Hello

I have been searching for information on the IFC, it is very complex, what is the best way to start with IFC's does anyone know of an IFC for idiots?

Thanks

It's a really comprehensive data specification.

Can I ask, what are you trying to model and achieve?

I'm progressing my IFC plug-in for Rhino, if you interested in learning about whether it might help you, get in touch and I can give some advice.

Cheers,

Jon

Hi

I'm really trying to figure out what its about, I have been working with Rhinoceros for a couple of years (along with Autocad), around me the talk is about Revit and Archicad for their BIM capabilities, sometimes Digital Project.

I'm not really keen on changing I love working with Rhinoceros. However there is a trend and I don't want to be left out so before I am forced to migrate I want to be sure I really have to.

I'm at a "trying to understand the IFC and BIM concepts" stage and how Rhinoceros fits in the picture at this point.

And this is the only forum on the subject ( thanks RhinoShack )

Cheers

Hello

If you are trying to find a simple introduction I suppose you have been to the building smart web site to see what the current specifications are. Just in case here is the link below.

www.iai-tech.org/products/ifc_specificat...ifc-releases/summary

If you read french I have a few simple case studies in that language I can send you by email.

Good luck in your search
Phil

Well, at this exact moment, the BIM capability of Rhino is minimal.
There is a plug-in underdevelopment at the moment called RhinoBIM to add this functionality including clash and clear checks. The development work I'm doing with the Geometry Gym plug-ins is closely related but slightly different. I'm working on tools that can generate and exchange BIM data from primitive rhino objects.

I don't know how simply you want to start with the understanding of BIM and IFC, but my first effort to explain would be to say, instead of drawing primitive lines, curves or even surfaces to represent locations of walls, beams, furniture, you generate an instance of that object to add to a database that has intelligence or attribute awareness, such as location, material etc etc.

The instance then knows how to generate itself in drawing models, so if you change any of the inputs defining or influencing the instance, it gets updated in your database and it can automatically regenerate or update in any model views etc.

IFC is a specification for how to store, translate or exchange this intelligence between software.

I hope maybe that helps a little. Hopefully in the near future with these plug-ins and more, Rhino will be better equipped to develop and exchange this information. And the big benefit if it does is that the learning curve for Rhino is so easy compared to software such as REVIT and Digital Project, and the cost and flexibility of licensing can give it a big advantage in this field.

Cheers,

Jon

Hi Jon
That's a great way to introduce the idea, makes me realize that I was myself unclear on the concept !!
Thanks
Phil ;o)

Thanks Jon

Took some time off the computer for a bit of R and R.

So in IFC you are not really talking about geometry as in points curves surfaces etc. but rather of a recipe to reconstruct these entities in the IFC compliant software. The IFC file containing this information. Am I getting this right?

How is the relationship between entities handled? Since IFC software is to be parametric I suppose this is a one of the main aspects point. Is this part of the recipe?

Regards
T.

Hi T,

Yes, your summary describes the IFC approach. The points, curves and surfaces are used in Rhino to represent the "Elements", and IFC is used as an exchange format so that these elements may be represented in other IFC modelling software.

To date I have been pursuing a Rhino plug-in for importing IFC models into Rhino, but am presently starting on IFC export (or generation from primitive Rhino objects). Relationships between entities such as relative locations is something I have looked at for importing IFC objects. Maintaining or specifying these relationships is something I need to give a little more thought too, but my present expectation is that the plug-in will have menus and commands that allow you to specify these.

I am looking for users to participate in the early beta testing of this IFC development (I'll do my best to prioritize the development of IFC aspects you need the most for any participants). If you're interested (or anyone else reading this thread), send me a private message and I'll send you information for how to download the current version. Hopefully within a month or two this will be come a public beta as per my other plug-ins on www.geometrygym.com/downloads

Cheers,

Jon