A French developer has its new bim.aero AEC industry software tool now on the Mac App Store. The application, bim.aero, allows users to build a BIM (Building Information Modeling) database from any pure CAD or 3D source model. By constructing a strong BIM representation a posteriori, the user is freed up to use their favorite CAD or 3D design software of choice without having to concern themselves with BIM considerations during the design and drawing stage.
bim.aero
With bim.aero users can import a 3D model from their preferred CAD or modeling app (SketchUp, 3DTurbo, Collada, OBJ, MTL, STL, Alembic). Once the model is inside bim.aero, the user can build up a BIM by assigning BIM hierarchies using built-in templates and standard IFC property data.
Key Takeaways
This is the first developer to truly embrace the notion that designers may want to back into BIM only after they have worked out their design in their software of choice.
The user can extend the app by creating and using their own property and quantity dictionaries. The resulting BIM project is then exportable via the IFC 2×3 format for BIM interoperability.
01 – bim.aero is a new BIM application written for the Mac platform and optimized to take advantage of Apple’s operating system, including its Metal API.
Key features include:
- user-friendly Mac interface
- attach any kind of data to elements in a 3D model
- create and compose BIM hierarchy and visualization
- drag and drop BIM entity to geometric components
- history of operations on any individual components of the model
- locate components in the BIM by clicking on a map
- intuitive and powerful hierarchical selection
- Apple Metal API based rendering with antialiasing and Retina display support
- accurate per-pixel transparency with fresnel term
- Cut-Planes
- X-Ray
- textures and transparency
- and other features
The developer is quick to point out that this application is “built on the Mac for the Mac.” As such, it utilizes and runs on the very latest macOS operating systems. It supports and utilizes Apple’s Metal graphics API, which we discuss in detail in several articles on this site, and it utilizes Apple’s Grand Central Dispatch. iCloud Drive and Retina Display support are also there.
bim.aero is also optimized for 64-bit and multicore processors, to speed along massive 3D/BIM models.
Premium Pack
Users can extend the power of bim.aero through In-App purchases via the Apple Mac Store system. These extra packs add features like being able to export to IFC2x3 interoperability standard. This will enable export to common BIM tools like Navisworks, Solibri, Revit, ARCHICAD, Vectorworks, and Bentley software.
The premium pack also adds powerful search filtering to capture and extract data. Selected objects can act as bookmarks for your searching operations for future organized search.
To learn more visit them here: http://bim.aero.iluac.com/
Architosh Analysis and Commentary
The company says the next release of bim.aero will include support for FBX, DXF, and 3DS file formats. They also plan to bring more intelligence and automation to the classification of elements to BIM formats. This will no doubt benefit workflows at the front end of the process. A common complaint among users about BIM software is that it forces them to concern themselves with issues before it is necessary to address such matters. Some creative architecture utilizes forms that may neither be a “wall” or a “roof” but instead in BIM tools we have the categorization of elements and tools.
bim.aero apparently has the same file name as the old French software BoA, which descended from Architrion and which Architosh has written much about in the past. I was assured by the developer that bim.aero that it’s file format is not related to that BoA.
Editor’s Note: Earlier our last sentence stated that we believed that perhaps bim.aero was related to the BoA software which descended from Architrion, as the file name was the same. This has since been verified.
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