3D Palette

Simplebim's 3D window is a versatile tool to visualize model data, select objects for data processing or data extraction, measure distances, model and generate location prisms. It has its own ribbon tab, toolbar and context menu. One of the Simplebim's unique features is that you can have multiple viewports for visualizing the models, and also for selecting which objects should be included in the IFC export (so-called trimming).

3D Ribbon Tab

Many functions of the Simplebim's 3D window can be controlled from its own ribbon tab.

Home

The Home button resets the view. It makes all the objects visible and sets the camera back to the default position.

Standard Views

Standard views are a convenient way to set the camera to look at the model from basic directions like directly above or on the side.

Show Edges

Highlighting the 3D objects' edges makes the model easier to read. However, sometimes you want to turn these off. The Show Edges button toggles the edges on and off.

Ghost Model

The Ghost Model button toggles all the objects between fully transparent and their original appearance.

Auto Zoom

When the Auto Zoom is on, 3D window automatically fits the selected objects to the viewport. This is a convenient way of browsing the model when selecting objects from other palettes like the Objects or Properties Palettes.

Interaction Modes

Select, Isolate and Reveal modes define how the 3D palette reacts to the selections made from other palettes. When Select is chosen, then the 3D objects are simply selected and highlighted with the selection color (red) when the selection is done from another palette. When Isolate is on, then the selected 3D objects are automatically isolated (non-selected objects are hidden). Reveal mode automatically makes all the objects transparent except the selected ones. 

Area Selection

Area Selection allows you to select multiple objects from an area of the 3D window. Press the left mouse button on the 3D view and drag the mouse to select the area. Selecting from right to left will select all the objects that are either completely inside or partly inside the selection area. Selecting from right to left will select only the objects that are completely inside the selection area. Note that there is a keyboard shortcut for area selection ('a'), if you find yourself doing area selection frequently.

Snapshot

Snapshot will copy a picture of the current 3D view to the clipboard.

Set Color

The Set Color button allows you to change the appearance of the selected objects. You can change both the color and transparency. Make sure you have objects selected from 3D. Click on the Set Color button. Select the color and transparency from the Color Picker dialog, and click ok. The selected objects' appearance is changed. Note that if you now make an IFC export, this is the appearance the objects will have in the exported IFC model.

The Quick Set button will apply the previously selected appearance to the selected objects without opening the Color Picker dialog.

Toolbar

Show All

Unhide all the objects from all the viewports.

Select All

Select all the visible objects from all the viewports.

Fit All

Fit all the visible objects to the viewports.

Fit Selected

Fit the selected objects to the viewports.

Hide Selected

Hide selected objects from all the viewports.

Isolate Selected

Isolate selected objects from all the viewports. In other words hide all the non-selected objects.

Invert Selection

If something is selected, then unselects the selected objects and selects all the previously not selected objects.

Invert Isolation

If something is isolated/hidden, then hides the visible objects and shows the previously hidden objects.

Select On/Off

Toggle on and off the highlight and selection functionality. Sometimes you simply want to navigate the model, and then highlighting the objects on hover, is not necessary. You can then turn off the highlight and thus the selecting of 3D objects.

Quick Select Logic

Read more about Quick Select below.

Navigate 3D

3D Navigation in Simplebim is pretty standard and should be very familiar to anybody who has used 3D software before. The only feature that is unique to Simplebim is dragging&dropping selected objects from 3D into other parts of the application. For doing this you…

1. Select objects in 3D or hover over objects in 3D
   • Use Quick Select to easily select multiple objects, such as all objects in an object class
   • If you have selected objects and hover over other objects, then both the selected objects and the ones you hover over will be dragged
2. Hold down the left mouse button
3. Wait a short while until the title of the 3D window changes color
   • If the 3D window does not have a title wait for about half a second
4. Keep the left mouse button pressed and move the mouse to start the drag&drop operation
5. Alternative you can use the right mouse button to do drag&dropping. This way you don't have to wait the drag&drop to be activated, instead you can start it right away.

Mouse and Keyboard Navigation

Right Click Menu

Keyboard Shortcuts

Use 3D Viewports

Did you know, that you can use multiple 3D viewports in Simplebim? Here’s how you do it.

