IFC files

Hi Rob,

Opening an IFC file in AECOsim Building Designer is comparable to opening the IFC file in an IFC viewer. The graphic output you see is usually very good but AECOsim Building Designer only creates solids.

Importing the IFC file in AECOsim Building Designer creates AECOsim Building Designer elements as far as possible using families and parts. If AECOsim Building Designer creates a reference during the import you can merge the reference into the active file. Then you have e.g. walls, etc.in the active fille that can be edited.

The IFC 2x3 CV2.0 data exchange format - CV means Coordination View - is only designed for a coordination view not for an 1:1 data exchange. The creation of AECOsim Building Designer elements is done as a best effort but does not ensure that all elements are displayed correctly.

- Did you check the options in File menu > Import IFC > Settings tab?

- As an alternative you can reference the ifc-file and then merge it into the active file.

- You can check if the IFC export in the software that created the ifc-file offers different options. That might improve the ifc-file and also the IFC import result in AECOsim Building Designer.

- This thread about IFC import might also be helpful: IFC import - dataset mapping

Regards

Johannes

"The creation of AECOsim Building Designer elements is done as a best effort but does not ensure that all elements are displayed correctly."

wow, that's a pretty fundemental to say that the program doesnt do!! so how am i supposed to know if the elements are displayed correctly???? I've got a 13 storey building with many thousands of structural elements it is impossible to go through and manually check each and every one to ensure that they have been displayed correctly.

- Yes I've checked the options in the import IFC tab.

- I cannot reference the IFC file in as i require the model to be imported on a floor by floor basis due to it's size and for ease of use when modelling. I also need the family and parts applying so that i can get plan and section cuts taken from the model.

- The IFC is exported absolutely fine, it's independently checked via Solibri by a 3rd party before we are issued with the information.

- We are data mapping everything correctly and as per the IFC import thread.

Below is just one example of a random 'block' that appears and stretches up through 13 storeys of building!!!

The top view is taken from Solibri and the bottom view is the imported IFC from AecoSIM. This is just one of a number of similar errors we are seeing with these files and it's making it very hard for us to trust the information we are modelling against, we've had;

- slabs disapprearing

- random placement of structural blocks

- flanges from steelwork disappearing

- holes in slabs not showing

Hi, Rob and Marc! How is this topic developed? It has been almost a year since the topic was created. I'm asking because we have a similar problem with walls loosing cut holes while importing the IFC to AECOsim Building Designer Ss6 dgn file.

Hi Kristjan,
Unfortunately nothing has happened. I'm sorry to say we still have the same problems. You can sometimes find the holes via a check-box in the properties window if you highlight the wall or slab concerned but this doesn't work in all cases. It's one of the many reasons that we have moved away from aecoSIM.

Thank you for answering, Rob! I'm so sad to hear that IFC import issue is still unsolved. Seems essential part of BIM-industry.

Very much so Kristjan. Data exchange between platforms is patchy at best hence why people are moving to a.n.other program that seems to be becoming the industry standard in the UK.

Rob

Looks like Igor is busy elsewhere.

Have you tried using Revit ism plugin? Or exporting to dwg?

It seems like a lot of SR get stymied because the support guy can not replicate the problem.

I wonder if Bentley should provide a settings cloning tool as part its connect services.

Rob

Looks like Igor is busy elsewhere.

Have you tried using Revit ism plugin? Or exporting to dwg?

It seems like a lot of SR get stymied because the support guy can not replicate the problem.

I wonder if Bentley should provide a settings cloning tool as part its connect services.

Hi Dominic,

Unfortunately our BEP insisted that .IFC was the file exchange format of choice (as most of them seem to say currently in the UK). This allowed everyone to keep the data information intact rather than just keeping geometry as you'd get if you exported to .dwg

PS it sounds like referencing is ok but the problem starts when importing.

If this is the case, then the problem is probably on the triforma ABD side.

Maybe try importing in mstn then use the apply instance data tool

Yes the massive problem with AECOsim as a whole is the triforma ABD side. it's simply not fit for purpose for doing what it's supposed to do.
i currently have to import IFC files and also do a reference of them and then try and play "spot the difference" in the hope of picking up all the missing elements.
it really is a joke when you have to try and explain this in BIM meetings to other consultants.
As I've said we wont be using AECOsim again in a hurry. i love microstation but AECOsim is just a complete mess of a program that i cant see ever changing to make it worthwhile.

Yea.. BEP's tend to be pretty clumsily written. They tend to be written by guys who have no idea of the actual implications on the ground. And when you ask if you can deviate slightly because what is asked for is problematic, you are told you do so at your own risk.

I would not confuse the need to use IFC as an exchange medium and what each participant has to do to 'read' and 'present' the contents. Every app will be mangling the IFC information suit their purposes when they import the shared info.

The problem is that in order to use Aecosim to create documentation, you need to have to attach F+P info to the elements... forcing you to import the IFC info... which means that Aecosim has to process the info further and convert the info into what ever 'schema' or approximation that works for Aecosim. This is probably a very error-prone task for the developers.

Solibri etc only have to provide something that displays correctly. Once you import, the geometry will need to be editable / understood by the Triforma / DGS tools. I bet that this will be pretty daunting task for the resourcing bean counters at Bentley, if you take into account the need to also do this for ProStructures, Speedikon, Openplant, STAAD, RAM etc etc... and also all the road and bridge apps once IFC5 comes along.

I suppose that's why they have started talking about a 'common modelling environment' with CE, which would be based on the new Parametric Solids. Hopefully, the old Triforma solids will be re-born as platform-wide Parametric Solids. And F+P and DGS will be subsumed by Element Templates and Element Types. That way, Igor only has to target one base case?