Bonsai in general ....
I do not really get how Bonsai and IfcOpenShell relate to each other.
Like who builds the BIM Modeling Tools, are these already part of the IfcOpenShell Toolkit and Bonsai doing the port to Blender ?
And another question, why do FOSS projects use GitHub .... and not GitLab instead ?
As Github is Microsoft, I still do not feel comfortable to create an account (needed for filing Bugs)
Comments
Well, I personally believe because it's the accepted standard, though the Microsoft acquisition and recent AI shenanigans have really struck a nerve recently... It is what it is.
My understanding:
IfcOpenShell is a library used by a collection of Ifc* commands to parse, create and edit ifc files. If you can program you can write your own standalone tools to do things in your own workflow.
Bonsai allows non-programmers to use this library, and grafts it in to Blender to provide the UI and tools for editing your ifc files.
GitHub vs. GitLab:
It's inertia. Developers usually don't want to spend lots of time on boring infrastructure. Bonsai (nee BlenderBIM) have been on GitHub a long time. It would be a lot of work to move. The time cost outweighs the ideological benefit of moving away from a platform bought out by Microsoft.
Thanks for explaining.
So what I can see and make use of Bonsai inside Blender as a user, is nearly 100% Bonsai.
Makes Bonsai's amount of available modeling tools and that you can already create a BIM project from start to finish even more impressing.
And for Github, even if you start a complete new project from scratch, you could not easily switch the platform because your dependency projects, like IfcOpenShell in this case, are already on Github. Or could these platform collaborate ?
Sort of...? I've snooped around chunks of the code, so this may not be a perfect explanation, but...
Simple block diagram:
IfcOpenShell and Blender are not connected directly, but Bonsai makes heavy use of IfcOpenShell, so you are using it too when you are using Bonsai. The Bonsai specific UI stuff is still from Blender. Bonsai is just making use of the Blender API to in effect ask Blender to create the UI.
Bonsai also keeps the object you see in Blender, and the elements in IfcOpenShell aligned. i.e. I make a change in Blender, and Bonsai ensures that gets duplicated on the in memory model in IfcOpenShell. Or, if I open an .ifc file, all those elements need objects in Blender to represent them - Bonsai does this. Does that make sense?
IfcOpenShell and GitHub are part of the same project and repository on GitHub. All the code to create IfcOpenShell is included when you download the Bonsai repository. Could it be migrated elsewhere? Probably. But again, it is more down to time and effort.
Yes, that makes sense.
I meant/think a user does not see or care much about the IfcOpenShell roots under Bonsai. And yes, Bonsai heavily uses Blenders GUI, Geometry, .... like other AddOns do. But if I got that right, things like e.g. the Wall Tool has to be designed by Bonsai, not part of IfcOpenShell. Not sure about things like generated drawings, which is mentioned by IfcOpenShell.
My question about Github was no critique, I just wondered and wanted to know why. I do not ask Bonsai to switch their platform :)
BTW,
was BlenderBIM or Bonsai ever part of a Blender Conference ?
Yes, the Wall Tool is in Bonsai. All that UI and calls to create the object you see in Blender is done by Bonsai. As well, Bonsai also creates the necessary elements in IfcOpenShell's model using API calls. It's an impressive feat of juggling. ;-)
I recall someone presented at last years BCON... Yup. here it is:
Not specifically about Bonsai, but it gets a big shout-out around 14 mins.
and this year get a positive nod in this video about Architectural Visualisation
This year I start watching the BCON videos from the beginning (as I watch them ALL over time anyway), so I have not yet reached the Arch/viz related ones (beside Lech's as it was posted here already ?).
@sjb007 I watched that video, but somehow somehow I already forgot about the Bonsai part :)
I thought to remember there had been a very old BlenderBIM presentation but that may have been on some Linux or OSS conference or other architects with plain Blender ....