BIM and the Mona Lisa

Call yourself a BIM practitioner? When did you last use a 3dimensional text or a space label within your model?

For me, presence of any type of 3D text within the digital building model implies the creator has reached a ‘certain’ level of understanding when it comes to BIM.

A totally non-scientific measuring tool, it has proven to be quite accurate on the long run, when I try to filter out those that ‘get it’ from those that hardly ever will.

There are many that argue to the contrary, promote clean models where all-in built data is accessible through properties, look at 3D text as adding impurity to the project, dumb distractions even.

This line of thought may also be the reason for tools designed to create and manipulate 3D text within BIM modelling applications tend to be largely undeveloped, if present at all.

This is, I think very unfortunate.

3D text should be alongside 3D grids, level (storey) markers (also 3D) and ‘real’ North points at the top of any modeller’s priority list.

If I was good at application development, I’d also make the text dynamic, able to align itself ‘on the go’ with the camera’s or observer’s view.

A bit like in historic paintings – some very famous, that depict portraits of people whose eyes seem to follow the viewer.

That would be cool.