That is correct, it should be in the top level, not inside the blenderbim folder. When you install it to Blender, it should copy the pyparsing.py file to your Blender add-ons folder, but it sounds like it didn’t. Can you please check if it is there? You can see where your Blender add-ons folder is here.
To be safe, when upgrading BlenderBIM versions, I recommend completely removing and uninstalling the old BlenderBIM first. To uninstall, you must manually delete all the files that it created. You can see a list of the files to delete in that documentation website I linked to. Note that when you install, you do not need to unzip the downloaded file Hope it helps.
As it is not there, I recommend starting fresh and installing BlenderBIM again. It should work out of the box. If not, a workaround will be to just copy the files over manually. If you have to resort to the work-around, contact me via private message or email (dion@thinkmoult.com) and we can debug it without disturbing the forum
All non-polygonal extrusions now have an Axis representation exported
Material properties are now exported (like density, youngs modulus, etc)
New sample attributes for doors and windows shipped with the add-on
Point clouds now can be exported to IFC
IFC structural objects are now exported
UI improvement to only show predefined types and userdefined types if it is possible
Structural objects now export a topological reference representation
Parametric material profiles are now supported (rectangular, circular, I-Beam, etc)
New UI to manage material attributes
New UI to change material assignment (single / layer / constituent / profile set)
New UI to create a property set override instead of having to write properties in separate CSV files
BIMTester now includes model setup vocabulary, drafted in collaboration with BuildingSMART Australasia co-founder @john.mitchell - it tests basic project attributes and geolocation for both IFC2X3 and IFC4.
BIMTester now allows custom JUnit directories for better cloud integration
Bugfix where some context representations were not exported now fixed
UI to specify structural boundary conditions
New UI to specify structural member connections
Can export a group of structural objects into a Structural Analysis Model
Importing now has a progress bar and more consistent logging
Documentation for BlenderBIM and IfcOpenShell merged and restructured
New workaround for Revit incorrect geolocation being placed on the building object - enabled by default
Assigning product types is now done by a property instead of the Blender parent relationship to allow it to scale on large files
New experimental script to convert IFC into Code_Aster input for 100% free and open source structural analysis
A few pictures highlighting the major improvements…
Point clouds! Woo! As you can see, BIM, point clouds, and 3D annotations are all fused together - this presents exciting opportunities for recording this as-built fusion for our built environment!
As BlenderBIM can now author an IFC file containing structural analysis models, there is now an ability to convert this IFC file into a format that Code_Aster can read to perform structural analysis:
The results are visualised with Salome_Meca and ParaviS (effectively Paraview included into Salome_Meca). Shown is the deflection of a single cantilevering beam.
This is the start of a pipeline where structural modeling and structural analysis can be done with a 100% free and open source pipeline through IFC!
Shown below are the test vocabulary developed with @john.mitchell to check geolocation. This is still relatively fresh, but we hope to standardise this to verify that all models produced are properly geolocated.
Also quite exciting is how FreeCAD was combined with BlenderBIM - FreeCAD was used to parametrically model with constraints (Catia-style) a stair tread which was sent in STEP format for manufacturing. The native parametric file was associated with an IFC document association, and the FreeCAD export supplied the solid parametric representation item, whereas Blender provided the mesh based representation item. This demonstrates that it is possible to mix different mesh modeling techniques across different programs and use each to their strengths. Many thanks to @yorik who has made a lot of this possible in FreeCAD.
A new version of the BlenderBIM Add-on v0.0.200228 was released today! It’s been a month since the last release, but there are lots of new features!
