Speckle and Open BIM

[Ahmed_K]

Hi there ! 

Archicad has been introduced as a locomotive for Open BIM and IFC workflow, i can see now a very fast raise of Speckle, for data and geometry exchange between softwares, without loss, it try to converts elements to native geometries for each software, this platform integrates almost all the popular softwares in the market, 

Revit, Sketchup and Rhino have the most focus on development, it's strange to not to see ArchiCAD in the front of the development,

Speckle may be the future for collaboration and exchange, regarding the progress they did in theese few years, who knows, 

This thread is for you to exchange, discuss about this platform and the experience of anyone used it as experimental or in a real work ! 

[scottjm]

I understand the integration with archicad is still in its infancy. But what I have seen it looks like it has alt of potential. Almost like another tier of teamwork with external consultants. 

I’d be interested to hear if anyone else has started or trialing its use yet?

[Aaron Bourgoin]

we've been experimenting. So far, the obstacle has been a lack of survey point support. Rhino doesn't use one and there are differences of opinion among our collaborators about using Project north and turue North. 

This makes federating models a bit bothersome. At least in Revizto, there is a displace command to make adjustments to model locations if the team can't sort it out themselves.

[JSN]

Noticed as well that large coordinates seem to be ignored/ repositioned ... os this the case so far?

[jsdbroughton]

Not by design, there are no restrictions implicit with Speckle. If you can provide example data and what happens within Speckle, we can check it out. 

[JSN]

Thanks for the quick reply. How/where should and can I provide sample data?

[gavinNZz]

This is the future of interdisciplinary workflows where the central system (in this case Speckle) can read and write to all systems in the market. GS seem hell bent on doing it all itself which just isn't how the industry will evolve. I believe AC still has a place in this ecosystem but more as a part of it, as opposed to all of it! The sooner GS realize this the better because if they leave it too late they will miss the train entirely.

[mthd]

It looks promising. Here is a link to the Speckle road map concerning the Archicad connector and there is a short clip as well.

https://speckle.systems/blog/archicad-connector-roadmap/

[jsdbroughton]

This roadmpa needs a little updating. As of connectors release 2.18 the ArchiCAD connector came out of alpha.

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I understand the integration with archicad is still in its infancy

 But the AC-Support is really poor, because the Open-Source-Community only cares about Revit. Especially the exchange between Rhino and Revit with the posibility to map elements from Rhino to native elements in Revit is mindblowing. A similar function between AC und Revit would end the endless discussion which one to use and would break down the system-barrier.

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These are both partially correct. We have a way to go before the ArchiCAD connector is on par with Revit-like, but we are concentrating on the areas of development we hear from the community

It is also true that we hear more from revit users.

The Mapper initiative is not limited in ambition to just Rhino Revit / Sketchup Revit, but that's where it has stood again based on what we hear at speckle.community.

Speckle is a fully open-source stack and while we are open to code contributions this is, we know, a daunting task for most. Nevertherless, contributions of described workflows, any scraps of models for test-cases are also priceless for us to speed development.

Jonathon

Head of Advocacy - Speckle

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[torben_wadlinger]

My post was not a criticism of Speckle, but a criticism of Graphisoft. With Speckle there is a low hanging fruit for interoperability with other systems (especially Revit) but Graphisoft integrates a Revit exporter that can do nothing and delivers nothing reasonable.

Graphisoft has forgotten to think outside the box and loses itself in marketing instead of delivering real innovation.

As already written: if Graphisoft would put two or three developers on the Speckle plugin, something really big could be created within a short time that would break down the system boundaries and create real competition between the big providers.

But maybe the management is just afraid of Autodesk ...

[jsdbroughton]

No sweat @torben_wadlinger I didn’t take it as criticism as such. we know we need to serve the needs of our ArchiCAD friends better and as is insinuated above this is a path we furrow alone. 

My invitation to all AC users to try what we have, test it, break it and ultimately let us know what needs fixing first was 100% genuine. We build better together. 

😎

[Martin Jules]

I receive this error message anytime: 

[jsdbroughton]

Lots of things I normally ask here, but normally on speckle.community. 

what version AC? What version Speckle connector? Installed from manager or standalone installer?

[Martin Jules]

ArchiCAD 27 and Speckle connector 2.18.

[Funfun Yan]

I have tried the alpha version, and I have a good impression of speckle. I used it to transfer object libraries between SU and AC. I will make time to continue testing. Thank you for your team's efforts.😀

[thesleepofreason]

Imagine if they moved the whole BIMx team to interoperability 🤔 For me BIMx is not only an obvious case of putting the cart before the horse but also a dead end as it can't compete with apps specialised in visualisation or information (jack of all trades and all that...).

For anyone doubting that resources would be better spent on interoperability than a proprietary viewer  - try send an AC model to speckles new web app and just compare to BIMx regarding the basics - publishing, accessibility, navigation, visibility and information etc. Then add a model from another application - something simple such as 3D property/building/contour lines or a DSM. Then make some changes to the AC model, send and view both versions in the project. Then create a design option in AC and send and view both options in the project.

Then tell me why there should be any excitement about BIMx and more importantly why resources should be spent on it rather than making AC better at its core (geometry and information modelling) and letting the user choose how to share and present the model.

[torben_wadlinger]

Speckle is awesome! I use it regularly to exchange models between AC and SketchUp. But the AC-Support is really poor, because the Open-Source-Community only cares about Revit. Especially the exchange between Rhino and Revit with the posibility to map elements from Rhino to native elements in Revit is mindblowing. A similar function between AC und Revit would end the endless discussion which one to use and would break down the system-barrier.

[Funfun Yan]

Yes, I previously mentioned in a post that these open interfaces and interoperability, such as the ac-gh connection, ac started early but is now surpassed by RIR, and currently, I feel like the development of this plugin has stagnated. More and more of my colleagues are using Rhino and Revit together not archicad, which saddens me.

[Martin Jules]

It has been for a long time since Graphisoft and its parent company talked about Open BIM, Open BIM. We had to wait for Dimitrie Stefanescu and his team to start materializing it. The time had come for action. 

[scottjm]

I saw this post on LinkedIn that showcase what is possible.  Looks pretty exciting.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/airc-world-llp_openbim-02-speckle-bim-data-streams-ugcPost-7167852295...

[Ahmed_K]

I'm planning to use speckle for coordination with structural engeneers in a real project, i use archicad,  and my engeneer uses revit, 

I'm excited to see how geometry exchange will behave, data is not necessary for now, 

Did someone used speckle for the same purpose ?