and other open-source tools
<target: 20 000 words / 120 pages>
This book is a complete presentation of how to create, modify, manage, import and export BIM (Building Information Modeling) models using FreeCAD and other open-source tools. It starts with a broad presentation of what FreeCAD, BIM and open-source are, explains how to set everything up on your computer, and will guide you step by step through how the different components of a BIM models are created, manipulated and modified. It then explains how to enrich your models with non-geometrical information, how to create 2D drawings such as plans and sections from your models, and how to interact with other BIM applications using the industry-standard IFC file format.
Finally it will walk you through three models of iconic buildings, which you can download and study.
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IFC and Open-source workflows
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Native IFC
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Installing FreeCAD and setting things up
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Modelling walls
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Modelling structural elements
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Modelling doors and windows
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Modelling furniture and appliances
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Modelling just about anything else
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Making good BIM models
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Working with IFC files
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Creating 2D drawings
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Working with large models
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Performing analyses
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Creating 3D renderings
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Working with other open-source tools
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Example 1: The Barcelona pavilion by Mies Van der Rohe
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Example 2: The Pampulha church by Oscar Niemeyer
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Example 3: The Vitra fire station by Zaha Hadid
Yorik van Havre is a practicing architect, member of online architecture studios uncreated and OpeningDesign and a core developer of FreeCAD since 2008. He gave many talks and workshops around the world about architecture, open-source software and FreeCAD. Although he collaborated to many other books on the same subjects, this is his first formal book.
The contents of this book and the companion model files are published under a Creative Commons license, and an online version will always be kept free for everyone to download and read. As much as possible, it will also be kept updated with future versions of FreeCAD.