BIM and CAD Modelling

Syncronia offers a service for the creation of BIM and CAD libraries for companies that manufacture products for architecture and design
We employ qualified BIM modeling technicians who know Revit perfectly and we manually develop all files to ensure the highest quality for our customers and users: we avoid imports, exports and automated steps which involve the risk of malfunctions of the models within the architectural projects of professionals.

BIM (Building Information Modeling) is gradually becoming the new standard for design and construction: making the objects and BIM libraries of your products available means obtaining the inclusion in projects and prescription of their products

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An overview of the BIM

What is BIM for? How does BIM design work? Why is it important to create BIM objects of your products? Better BIM or CAD? How much does it cost to have the BIM models of your products made? How does BIM facilitate the work of designers?

On this page we have collected the most frequently asked questions about BIM: the aim is to rattle off, in the simplest possible way, the main issues related to the world of BIM design, identifying why they are bim design and parametric modeling becoming more and more important

What is BIM?
What are BIM objects?

What does BIM mean?

The acronym BIM stands for Building Information Modeling, that is the information model of a building. The NIBS (National Institute of Building Science in Washington) defines BIM as the "digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of an object"

How a BIM object is displayed in Revit (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

What are BIM objects?

Bim objects are parametric models that contain both graphic information (e.g. colors, shapes, sizes) and technical information and specific characteristics of these objects (e.g. sound insulation, transmittance heat, energy consumption, etc.)

In practice, in the bim objects the graphic "design" of each product is accompanied by the information found in its technical data sheet and which are specific to that product

Parametric BIM modeling allows you to insert parameters into an object, i.e. different values, rules within which the object can vary : in the bim object of a sofa, for example, the fabric from which it is upholstered, the presence or absence of armrests, the number of seats ... etc.

As an example, the image displays a bim object of a radiant floor heating panel: a specific feature of BIM is that the Revit interface shows not only a graphic design but also information relating to that object.

Advantages of BIM design

What are the advantages of using BIM for companies? And for the designers? How does BIM make design smoother? How does BIM facilitate the interaction between designer and company?

Benefits for companies

Creating the BIM objects of corporate products is a new business opportunity.

As we will deepen in the following paragraphs, BIM (Building Information Modeling) is gradually becoming the new standard for design and construction in Italy and in the world. What now (2020) is an opportunity for the Italian market will soon become a necessity, as has already happened in all the more developed markets (first of all North America).

For a company, making the BIM objects and libraries of its products available means obtaining inclusion in projects and an automatic prescription of its products.

For a company, making the BIM objects and libraries of its products available means obtaining inclusion in projects and an automatic prescription of its products.

Why can companies producing materials for architecture and construction find new and different opportunities for developing their business in BIM?

Because BIM objects contain all the technical information useful for the prescription of their products; represent not only a "drawing", but a real technical sheet that becomes part of a project

Because through a correct configuration of your BIM objects it is often possible to provide the designer with a guide to the use and customization of the company's products

Because in the BIM objects it is possible to insert the commercial information useful to create a bridge connecting the designer and the company: for example the company website, the email references of those who can provide technical support to the use of a product, the telephone of the foreign office…

The production of BIM objects of materials for Architecture and Interior Design therefore represents a great commercial opportunity for manufacturing companies that will be the first to anticipate the market and a necessity sooner or later essential for all the others. Of course, the "sense of urgency" of creating BIM libraries varies according to the sector: it will be greater for companies that produce building materials or who export a lot, while it will be less for furniture manufacturers who mainly refer to Italian market

Advantages for designers

The advantages of BIM design for designers are many: BIM proves to be a winning methodology both for individual work and for relating the different interlocutors operating within the same project.

Surely the biggest advantage of BIM design lies in the fact that the models allow a good degree of flexibility: unlike CAD, in fact, BIM models are adjustable and modifiable within the parameters established. Thanks to the parameters included in the Revit families, the BIM models facilitate designers in the use of company products and constitute a sort of guide to the correct use and to the correct configuration and customization of the product, where possible.

BIM models can also contain commercial information and, through these, BIM also has the advantage of facilitating the architect, designer, engineer or surveyor in contacting the people of the reference company for a particular product.

