Usage¶
Example commands¶
For the most basic usage, specify an input and output file. The file extension you provide for the output file determines what format the IFC is converted to.
$ IfcConvert /path/to/input.ifc /path/to/output.obj
Tip
On Windows, you can drag and drop a .ifc file on the IfcConvert.exe
file to automatically convert it to an .obj file.
For any conversion, it is recommended to use multiple cores to speed up processing:
# Change "7" to the number of CPU cores you have then plus one.
$ IfcConvert -j 7 /path/to/input.ifc /path/to/output.dae
By default, units are converted to meters. If you want to retain the original units:
$ IfcConvert --convert-back-units /path/to/input.ifc /path/to/output.stp
If your IFC uses large map coordinates and your desired format cannot handle it:
$ IfcConvert --center-model /path/to/input.ifc /path/to/output.glb
# Alternatively:
$ IfcConvert --center-model-geometry /path/to/input.ifc /path/to/output.glb
# Or you can specify a manual offset in X;Y;Z format
$ IfcConvert --model-offset "10000;10000;0" /path/to/input.ifc /path/to/output.glb
IfcConvert can be used to convert only specific elements.
# Convert only walls and slabs
$ IfcConvert --include entities IfcWall IfcSlab -v /path/to/input.ifc /path/to/output.glb
# Convert only these two particular elements filtered by GlobalId
$ IfcConvert --include attribute GlobalId 1yETHMphv6LwABqR4Pbs5g attribute GlobalId 1yETHMphv6LwABqR0Pbs5g -v /path/to/input.ifc /path/to/output.glb
# Convert all objects on level 1. Note how "+" is used.
$ IfcConvert --include+=attribute Name "Level 1" -v /path/to/input.ifc /path/to/output.glb
Warning
The include (or exclude) arguments cannot be placed right before input file argument and only single of each argument supported for now.
IfcConvert can also be used to generate SVG floorplans:
$ IfcConvert /path/to/input.ifc -yv /path/to/output.svg \
-j 7 --exclude entities IfcOpeningElement IfcSpace
CLI Manual¶
$ IfcConvert -h
IfcOpenShell IfcConvert v0.7.0-dc67287d (OCC 7.5.3)
Usage: IfcConvert [options] <input.ifc> [<output>]
Converts (the geometry in) an IFC file into one of the following formats:
.obj WaveFront OBJ (a .mtl file is also created)
.dae Collada Digital Assets Exchange
.glb glTF Binary glTF v2.0
.stp STEP Standard for the Exchange of Product Data
.igs IGES Initial Graphics Exchange Specification
.xml XML Property definitions and decomposition tree
.svg SVG Scalable Vector Graphics (2D floor plan)
.h5 HDF Hierarchical Data Format storing positions, normals and indices
.ifc IFC-SPF Industry Foundation Classes
If no output filename given, <input>.obj will be used as the output file.
Command line options:
-h [ --help ] display usage information
--version display version information
-v [ --verbose ] more verbose log messages. Use twice
(-vv) for debugging level.
-d [ --debug ] write boolean operands to file in
current directory for debugging
purposes
-q [ --quiet ] less status and progress output
--cache cache geometry creation. Use
--cache-file to specify cache file
path.
--stderr-progress output progress to stderr stream
-y [ --yes ] answer 'yes' automatically to possible
confirmation queries (e.g. overwriting
an existing output file)
--no-progress suppress possible progress bar type of
prints that use carriage return
--log-format arg log format: plain or json
--log-file arg redirect log output to file
Geometry options:
-j [ --threads ] arg (=1) Number of parallel processing threads
for geometry interpretation.
--plan Specifies whether to include curves in
the output result. Typically these are
representations of type Plan or Axis.
Excluded by default.
--model Specifies whether to include surfaces
and solids in the output result.
Typically these are representations of
type Body or Facetation. Included by
default.
--weld-vertices Specifies whether vertices are welded,
meaning that the coordinates vector
will only contain unique xyz-triplets.
