Ed_Downunder

This is my favourite topic and am pleased there is so much engagement. True BIM as a concept some years ago was a lofty idea. I am small and really inconsequential in the area were I live. That is why I believe that Residential BIM should differentiate itself from BIM in the same way Autocad differentiates itself from CA or vice versa. To talk about BIM in that more commercial setting creates to much background noise when comments relative to Residential BIM are being made. So I will only speak to Residential BIM and what it means to me and what I would like to see develope. We can all agree that Chief Architect was designed with smart object design principles known as Building Information Modelling. BIM So I would like my smart object based cad system to give up information in a meaningful way. As often stated the model needs to be built correctly to report to the materials list correctly. (build a model with a brick cavity wall and look for your masonry in the materials list or try and add new roof framing members and see how difficult that is) Materials list is the one area that gets a lot of attention. It works for some and is a complete waste of time for others. To say it's broken is not true. It would have to work in the first place to be broken, so at best it is an undeveloped area and needs to be developed into a useful tool for those with a need for a materials list. AS a natural progression of a well built model a schedule would be the icing on the cake. Not to fanciful. The information is already in the model all that is needed is a way to get it out. There that's my short list. What does CA do for me now and do very well. Import a DWG. Fantastic there is my survey information. Import 3d models. Fantastic gives me a great deal of control. In the future I will look at 3D printing. Because the stl files are there I can plan for this expansion to our services. So for me looking outside of Chief for another user (engineering, landscaping, electrical, plumbing etc) is not the way forward. I build the model I want my model to behave with intelligence. I want full control inside our office environment. I want Chief to stop using the big arguments about the meaning of BIM to not do anything and focus on the specific things that Chief as a BIM program does and develop the concept of Residential BIM.

Just reviewed the old site http://www.chieftalk.com/showthread.php?62743-What-is-Residential-BIM this makes a good read if you don't have a life. (joke) Seems The acronym BIM is the stumbling block. I favour 'Residential BIM as a definition. It's the "Residential Building Information Modelling" that's is important not the lofty idea of building life cycle - concept to demolition. It seems to me that the most basic information for a parametric model is an accurate description of materials and a mechanism for reporting. Framing is a good start. Give us better framing tools. Not auto framing tools just start with framing member we can name and will report to the materials list. Masonry wall should by now report to the materials list as masonry - not framing or siding. Also a top plate for masonry wall is needed.

Hi Nicinus, Quite the opposite. I spent some time with my reply. Posted my comments. This is the result.!!!!!

Layer management is a big issue. Having a single page displaying all layers active or not is cumbersome. Redesigned to reflect how we draw would be useful. I use Site Plan(annotation- layer set), Floor Plan (annotation- layer set), Elevations (annotation- layer set), Cross Section (annotation- layer set), Set out (annotation- layer set). etc. I would like to open the layer box and be able to choose what is visible (Photoshop have a great system of layer management. If we could use something similar but made the layer available or visible in different layer sets . The filter is a great method working my layer sets. For static items it is easier to manage ( static means the expected items for a floor plan for example.) When I import a dwg from a surveyor the layers get a bit more complicated because different surveyors use different descriptions for their drawings. Not sure if this fits with this thread but it adds to the need for layer management to be upgraded. Just to conclude : I have found the filter to be a fantastic help to layer management. I make sure that when I name or rename a layer it works with the filter.