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Building Better BIM Libraries

This Post is by Jon Buerg.

In my particular area of practice, we build libraries of FFE content. Lots and lots and lots of libraries of FFE content. I mean like thousands of pieces; it’s kind of nuts. These BIM libraries are essential to our particular line of work, which is interior architecture for clients that fill spaces with a ton of fixtures, furniture and equipment. I’ve started to look back on these efforts recently and I’ve found there are some important insights to be had-so it’s time to share what I’ve learned.

It’s More Efficient to Build a Library All at Once

This is the most important insight of them all. If you can actually afford to invest the labor and time into producing a complete library all in one shot without interruption, you’ll be rewarded with a lower overall investment cost and time frame. I’ve had the experience of build libraries both continuously and piece by piece now, and the evidence is clear that it’s far more efficient to get it all done at once-perhaps more than twice as efficient. The repetition inherent in creating library elements is what’s driving this efficiency: you get in the rhythm and then it’s a zen-like state of production.

Use the Interwebs

There are loads of websites out there that are dedicated to the free distribution of FFE stuff and building elements in a variety of file formats. I regularly visit 3D Warehouse (https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com), BIMcomponents (https://bimcomponents.com), BIMobject (https://bimobject.com/en), NBS National BIM Library (http://www.nationalbimlibrary.com), Revit City (http://www.revitcity.com/index.php), KCL CADalog (http://www.kclcad.com), and SmartBIM Library (http://library.smartbim.com). You’ll need to do some work on these files to get them to your standards, LOD, and general functionality, but it’s a huge time saver to go out and gather all you can that is already modeled. There’s also a ton of resources on the web for texture files to make the library content look good in 3D.

Make Sure Embedded Data Can Get to IFC

Future-proof your library as much as possible. You never know who or what software is going to need data from this stuff, and the best way to be prepared is to follow IFC protocols for embedding data, like manufacturer and model number, into your library element. Do this from the start; it’s a lot easier than changing it later on and then having to change all the smart schedules that read those parameters too.

Do Your Consulting Engineers a Solid

When it comes to interior architecture in particular, the architect loads up the BIM with a ton of FFE elements. Many of these elements require data, electrical, plumbing and/or mechanical connections. The consulting engineers end up swapping out the library elements you made for their own simply to be able to get the proper classification on the element and the proper set of scheduling parameters in order to be able to populate their construction drawings. It’s a worthwhile effort to meet with the engineers you’ll be working with and determine what kinds of data and classifications they need from your library content and then implement that in a collaborative fashion as you build the library together-of course, keeping all of that parametric data in IFC.

Building-Better-Libraries

This is a Great Way to Train

I’ve used the library-building process to train staff in my firm. They get to learn not only the BIM authoring software in a very practical way, but they also get to learn content management skills that can be put to work maintaining that library for the duration of time it’s used to serve our clients. People who are new to BIM learn faster doing this then they do getting thrown into a project, even if they have someone by their side to walk them through that project. There’s something about the repetitive nature of the workflows involved in building a library that really drives home essential modeling and organizational skills that stick with a person.

Just Because You Can, Should You?

Many components of the libraries we build stay as 2D elements. Sure, we could model them, but that would not be a good use of our time and money for things that don’t appear in 3D views, as all they need to do is show up in a plan view and a schedule, or even just show up in the schedule and nowhere else. Be sure to thoroughly evaluate what really needs to be modeled and what can remain 2D, but still be “smart” with parametric data before you begin building your library. See also the section above on collaborating with consulting engineers on library content, as this is an essential factor in deciding what content will stay 2D.

On this same topic I’d also like to mention that adding accurate texture/color to your modeled elements is really about whether or not you plan to use that same content for visualization with the client. I’ve built libraries that are completely devoid of finish textures and colors because all of the library content was for construction documentation, where it wasn’t necessary to visualize any finishes. I’ve also built libraries with richly detailed finish textures that can be parametrically adjusted and look great in renderings because that was what the deliverables for the client needed to have. Think through this part of the process with an eye on the future, as it can save a lot of labor to avoid adding finishes to your library content.

