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Open BIM Quantities

Links to the BIMserver.center platform

From the BIMserver.center project information window (displayed by clicking on the project name shown in the project information bar - upper right part of the application window) you can access the project page of the BIMserver.center platform via a link that has been inserted in the text indicating the project name.

Likewise, from the information window about the project contributions ("Contributions" option in the project information window), users can access the page of each contribution in the BIMserver.center platform. These links are inserted in the texts indicating the name of each contribution.

Notifications on the project status

The status information bar of the BIMserver.center project is located at the top right of the window of the programs included in the Open BIM workflow. This bar has been available in the applications since version 2022.e and shows a warning icon when there is a problem with the connection to the project, as well as other things. Now, in version 2024.b, users can obtain more information about the warning by hovering the mouse cursor over the icon.

Creating BIMserver.center Corporate projects

As of version 2024.b, users can create projects associated with a "BIMserver.center Corporate" account from all CYPE applications included in the Open BIM workflow. To do this, the "Owner" field has been added to the window for creating a new project. This is a drop-down menu that includes, as one of the available options, the logged-in BIMserver.center user name along with the "BIMserver.center Corporate" accounts to which it has access. When selecting the user name as the owner, the project will be associated with this personal account, as was the case in previous versions. On the other hand, if a BIMserver.center Corporate account is selected, the project will be associated with that account.

Clear cache

The "Clear cache" button has been added to the CYPE applications included in the Open BIM workflow in the "Configuration" dialogue box that opens with the following sequence of commands: Select any of the options in the "BIMserver.center" tool group > "Configuration" option in the dialogue box that appears. When clicking on "Clear cache", the following options are displayed:

  • Projects
    Deletes projects, contributions and documents downloaded from the platform that are in the "File directory stored in local cache".

  • Sessions
    Deletes the data of any active sessions. This action will require applications to be re-authorised to access BIMserver.center.

  • Log files
    Deletes transaction logging from applications with BIMserver.center.

Long access paths

In previous versions, file paths used by applications were limited to a maximum length of 256 characters. This restriction is not specific to CYPE tools but is set by default in the Windows file system. As of version 2024.b, CYPE applications can bypass the restriction and allow the use of an extended path length for a maximum total path length of 10,000 characters. This eliminates the problems caused by the default limit and allows users to work with long access paths.

This improvement is particularly useful when working on projects with a complex directory structure or with long file names. By allowing longer paths, CYPE applications offer greater flexibility in file organisation.

Sorting criteria of quantity detail lines

The "Sorting criteria" field has been added to the editing window of an "Item", in a rule of measurement. This way, users can now indicate the order in which the quantity detail lines should be inserted in the item after applying the set of measurement rules to the model.

When editing the "Sorting criteria" field, a list is displayed where users can select properties and quantities of the BIM model components, and also indicate whether they want to sort the value in "Ascending" or "Descending" order. Different sorting criteria can be entered so that when the criterion parameter coincides with several quantity detail lines, the next one in the list will be applied. If no criteria have been specified or if all the criteria match, the same criteria that have been used in previous versions shall be used. This compares the attributes of the quantity detail lines in the following order:

  1. Number of tags.
  2. Comment on the detail line.
  3. Quantity.
  4. Value of field "A".
  5. Value of field "B".
  6. Value of field "C".
  7. Value of field "D".
  8. First identifier of the "BIM Model".

Cost databases and mapping files, and sets of measurement rules

As of version 2024.a, users can manage the "Cost databases" and "Mapping files" databases (in applications with a "bill of quantities" tab), and the "Sets of measurement rules" databases (for Open BIM Quantities) in two different locations, which can be toggled via a drop-down menu:

  • Database directory
    A directory containing the databases is indicated. This makes it easier to use databases shared by several users. This option was used in previous versions.

  • Project databases
    The databases are saved together with the project in the application. When it is compressed from the "File" menu in the application, the databases will be included in the CYP file generated. This way, the project can be shared with the databases used to obtain the bill of quantities.

Exporting "BIM model element identifiers" to FIEBDC-3 (.bc3)

The "BIM model element identifiers" option has been added to the bill of quantities export panel to FIEBDC-3 format (.bc3). When activated, the IDs of the elements in the BIM model will be added to the comments of the quantity detail lines, as indicated in the code from version FIEBDC-3/2016. In previous versions, these fields were always added to the file, but to ensure compatibility with other applications that are not able to work with them, the export of these fields can now be controlled. 

