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About model and data exchange with 3rd party solutions: Revit, Solibri, dRofus, Bluebeam, structural analysis solutions, and IFC, BCF and DXF/DWG-based exchange, etc.

Door Operation Type vs Orientation

Mats_Knutsson
Advisor
Sometime things get me really confused.
When exporting a door to ifc the summary says Operation Type is SINGLE_SWING_RIGHT. Well the door is left swing which is clear in the Orientation. I have a feeling 99% of people look in the summary and...ok its a right swing...

How can this be? I mean the door and not the people...
//Vacation mode Mats
AC 25 SWE Full

HP Zbook Fury 15,6 G8. 32 GB RAM. Nvidia RTX A3000.
6 REPLIES 6
I would say it's the people not the door

ArchiCAD 25 7000 USA - Windows 10 Pro 64x - Dell 7720 64 GB 2400MHz ECC - Xeon E3 1535M v6 4.20GHz - (2) 1TB M.2 PCIe Class 50 SSD's - 17.3" UHD IPS (3840x2160) - Nvidia Quadro P5000 16GB GDDR5 - Maxwell Studio/Render 5.2.1.49- Multilight 2 - Adobe Acrobat Pro - ArchiCAD 6 -25

stefan
Expert
IFC Swing Orientation is based on US-convention. Some countries have a different convention, e.g. the DIN standards are opposite to US-standards on this matter!

See discussion https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/door-swing-direction-confusion-ifcdoortypeoperationenum/1416
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Mats_Knutsson
Advisor
stefan wrote:
IFC Swing Orientation is based on US-convention. Some countries have a different convention, e.g. the DIN standards are opposite to US-standards on this matter!

See discussion https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/door-swing-direction-confusion-ifcdoortypeoperationenum/1416
THANKS Stefan! Really appreciate this

To the issue: How daft! Totally unsmart. We get ridiculed for showing the wrong orientation as seen in the Identification folder in Solibri.... We have created a project specific folder with correct properties which is the only folder that is supposed be in use but when the IFC model is accessible on the project server to everyone...guess 95 of the people looking at the model doesn't know which folder to use but looks at the first one...100% understandable.
/Mats
AC 25 SWE Full

HP Zbook Fury 15,6 G8. 32 GB RAM. Nvidia RTX A3000.
The frame of reference is the same for everyone – the hinge side.
What is different about the nomenclature DIN/ISO/USA...is what is being describing relative to that.
“Handing of the fittings” as some say it, the Door Frame, the Door Panel, the Door Swing, Handing, Orientation…. there is no correct or incorrect nomenclature but every Schedule should indicate the nomenclature Standard being used. It does not take up that much space on a sheet to add a door handing (if you will) diagram near the schedules. And it would be a good idea to have those diagrams include the nomenclature being used for Frames as well. For me, I can usually get by with the Manufacturer's Make and Model number which is all the reference I need besides my own Door ID numbers.

ArchiCAD 25 7000 USA - Windows 10 Pro 64x - Dell 7720 64 GB 2400MHz ECC - Xeon E3 1535M v6 4.20GHz - (2) 1TB M.2 PCIe Class 50 SSD's - 17.3" UHD IPS (3840x2160) - Nvidia Quadro P5000 16GB GDDR5 - Maxwell Studio/Render 5.2.1.49- Multilight 2 - Adobe Acrobat Pro - ArchiCAD 6 -25

Mats_Knutsson
Advisor
Steve wrote:
The frame of reference is the same for everyone – the hinge side.
What is different about the nomenclature DIN/ISO/USA...is what is being describing relative to that.
It's unfortunate.
We want to move on with our collaborative BIM-processes and one of the targets is to get rid of unnecessary outputs of which door/window schedules are good examples. We deliver only the IFC-model and have added additional properties given us from the door manufacturer. We have a good internal process but BIM is collaborative by nature and we want to create processes together with the builder and the manufacturers.
AC 25 SWE Full

HP Zbook Fury 15,6 G8. 32 GB RAM. Nvidia RTX A3000.
Ghaleb Khadra
Graphisoft Alumni
Graphisoft Alumni
Hi All,

I hope I will be able to bring some clarify into this topic.

While it is technically possible to change ARCHICAD' property (Door Orientation) functionality and allow it to directly affect the Operation property of the IFC Doors directly, we think it should not be the case. There are multiple reasons for this but the main ones are the following:

1. Different Standards define this value differently as some of you have mentioned. Since the IFC file format utilizes its own Standard to define it, and we are supporting the IFC file format, it makes perfect sense to simply have it done as dictated by the IFC standard.

2. In IFC, you can have 2 options L or R however, in ARCHICAD you can have L, R, or Custom. This is where it gets tricky. IFC can not handle this "custom" value as it does not know what value to give the door with the Custom Door Orientation.

3. The Door Orientation property in ARCHICAD is for ARCHICAD's internal usage only. For instance, in Interactive Schedules. If the user wishes to reverse them according to their own standards or some different standards used in other countries, they can do so.
But if the information is being transferred in an IFC format, it should stay as it is with the standards of IFC.

4. That is why the Operation property in ARCHICAD is an automatically calculated value according to the IFC rules and will always be consistent with the IFC format and standard. Door Orientation in ARCHICAD has nothing to do with the Operation property in IFC.

5. While this might not be an "official" reason, I personally believe we are all human and we all make honest mistakes.
We can simply reverse the certain property to something else and have it apply to every door when it might not be what we want to do, or we can forget to switch it back after we finished exporting the IFC file, and then carry on with the project. Understandably, it can lead to many further mistakes. I think the term "snowballing" would fit here.

There is a - perhaps not perfect but might do the trick - workaround would be to set up a specific Translator for this workflow where under the Data Conversion, you would ensure the "Element Properties" box would be ticked in order to transfer ARCHICAD's own properties as IFC ones. Then in SOLIBRI for example, you would find the Door Orientation property under the "AC_Pset_Door_22" [if you are using ARCHICAD 22 for instance] and instruct whoever you sharing the file with to refer to these specific properties instead.

I hope I was able to clarify things out for you and that you find this information helpful.

I wish you all a great day!
Kind regards,
Ghaleb
Ghaleb Khadra
BIM Expert
GRAPHISOFT

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