What if I told you that you could automate BIM validation just like software developers deploy code? Imagine catching errors, enforcing standards, and ensuring quality automatically using open-source technologies paired with AI. Welcome to a new era in Building Information Modeling (BIM)!
The Problem: Manual BIM Validation is Broken
Let’s be honest - manually checking BIM models for compliance is tedious, error-prone, and expensive. Every project involves multiple stakeholders uploading models, each requiring validation against project standards. By the time errors are caught, rework costs have already started piling up. Sound familiar?
But here’s the exciting part: we can fix this using the same continuous integration practices that revolutionized software development!
Breaking Barriers in BIM
Today, we’re not just exploring the theory of building a CI/CD pipeline for BIM—we’re building it together. In the past two to three years, the advancements in OpenBIM technologies have been nothing short of remarkable. Robust standards like IFC and open-source tools such as IfcOpenShell and the Fragments framework have transformed the field.
Bridging BIM and AI
AI-powered coding tools are no longer restricted to simple autocomplete functionalities. They now assist in building complex, enterprise-grade solutions at a fraction of the time and cost. The barrier to creating sophisticated BIM tools has dropped significantly, allowing us to achieve in days what used to take months.
The CI/CD Pipeline for BIM Models
Our mission? To build a continuous integration, continuous validation, or continuous delivery system for BIM models. This pipeline will validate models upon upload, using a model validator. Pass the checks? The model gets a green light for deployment. Fail? We’ll generate a BCF issue to notify the team to make necessary corrections.
Why use OpenBIM Technologies? Avoid vendor lock-in, ensure compatibility with any BIM software, and maintain transparency and customizability. Plus, everything we build will run directly in your browser - no server required! Pretty neat, right?
AI will assist with coding, focusing on architecture and high-level concepts, while handling low-level implementations. This democratizes BIM tool development, making it accessible to anyone with basic programming knowledge.
Building an Automated BIM Validation System
Our goal is to construct an automated system to check your models with an IDS specification and create BCF issues when needed. We aim to create a production-ready solution deployable on any project, providing practical development without shortcuts.
What’s Next?
This is just the beginning! In the upcoming parts of this series, we’ll dive deep into the technical implementation, building our automated BIM validation system step by step. Each part will include complete, working code examples that you can use immediately.
Let’s Build Together
Ready to transform your BIM workflow? The transformation of BIM begins now—let’s build and innovate together!
Let me know what you think on YouTube - I’d love to hear about your experiences with BIM validation and what challenges you’re facing. Are live coding sessions something you’d be interested in?
Together, we can reshape the future of BIM, one browser-based tool at a time.