BIMvision is a free platform that, apart from its standard functions – related to the basic browser function and options of dimensioning based on the geometry of models or operating with cutting planes – enables the installation of plugins extending its capabilities.
Each of the plugins has functionality associated with some specific scope of action. One is for merging files, another for extracting elements from individual models, yet another for improving communication through an open data exchange format .bcf. Others allow you to create a data set, check the potential environmental impact of an investment or check the Healthy Housing Index (HHI).
As you know, extensions to BIMvision are covered by two different licensing methods. By having access to several of them through subscription or perpetual licensing, you can use their different functionalities over a process.
Expand the possibilities of BIMvision!
Explore our plugins:
It is worth noting that the settings we make and the results of our operations, can be very often saved as template files or files of a specific format such as .bcf or .gallery file. In this way, such files can be easily reopened, used when working on another model or passed on to other colleagues. We can also save some of our work by storing data in individual plugins in the program’s native format – the BIMvision file (.bvf).
One of the most classic examples of using several plugins to achieve some intent is the combination of the Multifile module and IFC Merge. Since for simultaneous connection of more than just two models the Multifile module is also required, there have been specially created bundles in the BIMvision store, i.e. packages containing several plugins with a total lower purchase price, for using the functionality of the mentioned plugins in this way.
We can also list other, less obvious examples of plugin interaction (integration of action). Using several different plugins, we can, for example, create and then separate assembly sets from a model in order to more easily manage individual groups and process information related to the elements they contain.
Another example of functionality interoperability is the use of a filtering or search tool – the Objects Info plugin in combination with the capabilities of the External Documents plugin. So we can define very specifically a group of elements according to their properties, and then, selecting them at the same time, assign the indicated document to them. This tool will also be practical for assigning an external reference to only one specific object. The same plugin – which searches for components by the value of their defining data – can be used to quickly select and isolate or color a group of components. You can save your defined view display settings in the Gallery plugin. It is very easy to recall a saved view by changing the representation of the model in the BIMvision window according to the saved settings.
Many users will be familiar with exporting the results of the project’s Clash Detection plugin to the open .bcf data exchange format, allowing you to start exchanging collaborator comments and manage current topics.
These are just a few examples showing how plugins work together. Having them active in one BIMvision space, as our experience of using the platform increases, we can look for further correlations and common points that will allow us to increase the scale of the impact of tools through their interaction. Certainly, the awareness of the flexibility of such tools will make BIMvision an even more friendly work environment for you, open to new paths in your work process.