Freeware, modern, functional IFC Model Viewer

User manual

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Table of Contents

1. Main window and navigation ................................................................................................................. 2

Touch screen .............................................................................................................................................................. 5
2. Menu FILE (ribbon)....................................................................................................................................... 7
3. Viewing options ............................................................................................................................................. 8
View options ............................................................................................................................................................... 8
Minimap ....................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Storey slide................................................................................................................................................................ 10
4. Working with objects ................................................................................................................................ 10
Selected objects ...................................................................................................................................................... 11
Unselected objects ................................................................................................................................................. 11
Object list and properties window ................................................................................................................... 12
Location bar .............................................................................................................................................................. 14
5. Advanced operations ................................................................................................................................ 15
Cutting options........................................................................................................................................................ 15
6. Splitting objects.......................................................................................................................................... 17
Offset objects ........................................................................................................................................................... 19
7. Measurement ................................................................................................................................................ 20
8. Transpose project ...................................................................................................................................... 23
9. Compare models ......................................................................................................................................... 24
10. Other options ........................................................................................................................................... 25
Status bar ................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Advanced options................................................................................................................................................... 27
11. Plugins ......................................................................................................................................................... 28
12. Automatic updates ................................................................................................................................ 31
13. For developers ......................................................................................................................................... 31
14. Release notes ............................................................................................................................................ 33
15. Copyrights & Contact........................................................................................................................... 36

1. Main window and navigation

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Main application window is divided into three areas as below:

Ribbon - main program interface

Object list
3D/2D model view &
properties

In 3D/2D model view:

• Rotate model – left mouse button + mouse move ,

o when Alt key is pressed current control point is not changed

• Zoom in/out – mouse scroll wheel up/down

o when Alt key is pressed current control point is not changed

• Move model – middle mouse button + mouse move or

right mouse button + mouse move
o when Alt key is pressed current control point is not changed
• Select object – left mouse button ,
o use with Ctrl key for multiple selections (click again to unselect object)
o click on empty space to unselect all
• Delete key– make selected objects transparent/hidden if transparent
• Insert key– show selected objects as transparent if hidden / visible if
transparent
• Backspace key – select all elements of the same type as selected, on the same
level (storey)
• Double click – zoom to selected objects

• Right mouse button – shows context menu:

Hide selected objects.

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 Same as Backspace key.

• Box selection – left mouse button + mouse move +with key Ctrl
pressed
o when moving left to right and top to bottom – adds to selection visible
objects which all corners of their bounding box are in selection
rectangle

o otherwise – adds to selection visible objects which any corner of their

bounding box or bounding box center point is in selection rectangle

You can use this option to select all visible objects.

• Slide objects - left mouse button + mouse move with Shift key pressed.
It allows to move selected objects to any direction.

Mouse actions (click, select, zoom, etc.) without Alt key pressed, set up camera
control point, which all these operations refer to. In this point, axis with directions of
coordinate system is drawn.

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Rotation and Zoom with Alt key pressed are useful while looking at selected element
that is covered by many other objects. It does do not change camera control point so
it is easier to get there without hiding those objects. Enclose selected object first and
then navigate with Alt key.

Touch screen

Supported gestures (in 3D/2D model view):

Tap / Double Tap

Click / Double click

(select objects, measure

elements / zoom to selected…)

Press and Move

Rotate model (in Rotate mode)

or
Move model (in Move mode)

Press, Hold and Move

Move model (in Rotate mode)

or
Rotate model (in Move mode)

Zoom

Zoom model

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 Press and Hold

Right mouse button click

(popup menu)

Rotate

Rotate model around Z axis

or
Two Finger Tap

Display radial popup menu

On Two Finger Tap gesture BIM Vision displays radial menu where you can quickly
change visibility state of selected and unselected objects. You can also switch between
“Move” and “Rotate” mode. These modes define what will be done with view on Press
and Move gesture. Default is rotation, when you change it to move – it will be replaced
with Press, Hold and Move gesture.

Menu for selected

Show menu for objects.
unselected objects.

Menu for unselected

Hide unselected objects.
objects. Switch between “Move”
and “Rotate” mode.

