Mago3d - Community Edition (F4D Converter + Mago3dJS)

Project Folders

Folder	Description
css	Basic Styling
data	Configuration Files
dist	Mago3d and Cesium distribution files (JavaScript)
externlib	External Libraries
images	UI Images
f4d	Contains F4D files of projects.

Note: data and dist are the folders that contain the necessary files for 3D visualization. More detail about the folders below

Folder Description

- data

The data folder is for maintaining the operation policy and data management. This folder contains necessary configuration files related to particular project. There are two configuration files we need to render 3D using Mago3d:

1. policy.json (3D rendering Policy)
2. data.json (List of 3D data to be visualized along with their spatial data)

Note: The name of the files are not required to be policy.json and data.json. Meaning the file names can be anything (but preferably name the files on the basis of the project)

We need to manually create these files. However, the structure is same. We just need to edit some key values.

1. policy.json

It stores the information related to 3D rendering like: Initial Camera Latitude and Longitude, viewing library, default project, data path, LOD information, etc.

Important keys:

Key	Description
geo_data_path	Path to f4d symbolic link (explained below)
geo_data_default_projects	Array of default projects. we specify the data.json here
geo_init_latitude	Initial camera latitude
geo_init_longitude	Initial camera longitude
geo_init_height	Initial camera elevation
geo_init_duration	Camera pan animation duration

1. data.json

It stores the information of 3D data to be visualized. We can consider it as One data.json file per project. One data.json can list multiple 3D data (contents).

Important keys:

Key	Description
data_key	- data_key of the root node of json should match project name inside f4d - data_key of child node of json should match F4D folder name.
data_name	Name of the 3D data. Can be same as data_key
latitude	Latitude of 3D data
longitude	Longitude of 3D data
height	Specifies at what height to place 3D data
heading	Specifies which direction does the front of 3D data faces

Note: We can use same policy for multiple projects. It is not required to have individual policy for each project.

Since these .json files serve different purposes, the data folder is has two sub folders, policies and projects to separate them.

- dist

This folder contains the final releases of Cesium and Mago3d along with css files required for Cesium.

- f4d

This is the symbolic link to the folder that holds the 3D data which has been converted from IFC rather than an actual folder. Mago3D finds the 3D data inside this folder which is referenced in policy.json and renders it on the basis of its respective data.json.

Data Conversion - IFC to F4D

The Mago3D team has developed a new file format for efficient rendering of 3D data. They have developed a converter called F4DConverter which converts 3D files (IFC, COLLAD, JT, 3DS, etc.) to F4D format.

- F4D Converter

First, we need to download the F4D Converter from Mago3D Website. Go here, download installer from F4D Converter Section and Install it.

• Create a folder to store the converted files (#outputFolder)

  • For e.g. D:\f4d\project_name

    Separate folder for each project inside f4d.

• Create a folder to store input files (.ifc files) (#inputFolder)

• Place your IFC files inside that folder. Try separating IFC files according to project.

  • For e.g. D:\data\project_name

    Put all the IFC files related to a project inside a particular folder

• Run Command Line Prompt (cmd.exe) with Administrative Privileges

• cd to where F4D Converter is installed

• Run

  • C:\F4DConverter>F4DConverter.exe #inputFolder D:\data\project_name #outputFolder D:\f4d\project_name #log D:\F4DConverter\logs\log.txt #indexing y #meshType 0

    Detail about the parameters and how to use.

• Once the conversion is complete, it will output F4D folder for each IFC inside outputFolder. For e.g. if the input file was school.ifc, F4DConverter will create F4D_school folder with all the files required inside outputFolder.

- Symbolic Link

Next, we need to create symbolic link to output folder inside project root.

To create a symbolic link,

• Run Command Link Prompt (cmd.exe) with Administrative Privileges.

• cd to project root

• Run

  D:\mago>mklink /d "D:\mago\f4d" "D:\f4d"

  Here, the first path is where we want to create symbolic link and second path is the actual path where we convert and store converted files.

Configuration File

We use json files in order to reference the 3D data into our project. Following are two configuration files we need in order for Mago3D to render our 3D data.

data.json

{
    "attributes" : {
      "isPhysical" : false,
      "nodeType": "root",
      "projectType": "project Type"
    },
    "children" : [
    ],
    "data_key" : "Project name",
    "data_name" : "Project name"
}

Important Key: data_key

Make sure the value of data_key matches the project folder name. Same for data_name

"children" : [
   {
     "attributes" : {
       "isPhysical" : true,
       "nodeType" : "..."
     },
     "children" : [
     ],
     "data_key" : "Unique identifier",
     "data_name" : "Data name",
     "latitude" : "Enter latitude",
     "longitude" : "Enter longitude",
     "height" : "Enter height",
     "heading" : "Enter heading",
     "pitch" : "Enter pitch",
     "roll" : "Enter roll"
  }
]

Important Key: data_key

Make sure the value of data_key matches the F4d folder name. For e.g. if the output of F4DConverter is F4D_SCHOOL, data_key value should be SCHOOL. Suffix F4D is added by the converter.

policy.json

{
    "geo_data_default_projects": [
    	"data.json"
	],
	"geo_init_latitude": "Enter latitude",
	"geo_init_longitude": "Enter longitude"
}

Complete API for Mago3D