ITcon Vol. 8, pg. 51-64, http://www.itcon.org/2003/5

Visualization of structural steel product models

submitted:July 2002
revised:January 2003
published:May 2003
editor(s):Kahkonen K
authors:Robert R. Lipman
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA
email: robert.lipman@nist.gov, http://cic.nist.gov/

Kent A. Reed
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA
email: kent.reed@nist.gov, http://cic.nist.gov/
summary:A visual interface has been developed to provide a means for users to visualize the steel structure represented by a CIMsteel Integration Standards Release 2 (CIS/2) file. A CIS/2 file provides for the electronic exchange of data directly between various steel CAD software applications. Using a web-accessible translator, objects in a user’s CIS/2 file are mapped to application-specific VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) nodes in an VRML file that can be interactively navigated in 3D using freely available VRML browsers. Salient features of the web-base user interface and application-specific VRML nodes related to CIS/2 are described with several examples. The interface has proved useful to both software application developers and end-users.
keywords:product models, steel construction, visualization, VRML, CIMsteel Integration Standards, CIS/2
full text: (PDF file, 0.887 MB)
citation:Lipman R, Reed K A (2003). Visualization of structural steel product models, ITcon Vol. 8, Special issue Virtual Reality Technology in Architecture and Construction, pg. 51-64, https://www.itcon.org/2003/5