Answer:
In RFEM 6, we use a 3rd party tool (IFCOpenShell) to import the IFC files and convert the text into objects.
RFEM 6 shows you the import log after importing an IFC file.
In many cases, the error is displayed. The error messages are generated by the tool, not directly by us. So if the tool thinks that an entity is incorrectly defined in this IFC file, it will be mentioned there. If this is the case, an object (Wall, Column, …) may not be displayed after the import.
For example, a wall is to be imported. However, it is not displayed in RFEM 6 (IFC file attached). The error does not describe the problem precisely. It roughly points in the direction of the cause. If you need more information, you can use a validation tool developed by IfcOpenShell. In order to use it, follow the steps below:
- Download Python from the Windows App Store (if you don't have Python, just type "python" without "" on the cmd line and the App Store should appear).
- Download the associated IfcOpenShell Python module from this page:
- Extract the contents into the "site-packages" folder of your Python distribution. You can find this folder by adding the following command to the cmd line: python -m site --user-site
- Open the cmd line and paste the following command: python -m ifcopenshell.validate "path of your IFC file"
- As a result, you will get more information about the problem:
Both messages (from the log file and the Python tool) allow you to point out the problem directly. In the case of the example shown, no surface was imported. The reason was that some information was missing in #36 IFCFaceSurface. However, the RFEM warning only indicated #43 "IfcTopologyRepresentation."
