That’s OK. Everybody gets stuck sometimes. Just shoot me an email.

support@go-bim.com

Or leave a comment on the feedback page.

So, I was hoping to be further along with the COLLADA implementation, but it turns out I have to rework some of the model-loading code, for reasons having to do with XML deserialization on the iPhone (go figure). This will take about a day, but once it’s done I’ll have a nice tight spec for my meshes, and goBIM users will have extended functionality for creating goBIM files from apps like SketchUp. You might be wondering how I’m going to store element data if COLLADA only stores the meshes. For that, I’m going to have a third XML file that just has the element data in it. So, if you’re exporting a model from an application that has associated data (i.e. Revit), the parameter file, the thumbnail, and the COLLADA file will all be zipped up together in the new .gbz file format. Any combination of those three things will work as well. So if you have a mesh with no data file (i.e. Sketchup) or a mesh and a data file but no thumbnail, goBIM will should still be able to load your model.

I haven’t posted in a while because I’ve been up to my neck in the un-fun side of programming goBIM. For the next version I’ve been seriously reorganizing the UI code, and the code for loading models both locally and remotely. I’m happy to say that my work is finally paying off and I’ve started to hook all this stuff up. You can see a very preliminary screen shot below. I realized that it was difficult to remember addresses of goBIM models on servers, so the next version will have not only the ability to load models to the device through iTunes, but also the ability to save the files that you download on the device. The goBIM file will now have a thumbnail image bundled with it which will display in the loading menu so you can quickly find the model you’re looking for.

Several users have complained that while navigating models in goBIM they wander away from their model and can never find their way back. In the latest version of goBIM there is a solution for this. Tap once with three fingers. The three-fingered touch returns you to the center of the model. The next version makes getting lost a little bit harder to do because it uses a typical arcball-like rotation where a selected object becomes the center of rotation and you use pinching to zoom and pan as opposed to the “virtual thumbsticks”. Maybe I’ll keep the current view mode as “walk” mode but the predominant view mode will be much more akin to your typical 3D app.

I’ve been alerted by two users to goBIM Revit’s inability to play nicely on machines with more than one version of Revit installed. For instance, if you have Revit 2010 and Revit 2011 installed, goBIM will work in one and not the other. This is due to the fact that the goBIM .dlls are called the same thing, and get installed to the same location, but are actually quite different.  So whichever version you install last, overwrites the previous .dlls, and messes up the first version that you installed.

This is obviously unacceptable behavior. The short term fix is to install goBIM for whatever platform you need to export from, by swapping in the correct set of .dlls, exporting, then if need be, swapping the .dlls for the other version back. I will be publishing a new version of the Revit exporter soon that fixes this problem.

As always, if you’re stuck, please email me at support@go-bim.com.

UPDATE:

This has been fixed. Please follow the revised instructions on the Instructions page for installing goBIM for Revit 2010 and 2011.

First gen and 3G users rejoice! Version 1.2.1, now in the app store, fixes goBIM on your devices. Sorry about the delay. If you haven’t done so already, please update your goBIM app. And let me know if you have problems.

I’m developing COLLADA support for the goBIM API. COLLADA is an XML schema for sharing digital assets. Google Earth and Google Sketchup both have native support for COLLADA files. This means, that when I’m done writing the COLLADA reader, you’ll be able to open models from Google Earth or Sketchup with goBIM. You’ll also be able to export from Revit to Sketchup or Google Earth. There are already addins for that though, so it’s just a nice bonus. The aspects of the goBIM API pertaining to writing COLLADA are ready (you can see a test here with my blocks in Central Park), but the COLLADA reader needs work.

Tonight, I’ve updated the goBIM API Example to be in line with goBIM 1.2. I’ve also taken the opportunity to use the example project to do some stress testing.Here’s a grid of boxes totaling 40,500 faces with 15 randomly applied materials. Now, this might look like a lot, but it’s nothing compared to the models that some goBIM users have been trying to load. A small architectural model of an entire building might have several hundred thousand faces.

I’ve just sent a an update to the app store for approval. This will be version 1.2.1. It fixes the crash problem on first generation and 3G devices, and removes the local model storage which was, in rare cases, causing a crash loop.

I’d love to leave the local model storage in there, because it makes things load up faster, but I’ve found that even with rules-of-thumb for file sizes it is difficult to predict how large a model will be when uncompressed. For instance, a model with lots of geometry and few materials, will actually be smaller, in terms of RAM consumption, than a model with a little geometry and lots of materials. This meant that, in some instances, the file size limit imposed in the code would not catch these specifics and would cache a model that would crash the device. When you’d restart the app, it would try to reload the same model, and it would crash again, and again, and again…

If you’re having this problem right now, sync your device to iTunes, then delete the app from your phone. It will warn you that deleting the app will delete all of its data. Say yes. Then resync with iTunes to reload the app.

Please stay tuned for the 1.2.1 update.

It has come to my attention that goBIM is crashing first gen iPhones. This is due to some late stage additions of asetts for the app that leave it well within the memory comfort zone of 3Gs and iPad devices, but push it over the Apple-allowed memory limits for first gen devices. If you are being affected by this, please email support@go-bim.com.

There was a problem with the Revit 2010 exporter which was dropping elements that were not Family Instances. This was due to some last minute code additions for the release of goBIM 1.2. This has been resolved.

The Revit 2011 exporter is now ready for download. This could still be a bit buggy because they made some serious changes to the Revit API for 2011, which meant a re-jiggering of a lot of code. It has worked well on the test models, but as always, if you have problems, email me at support@go-bim.com.

You can get both of these updates on the downloads page.