This results in a manifold mesh which
is useful for modelling applications,
but might result in unwanted shading
artefacts in rendering applications.
--use-world-coords Specifies whether to apply the local
placements of building elements
directly to the coordinates of the
representation mesh rather than to
represent the local placement in the
4x3 matrix, which will in that case be
the identity matrix.
--convert-back-units Specifies whether to convert back
geometrical output back to the unit of
measure in which it is defined in the
IFC file. Default is to use meters.
--orient-shells Specifies whether to orient the faces
of IfcConnectedFaceSets. This is a
potentially time consuming operation,
but guarantees a consistent orientation
of surface normals, even if the faces
are not properly oriented in the IFC
file.
--center-model Centers the elements by applying the
center point of all placements as an
offset.Can take several minutes on
large models.
--center-model-geometry Centers the elements by applying the
center point of all mesh vertices as an
offset.
--model-offset arg Applies an arbitrary offset of form
'x;y;z' to all placements.
--model-rotation arg Applies an arbitrary quaternion
rotation of form 'x;y;z;w' to all
placements.
--disable-opening-subtractions Specifies whether to disable the
boolean subtraction of
IfcOpeningElement Representations from
their RelatingElements.
--disable-boolean-results Specifies whether to disable the
boolean operation within
representations such as clippings by
means of IfcBooleanResult and subtypes
--no-2d-boolean Do not attempt to process boolean
subtractions in 2D.
--enable-layerset-slicing Specifies whether to enable the slicing
of products according to their
associated IfcMaterialLayerSet.
--layerset-first Assigns the first layer material of the
layerset to the complete product.
--include arg Specifies that the instances that match
a specific filtering criteria are to be
included in the geometrical output:
1) 'entities': the following list of
types should be included. SVG output
defaults to IfcSpace to be included.
The entity names are handled
case-insensitively.
2) 'layers': the instances that are
assigned to presentation layers of
which names match the given values
should be included.
3) 'attribute <AttributeName>':
products whose value for
<AttributeName> should be included
. Currently supported arguments are
GlobalId, Name, Description, and Tag.
The values for 'layers' and 'arg' are
handled case-sensitively (wildcards
supported).--include and --exclude
cannot be placed right before input
file argument and only single of each
argument supported for now. See also
--exclude.
--include+ arg Same as --include but applies filtering
also to the decomposition and/or
containment (IsDecomposedBy,
HasOpenings, FillsVoid,
ContainedInStructure) of the filtered
entity, e.g. --include+=arg Name "Level
1" includes entity with name "Level 1"
and all of its children. See --include
for more information.
--exclude arg Specifies that the entities that match
a specific filtering criteria are to be
excluded in the geometrical output.See
--include for syntax and more details.
The default value is
'--exclude=entities IfcOpeningElement
IfcSpace'.
--exclude+ arg Same as --exclude but applies filtering
also to the decomposition and/or
containment of the filtered entity. See
--include+ for more details.
--filter-file arg Specifies a filter file that describes
the used filtering criteria. Supported
formats are '--include=arg GlobalId
...' and 'include arg GlobalId ...'.
Spaces and tabs can be used as
delimiters.Multiple filters of same
type with different values can be
inserted on their own lines. See
--include, --include+, --exclude, and
--exclude+ for more details.
--no-normals Disables computation of normals. Saves
time and file size and is useful in
instances where you're going to
recompute normals for the exported
model in other modelling application in
any case.
--deflection-tolerance arg (=0.001) Sets the deflection tolerance of the
mesher, 1e-3 by default if not
specified.
--force-space-transparency arg Overrides transparency of spaces in
geometry output.
--angular-tolerance arg (=0.5) Sets the angular tolerance of the
mesher in radians 0.5 by default if not
specified.
--generate-uvs Generates UVs (texture coordinates) by
using simple box projection. Requires
normals. Not guaranteed to work
properly if used with --weld-vertices.
