topic Exporting non-load-bearing parts to IFC in Collaboration with other software

Exporting non-load-bearing parts to IFC

PeterPetersen — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 20:10:54 GMT

Is there a way to export only non-load-bearing parts of composites to IFC? I am looking for an exact opposite of "export core of load-bearing elements only".

Re: Exporting non-load-bearing parts to IFC

Nathan Hildebrandt — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 23:54:33 GMT

Not OOTB as a setting, sadly no. But I trick you could employ could be to set the structural load-bearing building materials in your Attributes to "Not participate in Collision Detection"

and then adjust your IFC export translator to only export geometries which participate in collision detection.

I personally haven't tested it out so can't guarantee that it will work, but it could be something you could test out.

Re: Exporting non-load-bearing parts to IFC

PeterPetersen — Sun, 04 Dec 2022 07:16:37 GMT

Thanks Nathan, that is a good idea. I will give it a try and report back with the results.

Re: Exporting non-load-bearing parts to IFC

Laszlo Nagy — Sun, 04 Dec 2022 23:21:14 GMT

There is another possible way of achieving it:

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Collaborate-forum/Export-finishings-only-no-structural-elements-as-IfcCovering/m-p/244546/highlight/true#M31561

Re: Exporting non-load-bearing parts to IFC

PeterPetersen — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 14:56:09 GMT

Nathan - thanks for the idea. In principle this does the trick and is relatively easy and quick to set up. The only issue I see is when a material is once used as structural and once as non-structural e.g. for aesthetic purposes. What we are doing now is sort of moving the "loadbearing TRUE/FALSE" parameter into the material. It is OK as a workaround, but it would be helpful to get an "show all non-loadbearing components" function in Archicad.

Once again, thanks for a great idea!

Re: Exporting non-load-bearing parts to IFC

PeterPetersen — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 15:17:42 GMT

Thanks Laszlo - this is a solid workaround, which does not require any adjustments to the material settings (which is a big plus). However it is still prone to the same problem as the solution from Nathan - what happens with materials once used as loadbearing and once as non-loadberaing (for aesthetic purposes)? I cannot see any way around it though. Even if with AC26 the components of a composite can be individually classified (which is great), the classification is done on material basis. Conclusion - the need for an adjustment of material list with loadbearing / non-loadbearing versions of the same material remains.

An update of partial structure display menu with a "non-load bearing elements only" option, which could also be used for IFC translation would be a tremendous help for working with federated models (and is particularly important in the use-case of material re-use / lifecycle management, where the model data has to be merged and duplications of geometries between federated models avoided).

Re: Exporting non-load-bearing parts to IFC

Laszlo Nagy — Sun, 18 Dec 2022 17:37:26 GMT

As far as I am concerned, if a Building Material is used for both Structural and non-Structural purposes, then I would probably create two separate Building Material attributes to handle those situations you mentioned.