topic Re: Transparent walls in IFC4 in Collaboration with other software

Transparent walls in IFC4

Jarno S — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 02:42:28 GMT

Hi,

I have custom ifc-translator. When i save ifc-model in IFC4 format and i use BREP precise geometry (so i can calculate wall areas etc. after boolean or cut with roofs) some walls are transparent in Solibri or Trimble...It would seem that walls with windows or glass doors are transparent?

Re: Transparent walls in IFC4

Jarno S — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 09:53:36 GMT

Hi,

Anyone, any ideas? We will have problems in Finland when a law comes into force in 2026 that obligates that a building permit must be applied for using an IFC4 data model and it will be checked with the Solibri program.

Re: Transparent walls in IFC4

Laszlo Nagy — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 02:22:24 GMT

I cannot give a solution to the issue, but I have forwarded to GS HQ so they can look at it and hopefully fix it.

In the meantime, you need to find a way to achieve the IFC result you want. One thing comes to mind: I have read about BlenderBIM, which is an extension of Blender, both of them are free. In BlenderBIM, the basic file format you are working with is IFC, and there are scripts you can write (I think, in Python) and run to check and modify your IFC model. So, I am thinking, maybe it is possible to open the exported IFC in BlenderBIM, run a script to check for these transparent elements and modify their data structure so that they are not transparent anymore.

There is nothing more that I know about this or exactly how this could be achieved, but maybe this is something that may be worth exploring.

Re: Transparent walls in IFC4

Jarno S — Wed, 20 May 2026 05:09:48 GMT

Hi,

One solution seems to be exploding the wall into parts. However, this causes every composite layer to be listed as a separate row under the wall data in Solibri, for example... Are there any better solutions known for this issue?