Hello everyone,
I’m having a problem using Sketchup with ArchiCAD for BIM.
In my working group I deal with structural design. To comply with BIM regulations, information about the entire project, including the facilities, must be provided.
I did some testing and saw that IFC files exported from Sketchup are read by ArchiCAD but not completely. That is, you see the information, the geometry is read, but the “way” this is done does not allow ArchiCAD to have editable objects.
The reason, I think, is that Sketchup exports items as B-REP, stuff like
#…= IFCFACETEDBREP(…) which ArchiCAD doesn’t want.
ArchiCAD would like elements that can be defined through extrusion and therefore a shape and a distance, i.e. stuff like
#369= IFCPRODUCTDEFINITIONSHAPE($,$,(#370)).
Have you ever encountered this problem? Is it possible to force Sketchup (perhaps with plugins) to export with extruded elements?
Maybe you could think of automating the IFC file modification with a script but I see it as difficult…
Thank you.
I am not versed in the intricacies of IFC export from SketchUp, but a SketchUp model consists purely of face geometry, with no “parametric” information stored. After a face is pulled to a 3D shape or extruded with the Follow Me function, the model only keeps the resulting faces, not the method used to create them. Circles and arcs are the only complex entities that “are aware” of their nature unless they are exploded.
Hi, when you go to export an ifc file from the native SU menu, you can choose:
Tesselation (by default) or Body - you might want to do a test…
& if you use the Ifc_Manager Plugin, you can also choose
if neither option works, try contacting @tiagoricotta who heads the interoperability aspects of SU
Good luck, as ArchiCrade is a funny beast…
Interoperability is always a two-way street. SketchUp uses a surface-based modeling style, which means it does not yet support exporting IfcExtrudedAreaSolid (or other procedural IFC geometry classes). If ArchiCAD can make elements editable via extrusion paths only, the SketchUp geometry will stay static. However, I think you can bypass this in ArchiCAD by adjusting your IFC Translator settings. Instead of trying to force a Construction Element, you could map the geometry to Morphs (my ArchiCAD knowledge is quite limited, maybe this can work).
Ping me with a private message here in the forum if you want to discuss this with a meeting.
test-ifc4-site and address-ifc4.zip (1,5 Mo)
& here are two really simple exported ifc4 files, one Brep(Body) & the other Tess’.
But @tiagoricotta has already answered the question !
Thanks everyone, for now. I’m going to try.
Lets us know the results, I was quite comfortable with ArchiCAD interop since they are really good with IFC, but if we need to improve in some areas to make the interoperability better than I really want to know more what we could do to make this workflow better 