Using Django as an interface extension of BlenderBIM

Coen

Just wondering if this is technically possible. Or maybe someone already had this idea before. Or is has been tried without me knowing.

• Let's say you make an IFCCSV export with BlenderBIM.
• You use that CSV to load in a postgressql db with Django/Python.
• You render the data to the end-user using a Django Table View with fancy boostrap/css.
• You let the user filter what he wants in the table.
• The filter gets live updated in BlenderBIM and shows the correct IFC elements corresponding with the filtered table.
• User Interface for handling with BCF is not limited to Blender, but could also be a fancy Django Web View.

Advantages would be:

• Adds a very friendly web-based user interface to the functionality of BlenderBIM.
• Possible to create web-connections with BlenderBIM.
• Django is all written in Python and open source too.

Disadvantages would be:

• User would have to install a lot of stuff locally if he wants to try it on the localhost
• Security issues when sending data over the web.
• It's not 'solely' BlenderBIM anymore. But more an add-on/extension.
• Server costs for hosting.

Please let me know if you think this is a good or bad idea, or maybe this kind of functionality is already on the BlenderBIM roadmap I missed.

vpajic

I think it`s a cool idea - maybe @Borna_Molnar has already done something along these lines?

Moult

So it is actually already planned to create a daemon that lets the BlenderBIM Add-on communicate externally to other interfaces - and a web interface is especially important, not just for schedules, but for cost tables, drag and drop gantt charts, sheet management, and so on. So I guess it is on the roadmap but unfortunately nothing has been built yet. The underlying architecture (the newly architected data functions, for example) is designed for this.

htlcnn

At the moment I would stick with OpenProject (BIM version) to deal with IFC and BCF. It also has an API so that you could use Python to interact. Unfortunately, its conversion workflow only works with IFC 2x3, not IFC 4.

Coen

@htlcnn said:
At the moment I would stick with OpenProject (BIM version) to deal with IFC and BCF. It also has an API so that you could use Python to interact. Unfortunately, its conversion workflow only works with IFC 2x3, not IFC 4.

Where can I find this? :-)

c4rlosdias

I think that with the open cde api project, the trend would be to prepare blenderbiim to communicate with existing systems through the open api.
https://github.com/buildingSMART/foundation-API

htlcnn

@Coen said:

@htlcnn said:
At the moment I would stick with OpenProject (BIM version) to deal with IFC and BCF. It also has an API so that you could use Python to interact. Unfortunately, its conversion workflow only works with IFC 2x3, not IFC 4.

Where can I find this? :-)

https://www.openproject.org/docs/installation-and-operations/installation/

Coen

@Moult

So it is actually already planned to create a daemon that lets the BlenderBIM Add-on communicate externally to other interfaces - and a web interface is especially important, not just for schedules, but for cost tables, drag and drop gantt charts, sheet management, and so on. So I guess it is on the roadmap but unfortunately nothing has been built yet. The underlying architecture (the newly architected data functions, for example) is designed for this.

We're two years later now, has there been any development? :-)

https://www.openproject.org/docs/installation-and-operations/installation/

Who or what is behind this? :-)