An open source home in the BIM workbench

A forum dedicated to the Draft, Arch and BIM workbenches development.
Forum rules
Be nice to others! Respect the FreeCAD code of conduct!
User avatar
ragohix769
Posts: 565
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:04 am
Location: Rome - Italy

Re: An open source home in the BIM workbench

Post by ragohix769 »

OverkillTASF wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 4:09 pm For my journey personally, I should have just paid a pro to do it. :-)
[snip]
Edit: I don't blame FC for my current situation - But my choice to try to do this myself using FC is my fault, and I would definitely not do it again. It might have gone a little better if I had used different software. But if I started over I would have had someone else do all this work - This isn't for hobby purposes, it's for a home.
Ok, you autoreplyed to all :-)

As you discovered, in your situation maybe it's not really a problem about the SW (open or closed) used in the end: it's more about get the job done, with some money constraint and time madatory task (as you say having a living house in time), so you should getting a pro from the beginning. There is the real difference and as the opensource teach us, the real difference are the people and the knowledge, not only some patents and massive lock-in.

A BIM software like FC, even if it's more more (and very quicker now, as said) better (and at some point extraordinary, IMHO, because now some task are really better then other SW), it's in reality in an early stage of developement, so to satify some quality level and get some (certified) results, maybe you cannot have too much of these contraints (money *and* time *and* results) as you had. It's good that you understood that (as I understand, not exactly in time, but better now then never) and shared you personal experience about, that IMHO it's very very useful for others (for me, that's for sure, and thanks again for this).
After #ElonMuskBuyTwitter I'm no more on Twitter, that's really enough :-(
=> Now you can find me here on #Mastodon: https://mastodon.uno/@opensoul - I hope more people do the same :-)
User avatar
yorik
Founder
Posts: 13640
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:16 pm
Location: Brussels
Contact:

Re: An open source home in the BIM workbench

Post by yorik »

Really sorry to read your struggles, @OverkillTASF... Hope you get your house built soon, whatever software/process/draftsman does the job best will be the best path, no matter what.

And of course we all know there is still a lot of work to be done on FreeCAD to get it where we would like it to be. But there are also many examples around that shows that it is fit for professional work already.

That said, not many people realize how designing a house up to the construction documents is a complicated task, specially your own. I am an architect, and I'm honestly not sure I would do it for myself :D

You also did by yourself the job of several professionals. Normally an architect would draw the house, but someone else (the constructor, likely), would design the panels layout for the walls (or not, they would simply grossly estimate the number of panels they need and go building). I did once a project where every screw needed to be there, and believe me, although small, that was one of the most complex projects I've ever done.

I hope some day we turn all this easy to do in FreeCAD, though. I am pretty sure we can do a better job, specially in such cases (complex and up-to-the-last-screw projects), than most commercial BIM apps...
User avatar
thomas-neemann
Veteran
Posts: 11801
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2020 6:03 pm
Location: Osnabrück DE 🇩🇪
Contact:

Re: An open source home in the BIM workbench

Post by thomas-neemann »

yorik wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:59 am ...I am pretty sure we can do a better job, specially in such cases (complex and up-to-the-last-screw projects), than most commercial BIM apps...
yes, freecad is best suited for bim, because you can supply the model with the cad system it was created with, which guarantees 0 errors during transmission. by using meshes generated from ifc files, "arbitrarily" large projects can be realized. i have already created several commercial projects with freecad. i dimension everything in the 3d window and don't use techdraw. I also do not create 2D drawings. Actually, 2D is no longer needed in a BIM process. I recommend everyone who wants to use freecad professionally to familiarize themselves very thoroughly with freecad beforehand.
Gruß Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Thomas Neemann

https://www.youtube.com/@thomasneemann5 ... ry=freecad
User avatar
ragohix769
Posts: 565
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:04 am
Location: Rome - Italy

Re: An open source home in the BIM workbench

Post by ragohix769 »

thomas-neemann wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 8:29 pm Actually, 2D is no longer needed in a BIM process.
This is a very "strong" statement :-)
Anyway for what I understand, BIM process it's cool also because exactly the 2D documentation (like any other domain, you name it MEP, structural, energy, etc etc) che be created pretty semi-automatic from the general model. But 2D documentation will be always needed in a building, IMHO.
After #ElonMuskBuyTwitter I'm no more on Twitter, that's really enough :-(
=> Now you can find me here on #Mastodon: https://mastodon.uno/@opensoul - I hope more people do the same :-)
User avatar
thomas-neemann
Veteran
Posts: 11801
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2020 6:03 pm
Location: Osnabrück DE 🇩🇪
Contact:

Re: An open source home in the BIM workbench

Post by thomas-neemann »

ragohix769 wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 9:26 pm ...
This is a very "strong" statement :-)
..
there is still a long way to go. in my opinion, with 2d you have a lot of trouble with cuts, hatching, line widths, line types (hidden, etc.), scales, output on paper, etc.

staying paperless in the 3d model doesn't mean double work. it will take a while until all work processes have been changed
Gruß Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Thomas Neemann

https://www.youtube.com/@thomasneemann5 ... ry=freecad
User avatar
yorik
Founder
Posts: 13640
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:16 pm
Location: Brussels
Contact:

Re: An open source home in the BIM workbench

Post by yorik »

ragohix769 wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 9:26 pm This is a very "strong" statement
:D
This debate will not end tomorrow...

I still rely a lot on 2D too, but it's not "a different world" like it was before... I draw a lot of 2D stuff inside BIM models (annotations, etc...) and frequently export pieces of it to 2D, being just for communicating an idea. After all, let's not forget that everything we see on screen "is" 2D. We use 2D very often to communicate our work.

That's something I like a lot with FreeCAD, like the old times of Autocad, is that you can do all kinds of mixes, the way it suits best your preferences and the job you need to do. The program doesn't force you on a particular workflow. This, IMHO, is the key point that can turn FreeCAD a widespread standard some day. It's a generic platform, like autocad was (and isn't so much anymore, thanks to autodesk who did their best to undermine that). And an interesting symptom is that in FreeCAD itself, the "separation" between 2D and 3D tools is not clear at all, it's all intertwined.
User avatar
thomas-neemann
Veteran
Posts: 11801
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2020 6:03 pm
Location: Osnabrück DE 🇩🇪
Contact:

Re: An open source home in the BIM workbench

Post by thomas-neemann »

yorik wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:08 am
+1
Gruß Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Thomas Neemann

https://www.youtube.com/@thomasneemann5 ... ry=freecad
Post Reply