MasterGraphics Weblog
BIM: More than a Buzzword
If you keep up with CAD industry publications you’ve seen the term BIM thrown around with abandon. Often BIM (Building Information Modeling) is mentioned in the same sentence as 3D modeling. However, just because a software package creates a 3D object, doesn’t mean BIM is involved. At the heart of BIM is data linked to an object. The object “knows” what it is and can react with other objects with programmatic intelligence. Most likely, if you are reading this blog you are already using BIM without realizing it.
Take for instance a base Autocad rectangle. Even if we extrude it into a rectangular prism, it is still just a “dumb” object. Take that same prism into Revit, convert it into part of a door and now you’ve got BIM.
As the concept of BIM becomes more widely understood, users naturally want to take it to the next level. “OK,” they are thinking, “If my door ‘knows’ there’s a wall, and the wall ‘knows’ its part of the building - can my building ‘know’ it is sitting on the ground?” Well, we are getting there. In this case, now we have to jump to a different application - and this is where the concept of BIM can dim.
The attached document explains how to make the jump from Revit to Civil and vice versa.
Keep in mind that when the civil surface is imported to Revit, it must be converted before it is back in the BIM world. On the flip-side, a Revit building in Civil 3D is just a block - no BIM in sight.
As future releases of AutoDesk products evolve - conversions and loss of intelligence will be a thing of the past.
Until then we still need to share data. I hope this document narrows the gap.