This option is activated by default. Furthermore, the FIEBDC-3 files included by the "Bill of quantities" tab in the contributions for the BIMserver.center platform always contain the identifiers of the BIM model elements.

Composite elements of the IFC model in the rules of measurement

As of version 2023.g, Open BIM Quantities can read and display composite elements from the IFC model. Now, in version 2024.a, this relationship between components can be used for generating the bill of quantities via the rules of measurement. For this purpose, the "Spatial structure element" option in the drop-down menu associated with the "Entity" field has been replaced by the "Parent component" option. This allows users to access the parent entity of the selected element without the need for it to be a spatial structure element ("IfcSite", "IfcBuilding", "IfcBuildingStorey" or "IfcSpace"), as was the case in previous versions. To make it easier to select the parent component, a button has been added that displays a list of all the IFC entities available in the model.

An example of using this new feature is the subtraction of the area of the openings ("IfcOpeningElement") contained in a wall ("IfcWall") or slab ("IfcSlab") from the gross area of the building element ("GrossSideArea") when the net area ("NetSideArea") is not available. The properties of the individual components of an element defined by parts ("IfcBuildingElementPart") can also be accessed.

New method for connecting applications to the BIMserver.center platform

The mode of communication between Open BIM applications and the BIMserver.center collaborative work platform has changed. In previous versions, the applications used the "BIMserver.center Sync" tool to upload and download the files of the contributions associated with the project from the platform. This tool was downloaded from the BIMserver.center platform or installed together with the installation of the platform applications if users so desired.

From version 2024.a onwards, applications are now able to work directly with BIMserver.center without an intermediary. That is, without the need for the "BIMserver.center Sync" tool.

This modification will improve the performance and efficiency of Open BIM applications significantly. By removing this dependency, the applications have more autonomy and the waiting times for communication between BIMserver.center Sync and the program have been considerably reduced. The process of downloading contributions has also been optimised, as users no longer need to obtain the entire content of a project from BIMserver.center in order to work, but only the contributions to be read.

The way of authenticating a BIMserver.center user in the applications has also been modified. Now, this process is carried out within the BIMserver.center web platform. To do this, the application with which the user is working will run the user's default browser when the "Login" button is pressed. When the credentials are entered, or after opening the browser if the user is already connected to the platform, an authorisation page will be displayed. This page details the resources the application is requesting access to and two buttons for granting or denying this access.

The authorisation must be carried out for each application. Once access has been granted, it is saved for the next time the program is run and there is no need to perform this process again for that application.

As well as performance improvements, changes have been made to the user interface of the Open BIM applications regarding the connection to BIMserver.center.

  • The "Connect to BIMserver.center" window now includes a "Configuration" button. Clicking it launches a menu from which you can edit the "File directory stored in local cache". This is the path where the files that make up the contributions will be downloaded when working with them from the applications. In previous versions, this location could be selected from the BIMserver.center Sync tool.
  • The appearance of the "Project selection" window has been modified.
  • In the "Select project" list, the "View only my projects" option has been added to show only the projects where the connected BIMserver.center user is the owner. Icons have also been included for the "Type of project" column in order to make it easier to identify them. The detailed data of a project now shows the image of each contribution, the description and the tags.
  • The "Review new contributions" and "Review updated contributions" options have been added to the "Create new project" window.
  • The list for selecting contributions ("Import BIM models") now includes the images of the contributions and the tags. The name of the contribution will be displayed in blue to indicate that the owner is the logged-in user.
  • When sharing a contribution or selecting contributions during the process of linking to a BIMserver.center project, a progress window will appear during the upload or download process.

To work in BIMserver.center with versions of Open BIM applications prior to 2024.a, users must continue to use the BIMserver.center Sync tool. This is still available for download from the platform and was included in the installation packages of the CYPE Open BIM applications prior to 2024.a.

Status bar

A status bar has been included at the bottom of the main window. As well as displaying contextual information about what is being carried out in the application, the status bar indicates the reference of the active set of measurement rules. This reference can also be displayed in the status bar of the "Bill of quantities" tab.

Status bar

The "Bill of quantities" tab now includes a status bar at the bottom of the main window that displays contextual information about what is being carried out in the application.

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