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IFC to VIM Command Line Application
IFC to VIM Command Line Application

Using the IFC to VIM command line tool

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Written by VIM
Updated over a week ago

The VIM IFC converter(vim.ifc.converter.exe) is a Windows command line tool to convert IFC files to VIMs. It's fast, powerful, and easy to use. Even if you're not familiar with coding!

Before we start, let's ensure you can open a command prompt and access vim.ifc.converter.exe.

  1. You have been given access to a Vim.Ifc.Converter.vx.x.xx.zip file

    Note: Windows will take %UserName% and insert your Windows username.

  2. Download it and unzip it to a location of your choice. Example: C:\Users\%UserName%\Documents

    Note: Windows will take %UserName% and insert your Windows username.

  3. Navigate to the following folder using Windows File Explorer C:\Users\%UserName%\Documents\Vim.Ifc.Converter.vx.x.xx

  4. Type cmd in the address bar. A command prompt will appear and be set to that current folder location.

Try typing .\Vim.Ifc.Converter.exe --help if you get a list of options, you're good to go!

Tip: Get full paths of files in Windows by Shift + right mouse click and choosing 'Copy as path'

This will create a VIM from an IFC file. Here's an example of the function:

.\Vim.Ifc.Converter.exe "c:\username\documents\ifcfile.ifc" "c:\username\documents\vimfilefromifc.vim"

  1. value pos. 0 Required. This is the input IFC file and it's the item after vim.ifc.converter.exe. Don't forget quotes and spaces!

  2. value pos. 1 Required. Output VIM file path

  3. -l, --log The log file path

  4. --centered (Default: false) Determines whether the exported model is centered at the origin.

  5. --center-mode (Default: Average) Determines how the model will be centered. May be 'Average' or 'Median'.

  6. --cull-distance (Default: 0) Determines the distance from the centroid at which nodes will be culled from the final export. If this value is zero or negative, no nodes are culled by distance.

  7. --quality (Default: High) The tessellation quality (High, Normal, Low)

  8. --single-threaded (Default: false) Determines whether the converter runs in single-threaded mode.

  9. --scale-override Overrides the scaling factor applied to the converted geometry and its nodes.

  10. --storage-type (Default: Ifc) The input file storage type.

  11. --xbim-model-type (Default: MemoryModel) The memory model type used to process the input file.

  12. --help Display a help screen

  13. --version Display version information

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