12D files, which usually have absolute coordinates, are now imported into Blender with an offset to allow you to work in local coordinates for vertical BIM
The BIM audit panel now allows you to select a particular BIMTester feature, and write tests directly from the UI instead of needing a text editor
Your spatial tree can now have geometric representations (most importantly, this allows you to export an IfcSite terrain)
Quick project setup button now sets up spatial objects too
Sites can now export a reference long/lat attribute
When importing, it now remembers what IFC file the data came from (in preparation for partial writes)
Minor bugfixes related to missing items in dropdown menus, curve orientations upon export
Import now associates type products
Bugfix allowing you to import multiple spatial structure elements with identical names
New option to toggle import of opening elements
Improved IFC-to-Code_Aster script
Preset render settings for creating documentation and diagrams
Create dimension annotations in 3D from any orientation instead of for a particular view
New support for IFC projection elements (opposite of void elements)
Allow you to create other types of leaders and section levels from any orientation instead of for a particular view
IfcPolygonalFaceSets are now imported with the correct units (useful for sites and terrains)
Extra checks to ensure exports don’t create GlobalId collisions
Allow duplicate names for both mesh and curve data
New option allowing people to maintain parametric behaviour to generate multiple IFC objects, or to bake the results into a single IFC object
New IFCPatch tool, allowing you to patch the data in an IFC file based on a series of preloaded “recipes”. These allow you to workaround various limitations in other IFC authoring exports in a safe way without breaking the rest of the IFC data. Recipies include:
Reset spatial element object placement locations
Offset from absolute coordinates to a local system
Remove representations from sites
Offset IfcBuildingStorey elevations
Set reference elevation
BIMTester now shows test results with a percentage success rate
IFC import now imports pset data
2D grids are now imported even though curve data isn’t enabled, given the importance of grids. Support added for IfcGrid and IfcGridAxis
New ability to search for IFC objects by their attribute or pset property values with a case insensitive string, with support for regex for super advanced searching
You can select any IFC attribute or pset property and colour code the model by the value for a visual cue when auditing IFC data
Minor UI clean-up to hide panels by default
New import option to toggle import of IfcSpace objects
Handle import coordinate offsetting of IFC2X3 files created from Tekla which are poorly geolocated
Version bump to the latest IfcOpenShell library, which includes fixes for more stable geometry import
Thought I’d also share a cool use of Blender that inge_handagard on the BlenderArtists forums had showed me. He used BlenderBIM to automatically parse point data from a compactor machine when building a highway, and creates an IFC from them so that BIM users can see the results to ensure that the road is being properly compacted.
Shown below is the IFC opened in Navisworks (proprietary), which is how others might open the file. This process is run automatically every day! (Blender is highly scriptable and automatable)
Archipack 2.2.7 released - with faster workflows of drawing buildings. This may open a few eyes for those unfamiliar with how domain specific modeling can be used within Blender.
Hello @Moult !
From the Universities of Argentina we are interested in contributing work to have an open source BIM alternative within a reasonable time. We think the work you are doing on blender is brilliant !!
I am doing a comparison between Revit / Archicad / Bricscad to fix targets, and it caught my attention that you managed to extract 2D construction documentation with BlenderBIM. The ability to do construction documentation is very important !
I have installed Blender + BlenderBIM but I don’t see this functionality. Will it be part of a new version not yet released? Can we test it? .
Greetings from Argentina !
Joselaks
Thanks @joselaks! The functionality is included, but not documented - so it is not obvious. Perhaps it’s easier to share a screen to demo this? I am generally online during all working hours Sydney time (and them some) in the IRC live chat: https://blenderbim.org/community.html
The ability to do construction documentation is extremely important, but still very raw. I am happy to say that for very, very small projects, I am able to apply it already, so perhaps with increased streamlined workflows and optimisation of the cutting process, it will grow to larger projects.
Here’s another sneak peek of some documentation produced with BlenderBIM (yes, these are colourful, but I can also produce pure black and white style drawings if it is appropriate for the job):
I agree with the importance of construction documentation!
I will be very attentive to your progress. Extracting the build documentation from a project designed in Blender would be great!
A new version of the BlenderBIM Add-on is now released: v0.0.200328! Get the new version today: https://blenderbim.org/.
One month since the last release, there have been over 30 fixes, stability improvements, and new features. Highlights include new import features for simplify and merge IFC models, brand new IFC to/from CSV data export and import, basic support for BCF-XML 2.1, and simple construction documentation sheet management.
Latest IfcOpenShell version, with various stability fixes to import more files!
BIMTester can now just generate reports if required
BIMTester can run a single test instead of the entire test suite
Fix import bug with some IFC object types aren’t related correctly
New BIMTester test to check if an element doesn’t exist
Improved support for IFC2X3 materials without transparency
Fix import bug where IFC spaces with the same name might not be in the right location in the spatial tree
New import option to auto-merge geometry by IFC class
New import option to auto-merge geometry by IFC material
New import option to disable element aggregation
Hidden lines in construction documentation may now be in 3D, useful for showing exploded axonometric views
New IFCCSV tool allows querying an IFC file and exporting attributes and psets and reimporting an updated CSV to the IFC model
IFCCSV tool allows querying using IFC class, attribute, pset, and qto filters, with multiple operators, AND and OR statements
Export fix where sometimes you could create an abstract IFC class
All IfcSpatialElements are now supported including obscure ones like IfcSpatialZone and IfcExternalSpatialElement
IFC exports now support multiple materials on a single object
Fix export bug where some aggregates don’t export
Fix import bug where some objects inside a space won’t import
New import feature to automatically clean meshes to get nicer topologies
New export feature to export objects inside spaces and any spatial element
New import feature to record the spatial relationship of objects inside spaces (with ability to scale for large projects)
New import feature where quantity take-off quantities are imported
New export feature where you can manually fill out quantities and export them
Fix import bug where materials may be on multiple shape representations
New support for BCF XML 2.1!
