A building model, opened without BIM software.
Open an IFC building model in your browser with nothing uploaded: its storeys, walls, floors and doors by kind, measured in metres.
By Suraj Kumar4 min read
IFC is the open format BIM programs such as Revit and ArchiCAD export a building in. KeepSimp opens it in your browser, so a client or a builder can look at it without a licence.
Drop the IFC file.
Open the IFC viewer and drop the .ifc file. It is read by web-ifc, an open-source IFC engine, downloaded from KeepSimp the first time (about 1.6 MB); IFC2x3, IFC4 and IFC4x3 files open.
Parts lists every element under its storey and its kind (walls, slabs and floors, doors, windows), by its own name. Hide a storey to look inside the one below.
What it shows.
The shapes, in metres, with their colours. Rooms (IfcSpace) are left out, so the building can be seen into, and the page says how many. Properties and quantities stay in the file; they are not shown.
Measure gives the distance between any two points, in metres or another unit you choose.
Pass it on.
Choose Change the format to write the building as a GLB for the web, or as a USDZ to stand it on a table in AR on an iPhone; its storeys and parts keep their names in the GLB.
Before the file is offered, KeepSimp opens it again with its own reader and measures it; a file that does not match the model is not offered, and the page says what was wrong.
Further reading
Topics: ifc viewer · open ifc file · ifc viewer online · bim viewer · view ifc file
A little less theory. A little more doing.
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