Why Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs) are Needed?

IFCs attempt to define every aspect of a building: walls, doors, heating ducts, and more. In BIM models, walls, doors, and heating ducts have information attached to them: their location (which floor), their position, their size, their properties, and so on.

The following article is an abstract of the eBook ‘Best CAD Practices’ by Ralph Grabowski. Graebert is happy to share with you some of the experience accumulated by Ralph as a CAD expert and as compiled in his eBook for which the reference can be found at the bottom of the page. Feel free to share feedback in the comment section below.

IFCs do not concern themselves with aspects of CAD that we traditionally think are important. IFCs ignore low level information, such as the names and properties of layer, colors, and linetypes. The reason for the difference is that CAD deals with entities that are independent of each other, for the most part. BIM deals with intelligent objects that interact with each other, by contrast. BIM software doesn’t need layers; colors are for making pictures pretty; and linetypes are generated automatically for section and elevation
views.

For example, in CAD a circle sitting on a rectangle doesn’t know that there is a rectangle. In BIM, however, a circular window in a rectangular wall knows it is there; it even knows where the edges of the wall are, so as not to go beyond them or through the floor. The reason this is possible is because BIM is a massive database that keeps track of all elements in the 3D model. (CAD uses a simple file that just keeps track of where independent entities ought to appear on the screen, and in which color.)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ralph Grabowski is a CAD expert with 30+ years experience. He is the author of several best-selling books related to most leading CAD programs. Ralph writes also in a variety of CAD news portals and magazines. More than anything, he is renowned as the founder and editor of the upFront.eZine newsletter and the blog WorldCAD Access.

NB: The views and opinions expressed by the author in this article or in the eBook do not necessarily reflect those of Graebert as a company or publisher of this blog.

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