Tutorial 05

Chair of Intelligent Technical Design desiteMD

Tutorial 05
desiteMD

1. Introduction
Before you start the tutorial, please note the following. To process this tutorial you will need the software
desiteMD. The software is preinstalled on the computers in the pool rooms.

In addition, you have the option to install the software on your personal computer. For this you need a license key
desiteMD_License.txt, which we deposit for download. If you work from your own computer. Download the latest
DesiteMD Pro version from Moodle.

2. Download and installation of desiteMD

Optional on your private computer. Download the software and the license key (.txt file) from the Moodle server
and run the installation on your personal computer if you want to use the software for your project work at home.

3. Language settings
desiteMD has an English language pack that you can activate at the start of the application.

Start desiteMD via the Windows start menu > ceapoint > DESITE MD and keep the SHIFT key pressed during the
start process of desiteMD. The following dialog should open. Alternatively you can open Desite MD and klick on
the i-icon in the upper right corner, next you click on Konfiguration.

Next, you select Spracheinstellungen (language settings) and set the Sprache (language) to English and press
Speichern (save), then Schließen (close). Next time you open desiteMD, it should start in English.

Figure 1: Language Settings

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4. Prepare the model

This chapter describes how to prepare the model for an export to ifc and for the 4D modelling in
Desite. If you would like to skip it, please download the Solution.ifc from Moodle and continue right
away with chapter 5.

Figure 2: IFC-Model

Download the solution from the first tutorial from Moodle and open a copy of it in Autodesk Revit.

a. Building components
Our building model consists of building components that belong either to the building shell (exterior, load-bearing)
or to the building finishes (interior, non-load-bearing).

▪ Foundations (shell)
▪ Columns (shell)
▪ Beams (shell)
▪ Floors and slabs (shell)
▪ Exterior walls (shell)
▪ Stairs (shell)
▪ Interior walls (finishes)
▪ Curtain walls/panels (finishes)
▪ Windows (finishes)
▪ Doors (finishes)
▪ Railings (finishes)

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b. Room occupancy
In order to create a colour scheme that visualises the rooms with regard to their occupancy category, we need to
set the Occupancy properties of the rooms using Revit.

Figure 3: Select Room -> Property Occupancy

Open the Project Browser > in Floor Plans > double-click Level 1.

Select Room 1 as depicted above.

Use the Properties view to adjust the parameter Occupancy to Facilities.

Repeat this step and set the Occupancy property for all remaining rooms as listed below.

▪ Level 1 – Room 1: Facilities

▪ Level 1 – Room 2: Open space
▪ Level 2 – Room 3: Facilities
▪ Level 2 – Rooms 4-7: Office
▪ Level 2 – Room 8: Open space

c. Project parameters
In order to support the 4D BIM animation, we want to define to what group
of construction activities particular building components belong. For this
purpose we add the new, so-called Project Parameter ActivityGroup to our
model.

Click the Manage tab > in the Settings panel > click the Project Parameters
button.

The window Project Parameters will open as depicted on the left.

Remove all existing parameters and click the Add button

Figure 4: Project Parameters

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Figure 5: Parameter Properties

The window Parameter Properties will open as depicted above.

Select Project parameter in the group Parameter Type.

In the group Parameter Data. Type in the field Name: ActivityGroup and check Instance, because the parameter
value will be different per instance, not type). Discipline: Common. Type of Parameter: Text. Group parameter
under: Phasing.

In the Categories group. In the Filter list select Architecture and click the Check All button.

Click the OK button.

The new Project parameter ActivityGroup appears in the Project Parameters list. Click the OK button.

Next, we assign parameter values in the form of

ComponentType_Level (e.g. Columns_L1) to the corresponding
building components. The easiest way to do this is to use the
Filter functionality.

Open the Project Browser > in 3D Views > double-click {3D}.

Filter the Structural Foundations.

Use the Properties view to add Foundations_L1 to the new ActivityGroup parameter as depicted on the right.

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Repeat the steps above and assign the following values to the corresponding building components.

▪ Floors_L1, Floors_L2, Floors_L3 (filter: Floors)

▪ Columns_L1, Columns_L2 (filter: Structural Columns)
▪ Beams_L1, Beams_L2 (filter: Structural Framing (Girder))
▪ ExtWalls_L1, ExtWalls_L2 (filter: Walls)
▪ IntWalls_L1, Int_Walls_L2 (filter: Walls)
▪ CurtainWalls_L1 (filter: Curtain Panels, Walls)

Figure 6: External Walls – Level 1 (filter: walls) Figure 7: External Walls – Level 2

Figure 8: Interior Walls - Level 1 Figure 9: Interior Walls - Level 2

Figure 10: Curtain Wall – fixed distance Figure 11: Curtain wall - fixed number

Optional. You can adjust the panels to an equal length as depicted above. Select one Curtain Wall element >
click Edit Type > in the Vertical Grid group > adjust Layout to Fixed Number.

