I have had problems with importing some IFC models into Microstation CE or Bentley Open Buildings Designer lately. The program says that the IFC model is missing some IFC data and terminates. However, my free IFC viewer and WectorWorks Landmark open these IFC models without any issues. Is there a way to fix this behaviour?
Hi Yrjo,
While I have little experience with importing IFC into Microstation myself, I do use IFC in a lot of different ways.
Let me start by pointing out that many IFC files are not really "compliant" with the BuildingSmart definitions. Most of the IFC viewers though are quite tolerant and display those models anyway. I can imagine that could be a reason why importing into MS does not work.
Have you tried attaching the model as a reference instead of importing? Does that work?
What is the actual reason you are importing instead of referencing?
Another workaround I can think of, using Bentley technology, is creating an iModel then importing the IFC into that iModel. If only needed as a reference, you can connect Microstation with this iModel and it will be done. If you need to import into MS I suppose there also is a method. I haven't done that myself.
Try IFC validator - https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/ifc-validator/9PNB50VKN6JL?hl=en-us&gl=us
Or one which is integrated in ODA - https://openifcviewer.com/
I also experienced this issue since moving to Microstation Update 17 (and PowerPlatform software based on this) and support responded with this:
MicroStation Update 17 is more secure than previous builds and the reason for the file not being opened.
It is possible to set the following undocumented variable IFC_ALLOW_DEPRECATED_SCHEMA=1 that will allow for this file to be opened in Update 17 as with previous versions. (However you might not want too and perhaps instead look at the original publishing source/file).
As mentioned above, the var is not currently documented in the help, and this is currently being reviewed internally.
Regards,
Mark
OpenRoads Designer 2023 | Microstation 2023.2 | ProjectWise 2023
Answer Verified By: Yrjo Ala-Heikkila
Thank you!
Config variable "IFC_ALLOW_DEPRECATED_SCHEMA=1" did the trick and my problematic IFC-models seem to work again.
regards
Yrjö Ala-Heikkilä
Hi,
My apologies, I didn't use correct terminology. I don't actually import import IFC models but convert them to dgn-format instead.
Usually I open large (file size over 30-40Mb) IFC models in Microstation, save them as dgn and use them as reference because dgn file size will be much smaller and it opens a lot faster than IFC. I just converted a 207Mb IFC model to Microstation dgn format and it shrinked to 36Mb. Smaller FC models work ok as reference attatchements without converting them. They are still slower to open than a dgn but the difference is not as substantial as with large IFCs.
Config variable 'IFC_ALLOW-DEPRECATED-SCHEMA=1' solved my problem.
regards,