--default-material-file arg Specifies a material file that
describes the material object types
will haveif an object does not have any
specified material in the IFC file.
--validate Checks whether geometrical output
conforms to the included explicit
quantities.
--no-wire-intersection-check Skip wire intersection check.
--no-wire-intersection-tolerance Set wire intersection tolerance to 0.
--strict-tolerance Use exact tolerance from model. Default
is a 10 times increase for more
permissive edge curves and fewer
artifacts after boolean operations at
the expense of geometric detail due to
vertex collapsing and wire intersection
fuzziness.
Serialization options:
--bounds arg Specifies the bounding rectangle, for
example 512x512, to which the output
will be scaled. Only used when
converting to SVG.
--scale arg Interprets SVG bounds in mm, centers
layout and draw elements to scale. Only
used when converting to SVG. Example
1:100.
--center arg When using --scale, specifies the
location in the range [0 1]x[0 1]
around whichto center the drawings.
Example 0.5x0.5 (default).
--section-ref arg Element at which cross sections should
be created
--elevation-ref arg Element at which drawings should be
created
--elevation-ref-guid arg Element guids at which drawings should
be created
--auto-section Creates SVG cross section drawings
automatically based on model extents
--auto-elevation Creates SVG elevation drawings
automatically based on model extents
--draw-storey-heights [=arg(=full)] (=none)
Draws a horizontal line at the height
of building storeys in vertical
drawings
--storey-height-line-length arg Length of the line when
--draw-storey-heights=left
--svg-xmlns Stores name and guid in a separate
namespace as opposed to data-name,
data-guid
--svg-poly Uses the polygonal algorithm for hidden
line rendering
--svg-write-poly Approximate every curve as polygonal in
SVG output
--svg-project Always enable hidden line rendering
instead of only on elevations
--svg-without-storeys Don't emit drawings for building
storeys
--svg-no-css Don't emit CSS style declarations
--door-arcs Draw door openings arcs for IfcDoor
elements
--section-height arg Specifies the cut section height for
SVG 2D geometry.
--section-height-from-storeys Derives section height from storey
elevation. Use --section-height to
override default offset of 1.2
--use-element-names Use entity instance IfcRoot.Name
instead of unique IDs for naming
elements upon serialization. Applicable
for OBJ, DAE, and SVG output.
--use-element-guids Use entity instance IfcRoot.GlobalId
instead of unique IDs for naming
elements upon serialization. Applicable
for OBJ, DAE, and SVG output.
--use-element-numeric-ids Use the numeric step identifier (entity
instance name) for naming elements upon
serialization. Applicable for OBJ, DAE,
and SVG output.
--use-material-names Use material names instead of unique
IDs for naming materials upon
serialization. Applicable for OBJ and
DAE output.
--use-element-types Use element types instead of unique IDs
for naming elements upon serialization.
Applicable for DAE output.
--use-element-hierarchy Order the elements using their
IfcBuildingStorey parent. Applicable
for DAE output.
--site-local-placement Place elements locally in the IfcSite
coordinate system, instead of placing
them in the IFC global coords.
Applicable for OBJ and DAE output.
--y-up Change the 'up' axis to positive Y,
default is Z UP, Applicable for OBJ
output.
--building-local-placement Similar to --site-local-placement, but
placing elements in locally in the
parent IfcBuilding coord system
--precision arg (=15) Sets the precision to be used to format
floating-point values, 15 by default.
Use a negative value to use the
system's default precision (should be 6
typically). Applicable for OBJ and DAE
output. For DAE output, value >= 15
means that up to 16 decimals are used,
and any other value means that 6 or 7
decimals are used.
--print-space-names Prints IfcSpace LongName and Name in
the geometry output. Applicable for SVG
output
--print-space-areas Prints calculated IfcSpace areas in
square meters. Applicable for SVG
output
--space-name-transform arg Additional transform to the space
labels in SVG
--edge-arrows Adds arrow heads to edge segments to
signify edge direction