IFC quantities
You open an IFC model, ask for quantities, and the areas are empty or the lengths look odd. Nobody can say whether the viewer failed or the export did. The answer is almost always in the file, and Fidrel lets you tell the difference in a few clicks, because it keeps two kinds of figure apart: the ones it calculates from the geometry itself and the ones it can only read from the quantity sets the export wrote.
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An empty Area column reads as a failed calculation. In fact the viewer never calculated an area; it looked for one in the file and found none. Without that distinction the estimator reports a software fault and the sender hears nothing useful.
A model exported with base quantities for walls but not for slabs produces a table that is half full. The totals look plausible, which is worse than an obvious gap, because a low total is easy to accept.
Quantity sets are written in the project’s own units, often millimeters, sometimes feet. A model whose unit settings disagree with its geometry can leave the quantities worthless, and it is the case people notice last.
Count and volume are calculated by Fidrel from the model’s geometry, for every group, right in the browser. Area, length and the model’s own volume are different: they are read from the quantity sets in the file, and only when the export includes them. The model’s own volume is shown in a separate column, Qto volume, so that it can be set beside the calculated one. Volume, area and length are looked up by quantity name, such as NetVolume, GrossVolume and Volume, taking the first name found. Only element quantity sets are read for the table. An area that sits in a property set is shown in the object’s properties but not used in the quantities panel.
BIM take-off
Two situations produce the same empty column. In the first, the export never wrote a quantity set, and the fix is a new export. In the second, the file has quantity sets, but Fidrel could not trust them. It reads the units the file declares and checks the written volumes against the geometry, which is always in meters. If they disagree and the difference is not a known unit, the written quantities of that model are left out rather than shown wrong, and the panel then shows the same note as for a model with no sets. A quantity with a non-standard name is also not found. In both cases the object’s own information tells you what the file really contains.
Step 1
Open the model in 3D, open Quantities under the analysis tools and choose Calculate quantities. Wait for the progress to finish; the count and volume of every group are calculated from the geometry in your browser.
Step 2
Count and Volume always appear. Qto volume, Area and Length appear only when at least one object in the model carries that figure. If none of them does, a note under the table says the model has no quantity sets.
Step 3
Where a column exists but a row shows a dash, no object in that group has the figure. Where a row shows a number, it is the sum of the objects that do have it, which may be fewer than the Count column says.
Step 4
Click the group’s name to highlight it in 3D, select one object and read its information. Quantity sets are listed as their own group beside the property sets. If the object has none, the export left them out.
Step 5
Have the sender export the IFC with the setting that includes base quantities, then upload it from the BIM models page with Add as set to New version of an existing model, and choose Calculate quantities once more.
A group total adds only the objects that carry the figure. If forty of sixty walls have an area, the row shows the area of forty walls and the Count column still says sixty. Fidrel does not warn you about the gap, so compare the count with what you expect before you use a total. The CSV export gives one row per object, with model, level, object type, type, name, GUID and the quantities, and an empty cell where the file had none. Filtering that file for empty cells is the quickest way to list the objects the export skipped.
Fidrel does not calculate area or length from the geometry; where the file has none, the column stays empty. A quantity the file does not carry is shown as empty, never guessed. This page names no menu path in an authoring tool; the sender checks the export setting that includes quantities. The same holds for the unit settings: Fidrel reports what the file says, and the sender corrects it.
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Read moreCount and volume are calculated from the geometry, so they appear for any model that builds. Area and length are read from the file’s quantity sets, so an empty column usually means the export did not include base quantities. Export again with them included.
No object in the model carries a quantity set Fidrel can use, so there is no area, length or Qto volume to show. It can also appear when the file’s units could not be reconciled with the geometry.
A total adds only the objects that carry the figure. If part of the model was exported without quantities, the total covers that part only. Compare the object count with the number you expect, and check the CSV for empty cells.
Not by itself. Fidrel reads the same quantity names whichever IFC version wrote them. What matters is whether the export included the quantity sets, and in which units they were written.
No. Fidrel reads area and length from the file and does not derive them from the geometry. A new export with base quantities, uploaded as a new version of the same model, is the way to get them.
