BlenderBIM Add-on v0.0.200912 has been released with 50 new features and fixes. It’s our built environment, help support the BlenderBIM Add-on: 100% free and open source software that lets you author and document BIM data fully to ISO standards. It’s built by the AEC community, for the AEC community. Get it today: https://blenderbim.org/
Highlights include multiprocessing import by default, smoother workflows for drawing generation, and improved MicroMVDs for OSArch certified IFC outputs.
Screenshot credits go to OpeningDesign’s OpeningDetail project for open source construction detailing.
New features:
- Creating drawings now works with OpenGL render mode, allowing for better wireframe / hidden line rendering
- New default site boundary CSS style
- Multiprocessing is now enabled by default. It’s probably stable enough, so let’s test it even more!
- You can now export to DXF automatically when creating sheets
- Nested IfcSpaces can now be imported
- Reloading IFCs now detects openings and projection changes, meaning it’s more robust
- You can now set the viewport shadow from the sun position angle, useful for solar analysis
- You can now set the georeferenced north from the Blender sun position
- 2D annotation now extracts from IFC files directly instead of Blender, and checks for bounding box intersection to determine which annotation to show
- Switching cameras now also activates the correct drawing styles on the fly
- You can now add arbitrary annotation to a drawing, not just from a set of presets
- You can now store arbitrary IFC data (attributes, properties, quantities, and type relations) in the SVG data, per drawing style
- You can now copy properties to selected object even if the property set doesn’t exist yet
- 3 new default hatch styles for square hatches
- New hatch pattern for demolition
- Show error message if attempting to add a drawing to a sheet that hasn’t been generated yet
- You can now export quantities related to a spatial element, not just non-spatial elements
- New debug panel lets you create shapes per STEP ID, useful for analysis of IFC geometric data
- Dumb walls are now based on vertices by default, not edges, for faster, dumber, walls
- You no longer need to select the entire project when exporting. If you have nothing selected, everything is exported to IFC. If you select things, only selected items will export.
- New feature lets you select high polygon meshes to help pinpoint why IFC files are so huge (looking at you, Revit!)
- You can now switch between drawings with one click from the properties panel in the 3D view
- The drawing list can now be manually refreshed in case you are manually creating drawings
- Stroke linecaps are now rounded. Nicer looking drawings, you know.
- The preset for cut objects for overall plans now includes IfcSpace, as it’s quite common
- Text annotations in drawings can now be rotated
- If the active object is a camera, a new temporary section plane will now match the camera
- Text annotation now supports storing classes and IFC metadata in the SVG, like all other objects
- Drawing dimensions now have support for imperial unit formatting
- BIMTester can now audit for high polygon IFC geometry
- Implement new Model Federation MicroMVD in BIMTester
- Drawing styles can now store settings for render type, outlines, shadows, and lighting
- You can now add openings by selecting the filling element, not just the opening element, for convenience.
- The plan representation context is now exported by default. Less steps for 2D documentation!
- Add support for exporting site and building addresses for IfcSite and IfcBuilding
- Remove some deprecated representation item operators in the mesh properties panel
- Creating drawings is now much easier with less manual workarounds
- Users can now specify their own app to open SVGs and PDFs
- Bump to the latest IfcOpenShell, for more robust geometry processing
New fixes:
- Fix bug where adding text didn’t work with the new scale system
- Improved material name canonicalisation, which fixes some import failures
- Fix bug where 2D annotation curves weren’t probably exported
- Fix bug where plan relative level annotations were not projected correctly onto drawings
- Fix bug where enum properties wouldn’t be exported
- Fix inaccurate and incorrect conversion to imperial units in quantity take off
- Fix bug where sometimes you can’t add a representation context to an object
- Fix incorrect auditing of geolocation MicroMVD in BIMTester
- Fix bug where some shapes that use Blender modifiers are incorrectly detected as a wireframe
- Fix incorrect auditing of geocoding MicroMVD in BIMTester
- Fix bug where multiple presentation style assignments in IFC2X3 would get ignored in import