Finally, a further advantage of BIM is given by the fact that in Revit it is possible to set different levels of detail in the visualization of an object within an architectural project, according to one's needs. As an example to describe this concept, the image below shows the BIM model of a door represented with two different degrees of detail: it is the same door, the same model with the same information, which is displayed on the left as a simple footprint while a right appears in a higher degree of detail

BIM model of a door displayed in two different degrees of detail (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

BIM vs CAD

QWhat are the differences between BIM and CAD? better BIM or CAD? It depends!

There are many differences between BIM and CAD; if the CAD is a graphic design, the BIM represents a more complete model that combines information and visual representation: each type of file has advantages and disadvantages compared to the use that must be made of it.

Image of a sauna module represented in CAD (left) and BIM (right) (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Differences between BIM and CAD
Advantages and disadvantages

For the choice of BIM vs CAD, we list below some of the main differences in the use of one or the other technique, useful for understanding which is the most suitable tool according to your needs:

Within a project, the CAD can only be "squeezed" and is deformed, while a BIM is controllable and modifiable within the established parameters. For example, the BIM model of a chair can have an adjustable height, it can have armrests or not, it can vary in the material;

CAD has only one degree of detail, while BIM has various degrees of detail within the same file: from the simple encumbrance to the defined object, the degree of detail is selectable by the designer at any time based on interest;

CAD makes it possible to obtain more realistic representations and, if necessary, photorealistic. This advantageous aspect of using cad is particularly evident in the case of objects with organic shapes or with many curves, which are more difficult to achieve with Revit since BIM works mainly with polygons and straight lines.

BIM may contain a configuration guide and use of a company's products; this allows dialogue with the company and guarantees the necessary flexibility in the use of the products. Another factor that favors the connection with the manufacturing company is the technical-commercial information that can be entered in the BIM models (e.g. the telephone of the foreign office, the website, email references of the commercial reference…)

Bim model of an armchair with curved lines displayed with the Revit interface (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

The importance of BIM libraries

As the spread of BIM is constantly growing all over the world, we create high quality BIM models for architecture and design companies, in collaboration with Autodesk, thanks to our BIM modeling technicians, experts in the use of Revit.

We have also dedicated an entire area of the site to parametric BIM models, available for free download by architects, interior designers, engineers and surveyors.

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In this way, designers can more easily find BIM files, with the guarantee that they are quality models, which do not compromise the functioning of the design software.

The importance of CAD libraries

Obviously, the attention to BIM does not make us forget the importance for the company of releasing CAD libraries. CAD is important because, unlike BIM, it allows you to provide more realistic rendering and photorealistic if necessary

In fact, we export the files in AutoCAD .DWG, 3D Studio Max .3DS and .MAX formats, in FBX interchange format.

We develop libraries linked to BIM Revit objects (RFA and RVT) and ADSKLIB libraries, a format that guarantees the advantage of being able to associate technical and commercial information to the BIM and CAD libraries.

We have dedicated an entire section of the Syncronia website to surfaces, in order to more easily provide designers with the CAD and BIM libraries of materials, surfaces, floors and walls.

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BIM as a new regulatory obligation
for public procurement

The use of BIM in Italy is regulated through the so-called BIM Decree (DM 560 of 1 December 2017), which establishes the times and methods for the progressive introduction of BIM in Italy and of electronic building modeling tools.

The BIM decree is also called the Baratono decree, from the name of Eng. Pietro Baratono, President of the Commission responsible for preparing the text.

The goal of introducing BIM in the construction sector is to rationalize the design and verification activities, while streamlining processes that affect the methods and timing of participation in tenders; for this reason, BIM innovation for the Public Administration represents an opportunity for growth for the sector, both in terms of productivity and in terms of containing the costs of design, construction and management of the work in its entire cycle of life.

BIM Decree - Baratono Decree

The BIM decree sets the dates for the introduction of BIM in tenders: the first obligation set concerns works with an amount equal to or greater than 100 million euros and requires the use of electronic modeling methods and tools starting from 1 January 2019 ; it then gradually sets the obligations for smaller amounts starting from the years following 2019.

