Bimble v0.14.0

Bimble v0.14.0: a preview of a fast, open-source structural BIM tool. It views IFC files in 3D, plans, ceiling plans and sections, overlays another office's DXF or PDF plan to check it, draws storey plans at scale, and edits and versions Bimble's own .bimble models. It also runs in a browser.

User manual: https://guilbep.github.io/bimble-docs/

Install

System	Install with	Or the archive
macOS, Apple Silicon (M1–M4)	Bimble_*_aarch64.dmg, or Homebrew (below)	bimble-*-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
macOS, Intel	Bimble_*_x64.dmg, or Homebrew	bimble-*-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
Windows 10/11	bimble_*_x64_en-US.msi	bimble-*-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip
Debian, Ubuntu	bimble_*_amd64.deb: sudo apt install ./bimble_*_amd64.deb	bimble-*-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
Fedora, Red Hat, openSUSE	bimble-*.x86_64.rpm: sudo dnf install ./bimble-*.x86_64.rpm	same
Any Linux	bimble_*_x86_64.AppImage: chmod +x, then run it	same
Any browser (static page, to host yourself)	bimble-*-web.zip

Homebrew (macOS and Linux), no security prompt:

brew tap guilbep/bimble https://github.com/guilbep/bimble
brew install guilbep/bimble/bimble

SHA256SUMS lists the checksums. The browser version is also online: https://guilbep.github.io/bimble/ (files you open there stay on your computer).

Run

Open Bimble from Applications, the Start menu or your desktop's menu, or run bimble in a terminal (bimble view your-model.ifc). You can also drop a file on the window.

The installers aren't signed by a paid certificate yet:

• macOS: the first time, macOS says Bimble is from an unidentified developer. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway (or right-click Bimble → Open). Homebrew installs don't ask.
• Windows: SmartScreen may warn about an unknown publisher; choose More info → Run anyway.

Try

• Open an IFC, then File → Convert to .bimble (editable)…: every element comes along; columns, beams, walls, slabs and footings are editable by their dimensions, the rest can be moved and versioned.
• The left panel lists the model's views (3D, plans, ceiling plans, sections) with their view range; select, edit and measure in any of them. Project → Reference plan… lays a DXF or vector PDF over a plan.
• Sheets: place views at their scales, dimension and annotate, export PDF or SVG. bimble plan model.ifc plan.pdf --storey "Level 1" --scale 100 from the command line.
• File → Share for viewing… writes a small .bimbleview that opens in seconds, also in a browser.
• History (Manage tab, or bimble history …): commits, branches, merges; bimble history clone / sync / borrow to work together through a shared folder.
• bimble bench --json > bench.json: how fast it is on your machine. Please send the file, especially from old laptops.

Known limits

• .bimble files saved by 0.12 and later can't be opened by 0.11 and older: upgrade together, or share .json.
• Models with elements hidden or isolated in a view, or with a reference plan added since 0.13.2, can't be opened by 0.13.1 and older; models with materials hidden in a view, and graphic standards with materials moved to another family (0.14), can't be read by 0.13 versions: everyone working on a model upgrades together. Since 0.14 a model knows its place and project north (ADR 0045): models imported from a placed IFC, their shared-folder histories, and views set to true north can't be read by 0.13.2 and older; a .bimbleview still opens there, without its project north.
• Elements of other classes than columns, beams, walls, slabs and footings are moved, not edited by dimensions.
• Working together (Collaborate → Shared folder, Synchronize): the desktop only; a conflict is settled for all elements at once (from the command line with --prefer), not element by element yet. Rights (view / annotate / model) aren't enforced yet.
• Reference plans: DXF model space and the first page of a vector PDF; no text, hatches or scanned PDFs.
• In the browser: no model history yet; loading uses one processor core; at most 4 GB per tab.
• Curved geometry is drawn as fine facets (0.5 mm tolerance), not exact surfaces.
• On a machine whose graphics refuse a drawing step, Bimble turns that step off and says so in red: please report the message with your machine and system.

Changes

Plans like Revit, Swiss coordinates (ADR 0045)

• Plans, ceiling plans and sections are drawn in project north (along the building), on screen and on paper; a view's Orientation can say true north. The building's turn is read from the IFC.
• The status bar gives the coordinates of the point under the pointer in LV95 (E 2'600'123.45 N 1'200'456.78), or in WGS84 latitude and longitude (Settings → Coordinates).
• Panning a plan no longer goes the wrong way; a section's camera turns when its direction changes.

Tabs and visibility (ADR 0044)

• Right-click a tab: Close, Close other tabs, Close all tabs (then Home).
• Each family in the Visibility panel opens into its materials: hide one, or draw it as another family (saved in the graphic standards). A click on a family's colour opens it in the standards.
• Sheets and PDFs leave out what a view hides by element or material.
• Sizes read 12 kB, 99 MB, 3.4 GB.

Importing IFC (tested on 17 of the office's files, ADR 0010)

• Openings in slabs whose geometry is a hair from closed are cut (387 → 4 left in one file).
• A wall clipped by a broken boundary is no longer 0.6 m too tall; walls whose clipping removed everything are back.
• The same IFC imported twice gives the same model, byte for byte.
• pack says the geometry warnings; bimble info works on a .bimbleview; a .bimbleview says what it leaves out.

Full Changelog: v0.13.2...v0.14.0