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▪ Stairs_L2 (filter: Stairs)

▪ Windows_L1, Windows_L2 (filter: Windows)
▪ Doors_L1, Doors_L2 (filter: Doors)
▪ Railings_L1, Railings_L2 (filter: Railings)

d. Export the model

Now, the model is ready to be exported and used in desiteMD. We export the model into an IFC (Industry
Foundation Classes) file. IFC is an open, standardized data format for building information models.

Click the File tab > expand the Export button > click the IFC button.

A new window will open.

Type File name: Project5_2023.ifc in the suggested folder.

Click the Modify setup … button in Current selected setup: <In-Session Setup>.

Figure 12: Export IFC

A new window will open.

In the General tab adopt the following configuration.

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Figure 13: Modify Setup - General

In the Property Sets tab adopt the following configuration and click the OK button.

Click the Export button.

Figure 14: Modify Setup - Property Setup

e. Error-Handling
Open the Windows Explorer, go to the location of Project5_2023.ifc and check the file size.

If the file size is less than 1 MB, you will need to adjust your IFC export options because not all building components
could be exported. Reason: The IFC export options in Revit cause problems in a multilingual environment.

In Revit: Click the File tab > expand the Export button > expand the Options button > click the IFC Options button.

A new window will open.

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Click the Standard button as depicted below. Revit will create a new exportlayers-ifc-IAI.txt file. Click the OK button.

Now, you can restart the IFC export. Then, check the file size again.

Figure 15: IFC Export Options

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5. Import the model to desiteMD

In order to import our 3D building model, we need to add the file Project5_2021.ifc to the project.

Figure 16: Imported Model in Desite

Start desiteMD.

Open the Application Menu (left upper corner) and

click Add Document / 3D-Model / Time Schedule.

Select the ifc-file from your file system.

The window Import IFC file will open. Click the Open button without
any changes.

The building model appears on the canvas.

Click the BUILDING tab > in the Structure panel > click the Project
button to open the Project Structure view.

Once we have imported our 3D model we need to save the project,

preferably in a separate folder.

Open the Application Menu and click Save Project.

Create a new folder desiteMD Tutorial and save the project as

Tutorial.pfs.

Figure 17: Application Menu

At the moment the project structure is quite flat. The building components are simply ordered by floor level as
depicted below left.

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Figure 18: Project Structure Figure 19: Configure Columns

In order to adjust the project structure for the purpose of our 4D animation, we want to make use of the Selection
Set feature of desiteMD, which allows to create an own project structure based on components properties
(attributes).

Right-click on the area marked dashed blue as depicted above right and click Configure Columns.

A dialog will open that lists all available project properties (left) and visible properties (right). In order to display
the defined project parameter ActivityGroup, we use the property filter functionality.

Figure 20: Configure Columns Window

Type Activ in the Available Properties search field as depicted below.

Check Visible of the property Phasing:ActivityGroup as depicted below.

The property appears under Visible Properties on the right.

Click the Close button.

Now, the property ActivityGroup is displayed as a column in the Project Structure View.

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Figure 21: Project Structure - Activity Group

Based on visible properties, we can now create a new Smart- and Selection Set.

Click the Create Smart- and Selection Sets from Properties button.

Figure 22: Create Smart and Selections Sets Window Figure 23: Selection Sets Window

Check Phasing:ActivityGroup [xs:string] and click the Create button.

The Selection Set view opens automatically. If not follow the procedure below.

Click the BUILDING tab > in the Structure panel > click the Selection Sets button.

The Selection Set view will open as depicted above.

The category/group (empty) (8) contains our 8 room objects that do not have the project parameter AcivityGroup
associated. In order to set them invisible (for now), we right-click on this group and select Hide Objects.

Right-click on (empty) (8) > click Hide Objects, Include Contained Items [-] as depicted below.

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Right-click on (empty) (8) > click Remove Selected Treeview Items [CTRL Del] as depicted below.

Confirm with Yes and close the window Selection Sets.

6. Create the schedule

Now, we want to create our schedule in desiteMD. Alternatively, desiteMD supports the import of MS Project files
(*.mpp).

Click the ACTIVITIES tab > in the Activities panel > click the Activities button.

The Activities view will open.

Click the plus button in the lower left corner to Create Time Schedule as depicted below.

Figure 24: Add Time Schedule

desiteMD will add a new time schedule as depicted below. Optionally, double-click newTaskModel to change the
name.

Figure 25: New time schedule

Click the plus button in the lower left corner to Add New Task.

Please note that the parent node must be selected, otherwise an error

message appears with the corresponding note.

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Figure 26: New Task

Rename 1.1 newTask to 1.1 Shell by double-clicking the name.

Select the node 1.1 Shell and add a new task.

