Sunday, May 17, 2015

Revit 2016 - IFC Observations

Autodesk recommends that we visit Autodesk Exchange|Apps to download the latest IFC application before starting to work with IFC data.


While testing these features I exported some walls and doors to IFC 2x3 so I could import them as IFC geometry. When I used Link IFC there were Generic Model openings filling the door openings to provide room bounding geometry.


There is a bit more going on behind the scenes when we import IFC. In the past we had to open an IFC which created a Revit project file we could then link. Those extra steps are done for us now as a background operation. There are three files that Revit creates based on the source IFC we link.


If I get obnoxious and delete these files and then open my active project file I get a warning message that Revit couldn’t find a linked file. When I use Reload From and select the IFC file I linked in the first place Revit creates those three files all over again. In the background it’s really just referencing the IFC file named "Linking.ifc.RVT".

I then opened the .RVT file that Revit created during the Link IFC process and deleted the openings and replaced them with Room Separator lines. Rather than doing that we can just leave the Generic Model elements but we need to use a Filter to turn them off. Revit creates a shared parameter file based on the IFC data. We can create a Project Parameter using one of its parameters (ObjectTypeOverrides) so we can create a Filter focused on the Generic Model category.


Once we understand that we can use the same approach to override the appearance of the existing walls, doors and windows so they look more like existing elements.

3 comments:

troy said...

If you go to file > open > IFC Options there are import category mapping settings.

Did you try to change IFCOpeningElement to something else, ie. Shaft Opening. Or perhaps another sort of opening category? Just a thought, I haven't tried it before.

I was working on a project recently where the architect was using archicad. By far the best way was to download their free plugin to do the import. oh and make sure you change the IFCSpace to link to Rooms, otherwise you get generic models instead of rooms!

Steve said...

No, sorry I didn't but I'll have to check it out too.

ambrozote said...

it is handy to have the SP file as it makes it quicker to override visibility settings.

In our case, however, as we are getting frequent IFC model issues from a non-Revit consultant, we need to recreate the filters each time as it does not recognize the new SP. I know this is how SP files work. They are unique.

Or am I missing something here?
Could there be a way so that each time we get a new IFC model the filters will still work?