IFC interoperability

[Anonymous]

Hello All,

Thirty four pages of AC 10 vs Revit 9 discussion and no mention what-so-ever of *.ifc interoperability.

In the world of my experience, construction projects travel along a "road" that connects many players (each an inhabitant of a unique "hut" in the construction project "village").

I deeply believe that some of the focus of this lengthy discussion should involve the ability of the program (s) we use to shake hands with each other.

Riff Masteroff

[TomWaltz]

IFC comes up once in a while under the Data Exchange forum, but I believe most Archicad users are not dealing with clients or consultants that are using IFC.

Personally I'd love to see more discussion about it, but for most people it's like discussing the paperless office or an all open-source office, a far off idea of "someday".

[Anonymous]

Hello Tom Waltz,

I have imported a BIM model from SDS/2 (steel detailing software) into a Constructor 2005 BIM model of the same project. I have also imported a Tekla Structure BIM model (again, steel detailing software) and a Revit 9 architectural model into Constructor 2005. I did not, however, for the last two mentioned imports create any BIM geometry within Constructor 2005.

By the way, Constructor 2007 (aka archiCAD 10) is far more capable in this regards (is still in Beta).

Riff Masteroff

[TomWaltz]

Riff wrote:
Hello Tom Waltz,

I have imported a BIM model from SDS/2 (steel detailing software) into a Constructor 2005 BIM model of the same project. I have also imported a Tekla Structure BIM model (again, steel detailing software) and a Revit 9 architectural model into Constructor 2005. I did not, however, for the last two mentioned imports create any BIM geometry within Constructor 2005.

By the way, Constructor 2007 (aka archiCAD 10) is far more capable in this regards (is still in Beta).

Riff Masteroff

You're one of the lucky ones 🙂 You get to deal with Structural BIM AND Constructor! I'm kind of jealous.

I get to deal with structural consultants who ask me what paper space and Xrefs are.

[Anonymous]

We need the analytical model

GS at a min must create the interface to reduce the model to an analytical one. Without this one has to rebuild the model in the structural package.

I use RISA 3D and just start the structure from scratch.

[Scott Davis]

Adalbert wrote:
We need the analytical model

GS at a min must create the interface to reduce the model to an analytical one. Without this one has to rebuild the model in the structural package.

I use RISA 3D and just start the structure from scratch.

That is what is nice about a Revit Structures model. As the enginner builds the 3D physical model, the analytical stick model is automatically generated.

[Djordje]

Ladies and gentlemen,

I do think that this deserves a new topic.

Bottom line: we VB/BIM users are one quarter of all the computerized building industry. Is it a time to quarrel? Hardly.

Therefore, personal preferences are personal preferences, and a particular vendor's ability to make or to sell software (not always at the same level ...) is another ballgame. What matters is that I can do the preliminary design in Archicad, IFC it to Scott for the interior design, and to Riff for structural, who will send it back to me for detailed design, that Scott will scream about as his spaces are changed, and someone with Bentley MEP will drill the holes where they should not be, but we will coordinate THE SAME SET OF DATA, that will be ultimately used in the actual building and its management.

Inventing the future? Or just stating the possible?

Now - what about the other 75%?

[Anonymous]

Hello Djordje,

Thanks for your input. I think that we are in agreement.

Interoperability is a "hot" issue world-wide. Really!

Graphisoft does have strong support for the emerging non-proprietory standard of *.ifc. ArchiCAD 10/ Constructor 2007 (beta) is quite improved (ifc support) over the previous version! Its wonderful.
Note that the new program has only been available to me for about a month.

Its also complicated. I am guessing that Constructor 10's core code now takes into account IFC support. Is this true? I think modeling has to syncronize with *.ifc as the content is being created. Although *.ifc is a mere file format, its not a tail end addition to a program like *.jpeg (Joint Photographic Experts Group).

I do not believe that one single program, or one close-knit family of proprietory programs is desirable. If that becomes the case, I do believe that world will devolve into increasing mediocrity.

Thanks for listening,

Riff Masteroff

[Anonymous]

Information exchange between different software is probably the most important issue nowadays. It might be not so important when you are designing residence, but when you are working on the hospital the most important part is not to protect each others turf but to deliver most of the value to the customer during whole life (from SD to FM) of the product (building, structure etc.). None of the software can do everything, so it is critical to be able to exchange information between all project parties. And here comes .ifc . Instead of creating exchange plugins between every software, lets concentrate on one that everybody is able to use. Unfortunately .ifc seems kind of on hold for some time already. And it does not work properly yet. Until we will have usable solution we will not use it on critical projects.

[Anonymous]

Hello Miki Woodie,

Seems that we are basically in agreement. I would very much like to see discussion of the very details of our ifc conversions and exchanges. I hope that I am not alone in this big wide world.

You wrote: "Unfortunately .ifc seems kind of on hold for some time already . . . ".

Earlier this month I saw a demonstration using a single *.ifc file of a single project (european). Representatives of between ten and fifteen software companies (one of which being Graphisoft) each demonstrated particular results using their own diverse products. I was impressed!

For sure, the *.ifc exchange is not mature. However, I do believe that it can be used RIGHT NOW. And I do believe that it should be used right now. If a project is modeled in AC10 or CS2007 with *.ifc conversion in mind, then an amazing amount of info transported.

And for sure, there are particular holes, pitfalls and work-arounds that should be discussed in an open forum such as this for the benefit of all.

Why not?

Riff Masteroff