Importing IFC file from archiCAD

[nazim.200321]

Anyone have experience with this? I have attempted with some success, however the elements don't come through as I had hoped. For instance, the windows/doors don't have any basic information embedded such as basic height and width. Also, much of the window geometry is floating/offset 20 ft out of the host wall when importing to Revit. What would cause this, and is there a fix? Am I required to manually set up all the different window and door types? Doesn't seem like I should have to..

Thanks

[sven.129574]

We went through this several months ago, with 2011 software. We were doing Technology work for projects where the architect was using ArchiCAD. It was a pain back then, and my quick tests in 2012 made it look like the issues had not been addressed in 2012.

Fortunately, the architect was very understanding, working with us to determine what kinds of ArchiCAD elements were causing Revit to crash during import (it was objects, especially walls, created as extrusions in ArchiCAD), and agreeing to re-model everything that caused import problems.

In my opinion, some of the problems are ArchiCAD's problems. For instance, apparently ArchiCAD doesn't have "ceilings." Sometimes doors would appear 10 or 20 feet in front of the wall they were hosted in (though I think the architect figured out a way to correct the problem at his end). And where the architect had doors with sidelights, the door geometry included the sidelight, but the wall opening was only wide enough for the door (so that the wall "swallowed" the sidelight).

I think that more often than not, though, the fault lies with Revit. Try exporting an IFC file from Revit and re-importing it back into Revit. Diffusers, receptacles, and other objects sometimes move. I've attached a letter I wrote to Autodesk Support illustrating some of the problems we had.

Even after extensively "training" the architect in how to model things so that Revit would approve, the workflow only just barely worked. Elements were basically just geometry with a category. Many elements were missing faces, and wouldn't "hold water;" many other objects had faces that wouldn't host face-based elements. We wound up having to place reference planes along all the walls to serve as hosts for all our stuff.

I hope your efforts meet with better luck. I'd like to know how they turn out.