Wishes - New Feature Request for BIMx (Project Inf...

Francois_MCD · ‎2021-11-01

Hello GS team and fellow users

I want to post this wish / New Feature Request for BIMx for better "Project Info" control when publishing a BIMx Hyper-Model.

When we Publish the BIMx Hyper-Model from Archicad, we can activate to "Use Architect Creits in the BIMx Hyper-Model" but we can not exclude specific "Project Info" fields and keep others. We need better / full control of "Project Info" in Archicad when publishing to a BIMx Hyper-Model.

It has become a priority for compliance with privacy / confidentiality legislation. With all the new laws about Privacy and protection / confidentiality of identity info, it has become important for us to carefully take all care of clearing "Project Info" fields from the Archicad file before we publish a BIMx to the Transfer website for sharing with clients & the project team. Especially for BIMx files that we post online in our portfolio or social media for marketing and even project specific confidentiality policies. We have to do the same even when we give BIMx files to our developer clients and their Sales Agents.

The problem is that this messes up our Masters Auto text so we have to duplicate the files or repeatedly import clean "Project Info" fields and re-import the actual project "Project Info" fields.

Request / suggestion:

Can we not get a tick box in "Project Info" to select the fields that can be included in the BIMx Hyper-Model when it is published? And a shortcut button from the "Publishing Set Properties" to the "Project Info" screen will further make this workflow even faster.
Or the ability to create 2/3 columns of tick boxes as "Project Info Sets" to select the fields that can be included when the project is published to the BIMx Hyper-Model or any other drawing output (ie. PDF)?

brainiac · ‎2022-10-12

YES PLEASE! I`ve had to delete all info from every BIMx in Archicad and then republish before any of them could be advertised. WE NEED THIS!!! What would also be handy is some way to delete the info in BIMx itself, the BIMx program has way too few features, I can`t imagine adding/ removing text could take up that much space either.

Francois_MCD · ‎2023-03-30

Hello GS team

Can we please add the Project Info import and export options posted by @Miha_M to this wish?

Francois_MCD · ‎2023-06-27

We solve Property Compliance for owners, landlords & their tenants. We use BIMx as an easy to use, entry level platform to access their "Digital Twin" for various stakeholders that each need to have an applicable level of access to info in the model. I believe control of "Project Info" visibility is not that far removed from where Graphisoft is taking BIMx, looking at the roadmap & exciting recent BIMx improvements. Properties does not work in this case.

Constantly importing / exporting various Project Info data is messy, time consuming and very open to software & operator error with varying Archicad proficiencies in a studio environment.

I remain hopeful... have not given up on my posted wish for improved Project Info.

Aurasphere · ‎2023-06-27

My vote! Great ideas

Could you not use properties instead and setup a pseudo schedule with placeholders. Using a static hidden (when publising) object that anchors the information and appears in a dedicated info sheet in bimx should work? That way you remove all the fiddling and employ robust and dynamic data using better tools?

Francois_MCD · ‎2023-07-01

Hello @Aurasphere thanks for your thoughts & question.

We must remember, the priority objective of this wish / suggestion is the handling of & compliance for protecting private & confidential info related to a client, their project & the stakeholders. Flexibility is the key word here.

As stated in my comment above, Properties does not work in this case (not fully). Here is why:

As it is now:

Publish a BIMx Hyper Model, by default includes the "Project Info" data. This same data is typically pulled through onto Layout Masters as auto text to populate project & client data from the centralized "Project Info"... this works brilliantly.
At the same time you can not turn off the embedding of "Project Info" / control what info is included / excluded when publishing BIMx models (for PDFs you can at least turn it off, but not the info content).
> For BIMx this data (1 in image) is embedded into "Info Panel of the file and the "Info Set" (2 in image) only controls the info embedded into the model elements.

> For PDFs Archicad does give control to not embedding this data into the file properties / metadata.

Nowhere inside Archicad can you control what specific info from "Project Info" is published.
The only workaround for this is to constantly export / import various Project Info data sets every time when you publish. This is obviously messy, time consuming and very open to software & operator error with varying Archicad proficiencies in a studio environment.
In the case for most Archicad users, they general publish BIMx Hyper Models to share with clients & the project consultant team. This means that all these stakeholders are authorized to have access to most of the confidential info in these files while all working for the same client on a project. In this scenario, BIMx gives sufficient control as the Architect can simply set the BIMx model to be "private" and only share the link with authorized stakeholders. You can even set a password to further restrict access to the model & therefore it's embedded info & data. Our client's & stakeholders info is kept confidential, compliant with our contractual obligations... this also works perfectly to this point (despite not being able to turn off the embedding of "Project Info" data).

Current workaround:

A current workaround is to really limit the use (or not at all) of "Project Info" in Archicad and as alternative use Properties to populate relevant info to the Layout Master auto text. This is in fact a possible solution but the problem is that this satisfies only part of need. This workaround is not flexible enough for all use cases.

What we need to achieve the objective is: more flexible control of all project info & info exchange.

This default / general use case was valid for & evolved from early versions of BIMx driven by it's available features.
The industry (and BIMx) have since evolved with wider adoption of full BIM workflows, new & better standards, sustainability and systems (ie. CDEs, Digital Twins...).

The number of stakeholders in the BIM lifecycle have grown. As a result, use cases, info requirements, deliverables etc. have also expanded.

Our roles on projects have evolved & new roles are defined to eventually have an ecosystem that ensures effective delivery on project objectives.

This whole environment requires and have already created new ways of contractual terms & mechanisms to navigate legal & governance frameworks (for projects, regional, international context) in these collaborative relationships (and we need to play our part & deliver compliance).

Based on these factors, our ability to have more flexible control of all project info & info exchange, consistently brings new requirements that need relevant levels of control. The current controls & workarounds for BIMx publishing above becomes insufficient, as we participate in more projects with full BIM & Sustainability lifecycle from pre-design through to operation & decommissioning.

I see this "wish / suggestion" as an opportunity for Graphisoft to expand not only the usability of BIMx but also expand real world possibilities & opportunities for Archicad users to add more value to this evolving market & industry. Looking at this in the context of Graphisoft's current roadmap for BIMcloud & BIMx's recent new features, future & investigated features, I see huge potential for BIMx to become the interface to the Digital Twins for building & info users (public, occupants, asset owners, Municipalities, etc). I know this based on our current work for asset owners & managers and our R&D for applicable solutions in this field, preferring to use the Graphisoft ecosystem & tools.

BIMx Pro's ability to log into a BIMcloud project for integrated BIMx updates & communication, the direction to make BIMcloud into a CDE with user permission controls and combined with this suggested flexibility controls could really put BIMx in the workflow as a Digital Twin interface.

Aurasphere · ‎2023-07-01

Thanks for clarfying

I apologise for not fully reading all the posts...I see very clearly now that the best outcome in this situation is a filter for data mining in a sense, so that appropriates gates can be controlled in the information flow; as per your suggestion

A flow chart for these sorts of requests helps greatly...a single graphic can convey so much

My vote is added to this request

Francois_MCD · ‎2023-07-01

Fantastic @Aurasphere I appreciate every vote we get for this wish / suggested feature.

Wishes - New Feature Request for BIMx (Project Info control)