Rename 1.1.1 newTask to 1.1.1 Foundations_L1 as depicted below.

Figure 27: Renamed Tasks

We want to add two more columns to the Activities view to assign start and finish dates to each task.

Figure 28: Configure Columns

Click the Configure Columns button twice.

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Figure 29: Make Parameters visible

A new window will open.

Check the Visible button of the properties Start and Finish as depicted above.

Click the Close button.

In the Activities view, the new columns Start and Finish are now displayed as depicted below.

Figure 30: Start and Finish Columns

Type the Start (08.05.2019) and Finish (14.05.2019) date by double-clicking the corresponding field as depicted
above.

Parent nodes, such as Shell, are calculated automatically. You do not have to enter any values here.

In order to be able to complete the scheduling, the task dependencies still have to be defined. For this we want to
add another column to the Activities view.

Add the column Predecessors to the Activities view as depicted below.

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Figure 31: Predecessor Columns

There are different task dependencies. The default type is the Finish-to-Start (FS) type, after which an task begins
only after the predecessor completes. Example: You can not install the Floors_L2 until the ExtWalls_L1 of the lower
level are up.

Other types of task dependencies are the Start-to-Start (SS), the Finish-to-Finish (FF) and the Start-to-Finish (SF)
type.

Start-to-Start (SS) The task can only begin after the predecessor has started.

Finish-to-Finish (FF) The task can only be completed after the predecessor has finished.

Start-to-Finish (SF) The task can not be completed until the predecessor has started.

Once you have tried out those functions, you can import the final schedule from Moodle (Schedule.tsxml) by
adding it the same way you added the IFC file.

Figure 32: Imported Time Schedule

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7. Linking the model with the schedule

Once we have loaded the 3D model and created the schedule, we are able to link them in order to create a 4D
construction animation.

In the Selection Sets view right-click Foundations_L1 (16) > click Isolate Objects, Include Contained Items [#] as
depicted below.

Click the NAVIGATION tab > in the Selection panel > click the Select Visible

(Geometric Objects) button. The foundations are now highlighted in yellow as depicted below.

In the Activities view right-click Foundations_L1 > click + Add SELECTED Objects to Tasks as depicted below.

The object count ( » 16) is displayed in the Activities view as depicted below.

Figure 33: Show Foundations only Figure 34: Select Foundations only

Figure 35: Objects Count

Click the NAVIGATION tab > in the Selection panel > click the Clear Selection button.

Click the NAVIGATION tab > in the Visibility panel > click the Show All button.

Subsequently, we repeat the procedure above in order to link all remaining building components with our
scheduling tasks.

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8. Playing the 4D animation

Once we have linked all building components with the corresponding scheduling tasks, we can run the 4D
animation.

In the Activities view > click the Simulation button.

In the Animation control > click the Play button as depicted below.

Figure 36: Animation Control

You can adjust the speed of the animation (default = 1,000 d).

Figure 37: Building Animation

9. Creating colour schemes

We would like to create a colour scheme that visualizes the rooms of the building with regard to their occupancy.
First, we create a new Selection Set in order to re-structure the project.

Figure 38: Configure Columns Button

Click the Configure Columns button twice in the Project Structure view as depicted above.

A new window will open.

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Figure 39: Remove ActivityGroup

Remove Phasing:ActivityGroup from the Visible Properties list as depicted above.

Figure 40: Add Occupancy

Type occu in the search field and check the visibility of Identity Data:Occupancy as depicted above.

Identity Data:Occupancy will appear in the Visible Properties list.

Click the Close button.

Click the Create Smart- and Selection Sets from Properties

button.

Check Identity Data:Occupancy [xs:string] and click the

Create button as depicted above.

Figure 41: Create Selection Sets

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Figure 42: Selection Sets

Identity Data:Occupancy appears in the Selection Sets view as depicted above.

Expand Identity Data:Occupancy in the Selection Sets view and right-click the empty folder.

Click the Remove Selected Treeview Items [CTRL Del] button as depicted below.

Confirm with Yes to delete items.

Right-click the Identity Data:Occupancy folder in the Selection Sets view.

Click the Isolate Objects, Include Contained Items [#] button as depicted below.

Figure 43: 3D View

A colour scheme can be applied on any selection set. The colours differ regarding the values of the properties. In
order to generate a colour schema for the occupancy of our rooms, we need to select the corresponding selection
set Identity Data:Occupancy and apply a colour schema. If you experience any problem during the next step, save
your project, close it and open it again.

Select Identity Data:Occupancy in the Selection Sets view.

Click the Selection Sets Tools button.

Click the Create Color Scheme button.

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Figure 44: Room Occupancy

To reset the appearance of all model objects execute the following steps.

Click the VIEW tab > in the Materials / Visualisation panel > click the Reset button.

Click the NAVIGATION tab > in the Visibility panel > click the Show All button.

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