IFC for MicroStation Triforma and its Verticals

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Bentley's IFC support

As a founding member of the IAI, Bentley http://www.bentley.com is active at board level in several chapters (US, UK, Germany/Austria/Switzerland, ...) providing significant funds for the definition of the IFC data format and spending considerable development resources to develop the IFC interface for the Bentley Building applications.

In May 2003, Bentley’s IFC2x interface for the 3D Coordination View was certified, which allows import and export of ‘intelligent’ 3D building models. Although supported, Bentley did not apply for IFC2x2 certification, because this version is specifically aimed at support of the automated Code Checking system in Singapore.

In March 2007, in accordance with the official IAI facilitated approval procedure, Bentley Architecture 8.9.3 http://www.bentley.com/architecture passed the certification for IFC2x Edition 3 (IFC2x3), which is based on the Extended Coordination View definition. As the IFC interface is built on the common Bentley Building technology platform, Bentley Structural, http://www.bentley.com/structural Bentley Building Mechanical Systems http://www.bentley.com/mechancial and Bentley Building Electrical Systems http://www.bentley.com/electrical effectively also support IFC2x3.

For export to IFC, family/part definitions of Bentley Architecture objects are mapped to IFC entities via IFC-mapping files. 3D levels and symbology of objects imported into Bentley Architecture, unless specified in the IFC file, are determined by the family/part definitions in ifc_imp_parts.xml or ifc_si_parts.xml, which are delivered with every localized dataset. These also define drawing symbology, rendering properties, and quantity takeoff rules of imported objects.

Bentley’s IFC2x3 translator supports common property sets, i.e. object attributes agreed upon by the Model Support Group of the IAI and the IFC implementers. Bentley Architecture handles these properties through an IFC-specific DataGroup schema, which can be downloaded from SELECTservices http://www.bentley.com/SELECT and appended to a Bentley Architecture or project dataset. Non-common properties can be accommodated by customizing the Bentley Architecture DataGroup schema.

For more information about Bentley's BIM applications, visit http://www.bentley.com/BIM


Interoperablity

In addition to supporting IFC, Bentley’s comprehensive portfolio of fully integrated products and solutions provides other capabilities that facilitate the sharing of information and interoperability among BIM, CAD, and analysis applications, such as:

• DGN/DWG compatibility

• 3D PDF and Google Earth support

• Import/export tools for general-purpose industry standards such as STEP, STL, IGES, DXF, and SKP (SketchUp)

• Import/export tools for many dedicated industry standards such as CIS/2 and SDNF

• Seamless integration with Bentley’s STAAD.Pro and RAM structural analysis products

• Direct integration with many structural analysis applications, such as GT STRUDL, ROBOT, MIDAS/GENw, and SFRAME

• Direct integration with CAMDUCT duct fabrication solutions

• Integration with power analysis applications - EDSA (US NEC/ANSI/IEEE), AMTECH ProDesign (BS 7671), elcoPower (DIN/VDE)

• Integration with Lighting analysis solutions - Lumen Designer, DIALux, Relux


For further information, see ‘Bentley's Commitment to Open Standards and Interoperability’ http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Markets/Building/Open+Standards+and+Interoperability.htm