Access to IFCexporter

jvandermeulen · March 18, 2021, 10:50am

Hi guys,

Is there a way we can access the IFCexporter (app from Autodesk) so I can automate the process of creating IFC’s?

Right now
I create IFCExportOptions() according to the settings (json) of the IFCexporter
but this revit.doc.Export has a different output compared to creating an ifc through IFCexporter.

baaswietse · October 17, 2023, 9:08pm

Did you ever figure this out?

jvandermeulen · October 18, 2023, 6:22am

No, sadly not.

And the regular IFC export is easily accessible but is limited and doesn’t give the correct results.

baaswietse · October 19, 2023, 7:16am

According to this discussion, it should be possible: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-api-forum/ifc-export-options/td-p/9686404
But I can’t seem to find how to reference the “IFCExportUI.dll” file.

Jean-Marc · October 19, 2023, 9:54am

Probably something along these lines:

import clr
clr.AddReferenceToFileAndPath(r'C:\\ProgramData\\Autodesk\\ApplicationPlugins\\IFC 2024.bundle\\Contents\\2024\\Revit.IFC.Export.dll')
import Revit.IFC.Export as IFCExport

but you first need to install the IFC exporter addin beforehand Releases · Autodesk/revit-ifc · GitHub

baaswietse · October 19, 2023, 10:58am

Hello Jean_Marc, thank you for your response. In my case (Revit 2023) the exporter addin is installed in this path:

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit 2023\AddIns\IFCExporterUI\Autodesk.IFC.Export.UI.dll

When I try this code:

import clr
clr.AddReferenceToFileAndPath(r'C:\\Program Files\\Autodesk\\Revit 2023\\AddIns\\IFCExporterUI\\Autodesk.IFC.Export.UI.dll')

import Autodesk.IFC.Export.UI as IFCExport
myconfig = IFCExport.BIM.IFC.Export.UI.IFCExportConfiguration.CreateDefaultConfiguration()

I get the error:

ImportError: No module named IFC

Jean-Marc · October 19, 2023, 11:51am

Try to dig in from

print(dir(IFCExport))

I don’t know the structure of the code in this specific dll

baaswietse · October 19, 2023, 12:15pm

I think the issue is in the name of the dll. Because when I import Autodesk.IFC.Export.UI it will look in the default Autodesk library (e.g. from Autodesk.Revit.DB import FilteredElementCollector).
When inspecting the dll with dotpeek, you can clearly see the BIM.IFC.Export.UI classes.

jvandermeulen · October 19, 2023, 12:23pm

import clr
REVITIFCCOMMON = r'C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\IFC 2023.bundle\Contents\2023\Revit.IFC.Common.dll'
REVITIFCEXPORT = r'C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\IFC 2023.bundle\Contents\2023\Revit.IFC.Export.dll'
REVITIFCIMPORT = r'C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\IFC 2023.bundle\Contents\2023\Revit.IFC.Import.dll'
clr.AddReferenceToFileAndPath(REVITIFCCOMMON)
clr.AddReferenceToFileAndPath(REVITIFCEXPORT)
clr.AddReferenceToFileAndPath(REVITIFCIMPORT)
import Revit as BASE

Digging on BASE (showme = dir(BASE)):
[‘IFC’]
[‘Common’, ‘Export’, ‘Import’]
etcetc

As @baaswietse mentions the BIM reference isn’t located in Export.dll.

And I’m still puzzled how the addin is ‘activated’.

github.com

Autodesk/revit-ifc/blob/b63925212ebc7377c13a731f659ed16e221ed88c/Source/Revit.IFC.Export/Exporter/Exporter.cs

//
// BIM IFC library: this library works with Autodesk(R) Revit(R) to export IFC files containing model geometry.
// Copyright (C) 2012  Autodesk, Inc.
// 
// This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
// modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
// License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
// version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
//
// This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
// Lesser General Public License for more details.
//
// You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
// License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
// Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;

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Jean-Marc · October 19, 2023, 1:34pm

I could not figure it out at first…
Hopefully I am stubborn enough:

import clr
clr.AddReferenceToFileAndPath(r'C:\\ProgramData\\Autodesk\\ApplicationPlugins\\IFC 2024.bundle\\Contents\\2024\\IFCExporterUIOverride.dll')
import BIM #access the referenced DLL IFCExporterUIOverride
from pyrevit import script
from pyrevit import DB, revit

doc = revit.doc

output = script.get_output()
output.close_others()

ifc_export_options = DB.IFCExportOptions() # export options for IFC from the Revit default configurator
active_view_id = doc.ActiveView.Id
ifc_export_options.FilterViewId = active_view_id

IFC_exporter_configuration_override = BIM.IFC.Export.UI.IFCExportConfiguration.CreateDefaultConfiguration()
# print(dir(BIM.IFC.Export.UI.IFCExportConfiguration)) # to figure out the members of the class

# just a sample
IFC_exporter_configuration_override.VisibleElementsOfCurrentView = True
IFC_exporter_configuration_override.Export2DElements = True
IFC_exporter_configuration_override.UpdateOptions(ifc_export_options, active_view_id)

with revit.Transaction('Export IFC'):
    doc.Export("C:\\pyRevit", 'test.ifc', ifc_export_options)

jvandermeulen · October 19, 2023, 1:39pm

Arghh that dll? Seriously. It felt I tested all dll’s in that folder. But how do you figure out you need that dll?

Jean-Marc · October 19, 2023, 2:28pm

I know…

from this https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-api-forum/ifc-export-options/m-p/12051539/highlight/true#M72221
thanks to Access to IFCexporter - #4 by baaswietse

jvandermeulen · October 19, 2023, 3:18pm

I’m gonna fiddle with it, hopefully I can grab my own defined settngs now instead of creating them myself using json etc.

Still it puzzles me:

doc.Export("C:\\pyRevit", 'test.ifc', ifc_export_options)

It’s a regular Autodesk default Export command: when does the addin IFCExporter take over?