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 For tablets BIM Vision has special option to enlarge GUI elements, which is available
from ribbon quick access toolbar.

Increase size of the user

interface for the touch mode.

2. Menu FILE (ribbon)

Open IFC file. You can Save all opened IFC

Recently opened files.
also drag & drop it files (with plugin data)
onto main window. into one file.

Open and add another

IFC file into existing Change language. Application will
view and view opened be restarted after this operation.
file list (module
Multifile).
Change the look
of the interface.
Geometry generation
options.
Configure/download plugins.

Update application. Visible if both major

(important) and minor updates are available.

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3. Viewing options

Default 3D view, with

perspective, orthogonal Fit view to all Fit view to selected
and oblique projections. visible elements. elements.

Alternative camera
navigation mode.

3D view with projections. Use Ctrl key There are two 2D view types:
and mouse scroll wheel up/down to projection (edges only) and
change distance of projections. Click elevations (with faces). Click
again to switch between projections. again to switch between.

Use colors defined in IFC file instead

Rotate view by 90
of coloring objects by type. It allows
degrees around
also to restore default object colors.
the Z axis.

Change view to one of View options. Draw minimap.

predefined camera positions.

“Fly mode” option allows to easily look around and move through the model from first-
person perspective. Camera rotation is made around observer/eye position with
minimal zoom step set to 0.5 m. Maximal zoom step can be chosen 0.5 m (for indoor
movement) or 10 m (for outdoor models). This mode has also ability to hold camera
altitude, as an option or when there is no model element below the mouse while zoom
is made (when no control point will be set). This mode is useful to move through the
infrastructure models or navigate inside the buildings, especially in touch mode.

View options

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Display edges of a model. It
can speed up displaying large
models on slow computers.

Change global model

Anti-aliasing, disable for slow transparency. Useful for
computers and to save general viewing and model
battery on tablets. comparison. In other cases,
for normal work use object’s
transparency instead of this.
Change style of models
display.

Preview selection and measurement,
while mouse cursor is over an element
in 3D view. With anti-aliasing enabled
it can decrease drawing performance
on slow graphics cards.
Minimap
Select how close camera can zoom to object. Over the max.
distance, the view enters an object. Use: 1 cm – to look closer
at small details, 10 cm – for quick pass through walls while
zooming, 1 m – for viewing large scale models (site, terrains
etc.) to avoid rendering errors for objects far from camera.

Minimap draws building a storey that is at the level of the current observer (camera)
position or storey which contains selected elements (if there is selection and all
selected elements belong to the same storey).

Selected elements are

drawn in green.

The direction you are

looking from. When you
enter the building it also
Storey’s name. If it is
shows camera’s position:
green then this is the
storey of selection;
otherwise, this is a
storey at the level of
camera position.
Last clicked position /
camera control point.

By default, it draws the walls, footing, columns, piles, doors and windows (also if they
are made from elements of type Proxy or Building Element Part). You can also enable
drawing additional objects in the minimap menu:

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 Beam enables also
drawing Member type.

Minimap option affects performance for large projects on slow computers.

Storey slide

If building model has correctly defined storeys, you can easily slide them and take a
closer look to each.

Amount of slide
in each direction.

This can be also useful with one of projection views in 3D mode or in 2D mode and
top view, to see each storey projection separately.

4. Working with objects

IFC model is made of elements which are 3D objects. An object can be visible, marked
as transparent (regardless of its graphical representation) or hidden. Additionally, the

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 object can be inactive and then is invisible. By default, all objects are active - you can
change it in the objects list window.

Show all active

Regenerate geometry in
objects. current location to remove
drawing artifacts.

Fit view for all visible Object’s additional

objects. options.

“Regenerate geometry” option is visible only if the range of loaded project (distance
between elements) is greater than 1km. Due to graphics card limitations, viewing that
project causes drawing artifacts when observer/camera looks at a position that is far
from generation point (which is the project center at the start). When such a situation
happens, this button will be enabled. It will allow you to set new generation point at
the current location, regenerate geometry and have no graphics artifacts there. This
option is useful for viewing large scale and infrastructure models.

