iModel Bridge for IFC ?

  1. This was announced at YII 2019. Any ideas where we can find it?

Will it be part of OBD?

If I understand the proposed use of i.models in Mstn and its verticals like OBD, the user can publish their models to an imodel and reference those imodels (including imodels published by other verticals or foreign apps) back into OBD via the References dialog box.

Bentley already has a couple of plugins for Revit. One more generic exporter and one that only deals with the structural elements which publishes to .ism format. The new imodels function a lot like the .ism format in that it supports transaction management and design history. So, instead of having multiple versions of a Revit model, generated at each model share, you would have one model that is incrementally updated, where changes can be tracked and even displayed dynamically. It would be great if the Revit plugin can be updated to publish to the new iTwin / imodel format. This is currently the main way OBD users interop with Revit.

So, how would a 'generic bridge app' work? Sounds like it would be a standalone app that would open an IFC file and publish to the imodel format. But, all the verticals would have a lot of mapping requirements so that the IFC information can be utilised and displayed properly. OBD will have different mappings to say OpenRoads or OpenSite etc. There are also the different MVD's which would have different settings and mappings as well. There will be a lot of back and forth to get the best results, which suggests that the bridge app should also be part of the vertical.

OTOH, the IFC bridge would be a great intermediate tool to help any project participants that have apps that do not have an imodel plugin... Solibri, CostX, ArchiCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, Allplan, Vectorworks etc. In this scenario, the IFC bridge app would be a standalone app that... would still need a lot of tweaking on both sides. Combined with Bentley View? Multiple imodels processing the same IFC file? 

In any case, the bridge app would be great as it would make dealing with IFC's much better for Bentley users as it is a lot quicker to load / reference an imodel compared to an IFC file that needs to be converted on the fly.

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  • Hi Dominic,

    ProjectWise CE users can access the bridges today by contacting their account team.  However, for other users we would need to know how your project is stored and accessed.  We are working on accessing other project repositories but the bridges can be ran independently.

    The IFC bridge has been used successfully and identifies challenges with publishing from applications.

    The Revit bridge has also been used on many projects and again is succesfully identifying changes in versions as well as being able to compare with OpenRoads, Civil3D models etc

    If you want to see your data loaded into the iModelHub, then please reach out to me as we are engaged on many projects

    Note also that the iModel 2.0 is cloud based and therefore scalable in ways which were previously not possible.  Models that previously took 10 minutes to open are opening in seconds but also where limits of workstation / technology meant splitting projects into sections we are able to assemble them together into a single model for review purposes.  Of course you still have the problem of referencing a single iModel 2.0 into a design session, but we can advise how to surmount that issue also.



  • We are working on accessing other project repositories

    Interesting... What kind of respositories? Do you mean other file formats (like .rvt or Tekla) or multiple bridges feeding/publishing into a 'federated' imodel repository? OBD bridge publishes architectural info, Prostructures publishing structural info, OpenRoads publishing civils content etc.

    but the bridges can be ran independently.

    Independent bridges to independent models? How would they be brought together? In the authoring app like OBD or ORD via the Ref Dialog? In Navigator Web?

    Will the compare between versions and clash detection tools work in / from the authoring app? This would be preferrable. OBD user loads latest imodel, uses imodel compare/versioning tools to filter for modified / new stuff. Run clash detection against elements in local .dgn.

    The Revit bridge has also been used on many projects and again is succesfully identifying changes in versions

    Great. Is the bridge using Revit's GUID's to track changes between updates or will the bridge assign and track its own GUID's? Controls to let user decide what kind of info (geometry v. non-goemetric parameters/properties) will be tracked?

    please reach out to me as we are engaged on many projects

    Thanks... we are on OBD U4 and reaching the end of this phase of the project. If we are appointed for the next stage, we would definitely be interested.

    Models that previously took 10 minutes to open are opening in seconds

    Great. Presumably, you are describing opening the imodel through a browser where the data does not need to be downloaded but just viewed? That will be a very welcome improvement for Navigator-type use cases... if you have fast internet access.

    Can the imodels be hosted on an on primise server? I see a lot of project teams on site with pretty bad internet connections. Pretty much a given. I suspect Mstn verticals usage hours on site by delivery teams is a significant and growing proportion.. especially on infra projects.

    Of course you still have the problem of referencing a single iModel 2.0 into a design session, but we can advise how to surmount that issue also.

    Intrigued! Hopefully, the imodel would have a Ref attachment tree-like structure that will allow the user to select the bits he want to 'reference attach' ?

  • Sorry Dominic I see I missed your response ... hopefully by now you have seen the bridges and iModelHub in action.  For sure during this Work from Home period the iTwin technologies are proving to be a valuable technology.  
    Hope you won your "next" project
    You do not get full access to iTwin Design Review, but this will allow you to review ProjectWise 365 and iTwin Services (what we call iT1)
    https://connect-imodelweb.bentley.com/imodeljs/?projectId=e4c83e46-1331-4ff1-a5c4-e61c7e5a71b1&iModelId=cc3551c4-1471-4613-94ff-c3fc1195bde0&ChangeSetId=6f264a37d8dcac8a5b7fa204e8751497752c40a4



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