Session 2.4
IFC for smartie-pants
Synopsis:
This class provides you with technical knowledge about the IFC schema required to ascend from simply using IFC to commandeering IFC. It will take you deep into the technical aspects of the IFC schema, and provide you with tools and skillsets to extract and manipulate IFC data.
Learning Objectives:
1. Creating a deeper understanding of the IFC Schema
2. Providing you with a skillset to troubleshoot IFC files
3. Providing insight into the vast possibilities IFC offers to the Building Industry
Body:
“Over the past few years we at Bimforce have been diving deep into IFC. Writing IfcProjectLibrary files by hand to generate parametric Ifc content. Building custom database definitions and linking them to company datasources. We’ve learned a lot about how the IfcSchema works and what it’s possibilities are. They go way beyond the standard use cases of Ifc.
We wanted to expand the envelope even further and are developing a configurator to generate entire houses within Ifc and facilitate the entire process from initial plan to generating complete models. For this we developed what we call the IfcGraph So you’ve memorized all “IFC for Dummies” materials. You’ve conquered Revit and whipped it into generating fairly reasonable IFC export files. You’re the IFC Superhero everybody calls when Open BIM excrements hit the proverbial IfcFan. And yes, that actually is an existing IfcClass. But you knew that, since you’re the IFC Guy. If this is you, this lecture will provide you with a new challenge. Because in this lecture we will be diving into the excruciatingly technical details of the IFC Schema, it’s limitations but above all it’s uncharted possibilities.
We will be looking at how an IFC file is set up, and how this big pile of text manages to describe an entire building:
-Describing geometry in the IFC language. We’ll be finding out why it’s so hard to get IFC to behave parametrically
-Combine multiple geometry definitions into a single object
-Add various types of information to your IFC
-Create relations between objects and utilize them in other software.
And all of this with Notepad++ as your only friend and ally. No not really. This class will also be looking into various tools and ways to examine your IFC data. Ways to visualise it and research the structure.
Furthermore, we will be looking into highly experimental and sophisticated ways to use IFC: in semantic databases, as an intermediate in Linked Data solutions, as a vehicle to create native content in proprietary modelling software. We will be providing you with real-life examples of some of the most high-end solutions to interoperability issues that you could possibly find.
We will show you (Open Source) tooling Bimforce funded the development of, and discuss the shoulders of giants we were so lucky to utilize. ”