Selected objects

Fit view for selected Highlight Automatically center Draw edges of

objects. selected objects. view on selected selected objects, even
objects. if they are covered.

Change state of Count of selected Do not select object marked

selected objects. objects. as transparent by clicking.

Unselected objects

Change state of
unselected objects.
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 Automatically keep state of
unselected objects. Useful
when selecting objects from
list (also with option “Center
view”).

Object list and properties window

You can view a list of all objects divided by model structure, object types, groups,
layers and classifications.

To hide window just click on

selected grouping type again.

Expanding level of the tree in

object list window.

Hide inactive objects in list window. Additional options.

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In this window you can select and deactivate objects. Selection state is marked by a
check in the first column. In the second column you can change the active state of
the objects.

Selected Activated or deactivated. Click with “Alt”

key to activate only this element.

Objects in this window are shown in tree structure. When you select an element all its
sub elements also will be selected. Excepts openings of elements, they must be
selected directly (and only then are shown in model view).

Grouping type can also be changed from menu in top right corner of this window.

Grids have also their own additional options:

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 Force grid rows to have height of
one text line. Useful to compact
view of data when with large or
multiline texts (i.e. descriptions).

You can copy to clipboard value of selected grid cell using Ctrl+C shortcut or popup
menu.

There are 4 main tabs in properties window, that show information of object in
currently selected row of the grid:

• Properties – it contains all properties defined in IFC + specific object’s

information in “Element Specific” property set. This property set is created by
the viewer.
• Location – it contains object location, information about geometry and
membership (groups, systems, layers…) and information about changes if any
(in compare model mode)
• Classification – information about classifications to which it belongs
• Relations – information about other relations to which it belongs.

You can select one or all objects

that belong to the relation.

Double click to select

and navigate to object.

Location bar

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 This feature shows location of selected element in project structure. It displays the
path for the first of selected elements, based on IFC structure (including merge
storeys option). You can also use it for quick navigation and selection change. Each
element in path can be selected, changed by one of its siblings or its children can be
chosen.

Location path
Current selected
(project\site\building\storey\... etc.).
element is marked. Select child element.
Click to select element.

Select sibling element.

Advanced operations

Cutting options

Preview cross-section
along selected plane.

Enable or disable
cutting mode.

Show entire model with all cutting

Fill the interior of cut elements. This option
planes. This mode allows to set them
works properly with correctly defined 3D
up in an alternative way. Useful in
solid objects. We suggest hiding furniture,
splitting objects.
site or any surface objects before using this
function.

Selected cutting plane. You can also Offset of the current

use Ctrl+Shift+mouse wheel on cutting plane from its
the model view to switch planes. start point. It can also be
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changed here (press
Enter to set value).
 Clear cutting planes.
Remove cutting plane.

Add cutting plane of Change step used to

selected face (by default) or move selected plane with
across selected edge or a Shift+mouse wheel on
global axis. You can use Change side of selected Show offset of the model view.
Ctrl+mouse wheel to plane used to cut off current cutting
change adding mode. model elements. plane in 3D view.

Plane offset is the distance from the:

• selected plane – in “Plane” mode

• closer vertex of selected edge – in “Edge” mode (edge from used vertex to the
plane is painted blue):

• coordinate center – in “X/Y/Z-axis” modes

Offset of the selected cutting plane can be changed:

• in the ribbon (edit the value)

• Shift+mouse wheel on the 3D view, offset will be changed by the value of the
cutting step. Value also will be rounded to the step size.
• Shift+left mouse button to directly move cutting plane (if it is not parallel to
your view).

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 When adding a plane in edge or an axis mode, the side of plane used to cut off model
elements depends on the direction of the mouse move.

Cutting plane (across X-axis).

Mouse was moved from right
to left. Moving in the opposite
direction (left to right) changes
the side of cutting.

This dotted line

These lines also indicate
indicates the side of
that elements behind this
the plane used to cut
plane will be cut off.
off model elements.

After adding a plane, you can always flip it on the ribbon menu.

