DebunkTheBIM: “Shifting planes always implicitize a surface of revolution”

Sunday, December 4, 2011

“Shifting planes always implicitize a surface of revolution”

...Is a slightly weird title of an article*.

I’ve borrowed it because of relevance to my topic, today. First, I really liked the way it connects ‘shifting planes’ with the idea of a revolution brewing under the surface. Then, I got intrigued by the word ‘implicitize’, fully convinced such word did not exist (and the MS spell-checker was with me on this one), so I looked it up and it DOES exist...so one thing led to another and...

Actually, the original question I was going to put up was:

Why do planes (floors) shift away from their original locations when exported out of Revit as IFC 2x3 files and imported into 3 different applications?

I wrote on ‘twisting columns’ recently and received some assistance in principle.

These shifting planes are even more interesting then the twisting columns, for two reasons:

ONE: floors are supposed to be ‘system families’ in Revit, I’d expect them to behave more predictably then hosted ones (what I believe columns were);

TWO: the same issue occurred on three very different projects, created by three very different companies over a six month time span.

... but then, do not worry too much. It all got fixed up.

The helpful chap at the tech-support located the patch I needed and following the download/installation, the planes no longer shift from their places.

Sleep easy.