A trend in the construction business that is hard to ignore is the growing interest in open standards for project development, with a clear focus on adopting the IFC format as the standard for storing and managing construction documentation. If you have ever worked with BIM, you are probably familiar with IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) as a way to save and manage your designs.
For those unfamiliar with the format, you can think of IFC files as akin to DXF, in comparison to DWG files. Of course, this is an oversimplification of the standard. IFC files offer much more than just serving as an interchange format between BIM tools. A major benefit of using IFC files is that they are based on plain text, meaning you don't need any special software to read their contents, and it's easy to extract data from a file using scripts.
If you want to learn more about the format and also about one of the best IFC editors available, which is BlenderBIM, you can watch two excellent recordings from recent events where Dion Moult (creator of BlenderBIM and architect) was a guest and discussed the format.
The first event was a meeting from the UK BIM Alliance, where they discussed the use and adoption of this format in the UK:
For those who wanted to see last week's @BuildingSMARTUK #IFC webinar (described by an attendee as "immense") here is the link:https://t.co/kD1zWnk96B
— Emma Hooper (@liccle_em) November 28, 2023
Presentations from @mo_shanaa @BlenderBIM & me#loveinformation #informationmodelling #informationmanagement #joiningitup
If you are interested in another presentation focused on IFC and open standards for architecture in general, check out the BIM Forum presentation featuring Dion Moult again.
Both presentations offer insightful perspectives on the importance of using open standards in architecture and the AEC industry. They also provide an excellent introduction to IFC and reasons why you should use it to store and manage all information regarding project development.
By the way, two of the most capable IFC editors available today are BlenderBIM and FreeCAD, both free and open-source.
Learning to use Blender for architecture
What if you want to start using BlenderBIM or Blender and need a reference to begin? Here in Blender 3D Architect we offer several resources to help you to learn Blender for architecture, design, and engineering:
- Blender 3.6: The beginners guide (book) – Digital – Paperback
- Blender 3.6: La guía para iniciados (book) – Digital – Paperback
- Blender 3.2 for architecture (book) – Digital – Paperback
- Blender for architecture (Workshop) – Downloadable MP4 files
Getting any of the resources above supports our work in Blender 3D Architect.
