Arch IFC/en

Warning: IFC files handling is still under development, and should not be relied on for production work.

Importing
The Arch Module features an Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) importer. The IFC format is a more and more widely spread format to interchange data between BIM applications, used in architecture an d engineering.

The importer is still a work in progress, and can use two different IFC processing engines: a built-in python parser, that is slower but doesn't need any other piece of software, or IfcOpenShell, which is not bundled with FreeCAD and must be installed on your system. If IfcOpenShell is correctly installed, it will be detected by FreeCAD and used to import IFC files, unless you force the use of the internal python parser from the Arch preferences settings.

The use of IfcOpenShell is highly recommended, since it is much faster and more powerful than the internal parser. IfcOpenShell supports all Ifc 2.3 entities that carry geometry information (not all of them can be converted to Arch objects), those that can't will be imported as simple Part shapes. The internal parser only supports the following types:


 * Walls
 * Beams, columns, Footings and Slabs
 * Doors and Windows
 * Floors
 * Buildings
 * Sites

Exporting
Exporting to IFC files is currently experimental and requires a special development version of IfcOpenShell. If that version is installed, IFC export becomes available. Be aware that this functionality is still in development and might not produce usable files.