There is only  one 3D viewport in the default workspace of Simplebim. However, in Simplebim you can have multiple viewports in 3D. (Note that this does not work in the Trimmer mode. In the Trimmer mode the viewports are fixed to three, with their special meaning for including and excluding objects.) Here’s how you change the number of viewports visible in 3D.

1. From the 3D tab select number of the viewport you want to see. Note you can have up to 10 viewports.

   

2. Drag&drop objects to the different viewports as you like. You could visualize for example interior and exterior objects in different viewports. Or different building stories in different viewports. Or different object classes. Or building elements with different statuses.
   
   
3. Navigate each viewport freely. The camera is not automatically synchronized, but you can use the standard views to get the viewports into the same orientation. Note that the number of viewports can be changed at any time. If you need more, simply select more viewports.
4. Using multiple viewports together with other palettes like the Table palette is a powerful way to visualize data.
   
   

5. Reset viewports function returns all the objects to the first viewport.

   

Use 3D Quick Select

Did you know, that there is a very clever way to select multiple objects in 3D with just one pick in Simplebim?

3D is a powerful way to visualize the design and building information data. It is also a very convenient way to access and organize data. However, picking objects one by one can be very labor-intensive and frustrating. Sometimes area selection helps, but it is hard to select a very specific set of objects with an area. A better way is to find similar objects with a specific logic. In Simplebim you can do this with the help of Quick Select.

In general, the idea of Quick Select is that you point to just one sample object from all the objects you want to select. Simplebim then automatically finds all the similar objects and highlights or selects them for you. The active Quick Select defines what kind of similarities you are looking for.

This is how it works in practice

1. In the tool bar of the 3D window you can find the Quick Select dropdown.

   

2. Open the dropdown and you will see that there are several ready-made options. The default selection mode is “Topmost Assembly or Single Object”. Make sure that it is selected.
3. Point to an object. If the object is part of an assembly, then the whole assembly is highlighted. Otherwise, the object itself is highlighted. If you click on the left mouse button, then the object is selected. For example, if you pick the curtain wall object in our sample model, then the whole curtain wall is selected, and NOT the child object (part) you are pointing to.

4. Now, change the Quick Select to “Single Object”. Point to an object inside the curtain wall. This way you can for example select a panel object (part) inside the curtain wall.
    

   

5. Next select the “Object Class of Single Object”. This is where the magic starts to happen. Point to an object from the model and all the objects with the same object class are automatically highlighted. Very powerful stuff.
6. Now try the other Quick Selects. For example, the “Building Storey” or “Building Element Construction Type”. Do you get the idea? Similar objects are automatically found from the model. The selected Quick Select defines how they are similar.
7. See the descriptions of the other Quick Selects in the table below, or from the tooltip in the Quick Select dropdown.

Using Quick Select to Interact with Other Palettes

You can use Quick Select to choose which objects to handle. Usually, you are selecting and drag and dropping the building elements. However, if you have “Building Storey” quick select on, and then make a selection in the 3D, the Properties palette will show data for the building storey object and not the data for the object you are pointing at. Similarly, if you then drag&drop the selection to the Table palette, then the building storey object is dropped there and not the object you are pointing to.

When Quick Select Doesn’t Work

Sometimes Quick Select doesn’t find any similar objects. This happens when the object doesn’t have the data, which the chosen Quick Select tries to use. For example, not all objects are assigned to a group or classification, or even have a Building Element Construction type. If this happens, then only the object itself is highlighted with a grey highlight and tooltip color.

Selecting Element Assemblies

The assembly hierarchies can be deeper than just one level, like when a stair contains a stair flight and the stair flight a railing and the railing a guardrail. This is why the default Quick Select says the Top Most Assembly. It is possible to select objects from the middle of the assembly hierarchy, but this is rarely needed. The First, Second and Third Level Assembly or Single Object -quick selects are for this purpose.

Selecting Based on Different Kinds of Groups

IFC has all sorts of grouping resources. Type objects, classifications, groups, zones, and systems. Related Quick Selects try to find all the other objects assigned to the same groups as the object you are pointing to. Not all models use all different kinds of groups.

Selecting HVAC and MEP Objects

HVAC or MEP models have some special data structures. The Subsystem – Downstream and Subsystem – Upstream select all the objects from a system downstream or upstream from the object. Note however that this only works, if the model has these structures. Usually, this means, that the systems have been balanced in the model author tool before exporting them to IFC.