View list of BCF topics in the UI, showing basic metadata about each topic
New button to uninstall add-on, to improve the upgrade process
See multiple viewpoints for each BCF topic and launch a camera view for each viewpoint
Any type of curve object is now supported for construction documentation annotation objects
Spatial containers are auto-detected when exporting making it more convenient for users to do quick exports
Support for BCF topic comments
BCF topic reference links, BIM snippets, document references, and related topics are supported with buttons to quickly open both external and internal references
New buttons to quickly view BlenderBIM Add-on homepage, docs, wiki, and forum
Documentation titleblock and view templates heavily optimised to a fraction of the filesize - mere kilobytes!
New UI feature to add new sheets and add views to sheets
New UI features to quickly open sheets and views in external SVG programs / viewers
Views now store view scale in their vector output - in an indsutry where our vector output is non-semantic, which really changes things!
Fix IfcPatch bug for broken ResetAbsoluteCoordinates recipe
New feature to publish sheets with automatic view titles, scales, view numbers, and sheet names
2 weeks later since the last release, over 30 new OpenBIM features and fixes in a brand new BlenderBIM Add-on v0.0.200413 release! Get it today: https://blenderbim.org/
New feature to validate the syntax of IFC files, in case you receive a broken IFC file
New support for viewing and overlaying BCF snapshot images on top of the model to compare issues
More stabilisation fixes on multicore IFC import
Support added for BCF header files
IFC import now supports multiple materials for a single object
More robust material imports for BIM authoring tools that still use the deprecated IfcPresentationStyleAssignment or have missing styles (yes, Revit, that’s you!)
Experimental multicore support added to IFCClash
The IFC2CA project has joined the IfcOpenShell umbrella!
BIMTester now bundles test definitions so you get tests out of the box!
IFCDiff now checks inverse relationships for changes too
IFCDiff lets you specify filters for checking specific inverse relationships
BCF snapshots with varying aspect ratios are now supported
The IfcProject entity is now a real object in Blender, which can be queried and exported with all of its metadata
BIMTester now supports the full Project setup MicroMVD definition
New optional GUI in BIMTester for people who don’t like command line
IFCCOBie has various fixes for strange formatting on wrapped data
BlenderBIM Add-on dependencies repackaged inside add-on, to allow for native Blender install and uninstall procedures
BlenderBIM Add-on Uninstall feature removed, as it is now obsolete in favour of native Blender uninstall process
IFC spatial elements without any geometric representation are now imported
Invalid Psets without any properties (as created by Solidworks) are now imported
Diff import support has now been upgraded to the non-legacy import mechanism
Rebar is now treated specially to prevent BREP faceting, so it retains its parametric swept disk solid behaviour, and is easier to edit, imports 10 times faster and is 10 times smaller in terms of filesize
IFC import has an optimised spatial tree processing algorithm to handle files which have hundreds of sites and buildings for precinct BIM models
Psets and Qtos can be selected from a filtered list for easy user discoverability instead of having to know the IFC spec
New IfcExportSettings factory to let the BlenderBIM Add-on be integrated with other Blender add-ons like ArchiPack
Improved ArchiPack compatibility - export parametric IFC objects from Archipack!
Repository code cleanup of old experimental files
Fix for potential infinite loop during export
Fixed some invalid schema exports related to void/fill/projection relationships, and material assignment related to linked duplicate objects
New support for import and export of the IFCZIP format
New support for BCF component visibility settings, colouring options, and selection sets when viewing BCF topics
New support for BCF orthogonal camera scale factor
I thought I might try and record some mini demo videos on how parts of the BlenderBIM Add-on works, because it is quite feature-packed and can be quite daunting. Also, recording videos is faster than writing documentation
Feel free to check it out - here’s the first to do with section planes, which is today’s new feature.
