IFC exporter ? (Updated to include Import and Export)

[RichJacobUK]

No doubt most people are becoming aware of and familiar with the IFC file format. With the advent of BIM and the steady progression into a BIM mentality it would seem an obvious move to have IFC capabilities in 3ds max and other similar software. I am able to export an IFC out of revit for instance, which is very useful . But If I want to send my revit model into MAX and add some other objects/models to my scene then I would still like to be able to export to IFC format from MAX. Please can you consider adding this functionality to MAX in the very near future.

Thanks.

Kind regards

[chroma123]

However, this might be interesting for you.

http://ifcopenshell.org/

"Currently on the menu is an importer for Autodesk 3ds Max, an importer for Blender and a stand-alone application to convert an IFC file into a Wavefront .obj file. Furthermore, software developers are explicitly encouraged to use the IfcOpenShell library in their own applications."

Why aren't you making such importer yourselves? Just importing the 3d data is not really interesting, what is interesting is maintaining (and possibility) to change the IFC data that is connected to the objects in the IFC files.

[Tupaia]

IFC is the file format in the world of BIM, which, like it or not, is the future in architectural planning. In fact, the future has started a few years ago already.

The question that you should ask yourself is a political one - do I (Autodesk) want to keep the foot firmly in the door regarding architectural visualization? Because that's what Max is seemingly focused at mainly, is it not? If so, then supporting the IFC format would help for sure.

3ds Max could function as a BIM model viewer / renderer. There are a few already.

http://bimvision.eu/en/free-ifc-model-viewer/

However, Max being a full-blown BIM application would be a little over the top...

[brentscannell]

Thanks for that link!

In short, this is not about what we can do and can't do...we've got a lot of intellectual horsepower here and there's pretty much nothing that we can't do. Why we aren't working that right now is more a question of market strategy and priority among features that users need today. With that in mind, we do have a process for exploring ideas and ensuring that we are ready for tomorrow and being proactive about it. That's exactly why I'm asking for community help to make sure we are getting all the right information to make the best decisions possible, given all the factors. Sometimes this means choosing to build something ourselves, sometimes it means partnerships with other development organizations who have been more focused on a particular feature area. We'll definitely be keeping an eye out 🙂

[Anonymous]

I just would like to share a link which can help: http://www.datakit.com/en/crosscad_ware.php

It is an API that can be integrated in software to add IFC data import functionalities.

[chroma123]

Thank you brentscannell. Yes, I believe you should keep a pretty close eye on it. Some of your people must be updated on IFC 4 and must have some thought about what Autodesk is going to do with ifc support in/out. At least, perhaps it would be something to discuss as a case internally at Autodesk with those resources, to agree on a stance wether external or build self? I would like to know what tech I should rely on, because demands are coming, and so are alternatives, however I want to stay with Autodesk.

[roger.olofsson]

Hi,

I am using the importer that @chroma123 mentioned above. It has been working fine for me to bring in geometry. I also generate an excel file from a bim editor with the bim information and from excel I create a text file with the inofrmation.  That way I am able to use the bim information in max. It works but I sure would like to have it as part of max. (The ifc importer only works for max 2016).

Roger,

[chroma123]

@roger.olofsson, can you describe how you are able to use the bim information in max through a separate excel file? 

[roger.olofsson]

I use the bim data to select geometry that share comman bim parameters for example getting all the light fixtures of a different type.

I use Simplebim to do a first treatment of the ifc where I write a seperate ifc file for every object class in the file. In max I end up with a layer for every object class. Simplebim is able to write out an excel file for all the bim information in the model.  I open the file and if it is the steel beams that I want to find in max I write out all the GUID names of the steel beams in a simple text file, with a script I can then select all steel beams in max by reading the text file (when the ifc is imported to max the objects gets the GUID as object name). 

In the example of light fixures I have a script that renames the object with the light fixture model name, a text file that contains the GUID and the light fixture model name is generated from the excel file. Really helps when we need to replace the geometry for a more detailed version.

So noting fancy but it does what I need at this time. 

Hope it clarifys things

[waqasziachaudhry]

What is the status for getting an IFC importer into 3D MAX?

Also there is a serious need for  the imported data to be moved from the typical larger coordinates in BIM to something more local that 3D MAX can handle without messing up the data due to round off errors.

This last point needs to be available for DWG files as well.