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Workflow of loading an IFC in BlenderBIM when scripting

1. C by Coen on 14 Jul 2023, edited 17 Jul 2023 #

   There is this convenient extension for VS Code from Jacques Lucke to have a connection between Blender and VS Code with instant updates.

   When working with geometry using the python ifcopenshell.api. I would like to see the IFC results of the code I run in BlenderBIM instantly.

   Is there any decent workflow for this? Or is there already something in place for this I don't know about? Is there a need?

2. M by Moult on 14 Jul 2023 #

   The IFC Debug panel has "create shape" functions you can use to see what the new geometry is like, perhaps that helps?

3. C by Coen on 14 Jul 2023 #

   @Moult

   Thanks for you answer, that helps. But I mean more like a development environment. I just named geometry as a visual example. But I would like to able to load an IfcProject with IfcSite and IfBuilding etc. straight into BlenderBIM after running a python script. For example this is being done from the python console within Blender:

   It uses very hacky code to load the created IFC with ifcopenshell in BlenderBIM. I would like something more streamlined and more professional.

   This is the code used to load the IFC in BlenderBIM

   
   def load_ifc(self, ifc_file, file_path):
   
   
           if (bool(ifc_file)) == True:
   
               project = ifc_file.by_type('IfcProject')
   
   
   
               if project is not None:
   
                   for i in project:
   
                       collection_name = 'IfcProject/' + i.Name
   
   
   
                   collection = bpy.data.collections.get(str(collection_name))
   
   
   
                   if collection is not None:
   
                       for obj in collection.objects:
   
                           bpy.data.objects.remove(obj, do_unlink=True)
   
   
   
                       bpy.data.collections.remove(collection)
   
   
   
               bpy.ops.outliner.orphans_purge(do_local_ids=True, do_linked_ids=True, do_recursive=True)         
   
               bpy.ops.bim.load_project(filepath=file_path)
   

   But in this workflow you need to add this snippet to your code. I was thinking if there is a need of a Blender-addon in which the end user can interact with ifcopenshell and see the ifc which is being created straight into BlenderBIM.

4. C by Coen on 14 Jul 2023 #

   https://community.osarch.org/discussion/1523/blenderbim-python-flow-of-adding-an-removing-an-ifc-element-to-an-existing-ifc#latest

   This is related, I would also like to know a decent workflow when editing/modifying an existing IFC with ifcopenshell python and loading the results directly into BlenderBIM

5. G by Gorgious on 17 Jul 2023 # +1 votes

   There is a "reload ifc" operator you might find useful bpy.ops.bim.reload_ifc_file() https://github.com/IfcOpenShell/IfcOpenShell/blob/v0.7.0/src/blenderbim/blenderbim/bim/operator.py#L596-L665

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