SPbGASU has developed a set of two computer programs that allow you to transfer the TIM model to a virtual environment with the preservation of metadata. They received a certificate of state registration No. 2023612572 dated 06.02.2023.

The programs support domestic software for information modeling technologies (TIM), have wide functionality and low cost. The development was carried out as part of the SPbGASU innovative educational project "Innovative methodology for the formation of digital professional competencies of students and specialists in the construction industry".

Export Extensions Integration Concept (top) and TIM Information Storage Object Model (bottom)

– A variety of technologies are actively used in the architectural and construction industry. Increasingly, 3D printing is used in the construction of buildings, drones with laser scanning equipment are used during quality control of construction or when digitizing existing buildings. A complex architecture is not modeled manually, but using procedural generation methods. Another technology, not so well known in wide circles, but extremely important for the construction industry, is information modeling of buildings and structures. The TIM model includes information about the architectural and design features of the building, data on heating and ventilation systems, water supply and sewerage, electrics, and so on. It simplifies the joint work of specialists from different fields and allows you to quickly complete the most complex tasks,” said Yury Zgoda, an SPbGASU PhD student.

TIM modeling goes well with another technology - virtual reality (VR). Virtual reality allows using special glasses or a virtual reality helmet to "transfer" the user to a digital environment that can be filled with any objects of interest to him. In the case of the construction industry, these are buildings and structures, landscapes, and interiors. Virtual reality allows you to "walk" around the projected object and study in detail all its features, as if it had already been built and put into operation.

The new software package can be used to demonstrate building models to a wide range of people who are not familiar with drawings and technical documentation. It will be useful to specialists who need to conduct detailed inspections of a building or structure in the volume.

In addition, the complex can be effectively integrated into the educational process. Once students have modeled a building, they can immediately “walk” through it, study it in detail, compare their work in building information modeling software with what they just saw in the virtual environment, detect design errors and make appropriate corrections.

The complex includes a set of extensions for exporting information models of buildings and structures from Autodesk Revit and Renga software in a universal binary format. It allows you to extract all the information related to the TIM model from the software for TIM modeling, as well as a program for the automated creation of interactive VR visualizations of TIM models, which clearly demonstrates them using virtual reality.

The user can move around the designed building in a virtual environment, change the materials of building elements in real time, move the designed building through various virtual environments (urban environment, suburban environment, etc.), request detailed information on each element of the model, hide or display certain categories elements, simulate various weather phenomena.

The application has high performance and includes options for visual display of elements of heating and ventilation, water supply and sewerage: the program can visualize these elements through walls, ceilings and other building components. Thanks to this, the user in virtual reality simultaneously sees both the three-dimensional architecture of the building and how engineering networks are laid in it. This is the only solution for VR visualization of TIM models that supports domestic Renga building information modeling software, which makes this development effective as part of import substitution.

“Modern technologies are actively developing and opening up a number of new opportunities for the construction industry specialists. However, the technologies themselves cannot be "docked" with each other: this need appropriate tools. The described software package solves the problem of sharing two currently extremely common technologies: TIM-modeling and virtual reality. Thanks to its use, everyone can move their information models into a virtual environment in a few seconds and benefit from the use of each of these technologies,” Yury Zgoda is sure.