The data (or metadata) is so complete that the entire wall with all its details can be completely regenerated from the data stored in the attribute library for each wall. That is in fact how I am able to make these walls editable or parametric. So in a sense the 3D model in SketchUp is merely a geometric or physical manifestation of the attribute library data.
If this is not BIM I don’t know what is.
P.S.
Image of the data is courtesy of Eneroth’s Attribute Editor. The extension ecosystem may be a wild west but it is still thriving in my opinion, and there are lots of excellent extensions, free and paid.
And this is the sheer power and beauty of SketchUp. A full programming backend (Ruby) with a robust and very usable API. A built-in database system. Literally anything is possible within SketchUp, you can make this program do anything you want, and that is what has sucked me in and kept me developing for the last nine years.
Now combine all this potential with the best 3D drawing environment in the industry and the choice is clear. SketchUp with an appropriate set of plugins is a power house. A few more incremental changes and improvements to Layout and the whole package will be unstoppable. Need I say more.
Not certain that this was necessarily an original idea by a specific person but it has popped up over time on the forum.
I have a collection of basic window and door components that have 3D and 2D elements.
Cyentruk has a good set of 3D/2D dynamic windows and doors at the warehouse.
I do this entirely SketchUp > Layout and don’t use any architectural plugins.
My SketchUp models are basic and lightweight for the Layout files and over time I’ve been building up a library of standard 2D details that I draw entirely in Layout.
I just started a hidden line rendering pipeline in the 3d environment I created, to adapt and test my 3d inference system.
The improved version of this rendering pipeline will precisely allow to obtain documentation views such as plans and facades, and can be adapted for example in Blender.
