Creating the Model - HxGN Smart Build - Version 5.0 U2 (5.0.2) - Reference

HxGN Smart Build Insight Input Requirements

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LOD (Level of Development): Some functionality discussed in other sections of this document depends on the data within the model to be well-organized according to that standard. Smart Build Insight is most effective when using models with LOD (Level of Development) of 350 or 400.

Editing models in the authoring tool: Smart Build Insight’s basic model change management assumes two things:

  1. The UIDs (unique identifiers) of the model items will remain constant throughout their life

  2. The model items will not move between model files

Deleting and then recreating any given model item (in a modeling tool) will result in the deletion of the first version of that item from Smart Build Insight, and the creation of the second version of that item within Smart Build Insight with a different UID. Moving model items between model files (e.g. dividing a single model file into multiple model files) is likely to have similar effect, although it would be deleted and recreated with the same UID. You may wonder why deleting one version and replacing it with a new, but similar or even exact version is bad, and that is because any associations (to Work Packages, Classification Structures, Issues, etc.) will be lost when the model item is deleted. Your work process must be designed with these assumptions in mind.

Model object geometry: IFC files containing a higher degree of analytical geometry instead of mesh geometry (BREPs) will maximize the performance of Smart Build Insight. Of course, some complicated geometry either can’t or can’t efficiently be represented by analytical geometry, but export settings should be used to preserve the original mathematical definition of geometries.

Very small objects: Smart Build Insight ignores (does not import) very small objects from the IFC file whose bounding box is within 5-digit precision (i.e. micrometer precision). Such model objects will not be present in Smart Build Insight and should not be expected to surface in any downstream process (e.g. filters, item counts, reports, 5D mapping rules, quantification rules).

Levels and IFC Types: Smart Build Insight allows the user to filter the model by various aspects, some of which place specific requirements for intelligence in the model. The Level filter requires Model Items to be organized by building floors and the Type filter requires Model Items to be classified according to type (derived from the IFC element type).

Nested buildings: Smart Build Insight does not currently support the special case of "nested buildings", where the model contains objects of IfcBuilding IFC type as children of objects of IfcBuilding IFC type (i.e. nested IfcBuilding objects).

  • For example, this can happen when each storey (floor) of a building is modeled in a separate file, and the files containing each storey are merged into a single file.

  • It is best if the upstream modeling tool and work process are used to create a proper hierarchy. However, if that is not possible and you only have access to the exports or products of that work process, you can correct it using a product such as BricsCAD. If you have the individual IFC files, you can use BricsCAD to merge them into a single file with the child buildings correctly classified as IfcBuildingStorey. If you only have a merged IFC file, you can use BricsCAD to reclassify the child buildings as storeys.

Model coordinates: Models that are placed far away from the origin (e.g. a distance much greater than the length and width of the project) can force a change from single to double-precision floating-point coordinates, which will negatively impact the display and performance within Smart Build Insight. If you would like to work with World coordinates with very large values, without negatively impacting the display and performance, you should define the Site point in World coordinates to be near the project location. See the illustration below.

Model alignment: Before exporting the model to IFC files, ensure that each file is properly aligned in the correct coordinate system, so that all project objects are in their correct respective location when working with the combined set of files in Smart Build Insight.