5. Splitting objects

Cutting planes can be used to split selected objects. Each object being split will have
its original geometry hidden, and have new children objects added. Each added
element contains its own part of the original geometry.

Restore original geometry

of the selected objects
and remove split ones.
You can split many
selected objects by many
planes at once. Select visible objects
within the cutting region.
Objects behind the cutting
planes will not be selected.

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Each of those new objects can be shown, selected and measured separately. They can
also be split again. Name for the objects is “split result”. To restore original geometry
and remove split objects you need to select the parent element.

Original object.

Two new objects resulting

from splitting the original.

Information about split objects is saved to the BVF file. After loading the BVF file, the
original object will automatically be split again.

Option “Preview planes” is useful when you want to split objects with more than one
cutting plane. When enabled, the entire model is shown, parts that may be cut off by
other planes are visible, so you can add other planes there (without previous flipping).
All planes are also highlighted.

Splitting objects with the “Select visible” option can also be used to visualize cross
sections (just hide unselected objects).

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6. Offset of objects

You can move selected objects on 3D view in any direction. Use left mouse button +
mouse move with Shift key pressed. Using “Storey Slide” option resets all offsets.

Clear offsets. Choose axis of

movement.

Those offsets are temporary, and as the storeys slide, they do not affect the real
distances of objects from each other.

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1) Measurement

Measurements are made based on the geometric representation of the object. To

perform a measurement, click the selected part of the object in the model view. It will
be highlighted if active selection is enabled in "Options". While holding down the Ctrl
key you enable the "Multiple selection" mode and you can add multiple measurements.
In the "Volume", "Area" and "Weight" modes, a second click on the measurement with
the Ctrl key removes it from the sum. In the "Volume" and "Weight" modes, you can
also measure selected objects.

Remove the last Take the sum of

Exit from measure mode.
measurement many measurements.
from the list.

Change mode of taking dimensions. Click Ignore elements marked

again to exit from the measure mode. as “transparent”.

Choosing the "Custom" option in the "Area" tab causes the "Snap to vertex" button to
appear automatically. Turning this button off lets you draw surfaces of any shape.

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In the "Length" tab, you can measure the distance "Point - Edge", "Point - Plane", as
well as the distance between "Points". After turning off the automatically appearing
"Snap to vertex", they can be any points. By selecting the option "Point" and "Multiple
selection" and turning off "Snap to vertex" you can measure the length of any curve.

The “Diameter” mode allows you to easily measure the distance of a pair of the most
distant vertices on a selected plane. This mode is useful e.g. when measuring pipe
diameter.

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In the “Angle” tab we have the ability to measure the angle between "Planes",
"Edges", as well as any sections determined by 3 points (“Custom” mode).

Change the unit system.

Projections of
measurement
on axis (e.g.
length).

Change precision.

In “Weight” mode, you can change-in-place material destiny used to compute weight.

Edit density.

In the “Coordinates” mode you can get coordinates relative to a given point or set a
custom coordinates of that point.

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 Set the coordinate center
at the current point.

Set (changed) coordinates

for the current point.

You can edit

these values.

2) Transpose project

Using the “Coordinates” or the “Offset” measure mode you have also ability to
transpose entire project geometry into new position. This translation affects the
measured distances of objects from each other, and is saved and loaded to/from the
BVF file. After loading models with translations, it also changes the results of the model
comparison.

In “Offset” mode it transpose s the first point and the project to which it belongs, by
the given offset (to the second point). Offset values can also be edited by the user.

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 The “Coordinates” mode moves the project containing the point, to match the new
position provided by the user for this point, using the current coordinate center.

3) Compare models

If you have a new version of IFC file, you can compare it with previous one to see
changes in geometry. To do this open the first file normally. Then, on ribbon tab
CHANGES, open the second file. When comparing is complete, you can select and
observe changes.

Select second
file to compare.

Select types of
changes to show.

