BIM project info

About

The BIM Project Info dialog box shows information about properties, materials, compositions, profiles, and spatial structures of the Project and Central databases. It allows you to import or export the database and to set the project database as embedded or external. When you launch the BIMPROJECTINFO command in BricsCAD, the BIM project info displays in a dialog box that includes components and tabs. You can change project and central databases of BIM models using this dialog box.


For more information about the Project and Central databases, see the article BIM data structure.

Setting the project database

  1. Open the BIM Project Info dialog box by typing BIMPROJECTINFO in the Command line and select the Project Database tab:

    Project Database (1) Shows the BIM project info.
    Project database drop-down list (2) Choose between Embedded or External.
    Embedded (3) Saves the project database in the drawing file.
    External (4) Saves the project database in a BIM database file (BSYSLIB).
    Properties (5) Shows the properties of the BIM project e.g. region, language, and units.
    Statistics (6) Shows the properties, materials, compositions, profiles, and spatial structures (the amount of buildings, stories, etc.) of the current project library of the BIM model.
    Custom Properties... (7) Adds custom properties to materials and compositions.
    Import (8) Imports the selected XML and CSV library files which may add materials, compositions or profiles to the project database.
    Export (9) Saves XML library files in the defined location.

  2. To change the project database from Embedded to External or vice versa, select the desired option in the Project Database drop-down list.

    Note: The external database keeps the database independent from the current drawing. This is especially useful if you want to share the database between multiple models, e.g. when a model consists of several Xref drawings.
    • When switching from Embedded to External, the Select or create a Bricsys Library dialog box displays.
      Do one of the following:
      • Type a name in the File Name field to export the content of the project database to a new BSYSLIB file, then click the Open button.
      • Select an existing BSYSLIB file, then click the Open button.

        The current content of the project database is merged with the selected BSYSLIB file, including the imported libraries.

    • When switching from External to Embedded, the content of the external database is copied to the embedded project database.

  3. To specify the Project Database properties such as Region and Language, fill out the Region field and choose one of the language options in the drop-down list.

  4. Optionally, use the custom properties button to add material and composition custom properties in the Project Database.

  5. Press the OK button to accept it.

Setting the Central database

  1. Click the Central Database tab in the BIM Project Info dialog box:

  2. To select a BIM database file (BSYSLIB), click the Browse (10) button of the Path field, then choose a database file in the Select or create a Bricsys Library dialog box.

  3. Optionally, tick the Set as default (11) option to set the selected database as default library database for next projects.

Note: You can edit the default library settings (12, 13) in the Settings dialog under Program options > System.


Adding profiles by importing XML or CSV files in the project database (BSYSLIB)

  1. In the Project Database tab, press the Import button that opens the Select xml/csv file to import dialog box.
  2. Choose the XML or CSV Library files and press the Open button.
The CSV Library files that add profiles must respect the below format:
The first row indicates the profile shape name (AsymmetricIShape, CShape, Circle, CircleHollow, CraneRailAShape, CraneRailFShape, Ellipse, IShape, LShape, Rectangle, RectangleHollow, RoundedRectangle, Trapezium, TShape, UShape, ZShape).
The second row must contain the names of the profile properties. The first 5 names are general profile properties (standard, name, type, size, material). The next names are the specific parameters for each shape of profiles.
// or # - can be used to add comment to the CSV files, lines starting with these characters will be ignored.

For example, a CSV file for import C-shape profiles should contain at least the following:

CShape

standard name type size material depth width wallThickness girth
General columns for all shapes are:
standard name type size material

Available types:

Electrical,

Generic,

HVAC,

Structural Steel,

Structural Concrete,

Piping

 Available materials:

Only existing

in project or in library

(use BLMATERIALS to check).

Mostly used - Steel.
Note: Type and material names are case sensitive.
Note: Empty fields are not yet accepted.

Right of the general columns are the columns that indicate the specific parameters for each shapes of profiles.

Below are the shapes of profiles with the specific parameters (in bold) necessary to be indicated for a successful import. The meaning of each parameter can be better understood from the profiles preview (BIMPROFILES/New profiles).

Shape of profile parameters Shape of profile parameters
AsymmetricIShape

overallWidth

overallDepth

webThickness

flangeThickness

filletRadius

topFlangeWidth

topFlangeThickness

topFlangeFilletRadius

centreOfGravityInX

 LShape

depth

width

thickness

filletRadius

edgeRadius

legSlope

centreOfGravityInX
CShape

depth

width

wallThickness

girth

internalFilletRadius

centreOfGravityInX

 Rectangle

xDim

yDim
Circle radius RectangleHollow

xDim

yDim

wallThickness

innerFilletRadius

outerFilletRadius
CircleHollow

radius

wallThickness

 RoundedRectangle

xDim

yDim

roundingRadius
CraneRailAShape

overallHeight

baseWidth2

radius

headWidth

headDepth2

headDepth3

webThickness

baseWidth4

baseDepth1

baseDepth2

baseDepth3

centreOfGravityInY

 Trapezium

bottomXDim

topXDim

yDim

topXOffset
CraneRailFShape

overallHeight

headWidth

radius

headDepth2

headDepth3

webThickness

baseDepth1

baseDepth2

centreOfGravityInY

 TShape

depth

flangeWidth

webThickness

flangeThickness

filletRadius

flangeEdgeRadius

webEdgeRadius

webSlope

flangeSlope

centreOfGravityInY
Ellipse

semiAxis1

semiAxis2

 UShape

depth

flangeWidth

webThickness

flangeThickness

filletRadius

edgeRadius

flangeSlope

centreOfGravityInX
IShape

overallWidth

overallDepth

webThickness

flangeThickness

filletRadius

 ZShape

depth

flangeWidth

webThickness

flangeThickness

filletRadius

edgeRadius

An example of such a CSV file (templates_of_mostly_used_profiles.csv) for the most used profiles is stored in your Support folder in the following path:

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Bricsys\BricsCAD\V24x64\en_US\Support\Bim\Profiles.

The Appdata folder is a hidden folder by default, you may have to unhide folders first. This path can also be accessed by the SUPPORTFOLDER command.

The project filter

You can attach any number of tags to each Physical Material or Composition. Any string can be entered as a tag.

Each of the tags can be used as a filter on the database. There is a button at the top of each list (), to switch the filter on or off. If the filter is on, only Compositions and Physical Materials that match at least one of the filter tags will be listed.

The Filter button has three states:
  • If the project filter is empty, the button is not active (BIM Compositions panel) or is not available (Materials and Compositions editors).

  • The project filter is defined, but not active.



  • The project filter is defined and active.



    A tooltip shows the current project filter.

Setting the project filter

  1. Select the Filter tab page on the BIM Project Info dialog box.

  2. Check the tags you want to use in the filter.