Collaboration with other software
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.

Can I re-map an AC boolean to yes/no in IFC?

Mats_Knutsson
Advisor
Hi,
I'm creating a template for IFC-export to one of our large scandinavian contractors and I got stuck on Position which in AC is Interior or Exterior. The contractor wants a boolean "is external" - yes/no instead of writing it out in plain text. Is it possible do you think? I'm creating the template in version 21.
/Mats
AC 25 SWE Full

HP Zbook Fury 15,6 G8. 32 GB RAM. Nvidia RTX A3000.
10 REPLIES 10
Hello Mats_Knutsson,


You are able to create your own property since AC20 and export it to an IFC file but Position which in AC is Interior or Exterior is not really an AC property but an IFC openBIM property. I do not think you can modify it cause it is a property you can not delete like ID element.
Christophe - FRANCE
Archicad Designer and Teacher
Archicad 15 to 27 FRA FULL

OS 11.6 Big Sur - MacBook Pro 2017 - 16Go RAM
"Quality is never an accident ; it's always the result of an intelligent effort" John Ruskin
Mats_Knutsson
Advisor
Christophe wrote:
Hello Mats_Knutsson,


You are able to create your own property since AC20 and export it to an IFC file but Position which in AC is Interior or Exterior is not really an AC property but an IFC openBIM property. I do not think you can modify it cause it is a property you can not delete like ID element.
Suspected that... the issue is that the builder is using an automated script in SimpleBIM that seek for exact parameters...so now I have to create a manual property "is external". Sigh.
AC 25 SWE Full

HP Zbook Fury 15,6 G8. 32 GB RAM. Nvidia RTX A3000.
Anonymous
Not applicable
You mean that right now your IsExternal property is exported as a "string" of text instead of True/False value?
Hello Mats_Knutsson,

IFC files meet a precise standard which has strong constraints common to all those involved in BIM design in all countries of the world. I do not know if I understand your concern but it seems to me that you want to modify one of the standards of your IFC export in order to personalize it. I doubt that this is technically possible. Therefore I suggest you to generate an additional and complementary property according to the personal criteria of your collaborator.
Christophe - FRANCE
Archicad Designer and Teacher
Archicad 15 to 27 FRA FULL

OS 11.6 Big Sur - MacBook Pro 2017 - 16Go RAM
"Quality is never an accident ; it's always the result of an intelligent effort" John Ruskin
Mats_Knutsson
Advisor
Christophe wrote:
Hello Mats_Knutsson,

IFC files meet a precise standard which has strong constraints common to all those involved in BIM design in all countries of the world. I do not know if I understand your concern but it seems to me that you want to modify one of the standards of your IFC export in order to personalize it. I doubt that this is technically possible. Therefore I suggest you to generate an additional and complementary property according to the personal criteria of your collaborator.
haha it's not me but a general contractor... I'll try to persuade them to go IFC-standard instead of their own standard. Need to check how it works with Revit first since they tend to normalize everythin from a Revit perspective.
AC 25 SWE Full

HP Zbook Fury 15,6 G8. 32 GB RAM. Nvidia RTX A3000.
Hello Mats_Knutsson,

I understand your situation. In France  and within the framework of a public market, it is prohibited to compel a service provider to use a private tool. In other words, if you're doing BIM with public money, then it's openBIM.
Christophe - FRANCE
Archicad Designer and Teacher
Archicad 15 to 27 FRA FULL

OS 11.6 Big Sur - MacBook Pro 2017 - 16Go RAM
"Quality is never an accident ; it's always the result of an intelligent effort" John Ruskin
Mats_Knutsson
Advisor
Christophe wrote:
Hello Mats_Knutsson,

I understand your situation. In France  and within the framework of a public market, it is prohibited to compel a service provider to use a private tool. In other words, if you're doing BIM with public money, then it's openBIM.
It's kind of the same here regarding public projects but it's a diffuse situation where specific additional functions are demanded (eg plugins to Revit for connecting to FM etc). Oh sorry dear archi...you can of course use whatever cad program you want but we need you to export data according to our system and oops ArchiCAD doesn't have a plugin...
AC 25 SWE Full

HP Zbook Fury 15,6 G8. 32 GB RAM. Nvidia RTX A3000.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Mats, are you sure it's a problem with Archicad itself and not your file/Translator?
I've had some issues with files migrated from version 20 to 22 with IFC Translators and the way Properties were exported to IFC.

If I were you, I would try to open a fresh new file with a default Archicad Template and see if you have the same problem.
Anonymous
Not applicable
I've just tried to open an IFC exported from Archicad in Simplebim and its "Building Element is External" parameter seems to be working as it should.
The same goes also for Solibri, where the Parameter seems to be called "Building Envelope".

If you don't have the same results, you might want to check your IFC Translator. Or make sure that your Property Mapping is set to "Standard IFC2x3 Scheme".