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 Types of elements that are shown in compare mode:
• Not modified – elements which have the same geometry and properties in
both files
• Modified (old) – elements which have different geometry and are present in
the first file, displayed as translucent red
• Modified (new) – elements which have different geometry and are present in
the second file, displayed as translucent navy
• Removed – elements which are only in the first file, not present in the second,
displayed as red
• Added – elements which are only in the second file, not present in the first,
displayed as navy
• Materials – elements which have different materials (or their children
properties)
• Properties – elements which have changes in properties (or in children’s
properties)

To see the changes better we suggest marking all elements as transparent or use one
of global transparency.

4) Other options

All ribbon buttons (except plugins) can be added to ribbon quick access toolbar. Just
right click on button if you want to add to one to display menu:

Example button to add.

Add button to
ribbon toolbar.

You can remove the button from toolbar also by right-clicking on it.

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 Added button.
Remove button
from ribbon toolbar.

To increase the model view workspace, you can collapse the ribbon or enter into full
screen mode. Ribbon will hide and show automatically (while clicking).

Full screen mode.

Collapse the Ribbon.

Status bar

Status bar is located at bottom of the application window, and it contains additional
information.

Time of drawing all visible

elements. Should be below
0.15s for entire model for 26
comfortable usage.
Location bar items (if there was selection).

Range of selection (distance

between elements).

Advanced options

This option is available in the main menu and it allows to change parameters for
geometry generation. Many geometry elements in IFC are defined by parametric
representation (i.e. rounded columns) so the viewer creates their approximations
using a given count of segments. You can set viewer to generate different elements
with different accuracy (i.e. reinforcing elements do not need the same details as
rounded walls).

Beams also include Members.

Columns also include Piles.

• Circle profile segments – used in objects defined as profile extruded by an

axis or a path, (segment count for full circle - 360 degrees)
• Parametric curve segments – used in extrusion paths, curved profiles,
(segment count for full circle - 360 degrees)
• Solid of revolution segments – used in objects defined by revolving a planar
surface or a curve about an axis (segment count for full circle - 360 degrees)

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 • Profile rounding segments – used in profiles with rounded corners, (segment
count for quarter circle - 90 degrees)

Please note that changing this option may increase memory requirements and
generation time. It also affects drawing performance, when you use too high segment
counts and have a large number of parametric objects.

5) Plugins

BIM Vision can use plugins that allow extending functionality and integrating with other
applications. You can download plugins from our BIM Vision Plugin Store webpage:
store.bimvision.eu

Most of the plugins after downloading and installation work in demo mode, so you can try
and use it without any restrictions. To get the full version of a plugin you need to activate
it (provide a license number). Detailed information about licenses and plugins purchase is
in the section “For plugin users” of “Terms and Conditions” at BIM Vision Plugin Store
webpage: store.bimvision.eu/home/terms

You can manage plugins (enable or disable), view detailed information and help files form
Plugin Manager (in main menu “Plugins…”).

Open Plugin Manager window

or go to plugins download page
if you have any plugins installed.

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Plugin manager window:

Activate many/all plugins at once.

It downloads automatically not used

(or matching to this computer) license
numbers from your account in BIM
Detailed information and Vision Plugin Store.
description of a selected
plugin (in the current
language if exists).

Activate / buy
selected plugin.

View plugin help file (in

the current language if
exists). Go to BIM Vision Plugin Store
webpage.

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 Activate plugins window:
Free or matching to this computer
license numbers taken from your
account in BIM Vision Plugin Store or
Select plugins to error information.
be activated.

Activate / buy selected plugin window:

Download automatically not used

(or matching to this computer) Buy directly specified
license number from your account plugin on BIM Vision
in BIM Vision Plugin Store. Plugin Store webpage.

Go to your account at BIM

Vision Plugin Store webpage.

Only enabled plugins, that are correctly loaded (with matching API version) can be
activated and their license status checked. After successful plugins activation, you need to
restart BIM Vision to use the full versions of the plugins.

To uninstall plugin use Windows Control Panel (in the same way as with other programs).

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6) Automatic updates

The program will automatically check for updates during startup. It also checks for new
versions of installed plugins. Remember to unblock BIM Vision in your firewall to make
this feature work.

When a new version of BIM Vision or plugins is available, the program shows a panel
below the ribbon with that information.