Custom Quick Selects

Quick Select is a powerful tool as it is. What makes it even more powerful is, that you can create your own custom Quick Select -logics.

Drag and drop a property from the Properties palette on top of the Quick Select dropdown list in the footer of the 3D palette.

This creates a new Quick Select that is bound to the Object Class that is shown in the Properties palette.

If you hold down the Ctrl key while you drop the property, the Quick Select will be created for any object class. You can even choose multiple text properties from the Properties palette to create a Quick Select, which will find object from the model that have the same values for all the chosen properties.

And don’t forget that there are also many other ways to find just the right objects from the model.

Using Clipping Planes

Clipping planes can be created and managed from 3D ribbon tab.

Creating Clipping Planes from Surface

Click on the Create Clipping Plane from Surface. Hover over a surface in 3D, which is in the direction you want. Left click and the clipping plane is created.

Creating Clipping Plane from Selection

Select a object or objects from 3D. Click on the Create Clipping Plane from Selection. 6 clipping planes are created around the selected objects.

Move Clipping Planes

Hover over a clipping plane, press shift and drag with left mouse button.

Remove Clipping Planes

To remove the clipping planes click on the Remove All from the 3D ribbon. All the clipping planes are removed from the 3D.

Measuring

Simply turn on the measurement function by clicking on the Measure toggle button. The measure function will stay on until you click on the Measure button again, or cancel the measure with Esc-key. Select the first point and then the second point. A measurement line will be added on top of your model.

You can keep adding new measurement lines and you can navigate the model freely while doing this. When you are ready, turn off the measurement function by clicking on the same ribbon button again. Please note, that in addition to measuring distances between two edge points you can also measure distances between faces. Or edges. Or any combination of these three. 

You can remove the measurement lines using the Remove All ribbon button.

Creating Measurement Objects

In Simplebim you can easily measure distances, just like in most IFC applications, but in Simplebim you can also create permanent 3D measurement objects.

You can find the measurement tools in the Modeling ribbon tab.

Adding Measurement Objects

While measurement lines are nice and useful they are only temporary. They are not stored in IFC or even in our native .cube files. If you want to have more permanent measurements you can add measurement objects to your model, including their own 3D geometry.

Let’s say you want to calculate the rain gutters for our roof.

1. Click on the ‘Create measure’ button in the ribbon.
2. In the dropdown below this option choose the object class for the new object. Let’s use Beam for this example.
3. You can give the object a name that describes what this object represents, for example ‘Rain Gutter’.
4. Pick two points

Now instead of a measurement line a new 3D object is added to your model. If you made a mistake you can delete the newly created object by selecting it in 3D and running the Delete Selected Objects -tool.

The create measure function will stay on until you click again the Create Measure button or hit the Esc key.

Using Measurement Objects

This new measurement object is a permanent object that is included in the native model and also exported to IFC (unless you exclude it). This object also has properties, just like all other objects, and it can be used in groups, manipulated with templates, colorized, used in tables, Bimsheets etc.

From the image above you can see that the measurement object has a Length property, that it is assigned to a building storey and it has the Object Class and Name we defined before. This makes it possible to use it for example in quantity calculations, because it has an identification (Rain Gutter), a location (Roof) and a quantity (7 500mm). It is very useful for reliability that the source of the quantity can be visualized in 3D and this also improves for example 4D simulations (if you for example wanted to visualize when the rain gutters are installed on the roof).

Exporting Measurement Objects

This is all fine, but what happens when you get a new version of the model? For this we have an IFC export option that lets you export your measurement objects into a new IFC file.

Then you simply import the new version of your model and merge the measurement objects back into it.

3D Options

You can change the generic behavior of the 3D window with its options.

Move Speed

This is the speed that the camera moves when using the arrow keys to 'walk' in the 3D.

Zoom Speed

This is the speed that zooming works.

Camera Angle

In the perspective mode you can control the camera angle and thus the perspective effect.

Optimization

Simplebim has a very advanced rendering optimization engine. Usually it work very well in the automatic mode. However with very large models, you can maximize the rendering performance by choosing the Best Performance here. On the other hand, if you want to make sure that you see even all the smallest details, choose the Best Quality option.

