BIM Content Configurator Development

Challenge

One of the requested solutions for the client’s ecosystem of digital services was a web tool where architects, engineers, and designers could configure complete wall, floor, ceiling, roof, and other Building Information Modeling component assemblies using generic and manufacturer product data, then download these assemblies for use in their Revit projects. The client already had a legacy solution that wasn’t living up to their customers’ expectations, so our team was tasked with the development of a completely new one from scratch.

Solutions

After a thorough estimation and requirement analysis, we formed a development team and prepared all the necessary documentation for the launch of the 2.0 version of the project. As a software development methodology for the project, we chose Agile.

With consideration of a rich variety of 300,000+ available BIM components that users would have to be able to comfortably research, select, and configure, we needed to make sure that the new version of the content configurator features good usability and utmost performance. To deliver on those requirements, we went with .NET Core and C# for the backend, Angular for the frontend, and Unity as a rendering engine for the tool. As the cloud computing service for the entire platform, we chose Microsoft Azure.

The solution enables users to export product data for each layer in their assemblies or system families. They can customize these assemblies and system families layer by layer or use already assembled system starters from an orderly catalog. 

The tool is integrated with the existing ecosystem’s user account and analytics systems. For customers this means that they can save projects to their profile, keeping all their assemblies in one place, sorted by products, groups, organizations, and so on. They can easily edit, download, and share these projects with their team and organization. For manufacturers, on the other hand, the integrated systems provide the means to efficiently analyze the popularity of their products based on the assemblies the customers have selected/built and saved to their profiles.