topic Betreff: Hotlinking an .ifc model with snappable points in Modeling

Hotlinking an .ifc model with snappable points

clauds1223 — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 04:43:00 GMT

Hi there,

I have a bit of a challenging question!

So, the pink in the image is a hotlinked .ifc file. The grey is my ArchiCAD model. What I would like to do is to be able to snap my Archicad walls to the .ifc model, however the .ifc model is importing as objects rather than morphs and this means I cannot snap to the corners of the .ifc model and I can't get precision in my archicad model. I understand the solution would be to import the model as a morph, however, due to the scale of the .ifc file, if I were to convert it all to a morph, it would dramatically slow down the file😢

Is there another way to give the sketchup model anchor points I can snap to?

Feel free to ask me any further questions that you might need!

Thank you!!

Claudia

Operating system used: Windows 11

Re: Hotlinking an .ifc model with snappable points

Laszlo Nagy — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 11:57:50 GMT

Unfortunately, if those element are imported as Objects, you wil not be able to snap to them.

You could do various things when importing the IFC file:

1. Instead of Hotlinking the IFC, you could import the IFC into a separate Project file and Hotlink that.

2. You could import building elements as "Construction elements, otherwise Morphs" (IFC Translators > Geometry Conversion ...). This way, Archicad will try to convert all buildings elements to Archicad native elements if possible, and convert the rest to Morphs. For this to work best, the other team may need to export the IFC as extruded geometries (not BREPs), so more elements can be converted to native Archicad elements.

3. If the IFC file is that large, you could import it in parts, for example, you could import only the Walls and Doors/Windows located in them. Then, you could import only Columns, Beams, Slabs, and Roofs. And so on. To select what to import, in the IFC Translator Dialog, you can go to "Model Filter", and specify the IFC types to import (e.g., IfcWall, IfcDoor, IfcWindow). You can create several of these Model Filter presets, and use them to import various parts of the IFC file into individual Project files, and hotlink those individual Project files into your architectural Project File.

4. When hotlinking these various files, you can assign different Master Layers to them so you can show/hide them for better performance.

Re: Hotlinking an .ifc model with snappable points

Patrick M — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 19:43:58 GMT

you can choose what translator you are using when placing the .ifc, same as if you open it.
make sure the geometry conversion is parametric where possible. You can refine it to be "otherwise objects" or "otherwise morphs". Maybe, as Laszlo suggested, try that as an option when opening in a separate instance to see how much comes in as morphs.

Also, run a polygon check (if you have the goodies package installed) to verify your .ifc polygon count.
A lot of this is just communication with the author of the file. Some back and forth is always required.
I recommend you check their model in something like solibri for classification assignments, although you can check those in ARchicad too. They should be classifying elements correctly, so that things get translated properly wherever possible.
Also, you may want to check if they can send you separate .IFC. When I bring in a structural engineers IFC, I ask for
Struct_Steel.ifc
Struct_Wood.ifc
Struct_Conc.ifc
Struct_Misc.ifc
this way I can turn on only the hotlink/layers that I need, and can even exclude likely high polygon components from coming into the file at all.

Re: Hotlinking an .ifc model with snappable points

clauds1223 — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:11:42 GMT

Thank you so much Laszlo, this is very useful.

In terms of point 3. above, it seems the ifc has not been catagorised into type by default (I changed the Model Filter by only selecting ifcRoof to try to get only the roof to import but the workspace was empty). Should I be opening the ifc in a separate ArchiCAD project file first, organising and assigning it onto separate layers, then creating a hotlink of this model? Will this get the elements to import separately?

Thanks for your help!

Re: Hotlinking an .ifc model with snappable points

Laszlo Nagy — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 12:22:34 GMT

You could check the IFC file in a free IFC Viewer like Solibri Anywhere to check whether the element are properly categorized into the various IFC Types like IfcWall, IfcRoof, and so on. If they are not, then you should ask for a properly exported IFC file, otherwise it will be pretty hard to convert them to the correct native Archicad element types, and everything will just be converted to Morphs, and the assigned Classifications in Archicad will not be correct either (since specific Ifc Types are converted to specific Classifications in Archicad - so, an IfcRoof would be converted to a native Archicad Roof element or a Morph element, with the "Roof" Classification assigned to it). So, the key is to receive a n IFC file with the proper IFC Types in it.

Yes, I think, if the direct Hotlink IFC file method is not giving you the desired result, it is better to import it into a separate PLN file, even organize the imported elements to desired Layer (although it may be a better option to use the Layer Conversion settings in the IFC Translator Dialog to specify a mapping between IFC Layers and Archicad Layers, so it happens automatically during import). Then, you can hotlink this file. Whenever you receive a new version of the IFC file, you can make the changed in the source PLN of the Hotlink, save changes, and simply update the Hotlink in you main file.

Betreff: Hotlinking an .ifc model with snappable points

jakelinerosa-csmm — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 15:52:10 GMT

If you just want to snap and it’s imported as an object, you can open the object and add some snap points (hotspots) in the 2D Symbol window. This will allow you to snap in the floor plan and sections. 🙂