various designs required to construct a building. To translate between these designs, more specialized workers are required. Interoperability right off the bat would eliminate these workers, but in the future when more and more of the actual design can be taken over by programs, interoperability would allow one program to oversee it all. Rather than have a specialized program handling the building’s structure, and another program for HVAC, instead a master building program could accomplish all of these tasks. Imagine, a single program, and your building would go from concept to final design. User input could tweak some things here or there, but this could completely change the way we go about putting up a new building. All of this is very idealistic, however, and not particularly relevant to today’s design process. Even without programs taking thousands of engineering jobs, just being able to quickly and easily get your model over to the architect and have their edits not completely ruin your design workflow would be incredibly useful.

Comments:

Abdlmalik A
I appreciate your coverage of the types of BIMs and their general uses. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the age of the book with respect to how well it defined these tools. You talked about how the book covered the different software available today, but also what kind of models that can be generated from this software. Do you feel that this information is out-dated? I had noticed some of this, especially in the later assigned chapters.

Zac A
I almost completely forgot about the estimation side of BIM when writing my post on Interoperability. I don't have very much experience on the construction management and contractor side of BIM, so you bring up some very good points about the potential cost sink that the old method creates. My question now would be could the programs not do all of the cost estimation based off of the 3D model, rather than have someone look at it. Everything is defined in the model. Every piece, material volumes, plumbing, etc. What purpose do you think the subcontractors would serve in the estimation side if such programs were to be implemented, if they haven't been already?

Sherry L
The interaction between Architect, Engineer, etc that you highlighted seems to be a pretty common theme throughout these few chapters. You talked about how firms may be less likely to use a simple central repository for the building design documents as the learning curve may be too steep and training would cost too much. I am curious though if this will continue to be an issue for companies, since this kind of skill-set is rapidly becoming more commonplace in the industry. Will firms always be so hesitant, and when will the break-even point be where such a central design method will start to become the only economically feasible option? Personally, I think we are rapidly approaching this time, and we may see this centralized design process become common within the next five years.