Manufacturer BIM families

[polyporter]

I've looked throught the various posts regarding which manufacturers have BIM models. Since our firm is trying to use accurate models from manufacturers if at all possible to limit the time needed to create from scratch I've been downloading what I can find. Maybe this is something that the AUGI forums should include under Revit:

A complete listing of all manufacturers that have developed BIM models, where you can access these models, and maybe a rating of their content.

If any of you have already started to download manufacturer content that you feel is beneficial, add to the list.

For the sake of this post list websites and manufacturers that you have downloaded.

I have already checked into the following websites, some have great libraries of manufacturer families:

www.revitcity.com (hit and miss)
www.seek.autodesk.com
www.caddetails.com
www.revit-content.com (not manufacturer specific but good looking models)

[Scott D Davis]

the SEEK address does not need the WWW in front. Just seek.autodesk.com

This can also be accessed from within Revit and AutoCAD under the Insert Tab.

[TerribleTim]

So far, those first two on your list have been my go-to places. Maybe I'll start looking at the other two. Thanks for starting the list. :beer:

[billatarcat]

Hi Everyone,

I have another site to add: www.arcat.com

We have over 90 manufacturers with over 1200 families and systems representing an amazing array of products. And it grows every day. We also have over 400 generic objects as well.

Oh, FYI - we have a poll on our site for "objects you need". We monitor this poll and create content that users need.

Thanks,
Bill

[christo4robin]

Also check these...

http://smartbim.reedconstructiondata.com/ObjectFinder.aspx#area=2
http://www.turbosquid.com/Revit
http://construction.com/BIM/

[gwnelson]

I'm sorry to add negativity here but SEEK is a futile waste of productivity. A search of SEEK will confirm similar input from lots of others.

[ron.sanpedro]

I'm sorry to add negativity here but SEEK is a futile waste of productivity. A search of SEEK will confirm similar input from lots of others.

Indeed, seek just makes it easy to find lots of mediocre to bad content. Autodesk has done nothing to ensure the quality of that content. I still think the safest answer is to review everything you get online, and spend time making it work for you. To think that all your content needs can be met online, for free, at a high level of quality, is just not reasonable. And the SmartBim stuff isn't any better. I found a locker with the vents modeled, including the curves, and with no effort to work with the Level of Detail idiom. Place that a few hundred times and see what it does to your model. Just nuts.

Gordon

[Scott D Davis]

Autodesk has done nothing to ensure the quality of that content.

Totally and completely not true. Look for the BIM Style Guide at the lower right corner of this link.

http://seek.autodesk.com/manufacturer.htm

[polyporter]

Hi Everyone,

I have another site to add: www.arcat.com

We have over 90 manufacturers with over 1200 families and systems representing an amazing array of products. And it grows every day. We also have over 400 generic objects as well.

Oh, FYI - we have a poll on our site for "objects you need". We monitor this poll and create content that users need.

Thanks,
Bill

Ya forgot to add that one to my list. I've got a few models off that site.

[ron.sanpedro]

Totally and completely not true. Look for the BIM Style Guide at the lower right corner of this link.

http://seek.autodesk.com/manufacturer.htm

Yes, the Style Guide has been published, and yes it is useful. However, there is no guarantee made that content found on SEEK will in fact follow that guide, and in my experience the vast majority does not. So it is still downloader beware.
If Autodesk required that all content on seek follow the guide, and then did some QC to ensure that was true, I would be a fan. Until then, folks should not expect a download (from any source, but especially the free ones) to work flawlessly, and should plan to spend a little time validating and possibly revising that content.

Gordon

[Scott D Davis]

If Autodesk required that all content on seek follow the guide, and then did some QC to ensure that was true, I would be a fan.

and that is exactly what we are in process of.

[ron.sanpedro]

and that is exactly what we are in process of.

Scott, glad to hear it. I look forward to the day when I can go to SEEK and get content that consistently meets a standard, any standard. Hopefully there is some system to flag that content that does meet some quality criteria, while probably leaving the rest available but flagged as non-complying? Perhaps Autodesk could discuss their thoughts on the topic, estimated timeline, etc? It is a free service, so maybe there is an opportunity for more dialog here?

Gordon

[nancy.mcclure]

Quite simply put, there is no pleasing all of the people, all of the time.
Based upon my personal interaction with content providers, the issues are these:

a) Users want more content, pronto.
b) Manufacturers WANT to provide it, pronto. To do so, they look towards leveraging existing 3D content, rather than fully recreate it. As end users may or may not want THAT particular detail/aspect, they default to leaving it all available - hence, large file to an internal standard.
c) Guidelines are helpful and some are trying to comply, but circumvents issue a) and adds complexity/overhead/time to b)

As a profession in conjunction with various industries, we're getting there, but I still recommend evaluating the relevance* of downloaded content REGARDLESS of the source.

I would much rather GET a file knowing I will need to tweak it to my own end goals, than not get it at all.

*Relevance being subjective to quantity to be used in the model and file size impact as well as what detail is required for intended documentation. (It's also nice to have vector details available along with 3D content, so end users can choose to simplify geometry and supplement with detail components as needed.)

[wmullett]

Scott, glad to hear it. I look forward to the day when I can go to SEEK and get content that consistently meets a standard, any standard.

Gordon

Aw come on, you can't really be asking AutoDESK to police the content made by manufacturers? This is not AutoDESK's responsibility but it is ours. We all need to contact manufacturers when we see poor Revit content and either we don't use their products or just threaten not to. The market can correct this problem.