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First steps

Home

Bimble starts on Home: who you are (set in Settings → You), Open…, Import IFC…, and on the desktop the files you opened last, a click away, each with a small picture of how it looked when opened. The house button at the top left brings Home back; Back to the model leaves it.

Open a model

Open a file in one of these ways:

  • Open… on Home or in the top row, or File → Open…;
  • a recent file on Home;
  • drop a .ifc or .bimble file on the window;
  • from a terminal: bimble view model.ifc.

No model to hand? Make the demo frame (2 storeys, 3 × 2 bays, concrete):

bimble demo frame.bimble
bimble view frame.bimble

The status bar at the bottom shows the file, the number of elements and triangles, how long it took to load, and the graphics card in use.

Move around

Do To
Drag Orbit around the model
Right-drag, or Shift-drag Pan
Scroll Zoom
Click Select an element (its properties appear at the bottom left)
Double-click, or F Fit everything visible in the view
T Look from the top
O Switch between perspective and orthographic
Esc Clear the selection

Moving the mouse over an element highlights its edges, so you can see what a click will select.

The view cube

The cube at the top right shows which way you are looking.

  • Click a face (TOP, FRONT, RIGHT…) to look straight at the model from that side.
  • Click an edge to look from 45° between two faces.
  • Click a corner for an isometric view.
  • Drag the cube to orbit.

The ring around the cube is a compass. North is +Y of the model: the IFC "true north" isn't read yet.

The buttons under the cube:

  • Home returns to the default 3D view.
  • Fit all frames everything visible.
  • Fit sel. (when something is selected) frames the selection.
  • + and − zoom in and out.

The left panel

The left panel has two parts, one above the other (drag the line between them to share the height):

  • the model navigator at the top: the model's views, quantities, layouts, objects and links, then measurements and warnings;
  • the properties below: those of the selected element, or of the view when nothing is selected.

Views and reference plans explains the navigator and the views.

Show and hide

Under Visibility, in the view's properties, are the model's material families, IFC classes and storeys, with the number of elements in each. Untick one to hide those elements, tick it again to show them. What you hide is kept with the view: the plan of a storey can hide the footings while the 3D view shows everything.

The View tab switches Edges (E) and Hatching (H) on and off. Hatching is the pattern drawn on each material: concrete stipple, timber grain, and so on.

What next