BIM as a regulatory obligation, deadlines defined in the BIM decree:

  • - from 2019: mandatory BIM for works with an amount equal to or greater than 100 million euros;
  • - from 2020: mandatory BIM for works over € 50 million;
  • - from 2021: mandatory BIM for works over € 15 million;
  • - from 2022: mandatory BIM for works over € 5.2 million;
  • - from 2023: mandatory BIM for all works over 1 million euro;
  • - from 2025: mandatory BIM for all new works.

The BIM Decree also provides for the use of interoperable platforms by contracting stations by means of non-proprietary open formats, and the use of the data and information produced and shared among all the participants in the project, in the construction and the management of the intervention. The transparency guaranteed by the BIM decree for professionals and contracting authorities, therefore, will have a positive impact also in terms of containing corruption, as stated by Ing. Baratono.

BIM abroad

Also abroad, the spread of BIM is observed, faster in some countries (eg the United Kingdom and Scandinavian countries) and more gradual in others.

Building Information Modeling allows companies to collaborate to design and analyze building systems quickly and efficiently, reducing costs and adding value to their projects: the continuous diffusion of BIM is therefore essential to ensure a smooth cooperation also with interior of international building projects.

BIM Modelling
For the companies

How is bim modeling done by Syncronia? Why entrust the creation of your BIM libraries to Syncronia's BIM modellers?

Our philosophy in BIM modeling: to provide the best possible Revit file, in collaboration with Autodesk. In the interest of the manufacturer and its users, Syncronia hosts only the best Revit files.

Revit is the software developed by Autodesk that covers almost the entire world BIM market. This is why we have chosen to create BIM objects by creating native Revit parametric families: this guarantees the best possible file for Revit users.

We export the files in AutoCAD .DWG, 3D Studio Max .3DS and .MAX formats, in FBX interchange format

We employ highly skilled BIM design operators who know Revit perfectly and manually model all files to ensure the highest quality for our customers and users.

We avoid imports, exports and automated passages from one software to another: this entails the risk of malfunctions of the models within architectural projects.

We develop libraries linked to BIM Revit objects (RFA and RVT) and ADSKLIB libraries, a format that guarantees the advantage of being able to associate technical and commercial information to the BIM and CAD libraries.

Syncronia registered designers can find our customers' BIM libraries available for free download, being sure that the files provided are of high quality

Librerie BIM

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CAD libraries

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The files are made available in the following formats:
BIM Formats: RFA, IFC ADSKLIB
CAD Formats: DWG, FBX, DXF, MAT

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Cost of BIM moderation

How much does it cost to make a BIM model? The price of BIM is higher or lower than CAD Can I save on the implementation of BIM if I already have CAD files?

The cost of BIM modeling varies according to the type of object to be modeled and the level of detail (LOD, Level of Detail, defined in the design phase) to be obtained.

Image of BIM model made by Syncronia.
A seat with many curves and variations represents a difficult element to model in BIM.
(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Modeling is achieved through the use of straight lines and polygons and, therefore, the more an object is characterized by curved lines and organic shapes, the more difficult it will be to draw in BIM, requiring more hours of development. practical: it is much easier to make BIM models of a table or a prefabricated wall than BIM models of upholstered furniture, or armchairs with curved elements.

As for the BIM vs CAD comparison, the cost of BIM modeling is lower than that of CAD modeling because with BIM it is a question of creating more optimized models (i.e. simpler from an IT point of view) and, above all, parametric: if therefore I have more types of the same product, parametric BIM modeling allows me to set rules within which the object can vary, which allow me to automatically obtain different set-ups starting from the same model.

In practice, BIM modeling has a lower price than CAD modeling since the insertion of parameters allows to obtain n different models from a single object: this allows to express the range of company products with a fraction of cost compared to CAD.

Syncronia creates native Revit files since they are parametric files: from Revit it is then possible to export the models to CAD, with the advantage of being able to obtain multiple CAD formats from a single BIM model (while, conversely, it would not be possible to create a BIM starting from from the CAD!)

If I already have the CAD models of my products, will it cost me less to make the BIM models?
The existence or not of CAD models does not affect the price of a BIM model, if not in an extremely marginal way: as described in the previous paragraphs, BIM and CAD are very different tools, therefore it is not possible to start creating a BIM model from an existing CAD model.

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