Yellow is for BIM Vision, silver is

for plugins. Click on “Update”
to install new versions.

Move the cursor to this

icon to see which plugins
have a new version.

After clicking on update BIM Vision downloads and installs all updates and then restarts.
If you do not want any update - hide the panels by clicking on its close button (on the
right).

In BIM Vision case this panel will be shown only for major (important) updates. For both
major and minor updates, there will be a button on the main application menu.

7) For developers

BIM Vision provides an API for writing plugins. Here are some of its features:

• simple C language style API with many examples in C++,

• API for C# .NET,
• access to a model structure, element types and properties,
• changing color, transparency, visibility of elements,
• selecting elements,
• changing view,

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 • responding to events in the program (file opening, selection changing,
element clicking, etc.),
• access to measurements of objects,
• drawing text labels on elements,
• adding GUI elements and cooperation with custom plugin windows,
• support for automatic plugin localization and updates.

To start creating a plugin you need only to download BIM Vision Plugin SDK from the
official website http://bimvision.eu/download/ and have Visual Studio or C++Builder
installed. There are examples for these environments, but you can use any other compiler
(and can also write ports to other languages).

Each plugin works in demo mode (has some limitations for some functions) – but it is
enough to play with the API and develop the main part of the plugin. When you finish
plugin creation and/or want to have it in full mode, you need to provide a developer key.
This key allows entering license numbers used to activate the plugin (it is a part of the sales
mechanism). Once you have a developer key, you will also be able to sell the plugin at BIM
Vision Plugin Store.

To get the developer key please register on BIM Vision Plugin Store, apply for becoming a
developer and contact us to sign an agreement. After signing the agreement, you will have
access to the developer panel where you can generate keys, publish and sell plugins.

Click to become a
developer. After
signing an agreement
you will be able to
access the developer
panel here.

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8) Release notes
• 2.23
o display of rounding in profiles has been improved
o hole cutting in complex objects has been fixed
o new API features:
▪ getting the thickness of material layers
▪ saving loaded models as BVF
▪ saving geometry to file (enables quick loading of models)
• 2.22.3
o added model geometry caching when saving to BVF file.
• 2.22.1
o profiles information loading has been added
o added option to choose the default code page for IFC files

• 2.22
o new measure modes:
▪ point to edge and point to plane distance
▪ diameter / most distant pair of vertices of the selected plane
▪ custom area
▪ angles between planes, edges and the ground (XY plane)
▪ custom angle
o measure improvements:
▪ selecting points and edges only from plane under the mouse cursor
(not from faces behind)
▪ highlighting currently measured object (if the active selection is on)
▪ ability to draw an arbitrary shape (disable Snap to vertex) for the Area -
CUSTOM, Angle - CUSTOM and Length - POINT measure modes
o Transpose project option uses exact values of measured offset regardless of
the displayed precision unless values were edited by the user
• 2.21
o reorganization of the user interface; new tab “ADVANCED” was added
▪ ribbon group “Cutting” from tab “VIEW” was split into two groups:
“Cutting” and “Cutting planes”, and moved to the new tab
▪ group “Offsets” from tab “OBJECTS” was also moved there
o added “Offset” measurement type
o ability to transpose/set new position of whole project geometry (in
“Coordinates” and “Offset” measure mode), which will be saved to the BVF file
o option to select visible objects within the cutting region
o better support for .NET plugins (dependencies and updates)
• 2.20
o added offsets to planes for precise cutting
o ability to split elements by cutting planes
o added classification tree, changes in displaying classifications
o added relations window (IfcConnectsPathElements and IfcSpaceBoundary)
o distinction of currently selected object from rest of the selection

