Microsoft KB Archive/319565

= Visio2002: Contents of the Visio Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) Model Exchange Release Notes =

PSS ID Number: 319565

Article Last Modified on 3/21/2002

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional SR-1

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This article was previously published under Q319565



SUMMARY
The Release Notes for the Microsoft Visio add-in Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) Model Exchange contain supplemental information about installation, features, limitations, and known issues with IFC.

The &quot;More Information&quot; section of this article contains the complete text of the Readme_IFC.htm file, which is included with the IFC.exe download. The default install location is:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Visio10\1033\Help\Readme_IFC.htm

NOTE: This article includes corrections to the original Release Notes.

Important: Because this is a technology preview, it is not supported by Microsoft Product Support Services. Only beta-level support is available in the form of a monitored News Group. See the Support section later in this article.



Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) Model Exchange Release Notes
February 2002 --

(c) Microsoft Corporation, 2001, 2002. All rights reserved.

Technology Preview

These release notes provide the most current information about installation, features, samples, documentation, and known issues for the IFC Model Exchange solution for Visio 2002 (IFC solution). It is included on the web download for the Visio IFC Model Exchange solution. This web download includes the IFC solution only and requires a prior installation or upgrade to Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional edition SR1 (Service Release 1).

1.    Introduction

2.    Installing the IFC Solution

3.    IFC Solution Features

4.    About the Samples

5.    Documentation and Support

6.    Known Issues in this Release

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1)    Introduction

This Microsoft Visio solution will enable you to import and export building project models using the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) Release 2.0 format, published by the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI). Information about the IAI can be found at http://iaiweb.lbl.gov. This data format is used to define object models or computer prototypes of building projects for exchange between software applications. Because an IFC file contains such a model of the building design, it includes much more information than the dimensions, text and graphics found in floor plan drawings, for example. The value of these models is that they can be used to automate processes that are currently done manually, resulting in significant productivity improvements. Analysis applications can use the additional property data and the relationships between objects in their analysis or computations. One example is automating quantity takeoff and cost estimating.

More specifically, this release of the IFC solution supports the following end user 'use cases' published by the Building Lifecycle Interoperable Software (BLIS) organization of software and AEC industry companies:

o  Architectural design to HVAC design (geometry view)

o  Architectural design to quantities takeoff / cost estimating

o  HVAC design to quantities takeoff / cost estimating

o  Architectural design to thermal load calculations

You can find information about the specific object types and information included in IFC models exported by the IFC solution at the BLIS web site (http://www.blis-project.org). Many other companies have also implemented support for these end-user 'use cases.' You can find the benefits of automated quantity takeoff, thermal performance simulation, or energy code checking, as well as information about other applications that support these BLIS views of the IFC model, at the BLIS Web site.

The IFC solution is built on top of the Microsoft Visio Building Engineering solution in Visio 2002 Professional Edition SR1. The stencils in the Building Engineering solution, containing various building elements that you can drag and drop to create floor plan drawings or HVAC duct layout, for example, have already been made compatible with the IFC solution. After installation, the IFC solution menu will appear as an added menu item in the Building Engineering Plan menu.

Please note that is a 'Technology Preview' release. As such, it is not supported by Microsoft Product Support Services. Only Beta-level support is available in the form of a monitored News Group. See the Support section below. Additionally, no Hot Fix or Quick Fix Engineering requests will be considered until the final version 1.0 release of this solution.

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2)    Installing the IFC Solution

The software you will install requires the following minimum software and hardware:

2.1    Software Requirements

In addition to Service Release 1 (SR1) of Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional Edition, any one of the following software operating systems is required:

o  Microsoft Windows 98, Second Edition

o  Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition

o  Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with service pack 6

o  Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

o  Microsoft Windows XP Professional

2.2    Minimum Recommended Hardware

o  PC with Intel Pentium or AMD Athlon class processor running at 200 MHz or higher.

o  Memory:

o  For Windows 98, Second Edition: 24 MB of RAM for the operating system, plus an additional 48 MB of RAM for IFC

o  For Windows Me, NT Workstation 4.0, or Windows NT Server 4.0: 32 MB of    RAM for the operating system, plus an additional 48 MB of RAM for IFC

o  For Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Professional: 64 MB of RAM for the operating system, plus an additional 48 MB of RAM for IFC

o  250 MB of available hard disk space

o  VGA (640 x 480) or higher resolution graphics card and monitor with 256 colors; Super VGA (800 x 600) is recommended.

o  Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse or compatible pointing device.

2.3   Software Installation

It is recommended that this Preview be installed on a dedicated machine, isolated from mission-critical applications or operations.

The IFC Model Exchange solution requires Service Release 1 (SR1) of Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional Edition, with the Building Plan solution. If you already own Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional Edition, you can download the SR1 update from Microsoft Downloads Web site.

Install the IFC solution directly from the web, or download the IFC solution from the web and proceed with installation by double-clicking &quot;ifc.exe&quot;.

Note: The preceding instructions must be completed by someone with privileges to install new software on the target machine. People who are restricted from installing software should contact their system administrator for assistance.

2.4   Software Removal

You can remove both Microsoft Visio 2002 Professional Edition SR1 and the IFC solution by using the &quot;Add or Remove Programs&quot; option in the Windows Control Panel. Remove the IFC Solution before you remove Visio 2002 SR1.

