Interactive Toolbox For 4D-Modeling

In this paper we present an ongoing research project that focuses on the development of an Interactive 4D–Modeling Toolbox for the 4D modeling of buildings. The aim of this toolbox is to support and speed up building of 4D models, to facilitate changes on them and to control progresses during the building process. Up to now, the Interactive 4D–Modeling Toolbox consists of: • 4D–Model Builder, tools supporting the set up of 4D models • DES, a Discrete Event Simulator for the automated sequencing of activities into a network plan • GAPO, a Genetic Algorithm Process Optimization module that optimizes project schedules in terms of time, cost and resource management • A 4D–Player for the visualization of building processes The 4D–Model Builder supports the identification of building components and the definition of structural dependencies between them. The DES successfully proves that the commonly used component-activity-resource relations can be automatically sequenced by taking structural and process constraints into account. Thereafter, GAPO can be used to optimize the generated network plan in terms of time, cost and resource management – forming a multiple criterion optimized project schedule. Finally, the project schedule can be combined with the 3D–Model of the building – forming a 4D–Model – and visualized trough the 4D–Player. In this paper we give an overview of the entire toolbox and subsequently a more detailed description of GAPO.