IFC Property Support

Overview

IFC Property Support is a feature in Aspose.3D that allows developers to read property sets and element quantities defined in IFC files. These properties are stored in IFCPROPERTYSET and IFCELEMENTQUANTITY entities and can be accessed through the A3DObject.GetProperty method.

What is IFC Property Support?

In the IFC schema, building elements can have associated property sets (IFCPROPERTYSET) and element quantities (IFCELEMENTQUANTITY). Aspose.3D maps these to a generic property interface, exposing them via A3DObject.GetProperty(string propertyName). This enables retrieval of values such as fire rating, thermal transmittance, or material quantities directly from the 3D model.

Why Use IFC Property Support?

• Access rich semantic data without parsing the IFC file manually.
• Enable downstream processes such as cost estimation, compliance checking, or data export.
• Combine geometric and non‑geometric information in a single workflow.

Aspose.3D Support

The following C# example demonstrates how to load an IFC file and read a property:

using Aspose.ThreeD;

var scene = Scene.FromFile("sample.ifc");

// Find a specific element, e.g., a wall
var wallNode = scene.RootNode.Children.FirstOrDefault(n => n.Name == "Wall_123");

// Retrieve a property value
if (wallNode != null)
{
    // Property name as defined in the IFC file
    var fireRating = wallNode.GetProperty("ifc:FireRating");
    Console.WriteLine($"Fire Rating: {fireRating}");

    // Example of element quantity
    var volume = wallNode.GetProperty("ifc:GrossVolume");
    Console.WriteLine($"Gross Volume: {volume}");
}

Notes

• Property names defined in an IFC file are prefixed with ifc: to avoid conflicts with native properties.
• Property names are case‑sensitive and must match the names defined in the IFC file.
• GetProperty returns an object; cast to the appropriate type (e.g., double, string) as needed.
• This sample code demonstrates retrieving properties from Node; however, any descendant of A3DObject can use GetProperty.
• If a property does not exist, GetProperty returns null.

References

• Link to official Aspose.3D IFC documentation
• Link to Aspose.ThreeD.A3DObject
• IFC specification for IFCPROPERTYSET and IFCELEMENTQUANTITY