Any BIM viewers work with ORD IFCs?

Hi all,

I have been doing some testing of the new IFC export functionality and am having problems finding ANY mainstream BIM viewers that can open it. I can appreciate it is IFC 4 Add 2 and not all viewers support that version, but does any one know of anything that does? I really need to be able to verify how non-Bentley products see the exports to use this for project deliverables.

So far no luck with Solibri or Navisworks 2019...

Regards,

Mark

  • Mark, what you are finiding is not all IFC's or IFC viewers are equal as they may not support the latest schema.

    Personally I use BIMvision https://bimvision.eu/en/free-ifc-model-viewer/

    but the following other viewers have issues with IFC 4.2 and need updates

    Solibri https://www.solibri.com - incompatible mesh objects

    Areddo BIM viewer - http://www.areddo.com/ - incompatible schema

    STR Vision https://www.strvision.com/ifc-viewer-download/

    Regards

    Ian



    Answer Verified By: Mark Shamoun 

  • Thanks Ian, BIMVision seems to work quite well.

    Regards,

    Mark


    OpenRoads Designer 2023  |  Microstation 2023.2  |  ProjectWise 2023

  • Hi Mark,

    How do I add tabular or attribute data to graphical elements from within ORD so that when I export them to IFC I can view that data in the BIM viewer. Otherwise all I see in the BIM viewer is the geometry. BIM is much more than just geometry. For example Autodesk Revit creates a more detailed and rich IFC file. 

    Regards,

    Benzi

  • Yep, I've been requesting IFC attribution for a while but there is hesitation to do anything until the IFC Civil schema is released. Funny thing is that we need to have the ability to add custom attributes to our IFCs, like every other IFC writer out there, and I haven't heard anything about ORD ever getting that.

    Currently we need to export our Item Type instances to an excel spreadsheet and use the Navisworks Data Tools function to add attribution in Navisworks. This matches the attributes by element ID to elements imported into Navisworks via DGN or DWG. A very primitive workflow for a brand new BIM modeling product unfortunately. IFCs dont Really do much in their current state...

    Regards,

    Mark


    OpenRoads Designer 2023  |  Microstation 2023.2  |  ProjectWise 2023

  • I am struggling with this right now. Need to have Item Types in IFC models. No success for now. 

    Basically I need to add BOQ related data (Tech Sepc number, units of measure, material, unit cost, etc) to my models and than have this data writen to IFC.

    For this particular project, it is for the Nordic market, have seen Novapoint having this out of the box, and all data are there when exported to the IFC. Thought with Item Types it would be even better as we can use Asset Manager, customize Item Types. But unfortunately this is only valid when I need to deliver dgn or imodel. I understund that Item Types would require some kind of mapping when exporting to IFC, but I beleive this shoud be granted with the software. What is the point of exporting to IFC with no meta data persisting?

    Will need to try Naviswork workflow as Mark described. 

    Is there anything in the pipeline for ORD development  you are aware of o have Item Types mapped when exporting models to the IFC?

    thanks,

    Best,

    Adam


    OpenRoads Designer 2023   |  OpenRail Designer 2023