This one isn’t specific to OpenBIM / IFC / BCF, so in the future, I will refrain from posting generic BIM videos here, but instead may only post them when it is relevant to IFC and BCF… for example, Blender now supports writing your own property set template definitions, which is quite unique and probably warrants a demo!
Peertube link for the free software hippies:
… or Youtube if webtorrent is blocked on your network:
It’s another 2 weeks, so here’s another 30 new fixes and features in the v0.0.200428 BlenderBIM Add-on release! Get it today: https://blenderbim.org/
Highlights include bundled classification system selection including Uniclass and Omniclass, create and consume property set template definitions, reload IFCs, import/export with CSV, and section planes!
OSArch is happy to release another BlenderBIM Add-on v0.0.200511 with over 50 new features and fixes. The BlenderBIM Add-on is 100% free and open source software that lets you author and document BIM data fully to ISO standards. Get it today: https://blenderbim.org/
Highlights include improvements to object type imports, IFC document reference and information data improvements, huge improvements to documentation abilities, and support for IFC annotation geometry.
Artists now have an option to merge aggregates into a single object to easier object manipulation
Metadata about aggregates themselves are imported, including attributes, psets, and relationships
New option to select all objects of the same object type
Classification hierarchies are now imported and can be browsed in a tree viewer
Element classification references are now imported
All document metadata is now imported, not just location
Document information metadata can now be authored and exported
Document information metadata can now be imported
Documents that are not related to objects can now be imported and managed in a UI
New feature to relate document information and reference entities
Classifications maintain their hierarchy and do not flatten upon export, allowing for richer (i.e. semi-lightweight) classification exports
Users can specify a list of IFC files to be cut in a section / plan / view
Exclude rooms from being cut by default in a section
New style preset for creating construction documentation graphics
Grid annotations now work in 3D
IFC metadata (like materials) is now cached when doing a section cut to improve performance
New UI to add annotation objects to a view like dimensions, leaders, text, levels, etc
New font size support for text sizes 1.8, 2.5, 3.5, 5, and 7.
Rebar is more efficiently created without the need for distinct circle profile objects
Background renders can be cached when doing a section cut to improve performance, if you are only changing annotation
Users can now specify a symbol for text annotation, like a label box
Text annotation now supports variables to extract data from IFC files
Geometric representation context and subcontext definitions are now imported
Relevant types are now auto-selected for export for convenience
Export feature is now more granular to export only specific contexts
2D axis representations (i.e. not 3D) are now also supported from both meshes and curves
Authoring and exporting footprint geomset geometry contexts is now supported
Authoring and exporting 2D and 3D annotation geometry contexts is now supported
Authoring and exporting 3D profile geometry contexts is now supported
Text annotations with variables can have functions applied to them - e.g. to concatenate data, format data, or anything, for example to round text annotation to the nearest decimal point, or force uppercase formatting
BlenderBIM Add-on importing and exporting can now be done headlessly on a server, to allow for remote server processing of BIM data. There is now a BlenderBIM Add-on continuous integration server, to process IFC test cases: https://ci.blenderbim.org/
You can now bulk-add smart annotations to many objects at once
You can now manage the geometric representation contexts per object or object type, to switch, lazy-load representations from an IFC, and create new contexts
IFC unit settings are now preserved on import, instead of using your Blender settings
You can now export just a single representation to an IFC file, leaving the rest of the IFC data untouched
Type representations are now imported as well instead of just elements, with support for mapped geometries
IfcDoorStyle and IfcWindowStyle metadata (attributes, etc) from IFC2X3 are now imported
Annotation objects are recognised in the section cutting procedure, and not processed for a boolean cut for a more optimised cut
Solid line annotation objects are now supported (previously only hidden lines were supported)
A list of contexts are now imported for each object, and you can switch between them with a new UI
Section / plan / documentation cuts now recognise annotation objects, and will draw them as 2D linework
Stair annotations now work in 3D
New hatch patterns! Sexy.
New door tag symbol support.
New breakline annotation.
IfcAnnotation entities are now supported, to be used as you see fit.
Documentation sections / plans / views are now exported into IFC as groups
Text annotation is now exported as IfcAnnotation, with new support for IfcTextLiteralWithExtents
All other annotation objects (dimensions / leaders / levels / symbols / etc) are now created and exported into IfcAnnotation by default.
New fixes:
Fix section planes sometimes not cutting through aggregates and appearing at the cursor
Bug where poor material data may cause a bad section cut fixed
Lat/longs are now converted to decimal degrees from DMS format
Materials are re-used on subsequent imports if they already exist to prevent material duplication