Retirement Planning

Once your library of content is up and running you’ll no doubt get to a point where something you made gets phased out or is no longer needed. Maybe the client changes something in the design, or perhaps a manufacturer discontinues a product. Who knows, but this stuff happens. Our firm developed a system for retiring old library content so that it’s archived and easy to relink retired content to legacy project files that need to be reopened in the future. This system means nothing is ever deleted. That’s the most important part to remember, no matter what kind of library content retirement system you put into place.

In Conclusion

Some days I envy architects whose work is such that they can primarily use the default built-in library content that ships with their BIM authoring software, as they don’t have to get into these management issues. But other times, I find it really satisfying to get a library in place that my firm gets to own and control. At my firm, we now have enough libraries built that we have a rich resource of manufacturer-specific BIM content. That’s a real advantage for the new work that will come our way in the future, as the more we develop these libraries, the less intense each of those development efforts has to be.

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Comments

  • October 9, 2015
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    Gary L. McGavin, AIA

    EXCELLENT advice! Thanks for offering up your experience!

  • October 12, 2015
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    Judson Oliveira

    They have some article or tutorial for converting 2D ArchiCAD objects to IFC?
    I tried several options with ArchiCAD IFC conversion filters, but no satisfactory result. Shares in 3D are converted without difficulty, but the 2D objects are ignored.

    • October 12, 2015
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      I don’t believe IFC 2×3 can handle 2D information.

      • October 12, 2015
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        Judson Oliveira

        Thank you.

      • October 15, 2015
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        Sorry Jared, but IFC actualy handles 2D OK. In ArchiCAD IFC translator Import/Export filter options, turn on “Convert IFC annotations and ArchiCAD 2D elements”
        Try a roundtrip ArchiCAD-ArchiCAD, and you will see that it is mostly OK.
        Then try this file in the different applications, viewers, etc. that you have, and you will see very mixed results. As usual, the problem is not IFC, but the different implementations in SW.

      • October 15, 2015
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        Jon Buerg

        I haven’t had any luck with getting 2D objects to do much of anything in Revit vertical products except be completely invisible to the user on that side of the translation. If anyone knows otherwise, please share.

    • October 12, 2015
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      Jon Buerg

      If you are looking to quickly convert an existing 2D object to IFC, you would want to explode that object to get its symbolic view and then make a new 3D object (perhaps a simple cube or something like that) to which you can affix the symbolic view linework from the 2D object (making sure to delete any linework related to the 3D element you made). Then you can imbed IFC parameters from there.

      • October 12, 2015
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        Judson Oliveira

        Thanks for the comments.

  • October 13, 2015
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    Undefined acronym alert!
    What the heck is LOD?

    • October 16, 2015
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      Level of Detail.

    • October 30, 2016
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      Miguel Muñoz

      In my opinion:
      LOD – Level of Development (AIA, BIMFORUM)
      LoD – Level of Detail (PAS 1192-2:2013)
      LoI – Level of Information (PAS 1192-2:2013)

  • February 20, 2016
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    Hi Jared,

    Is it actually possible to convert Revit/.rfa objects for use in ArchiCAD/.gsm via the IFC translator? I did not think that was possible, since, as I was told by our local Graphisoft person that manufacturer’s Revit objects are proprietary and therefore cannot be converted to .gsm format. Would love to know how if it’s possible…

    • February 22, 2016
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      Robert,

      Short answer: No.
      Short version of Long answer: kind of, maybe. Assuming you could save a placed family in Revit to IFC, you could then open that IFC file in ARCHICAD. All the functionality built into that family would be lost, as you’d be converting just that one placed instance, not all the Revit magic behind it. At least I assume you could do that. And that it would work.
      Other answer: Not worth the effort. If you need some particular manufacturer geometry, find it via SketchUP or build it yourself, if it doesn’t exist in ARCHICAD.
      Better answer: Ask Kristian Bursell (he wrote this GDL vs Revit Families post for me). If anyone knows, it’s him. https://twitter.com/CADSwift

