Inspect elements and properties
Inspection is the core model review workflow. Use it when you need to understand what an IFC element is before turning it into a quantity, BOQ row or issue.
- Click an object in the model to make it the active selection.
- Open Selection to review ExpressID, GlobalId, object type, dimensions and property sets.
- Use Spatial to browse project, site, building and storey structure where the IFC provides it.
- Use Types to find repeated element classes, then select examples in the model for review.
- Once the right elements are selected, capture them into BOQ or use their properties to decide classification.
Two or more models
Load more than one IFC model at once - for example the architecture and the structure - and look at, pick and check them together. BIM Explorer is free for two models at a time; BIM Explorer Pro loads as many as you need.
- Open the main model first, then choose Add a model in the Models tab.
- Show or hide each model with its eye button, or remove an added model.
- Click any element in any model to see its properties.
- Opening a new main model closes the added ones.
Colour by property
Colour the model by any property - IFC class, storey, fire rating, material, any property set value - and filter it by value. The legend lists every value with its colour and count.
- Open Views and choose a property.
- Hide a value with its eye button, Isolate it to see only that value, or Select its elements.
- Search the values when there are many of them.
- Ghost elements without a value to make the coloured ones stand out.
- Saved views keep the colours, the hidden values and the camera (BIM Explorer Pro).
Quantity check
Free. Colours the model by whether it carries quantities: green where the model has them, amber where a measurable element has none, grey for spaces, openings and annotation. It answers the first question about a model: can it be priced?
- Choose Quantity check in the Views tab or the command palette.
- Hide, isolate or select each group from the legend.
- BIM Explorer Pro takes the quantities off by type and storey, and computes them from the geometry where the model has none.
