Do Architects want BIM from Manufacturers?
Q. I'm wondering what architects are looking for from manufacturers when it comes to BIM projects?
A. Let's be realistic here. Most architects ARE NOT looking for BIM details -- at least not yet. Even the relatively few firms already using BIM for overall building design are still doing details in CAD.
Suggestion -- Your website is a great opportunity for market research. Below the "Download CAD" buttons on your website, put a "Request BIM" button that takes people to a place where they can tell you what they want. If the opportunity is big enough, you can respond in an ad hoc basis. After a few months of requests, you will know what you need to do.
If you have a broad product line, some products may be more appropriate for BIM than others.
Even if architects aren't really using the BIM of your products, it does help the image of your firm as an up-to-date market leader, and can be used to attract attention.
More, you probably have 3d drawings (dare I say models?) of many of your products for in-house engineering, fabrication, and shop drawings. In this case, the cost of putting them online is fairly small, so why not do it?
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If only it were that simple. Right now, there are two generic forms in which products can be provided for use in BIMs: as objects (Revit calls them families, ArchiCAD calls them library parts), or as models. Either way, they are proprietary to the authoring software unless they are models, and they are available in files conforming with the IFC standard.
The IFC standard is not as "rich" as the proprietary standards, and as models, the product is not a unit; it cannot be manipulated as a single object, nor imbued with properties as a single object.
Consequently, the trend has been for manufacturers to provide objects - usually in the form of Revit Families. Window and Door manufacturers led the way in this trend. Unlike desks or storage racks, for example, Doors and Windows are unique object types in BIMs today. Desks and chairs are uniquely furniture, and storage racks are uniquely Equipment in Revit, but in IFC (v2x3), and in ArchiCAD, they are simply unclassified objects - albeit with parameters, and perhaps on layers which help to identify them.
Autodesk, who publishes Revit has some guidelines, and offers consulting services for manufacturers seeking to craft a virtual warehouse. Look for Revit Familes or *.rfa files for objects that work in Revit.
Graphisoft pretty has pretty much left the field open to 3rd parties to craft custom objects for themselves, other designers, and for manufacturers. Look for GDL objects (*.gdl), or Library Parts for objects which ArchiCAD can use.
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