import IFC

hello,

I've attached a 3D PDF of an IFC file of a concrete tank.

Is it possible to import this IFC (or 3D PDF) and place it within the model as an existing or new structure? It could define the excavation outlines (1m from slab edge) as well as backfill volumes against the building.

Theoretically if I had good quality CAD files of existing/ proposed/ pavement outlines/ and IFCs of all new and existing structures. I could model a job very fast.

This one is a bit out there but probably the future?

Note that I don't think 3D PDFs are favoured by big software companies - IFC seems to be the way things are going to go.

Hi msnowdowne

Interesting discussion in regard to PDF and IFC.  We did look into exporting IFC some time ago, but the standard wasn't especially clear as to what object to save topography to (either existing or proposed).  I think recently when I looked into it in more detail there were some more options available in IFC4 IFcSite seems like a good candidate to store the existing as a either Points\Breaks and an Outline and the TIN which IfcFaceBasedSurfaceModel

However I am not sure how the Proposed phases might be stored.  As perhaps 'structures' or something.  At the moment we only store DWG, DXF and LandXML. 

You should be able to export from your BIM software into these formats as well as IFC.  It sound like you have modelled surfaces in IFC.  You should be able to export these to DWG polyface mesh and then import directly into Kubla Cubed as a Triangle Surface. 

In terms of import, in theory it should be possible.  Kubla Cubed has the Triangle Surface and Feature Surface that could be used to bring in the data form BIM.  However IFC seems vast in scope and very difficult to develop against compared to much simpler formats like LandXML and OBJ.

DWG\DXF\PDF are also very complicated but do have very established APIs which make things a lot easier.  There are some APIs for IFC also.  We would probably use this one : 

https://www.opendesign.com/products/ifc-sdk

However the tricky part is it seems that there are multiple ways to store the same thing in BIM.  Also different versions of IFC which makes support a bit of a nightmare.  If there was strong demand from the community we could justify supporting import of a limited set (e.g IfcTriangulatedFaceSet)

As for 3D PDF, we are actually considering this.  We use a API called TEIGHA that has this ability, so where going to experiment.  I didn't think of import but it could be possible.  PDF is not a BIM format or even a CAD format, that being said it is widely used so we will support it if we can. 

I think when it comes to IFC it is something we will look to support in our more premium product Kubla Cubed Ultimate.  However that is probably 2 years in the future at least.