33
 o compare of changes with multiple projects loaded
o module Multifile can read *.tbp files
o ability to open relative paths from properties
o support for composite profile, tapered solids and table property values
o user can set custom coordinates of the point for the measure mode
o selecting object on the 3D view with Shift key copies its GUID to the clipboard
o ability to get license numbers and activate many plugins directly from plugin
manager window
• 2.19
o ability to move (offset) selected objects on 3D view to any direction
o option to always draw edges of selected objects, even if they are covered
o support of more IFC4 elements and types
o improvements in compare model mode
o added Location and Classification tabs in the properties window
o the layout of property set (collapsed / expanded) is remembered when
viewing objects
• 2.18
o improvements of measure mode (measurement can now be done on any tab)
o measurements are remembered by plugins that save view state (Gallery and
IFC Comments)
o ability to hide inactive elements in the objects list window
o changes are merged in object list window when comparing models
o faster generation of geometry through the use of multiple cores processor
o improvements in displaying models with a large number of small objects
• 2.17
o multiple cutting planes, moving cutting planes with mouse
o ability to sort types, layers and groups by name
• 2.16
o ability to change the field of view for perspective projection
o orthogonal and oblique projections
o option to rotate the current view by 90 degrees
o ability to measure the total area of an object
• 2.15
o ability to take measurements in Imperial and US customary units
o option to change the zoom for the minimap
o inactive elements cannot be selected
o menu “Export to BVF” replaced by “Save” and “Save as…” options
o displaying properties for door/window type and style
• 2.14
o introducing partial support for IFC4 file format
o ability to save and load all opened IFC files with plugin data, into one BIM
Vision File (file extension *.BVF)
o improvements in Multifile module (multiple file viewing)
▪ new IFC Structure merge modes – you can now merge storeys also by
name and elevation
▪ ability to unload models (unloaded models are not visible in the viewer
and will not be saved into BVF file)

34
 o “Fly mode” option that allows navigating through the model from the first-
person perspective
o removed edges that are inside planar surfaces
o ability to set up measurement precision
o access to plugin help files from the main menu
• 2.13
o displaying information from IFC file header in Project’s properties
o new view option “Active selection”, which is a default and allows to preview
selection and measurement, while mouse cursor is over an element
o “Advanced options” in the main menu – the ability to change parameters for
geometry generation
o displaying a graphic card name and OpenGL version in “About” window
o plugin DLL file can be placed now in its own subdirectory; this is to
prevent from loading other DLL’s that are not plugins, but are used by the
plugin (i.e. .NET assemblies)
• 2.12
o added location bar
o minimap improvements – now it draws storey that contains selected elements
and draws a selection
o support for reading compressed IFC files (*.ifcZIP)
o option to regenerate geometry for viewing projects, which have large
distances
o new navigation mode with Alt key pressed – it does not change camera
control point
o new logo and webpage
• 2.11
o displaying groups and systems defined in IFC file (zones have been moved to
groups menu)
o new color theme: “Graphite Gray” with two background colors - gray and dark
gray
o minimap option
o displaying material sizes in properties
o improvements for multiple file viewing (Multifile module)
▪ new option for IFC Structure object list – merge storeys
▪ storey slide always operates on merged storeys
• 2.10
o ability to load multiple IFC files in one view
o new measure and selection modes
o displaying more object’s properties and units
o bug fixes and stability improvements
• 2.9
o added “Element Specific” in properties which contain additional object’s
information that is provided in IFC file
o included 64-bit version of the application which is faster and handles very
large models
• 2.8
o buttons of plugins added to quick access toolbar are remembered
o new languages, API functions and plugins

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 • 2.7
o new projection views and options
o ability to get volume and weight of a selection
o storey slide improvements
• 2.6
o displaying objects’ colors defined in IFC file
o drawing optimizations for work with large models
o full support for Unicode characters
o
• 2.5
o support for touch screen and gestures
o touch mode option (enlarged GUI for tablets)
o “Fill slice” option now works on AMD / ATI graphics cards
• 2.4
o new area measuring options
o added ribbon collapse and full-screen mode options
• 2.3
o plugins are now available to end-users
o integration with BIM Vision Plugin Store

9) Copyrights & Contact

Datacomp Sp. z o.o.

Dąbrowskiego 24
30-532 Kraków, Poland
(+48) 12 412 99 77
https://datacomp.com.pl
http://bimvision.eu
contact@bimvision.eu

Check out video presentation of BIM Vision viewer on our YouTube

channel:

This application uses FatCow icons (http://www.fatcow.com/free-icons)

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