Cut an IFC model with a section plane

What you'll do

Cut through an IFC model with one plane to see inside it: from the top for a plan, or from the front or side for a section through the building.

Steps

1. Open an IFC model. See Open an IFC model and look around in 3D.
2. Click Section in the toolbar, or press XX. The model is cut halfway up, and a bar appears under the toolbar.
3. Choose where to cut from: Top, Front or Side. Front and Side also turn the view to look at the cut.
4. Move the cut: drag the Offset slider, or type a distance in metres in the box and press ReturnEnter. You can type millimetres too, for example 1200 mm.
5. Click Flip to keep the other side of the cut.
6. Click an element on the cut to see its properties.
7. Click Off, click Section again, or press XX to take the cut away.

What you should see

• Top keeps what is below the cut, so you look down into the rooms. The offset is measured up from the bottom of the model.
• Front keeps what is behind the cut, seen from the front; Side keeps what is beyond it, seen from the side. The offset is measured from the front or the side of the model.
• A thin colored outline shows where the plane is.
• The view cube in the bottom-right corner turns the model to look at the cut from any side.
• Clicking picks what you can see: anything cut away cannot be picked.

Common mistakes

• Nothing changed. The cut may be above the roof or outside the model. Drag the slider, or type a smaller offset.
• The offset jumped back. A distance beyond the model is moved to its end, and the status line says so.
• The cut is hollow. Walls and slabs are drawn as their surfaces, so a cut shows them open. Filled cut faces are not built yet.

Next

• Show and hide storeys, spaces and edges
• See a DWG or DXF drawing in 3D