Architectural Flashing Supply
Start a Quote
BIM objects, metadata and model coordination · Lesson 1 of 4

BIM objects, metadata and model coordination: principles and terminology

What a building model element is, how type and instance data, property sets, metadata and classification describe it, what AFS reads from a model file, and why model data never replaces a check before fabrication.

You will be able to: Name what a BIM object is, separate its geometry from its information, and say what a fabricator can and cannot expect to find in a model of a flashing.

10 min · 10 slides · 8 questions

All lessons in this module
Slide 1 of 10

What a building model holds

A building information model presents a project as three-dimensional elements, such as doors and beams, that can also be associated with information about their other characteristics.

So a coping in a model is more than a shape: it can carry a material, a finish and a length, if the model author entered them.

A coping in a model, and what it carriesThree panels. Top: a section of a parapet capped by a red coping over a charcoal-outlined wall on a roof, with letters A coping, B parapet wall, C roof, D a dashed cleat that may not be modeled, E quantity data (length 56693 mm, width 305 mm) and F the property set AFS_Flashing with Material and Color. Middle: the six FlashDraft coping templates in red: 1 both edges open, 2 both edges closed, 3 one open and one closed, 4 coping with one kick and the kick edge open, 5 one kick with the kick edge closed, 6 the underplate with no hems. Bottom: four chips, file, element, property set, value.A coping in a model, and what it carriesABCDSection, not to scaleELength 56693 mmWidth 305 mmFAFS_Flashing:Material, ColorD is dashed: ask whether it is in the model.The six FlashDraft coping templates123456One scale per cell; template proportionsHow a model hands data downFileElementProperty setValue

A section of a red coping capping a charcoal-outlined parapet wall on a roof, lettered A to D, with boxes E and F for the coping length and width and its property set; below, the six FlashDraft coping templates in red numbered 1 to 6; at the bottom, four chips from file to element to property set to value.

A
The coping covering: the model element
B
The parapet wall: a building element
C
The roof: a building element
D
A cleat, dashed: ask whether the model has one
E
The coping quantities: length and width
F
The coping property set
1
Coping cap, both edges open
2
Coping cap, both edges closed
3
Coping cap, one open and one closed
4
Coping cap with one kick, kick edge open
5
Coping cap with one kick, kick edge closed
6
Coping underplate, no hems
The AFS teaching IFC's coping as a model element, with the quantities and property set it carries, the six coping templates in FlashDraft's library, and how a model hands data down. The dashed cleat is a reminder to ask whether the model has one. Section not to scale.

Sources

Glossary

BIM
Building information modelling: presenting a project as three-dimensional elements that can also carry information about their other characteristics.
Model element
One item in a building model, such as a wall or a coping, with its shape and any information attached to it.
Type parameter
In Autodesk's Revit help, a parameter shown in the Type Properties dialog.
Instance parameter
In Autodesk's Revit help, a parameter shown in the Properties palette, as opposed to the Type Properties dialog.
Property set
A named group of properties attached to an element in an IFC file; in the AFS teaching IFC, AFS_Flashing groups Material and Color.
Metadata
Data about a piece of information, such as its classification, its revision and the use it is permitted for.
Classification
A coding system that says what kind of element something is; UniFormat 2010, OmniClass and Uniclass 2015 are the systems the LOD Specification uses.
IFC
Industry Foundation Classes: the building-model data schema published as ISO 16739-1, whose 2024 edition replaced the 2018 edition.
LOD
Level of Development: how far an element has been thought through and how far the team may rely on it, not how much detail is drawn.