New IfcDoc tool web pages and links

Some great work there Jeff, well done.

Gee, thanks…:blush:

I assume your first link is meant to be technical.buildingsmart.org. Not sure if the tools allow you to edit this.

Thanks @JohnDickinson for the catch. Fixed!

Hello Jeff,
I´m an architect enrolled in a master course in OpenBIM through IFC. I intend to develop an MVD to filter data from Architectural model to suit the needs to Structural one.

But actually, I´m quite new to IfcDoc. I was beginning to compose an MVD but wright after including an Exchange Requirement I didn´t manage to continue because I don´t know how to assign an object from the IFC schema to the Model View. Do you know who could I ask about these simple issues?

Current IfcDoc has issues, it doesn’t work well

Thank you for the promptness!
So, I guess it is no longer possible to link by the context menu it was before. Is there any other way to do this or this functionality is unavailable by now?

@jonm is your man, @JLFN1964

Dear Jeff, for over two years nobody has worked on IfcDoc development, so do you think @jonm and @pipauwel can finish it?
Especially these days, when there are requests from multiple sides to buildingSMART to provide an alternative, since it’s now recognized as a critical tool for the industry?

@jonm @jwouellette (tagging persons that from hints may know) I have got an impression that the main goal of IFCDoc is to define my own ModelViewDefinition. I have downloaded the latest version (12.0), and tried to use it. But I am not able to select IFC entities to be included in the Model View, similar to what is said in the discussion above. I have tried to watch the introduction videos (unfortunately the procedure from the video seems not to be available) and I have tried to read the User Guide (without any help). Still I am not able to add IFC entities to my Model View.
Any idea/hint form anybody on what to do?

1 Like

@Sigve: Any comments?

To my understanding the main purpose of the IFCDoc tool is to develop, document and maintain the schema(s). It is more a tool for developers now, rather than an end user tool as I see it. It is also an open source toolkit. I think it is capable of alot, also creating MVDs. I think maybe @jonm could elaborate on its capabilities.

In Norway I know other commercial tools, such as BIMq is used to make MVDs. Maybe there are other tools with these capabilities too.

BIM industry is full of people who know average but claim that they are professionals
It doesn’t matter it be Finland or Norway or the USA or other countries

This is why the built environment industry is one of the less creative industries and always is behind the other industries

With BIMQ you can generate specific MVDs (these days called “Micro MVDs”) but can’t generate “general MVDs” like Design Review and Design Transfer

What I feel is that buildingSMART because of “Import/Export Certificate” has a policy that generally causes these issues in the industry
And some software vendors intensify the situation and even prefer this “chaos”
And others use this chaos as opportunities to build “commercial solutions”

Does it “OpenBIM” or “ClosedBIM?”

1 Like

The latest release of IfcDoc being currently tested is focused on the IFC Rail, IFC Road, IFC Tunnel and IFC Common Schema projects. It does focus a lot on MVD development but this needs to be documented for a wide use. Unfortunately, this might take some time as the aforementioned projects are at a peak and take up most of the resources available.

It’s up to buildingSMART and its policy

But these days some have started to think about the existing issues and the cause.

If buildingSMART can’t focus on all aspects, it’s an issue

These days we hear more or less some say we work out of IFC

1 Like

For people involved in rail, road and tunnels the new possibilities in IFC and IFCDoc will probably be welcomed.
Do any have good suggestion what to do while waiting for working solutions “just for buildings”? Install a previous version of IFCDoc?
Which one to select? 11.9 seems to be similar to 12.0 regarding challenges mentioned above.

1 Like

Some insights:

Thanks for the documentation, I’m just wondering whether it is still being maintained as there are tool options available not mentioned in the documentation page, specifically “Merge Duplicate Properties”.

And after running Merge Duplicate Properties I’m not sure I’m clear of the scope of what is being checked, as I know of many more repeated property names than it is finding.

Also sorry to be annoying but there is a suggested link in the Getting Started section that isn’t actually a link.
While it is entirely possible to build all content from scratch, most users will want to start with an existing IFC release and/or model view definitions found here.

Thanks in advance.

Dear @jwouellette and @jonm is where possible to get ifcdoc baseline files for last version of IFC4?

the link: http://www.buildingsmart-tech.org/specifications/specification-tools/ifcdoc-tool/ifcdoc-baselines is broken right now.

@vserge guess you are landing onto an old domain…here is a new one: https://technical.buildingsmart.org/ (FYI www.buildingsmart-tech.org is out of use).