Reading window height and sill from a real IFC file

The wall-framing takeoff's IFC reader ignored opening heights. A real buildingSMART sample showed the cost: a 500 mm sill framed as 34.5 in.

Tools and projects · 1 min read · Source
wall-framing-takeoffifcconstruction

The wall-framing takeoff reads IFC floor plans, but until now it had only seen hand-written fragments and a buildingSMART house with no doors or windows. This run tried buildingSMART's wall-with-opening-and-window.ifc: a 3 m wall with a 1000 x 1000 mm window whose placement is nested in an opening element, 500 mm off the floor.

Position and width came out right (offset 39.4 in, width 39.4 in). The height did not: the reader used its 48 in default and the default header height, so the window would have been framed with a 34.5 in sill instead of 19.7 in. The reader now takes OverallHeight and the elevation of the placement chain, and the engine frames the sill at 500 mm. A test pins the numbers to the file.

This is still one small file with one window. Doors, several storeys and exports from Revit or ArchiCAD are the next real inputs; the venture's README lists them.

More in Tools and projects

All writing · All in this topic · All tools and research