BlenderBim - Link Ifc file?
Hey folks, I am fairly certain I have used this in the past and it worked, but wondering now how to link an IFC file into another?
The button is right there in:
Scene Properties / IFC Project Setup / IFC Links / 'Link IFC' button
But once pressed it can't detect any of my IFC files?
Is there a step I am missing? Is anyone else experiencing the same thing?
Here is the ifc showing in the folder in windows explorer:
Tagged:
Comments
Unintitively, I believe it's the blender file... I think you need to maintain the blender\ifc connection.
Thanks Theoryshaw I completely forgot it worked that way, was just reading it here aswell:
https://community.osarch.org/discussion/comment/13537/#Comment_13537
Doesn't this break the Ifcness of it all? the link is just a physical reference and can't be used as an instance or anything
It absolutely is the blend file, it worked here:
Unfortunately on reload of the main IFC file the link seems to be forgotten
I see 'typical unit', up there.... maybe you want to explore using aggregates.
See https://github.com/IfcOpenShell/IfcOpenShell/issues/3101#issuecomment-1558264231
Only problem currently, however: https://github.com/IfcOpenShell/IfcOpenShell/issues/3186
... and duplicating an aggregate within an aggregate, too, would be nice, as well: https://community.osarch.org/discussion/comment/15536/#Comment_15536
I think I will haha
Yes just a small problem :D hahahha
yep. :)
Just wanted to give this a gentle bump to see if 'Link IFC' is planned to one day link to an IFC directly or will need to work via a .blend always?
It would be cool to be able to Link various IFCs into a single session - especially for coordination purposes. I am thinking something like linking two separate revisions of an IFC, and then using IFC Diff visualisation to create an interactive view of Added Changed Removed.
I tried this using the existing .blend workflow but I don't think the IFC Diff visualisation 'sees' the IFC objects that are linked via .blend. Or perhaps I just did something wack.
@CSN try to see “BlenderBIM multiple ifc file coordination in same project", sorry i am not able to link it. I think for you is Better to merge files.
Thanks @Bimlooser - I know I could do it with merging IFCs into a single IFC and then loading this in. The query is more of a general one rather than coming up with a workaround for a specific issue.
You are right, Sorry. I focused on last words of your post.
@Ace @theoryshaw @Bimlooser @peterpaul
I don't know if you already knew this, but it is possible as of right now!! (using Blender 3.6.8 with BBIM 240321, maybe older versions too, haven't tested)
It only looks at .ifc, not .blend type files anymore.
Result:
It's unfortunately not entirely without fault.
I found these problems:
these buttons should work, but only the last 2 are 'clickable' or do something
sometimes the IFC is loaded in wrong, e.g. this version where (almost) everything is grouped together, coloured black and named a 'chunk' when selected. Only my stairflight and a door weirdly aren't (separately selectable, but they are included in the linked IFC just as the black chunk)
Chunk hidden:
the IFC when opened normally as a project:
So in conclusion:
You can directly link multiple IFCs, which can either work fine or not. I don't know what triggers the problems.
Thanks for advising. Maybe try to Copy paste the post with attached files (if possibile) on bb GitHub in order to fix the isssues
Indeed, link IFC has been upgraded to a new but incomplete feature to load a readonly but fast view of the IFC. You can use the new explore tool to query individual objects. Blender objects are "chunked". The broken buttons are known issues. The links not being saved to IFC is by design right now, but definitely in the future we can include library references.
they should work now
can you please share some .ifc example?
Any errors opening those files in BlenderBIM separately (without linking)? Can you please share .ifc to reproduce the issue?
The Link IFC now uses a more correct way of false origin referencing than in the past, which can result in odd or "it's so far away!" situations if you don't know what you're doing (currently there is no auto false origin detection, this will be implemented in the future) or if you've set things up wrongly.
In short, if your model uses large coordinates and you open the IFC, it will auto detect a false origin which is arbitrary and isolated to your Blender session. If you link the IFC, it will not auto detect a false origin. Instead, you need to state what you'd like as your false origin (when linking, see the settings in the file browser). Those coordinates will correlate to the Blender 0,0,0. This means that if you link together multiple IFCs, all with different false origins, things will still come through in the correct location relative to your nominated "federated" false origin.
In the past, it might come through correctly, it might not, depending on luck. Admittedly we have pretty good "guessing" code, so users tend to get pretty lucky :) But now we can and should do better.
Hi, I was using Bonsai 0.8.0 and trying out links again, but still got a few issues I don't understand!
@dionmoult thanks for explaining, but it seems I dont get it to work as intended. Well technically it's possible but I don't understand how it works :)
When I link a file, automatic puts it in 0,0,0 which is fine as it doesnt know where it should go. I haven't georeferenced it correctly yet. I would expect that I can move a linked ifc to the right position, but that isn't the case. Is there a setting I can change the location of the linked file from within the ifc? 'G' doesn't work, which would be nice if it would! Is it pinned or something?
Unlinking and setting false origin manually gives 2 problems:
Deleting cache / untoggling the 'use cache' doesn't work. It still places it at the initial displacement...
I tried adding manual coordinates by setting the 3D cursor, reading those coordinates and putting it in the 'False Origin' tab. A bit cumbersome but okay, I don't know how to drag the linked ifc. When the file was linked (for the first time, see the problem above) they were moved the correct amount but in the negative/wrong direction. Is this a bug or a feature? Of course I can put in - in the false origin, but it seems a bit weird.
Ps. the loading times for linking the IFC without cache are longer then in the gif, is there a way to make it faster? Around 22 seconds for those 3 walls to load in (89kb) :)