IFC Checker

What is IFC Checker?

IFC Checker checks IFC building models against the requirements in an IDS file. It shows the result in tables where only the failing value is marked, and it can write the rows you pick as BCF issues for the people who fix them.

Try it on the sample

  1. Open Check in the top bar.
  2. Choose Try the sample model: it adds the sample model with IFC Checker sample checks and Model health.
  3. Choose Run checker.
  4. On Results, read the Model Correctness Index, the counts under it and the result of every element.
  5. Go on with the main screen and the Results page, part by part.

How you review a model

  • Results in tables: Pass, Fail or Untested for every element, grouped by property set, with only the failing value marked and In doubt where IFC Checker cannot be sure of a result. Every column filters and sorts.
  • Mark a value as an issue or not an issue, and make it a rule for every similar case: the test is changed and the models are checked again with it on the same page, with Undo and the changed IDS to download.
  • Select the rows with failing values and add them to BCF: each issue names its elements, with a picture of them from the 3D view.
  • An IDS editor that drafts the requirements from the model itself: rules from the property sets it carries, the values it found as suggestions, and live counts on the loaded model.
  • The Model Correctness Index, from 0.00 to 1.00, always with how many elements were tested: 1,000 elements with 300 failed and 200 untested give 0.60.
  • Up to five models in one check, on one page, with one index for all.
  • A 3D view of the same result, with the failed elements in red and the passed ones in green, and an analytical view of big numbers over it.
  • BCF 2.1 issues you can change before you download them, an Excel workbook and a CSV file, and a link that opens a saved result for anyone you send it to.
  • Predefined tests to begin from, COBie among them, or your own IDS file.

What a result rests on

  • IFC Checker is built on IFC Lite, an open source engine (MPL-2.0).
  • The engine gives the specified result on all 334 of buildingSMART's IDS test cases, checked on every change.
  • Untested is not Pass: the Model Correctness Index always shows how many elements were tested, and is withheld, with the reason, when the result cannot be trusted as complete.
  • An IDS file that fails IFC Checker's IDS checks is refused, with the reason, and the IDS editor writes only an IDS that passes them.
  • Model health in the same check: whether every record of the file can be read, and whether it matches its IFC schema.

The three formats

IFC is the open file format for building models. IDS (Information Delivery Specification) is a file of requirements for them. BCF (BIM Collaboration Format) carries issues between tools. What are BIM and openBIM? explains all three.

Who it is for

For clients and their information managers, who check the models they receive, and for the designers, contractors and BIM coordinators who check them before handover. Both sides run the same checks against the same requirements.