Forums >> Revit Building >> Technical Support >> Working with IFC file and Revit

jraesly

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Joined: Tue, May 17, 2011
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Here is the scenario:  Two architects working on one building.  Architect #1 is a Revit firm(Me), Architect #2 is a Archicad firm. Both will be working on the same building.  This sounds like I'm telling a joke "Two architects enter a bar....)

I know about IFC files but how will this work if both firms need to make modifications in the same model.  There is no "central file" that both can work from and see the other firms updates.  They both need to have control of the model elements.  It isn't like an architect working with a structural consultant because the engineers model contains seperate model elements and can easily be linked into the architects model.  But if you need to work on the same elements, but are on two seperate plateforms, I'm not sure if this is possible. 

Any suggestions, comments or workarounds would be appreciated.  I couldn't find anything in any searches for this scenario. 

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WWHub

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Joined: Tue, May 16, 2006
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Sorry - you can't do this.

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tim123

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I can't think how two architects are working on the same building on different models, even if it was in the same software.  You will be able to use IFC as a tool to translate the models to different models, but it will not (and won't be able to) keep all the inherent information relevant to the specific model.

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jraesly

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Thanks for the comments.  Any workarounds would be appreciated.  

Seeing that it is impossible to have a shared "central file" structure between two different software platforms, I am suggesting to the project manager that they do one of the following:

1. A physical separation of the building model.  Where both architects stake out a physical part of the building (exterior skin vs. inteior) or something where the two will not overlap.  They will be able to share back and forth updated IFC files but they won't have any impact on each other.  I know, not how I would want to work either)

OR

2. A phased separation.  Architect 1 bring the entire model up to LOD 100 and then Architect 2 takes the IFC file and imports and corrects the data from that point and completes the documents.

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WWHub

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Your option #2 is almost impossible to do.  IFC data is virtually not editable so I recommend option 1.

You both need to create a sample IFC project and test this process.

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