In the next installment of our customer Q&A’s, we recently spoke to a longtime user of MagiCAD (and more recently, MagiCloud) about the importance of accessing high-quality BIM objects in the design phase of construction projects.
We uncovered interesting thoughts about how the data footprint of a BIM object matters. Our user also highlights a workaround for making sure plans aren’t laden down with too much data at too early a stage.
Malin Knoop of WSP Systems located in Göteborg, Sweden has provided these thoughtful points about BIM projects:
Question: Does quality matter with BIM objects?
Answer: “’Quality’ is a very subjective word because it means different things to different parties in the business. To us, as consultants, a “high-quality object” contains an object with a good representation of the volume dimensions, correct data to perform calculations such as pressure, sizing and sounds, and fields for identifying object data so we can create a bill of materials.”
“If the objects are too detailed, our models will be too heavy to manage, and it costs time and money to correct them. It is important to be able to create 3D-models in a correct way regarding placement of all objects in plan and height. Objects in ceilings, on walls and near and in floors need to be correct to collaborate with the other disciplines in the build.”
“In that way, we minimize mistakes on the building sites. Everything that can minimize the handling in the building site is a benefit for the customer.”
“The free object libraries on the internet are often created by a person for a specific purpose. Very often the purpose is only a geometric correct object, and sometimes it is too detailed than we need. We also need to rely on the object data to be able to perform our calculations.”
Q: How do you use the objects?
A: “When we are modeling a building we use generic objects in an early stage. In the detail design we uses objects that we can perform calculations for. We can handle this by the find and replace functions in MagiCAD.”
Q: Is speed important?
A: It is actually not the speed for handling objects that is important. When we have a local database the speed for creating objects is good. It´s about having reliable data on the objects. It’s important to have the downloadable 3D objects, because we need to be sure that we are using products sold by manufacturers. The online 3D objects are also updated regularly, which means that they contain as correct data as possible.”
For more customer thoughts on using BIM models, see here.
Visit www.magicloud.cn for more information about MagiCloud and MagiCAD’s parametric 3D BIM objects.
About WSP Systems:
WSP Systems works across the whole of Sweden delivering all types of electrical, IT, telecommunications, automation and HVAC projects. Our clients include many different industry sectors, real estate organisations, construction companies, installation companies and national and local government.