Have you ever wondered what is one of the most fundamental questions while learning a new skill? We bet: Where to start? Where can I expand my BIM knowledge? Where to look for information?
If you have no idea and you are just starting your adventure with BIM, this post is just for you! If you are already familiar with the basics… we recommend reading the article anyway. The places and ways to learn, we present here, will be useful for both beginners and practitioners of BIM technology.
Content
1. I want more BIM Knowledge! Where to start?
Start from… reading our previous articles. You will find out, for instance:
- As well as our series, among others, dedicated to the BIM coordinator’s work and BIM in infrastructure.
2. Interesting websites concerning BIM technology knowledge and learning materials
The Internet is the best place to learn new technologies. There is a lot of free online materials, program courses filled up with BIM knowledge and interesting facts from the AEC industry. Websites we visit and recommend:
- Autodesk University website with presentations and articles in .pdf and video formats
- BIMCollab — a tool for cooperation between designers on a project. On their website they offer a sample project which you can download and check for collisions.
- Revit basics from the Autodesk website available for free.
- Revit forums, where you can find answers to most of your software issues: Forums Autodesk, Revit forum and Revit City Forum.
- ArchiCAD basics for free.
- Solibri – well renown software for clash collision and Information Take-off. A pdf document with basics or a video series introducing the basics.
- Navisworks – software dedicated to clash collision and 4D visualisation of the construction site progress. Youtube series about basics and the product knowledge source from Autodesk.
- Tekla Resources site and Tutorials with many learning materials and articles for better understanding of the software.
- Statsbygg BIM Manual – Norwegian government’s key advisor in construction and property affairs, building commissioner, property manager and property developer. They set the BIM statndards that are followed by most of the designers in Norway.
- BuildingSMART website — an organization responsible for the quality of open standards.
- NBS softwarehouse website Their knowledge base contains a large number of interesting articles on BIM fundamentals and more.
- B1M YouTube channel – some time ago they switched from making materials only on BIM to general news and interesting facts in the construction industry, but their older videos provide a lot of valuable information
3. Conferences and workshops
Along with the popularization of BIM technology, an increasing number of conferences and workshops on the subject are organized. Some of them take place annually, others are a one-time meeting. We present below the most popular ones in Europe, with particular attention to the events taking place in Norway and Poland:
- BILT — one of the most significant conferences in the world of digital constructions. The global level of experts. The conferences are held annually in various cities in Europe, North America, Australia, and Asia. This year BILT Europe was organized in Edinburgh and one of the speakers was a member of BIM Corner – Krzysztof Wojsław
Autodesk University Conference – One of the biggest conferences, where you can meet mostly users of different Autodesk software. During several days of the event it is possible to participate in presentations, workshops, lectures and exchange experiences with both workers of Autodesk and users of its software.
In 2019 conferences were organized in the USA, Great Britain, India, China, Russia, Japan, Germany and in the Middle East. The presentations are recorded during the event and are available on the conference’s site.
- Bridge to BIM Trimble Digital Construction Summit — held this year in Copenhagen. The conference is intended primarily for users of Trimble software (Tekla, Novapoint, Trimble Connect, etc.). Many technological novelties, including this year’s release of Mixed Reality device – Hololens 2. Janusz Majcher and Marcin Pszczółka were there this year.
- BIM World — major European conferences held in spring in Paris and autumn in Munich. Another member of BIM Corner, Konrad Fugas, will participate in the event this year and we are already waiting for his report and impressions from the presented level.
- Den Kloke Teknologi — one of the most interesting conferences in Oslo, Norway. The threshold of BIM technology in Norway means that the topics discussed are inspiring and often innovative.
- Projektowanie Przyszłości (Designing the Future) — a conference held every year in Cracow. High level of the speakers, a great number of speeches of international guests. The aforementioned member of BIM Corner, Krzysztof Wojsław, had his appearance at the conference this year.
4. BIM online communities and local BIM groups
There are varieties of BIM communities. Below we recommend only those we checked ourselves – whether by a membership or by using their resources. However, the list does not include all existing groups – we advise you to look for one that interests you and allows you to develop your knowledge.
- BIM Community — an international social network, which associates employees of the AEC area. The website provides many case studies, tutorials, and tips.
- BIMfag — Norwegian association, which gathers engineers working daily with BIM technology in this country. They organize meetings with presentations on BIM and additional training courses in the field. Membership in the group costs 400 NOK per year, giving free participation in events and discounts on training.
- The LinkedIn portal provides a wide range of BIM groups. One of the biggest is BIM Experts.
- BIM in Practice — we are also working on creating a group under the patronage of BIM Corner. The group is only just beginning (as of 11.2019), therefore at the moment, there is not much information there. But since we are getting started, we invite you to join us!
For those interested — Norwegian groups on Facebook:
- BIM-nettverk — an informal group meeting from time to time for lectures related to BIM technology. Membership and participation in the meetings is completely free.
5. Literature
BIM is relatively new, rapidly changing and developing technology, thus it is difficult to recommend a book conveying practical information and at the same time being “on time”. An interesting position on the market is:
- BIM manager, Mark Baldwin – published in 2019, therefore presents a very fresh look at the world of BIM technology.
- Integrating Project Delivery, Martin Fischer, Howard W. Ashcraft, Dean Reed and Atul Khanzode. – The book dedicated to IPD, which stands for Integrating Project Delivery. The idea of IPD is to include BIM and VDC (Virtual Design and Construction) in the process of project execution. This in order to integrate different stakeholders – so that the work can go in a more efficient way. In the book, apart from the theory, there are presented case studies of projects executed according to the IPD’s principle.
6. Sign up for our newsletter!
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7. Try…and make mistakes
The most effective way to learn something new is to practice! Don’t be afraid that you will make mistakes at the beginning or that working with a new program takes a lot more time than with the old one – we can assure you that we have made quite a lot of mistakes ourselves and also learned BIM from scratch. We encourage you to try it yourself and find what suits your needs and requirements!