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3)    IFC Solution Features

3.1   Import an IFC Model

Floor plan drawings are automatically created by importing an IFC data file that contains an IFC model of the design. Such models can include multiple building floors. Each building floor in the IFC model generates a separate floor plan drawing in Microsoft Visio.

3.2   Export an IFC Model

Floor plan drawings in Visio are actually plan views of a building model. These building models are translated into an IFC model when exported to IFC. These IFC models can then be loaded into analysis applications that support the appropriate BLIS views of IFC release 2.0. For example, you can load IFC models exported from the IFC solution into quantity takeoff and cost estimating software or into thermal performance simulation software. See the BLIS Web site for a list of such analysis applications.

Please note, for such analysis applications to work successfully, you will need to enter certain custom properties on the SmartShape objects in the Visio Plan drawing. These properties are used in calculations by the analysis applications. For an example of these properties, open the IFC sample files included in the IFC solution, and then open the Custom Properties View window and select any shape on the building plans. (For further information concerning the IFC sample drawings, see section 4, &quot;About the Samples,&quot; below).

3.3   Project Properties

In addition to the floor plan drawing, the IFC solution supports information about the building project to be exported to IFC, including information about the author (the Visio user), the author's Company, the project, the building floors, and the author's preferences for using the IFC solution.

3.4  General Topics in IFC Solution Help

The following list of topics is covered in the General Topics section of Help for the IFC Solution. End users will find these very useful in understanding how to benefit from IFC model exchange in their projects.

o  About Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)

o  About IFC model files

o  Import an IFC model file

o  Export an IFC model file

o  Set IFC model properties

o  Update shape masters for use with IFC

o  Create IFC Systems and Zones

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4)    About the Samples

Two samples of Visio drawings populated with properties that support IFC-model-based interoperability with other applications supporting the BLIS views of IFC are included with the IFC Solution. Unless you modified the installation directory during installation of Visio, these files can be found in the Sample directory at:



The files include:

File                                 Description IFC Summer Cabin.vsd     A drawing/model of a 4-room summer cabin. Note: Select metric units on IFC Export. IFC Office Building.vsd  A drawing/model of a 3-floor office building. Note: Select metric units on IFC Export. Correction: The file names listed above do not have IFC as part of their filename. Summer Cabin.vsd and Office Building.vsd files are located in the Building Plan folder in the Sample directory:

\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Visio10\1033\Samples\Building Plan

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5)    Documentation and Support

5.1   Documentation Included with the IFC Solution

The IFC solution includes help topics integrated with the help system in Visio. All dialog boxes include Help links, and you can also find general IFC help topics from the Visio Help system.

5.2   Support

This release of the IFC solution is a Technology Preview; therefore, there is no formal support. A user News Group will be established by the Microsoft Beta Support team. The URL Web site for such News Groups is news://betanews.microsoft.com Correction: The URL Web site for discussion of IFC Model Exchange is:

http://communities.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.asp

expand Visio, and click the microsoft.public.visio.bldg_design_facmgmt group.

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6)    Known Issues and Limitations in this Release

6.1   General Use

o  The Import Dialog may appear slow to respond when selecting large files. This is because the IFC file is validated in order to fill out transmittal data in the Import dialog box.

o  IFC Layers, groups, and zones mapping is not supported on Import:  In this IFC Partner Preview, shapes are not placed on the correct layers, groups, and zones on Import.

o  You cannot export directly to an FTP/HTTP site.

o  IFC Export.../Export Filters/Visio-specific properties have not been implemented. In a future release, this feature will allow non-IFC custom property values to round-trip in IFC files using Visio-defined extension properties. It will also enable the IFC Solution to drop instances of the original shape in round-trip scenarios, resulting in full behavior of that shape after round-trip.

o  When floors from a multi-floor IFC model are individually imported into a single document, the origins of the various floors may not align properly. Simply import all floors of the model in a single import to avoid this problem.

o  When Visio geometry is written to an IFC model file, grouped objects that overlap are flattened.

6.2   Object and Shape support

o  Import/export of design grid objects is not yet supported.

o  Import/export of stairs has not implemented for the following relationships/attributes:

o  IfcRelAssembles relationship defining the stair assembly

o  VerticallyConnects (list of slab objects this stair assembly         connects)

o  Import/export of ramps has not implemented for the following relationships/attributes:

o  IfcRelAssembles relationship defining the ramp assembly

o  VerticallyConnects (list of slab objects this ramp assembly          connects)

o  Importing IfcGroups, IfcSystems, and IfcZones is not yet supported. In the final release, these will result in Visio drawing layers. IFC objects that are members of a group will be made members of the corresponding layer. Layers will be named using the IfcGroup name property. Systems and Zones will be represented by layers named using the IfcSystem/IfcZone name, prefixed by a user-defined prefix string (under Project Properties, see Preferences).

o  IFC does not fully support all door subtypes supported by Visio. The Visio Sliding, By-Pass, and Overhead doors will not export to IFC properly.

Additional query words: visio2002 vso2000 readme readme.txt

Keywords: kbinfo KB319565

Technology: kbVisio2002 kbVisio2002Search kbVisioSearch kbZNotKeyword3

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