Animate Transitions

Turning this on, will animate the transitions from one camera position to another, for example, when using the Auto Zoom.

Projection Mode

Perspective mode creates the illusion of the perspective based on Camera Angle chosen. Ortogonal does not use perspective. Usually you want to use the Perspective mode. However for example for modelling the Ortogonal mode can be more convenient.

Listen

This controls whether you want the 3D window to react to the selections made from other palettes. Usually you want to keep this on.

Speak

This controls whether the 3D window notifies other palettes about the selection made inside the 3D window. Usually you want to keep this on.

Peeling

When on, the 3D window will automatically hide the objects that have been drag and drop to another palette from the 3D window. This can be a convenient way to go through the model, just like peeling an onion. One visible layer at the time.

Show Tooltip

This controls whether a Tool Tip is shown or not when hovering over a 3D object. The tooptip contains basic property information about the highlighted objects. When on, the tooltip is shown automatically next to the highlighted object. Sometimes this can be distracting. If so, you can turn it off.

Show 2D geometry

2D geometry is all the line geometry. This includes the grids and other objects which only have 2D geometry. Sometimes these can be distracting, so you can hide them from the 3D view.

Reload 3D Window

Rendering is a complex technology. It needs to operate in a complex environment. There are endless combination of computers, operating system setups, graphic cards and drives out there. We do our best to make it as stable as possible. However sometimes the rendering fails. You can then try to reload the 3D window and continue working.

Modeling Location Prisms

One of the unique features of Simplebim is to automatically define the locations. The locations are defined by volumetric 3D objects. You can create these in other modeling tools, but Simplebim also has basic modeling features to create or generate them.

Model Horizontal Location Prism

Volumetric 3D prisms are modeled by defining a footprint and extrusion. The footprint is modeled by clicking on points from the 3D. Extrusion can be defined in different ways, either explicitly or implicitly. Let's go through the different options.

Building

The modeled objects need to be placed into the model tree (containment tree). Sometimes the IFC models have multiple buildings. This options allows you to select under which building you want to place the created objects.

Base Elevation

Horizontal prisms have a flat bottom and top surfaces. Base Elevation defines how the modeled objects are placed into the 3D space vertically. Base Elevation is the horizontal level, where the bottom of the modeled object is placed.

You have a couple of options here. You can pick the level from 3D in as the first step of the modeling. Or you can automatically define the bottom level to the: bottom of the whole model (lowest geometric point of the whole model), to the bottom of the building you chose (the lowest geometric point of all the objects in the building), the bottom of a building storey (the lowest geometric point of all the objects within the building storey), or defined the elevation in world coordinates explicitly.

Top Elevation

Top Elevation defines the vertical level where the objects footprint is extruded. It can also be defined in different ways: you can pick a point of surface from the 3D as the last step of the actual modeling, or you can automatically extrude the object to the top level of the whole model, the building you chose, the building storey you chose, or give the elevation explicitly in the world coordinates.

Offset

No matter how you choose the bottom and top elevation of the modeled object, you might want to offset them from the chosen elevation. Minus offset will place the bottom or top of the modeled object lower than the selected base level. Plus offset will place them higher than the selected base level.

Result

Modeling creates new objects to the model. here you define which kind of IFC object you want the modeled object to be and whether you want to place it to a group, so that the objects are easier to find from the model later.

Finally you usually want to define some identifiers for the modeled objects. These are text properties that are automatically added and set to the modeled objects. Note that if the property with the same name already exists int the model then the value is set to that property. If the properties don't exist, and you turn on the Create Missing Properties into Propertyset, then a new property is created to the model for the chosen object class and the values are set to them. Note that you can enrich the modeled objects just just like any other objects in the IFC model.

Modeling

When you click Ok button from the dialog the actually modeling start. Follow the instruction from the 3D window's status bar. For example if you chose to pick the bottom level, you will be asked to pick the level, before picking the footprint points.

The footprint is defined by picking points from the 3D. You can pick the points from anywhere. This means that they don't have to be from the modeling plane. If you choose a point from another level, then it is simply projected to the modelling plane. This gives you more freedom to find the right corners of your footprint.