    • February 23, 2016
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      Jon Buerg

      You can insert a Revit .RFA family within a Revit RVT file and then save the .RVT file to IFC. I do this frequently. Jared is correct that the ensuing IFC will just be the model geometry, so it’s important to remember that you will want to set all the parameters in the family to what you need to get into ArchiCAD before saving out to IFC — and this can mean that you may need to insert multiple instances of the same family just to get the various options into the IFC.

      I kind of want to declare shenanigans on GS’s claims of a lawsuit if they build an IFC to GSM converter, as I recall another developer doing this (Bentley or someone like that, can’t remember) and then baking that converter into their BIM authoring tool, but whatever.

      The most important effort our community can undertake is to educate manufacturer’s about what architects really need in a family/object. Right now, we get too much detail in the models, not enough IFC parameters, and families/objects are often built with too many model parameters, which makes them unweildy. BIM 4 Manufacturers & Manufacturng is an organization trying to make these goals a reality, but it’s just getting started. I would like to see it all distributed via IFC, then we can all make our own families or objects from there.

      Many of the links I mention in my article above distribute content in GSM and/or IFC formats as well.

      • February 24, 2016
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        Thanks Jon! And yes, it was Bentley with the RVT translator.

        • February 24, 2016
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          Thanks for all of the responses, I am finding that the best work around for this has been to either make them myself, as jared suggested if they are fairly simple, or simply download objects not available as .gsm as .obj or .3ds and translate them with modelport. There are some really big files out there (go to cassina.com and download Mario Bellini’s Cab chair no. 414 in .obj and you’ll see what I mean!) but they can also be simplified and reduced without a significant loss of quality with free programs like meshlab. This was a trick I learned from Apollo Spiliotis. Probably not the way to go on huge projects but for residential projects it works pretty well. On the bright side I am beginning to see companies like Anderson Windows in .gsm on BimObject.com so maybe we’ll soon see more American products available.

  • March 6, 2016
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    Robert;
    We are currently in the process of figuring out the best way to bring some of our Sketchup library content into ARCHICAD. We have previously followed the process importing the models straight, but have run into some issues with that and also came across the Modelport plugin. Our issue is that it creates objects with triangulated faces. I have posted this in the forum also here – http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=252913#252913

    Thx in advance for any advise you can offer.
    Marc

    • March 7, 2016
      reply

      Jon Buerg

      I just posted a reply to your question in ArchiCAD Talk, Marc. Basically you need to export the imported element into a morph and then you can hide the offending lines as you wish.

      • March 7, 2016
        reply

        Jon Buerg

        Explode, not export…

  • June 7, 2018
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    JESSICA IBARGUEN

    This is a great article and great advice. Now, I could use some more detailed info on how to implement. – How to organize the library, keep textures and surfaces together, etc. I may be missing something, but it seems like surfaces and textures and objects are somewhat disjointed. I have been using Attribute manager, library manager, Surface painter. Is there a one stop shop kind of place to get to everything and feel confident I’ve got it al and in an organized manner? Right now when I want to change the surface of an object my choices are in a huge unorganized list, not organized by type and I can’t see what I”m selecting until I add it to the object. Do you have a tutorial or step by step guide for managing all this info?
    Thanks!!!
    ps – excuse the redundancy, I just made a similar comment on a related post.

    • June 8, 2018
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      Hopefully my answer to your other comment will set you on the right path. As for the disorganized list: that’s simple. Update your template and rename everything to be more organized. You should download my template to see how I handle Attribute organization. And again, the ARCHICAD talk forum has tons of good discussions and advice on this. I also did a series of posts on Attributes and related topics over on the GSNA blog. Start here and search through my other posts: https://blog.graphisoftus.com/archicad-17/understanding-the-value-of-parameters-and-attributes

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