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IFC export : export only architectural elements (windows, doors and symbols) without walls.


GatRed

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Hi,

I need to export my model with only the architectural elements in order that the BIM manager check if the structural model of the engineer and mine merges correctly, and I’ve got a problem :

How to deal with symbols, doors and symbols inside walls ?

If I hide the wall’s class, the windows (etc.) are hide also. Is there any other way to export only windows and doors correctly in the example attached ?

(@Mihail Rizov and @AChekir)

(please note that it is an example, in my model, I’ve got many many of them. So it is not possible to make each time opening in the wall and to put the window not in the wall…)

 

Thanks !

VW-ifc export only windows.png

VW-ifc export only windows.vwx

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I think that will be a challenge, if not impossible. Usually windows and doors are dependend on walls in the ifc schema. It should be easy to turn off the walls in the model checking software. In Solibri I can filter the windows and doors for specific clashes between architectural model and structural model.

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main problem might be, that all windows, doors, wall-openings are nested into their corresponding walls.

Creating a new file with all layers, stories from the original model, without any content and copying and pasting all windows, doors... and pasting them "in place" to their original location could solve your problem. I tried to copy and paste doors, windows "in place" inside  your file from one design layer into another and it worked quite well.

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Thanks @eleppand @matteoluigifor those replies.

@eleppIt is quite easy to hide specific ifc elements into ifc checker / viewers because if you hide ifcwall or ifcwallstandardcase, ifcwindows including in the walls are not hidden.

> it would be nice if Vectorworks has the same behaviour !

@matteoluigi this method works, but it is not applicable on big projects, moreover for each time you want to exchange with the structure consultant.

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3 hours ago, GatRed said:

Thanks @eleppand @matteoluigifor those replies.

@eleppIt is quite easy to hide specific ifc elements into ifc checker / viewers because if you hide ifcwall or ifcwallstandardcase, ifcwindows including in the walls are not hidden.

> it would be nice if Vectorworks has the same behaviour !

@matteoluigi this method works, but it is not applicable on big projects, moreover for each time you want to exchange with the structure consultant.

 

It would be nice to be able to hide walls within VW and leave the components behind, but this would not be good for IFC issue.

 

Why can the recipient not hide the walls, or set up a rule to compare 'IfcOpeningElement' or similar to compare the position of the windows, etc?

 

Why are they not comparing your placeholder structural model with the Structures model?  This would be the easiest thing to do.  You model structural placeholders.  You compare your structure with their structure.

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35 minutes ago, shorter said:

Why can the recipient not hide the walls, or set up a rule to compare 'IfcOpeningElement' or similar to compare the position of the windows, etc?

Theoretically possible.

But discussions with engineers on BIM subjects are not always simple. Moreover, big ifc files are difficult to import by Revit (used by our consultant). That is one of the reason I try to export only architectural parts.

38 minutes ago, shorter said:

Why are they not comparing your placeholder structural model with the Structures model?  This would be the easiest thing to do.  You model structural placeholders.  You compare your structure with their structure.

That is what we are doing for now.

 

 

I was just wondering : if viewers and checker can hide walls without hiding windows, maybe Vectorworks could do the same…

And our BIM manager asked us to make an ifc with only architectural things, in order to merge structure / MEP / Archi and avoid any misunderstanding between the structure modelled by the consultant and the structure modelled by the architect if their is any difference.

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Hi @Mihail Rizov,

 

I’m glad to hear from you.

 

Sure, I understand that it is not a usual case.

My situation is the following :

IFC project file is quite heavy and difficult to import with all element by the structure engineer. Moreover we have this request from the BIM manager to export a IFC file without any structural or MEP elements – he merges those 3 ifc files after – so there is no confusion of who did what. I try to model the structure (made of concrete and steel beams and columns) but it is really not easy to use the structural member tool for now (I made VBs). Moreover, modelling twice the structure (Arch.+Struc.En.) is useless…

And finally, inside Vectorworks, if there is a window in a Wall, you can select directly. It is not a situation where the window is inside a group which is a wall and you have to enter into this group to select the window.

So finally, in first approach, I think it is strange that hiding a wall hides the windows.

That said, I understand the IFC structure, but if you say that is not impossible………… I hope to hear soon from you !

 

Kind regards,

Gaëtan Redelsperger

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The way windows and doors work in Vectorworks was set long before IFC was even an acronym.

 

In VW, If the parent or container object (the wall in this case, but it could be a symbol, a plug-in object, a group or ???) is not visible, then all of the child or contained objects are also not visible.

 

So if you set the Class of a Wall to Invisible, it does not matter what Class the Window is or what it's class visibility is set to, because the wall is not visible, the window will not be visible either.

 

I think we can see what you are asking for, but there is no simple way to accomplish this currently in VW. If this is something that you need to do long term, then I recommend that you add a post asking for this functionality to the Wish List forum.

 

The best work around I can think of is a script that will go through all the doors and windows and duplicate them in place, not inserted in the walls prior to your export. You would then delete them after you complete the export.

 

HTH

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15 hours ago, shorter said:

Are they using Revit to ‘clash detect’ by any chance?

No, they are using SimpleBIM to merge the ifc files and precisely georeferencing them, and I think BimCollab to detect clashes.

 

Thanks to all  for your reactions and workaround solutions/propositions.

Edited by GatRed
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