Pick the as many points as you want for the footprint. If you make a mistake you can use backspace to erase the previously picked point and try again. The footprint cannot intersect itself. To close the loop click either the starting point again, or hit enter and the loop is closed automatically.

When picking the next point sometimes you don't have a geometric point exactly where you want the corner of the prism to be. Place the cursor somewhere along the line where you want your next point to be. Press and hold shift key. This will contrain the next point to this line. Now you can pick the point anywhere and it will be projected to the line.

After the footprint is ready, you might be asked to choose the top level of the prism. Once the top level is defined, the object is created and added to the model. Good job!

Model Free Location Prism

Modeling free means here, that you can choose the modeling plane freely. Instead of being horizontal, it can be in the direction of any surface found from the model.

The first step here is always to choose the modelling plane, which will also be the placement of the modeled objects bottom surface.

You can either choose to pick the top elevation of the object or define the extrusion to a specific height.

The footprint is then model like describe above. The the object class, groups, and identifiers are defined as for the horizontal prisms.

Model Location Prisms by Building Storeys

Modeling location prisms by building storey is othervise as modeling horizontal prisms, but this time the same objects are created to each building storey found from the selected building based on the same footprint. You can either choose an explicit height for the prism or set it always to be the height of the building storey in question. 

From Clipping Planes

Sometimes it is enough to have simpler location prisms. Creating one from a clipping plane can then be a convenient way to generate the prism.

Add clipping planes to the 3D view. There can be one or many clipping planes. If only one clipping plane exists then the prism is created by applying the clipping plane to the whole model's bounding box. If you created the clipping planes based on the selection then the generated prism will have the same shape and placement as the box of your clipping planes.

After you have generated the first prism, you can flip the clipping plane and create another. This way you can quickly cover the whole model with the location prisms, 

From Building Storeys

This generates prisms to the model based on the building storeys. The footprint of the prisms is the the footprint of a bounding box, that contains the whole model. The height and placement of the prisms are defined by the building storeys found from the model.

From Imported Footprints - By Building

The prisms can also be generated based on the objects in a IFC file. Usually you would have prisms modeled in a modeling application. The function finds the footprints of the objects inside the IFC file and then extrudes the footprint to the height of the whole building.

Note, that most of the time when you model the prisms in a modeling application, you simply want to merge them to the model as they are. In this case use the Simplebim's normal merge function instead.

From Imported Footprints - By Building Storeys

The prisms can also be generated based on the objects in a IFC file. Usually you would have prisms modeled in a modeling application. The function finds the footprints of the objects inside the IFC file and then extrudes the footprint to the height of the each building storey. The placement of the prism will stay the same as the original objects have in the used IFC model.

Note, that most of the time when you model the prisms in a modeling application, you simply want to merge them to the model as they are. In this case use the Simplebim's normal merge function instead.

Geometry Editing

Geometry editing features can be used for creating and editing the location prisms. However you can use them for any objects if needed.

Copy

Select an object or objects from the 3D. Click on the Copy button. You are then asked to pick two points from the 3D. Follow the instruction in the 3D window's status bar. These two points will define how much the copied object is moved from the position of the original object.

Move

Select an object or objects from the 3D. Click on the Move button. You are then asked to pick two points from the 3D. Follow the instruction in the 3D window's status bar. These two points will define how much the object is moved from its original position.

Combine

Combining the geometries of two or more objects allows you to create more complex geometry than just the basic modeling features. Select one object from the 3D. Follow the instruction in the 3D window's status bar. Then select one or more objects and press enter. The first object's geometry is replaced with the combined geometry. The geometry of the other objects will stay the same.

Subtract

Subtracting the geometries of two or more objects allows you to create more complex geometry than just the basic modeling features. Select one object from the 3D. Follow the instruction in the 3D window's status bar. Then select one or more objects and press enter. The first object's geometry is replaced with new geometry, which is the result of substracting from the geometries of the other objects from the first object's geometry. The geometry of the other objects will stay the same.

Intersect

Intersecting the geometries of two or more objects allows you to create more complex geometry than just the basic modeling features. Select one object from the 3D. Follow the instruction in the 3D window's status bar. Then select one or more objects and press enter. The first object's geometry is replaced with new geometry, which is the result of intersecting the first object's geometry with other objects' geometries. The result is the overlapping area of these geometries. The geometry of the other objects will stay the same.