GDIFC

A GDExtension for loading buildingSMART IFC files directly in Godot 4.
It creates a node tree of IFCNode meshes with the full geometry, properties, and quantity sets of the model.

Features

• Asynchronous, threaded loading — the editor and game remain responsive while the model is parsed
• IFC schema support: IFC 2x3, IFC 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
• Per-object property sets, quantity sets, and attributes exposed as Dictionary
• Automatic material deduplication (single draw call per unique colour/transparency)
• Optional collision shape generation per object
• Georeferencing data (MapConversion / ProjectedCRS) available after load
• Platforms: Windows, Linux, Android, Web (WASM)

IFC 4.3 example on godot 4.7 dev outline branch

Installation

Godot Asset Library (recommended)

1. Open your Godot 4 project.
2. Go to AssetLib tab → search for GDIFC.
3. Click Download → Install.
4. Enable the plugin under Project → Project Settings → Plugins.

Manual

1. Copy the addons/GDIFC/ folder into your project's res://addons/ directory.
2. Enable the plugin under Project → Project Settings → Plugins.

Quick Start

Add a GDIFCManager node to your scene, then call read_ifc from a script:

extends Node3D

@onready var ifc_manager: GDIFCManager = $GDIFCManager

func _ready() -> void:
    # Load an IFC file.  Pass an empty Array for collision_classes to skip
    # collision generation, or list IFC class names to include (e.g. ["IfcWall"]).
    ifc_manager.read_ifc("res://models/building.ifc", false, [])

After loading finishes, child IFCNode nodes are automatically added under the GDIFCManager.

To load from a base-64 encoded string (e.g. data received over the network):

ifc_manager.read_ifc_base64(base64_string, false, [])

API Reference

GDIFCManager — Node3D

The entry point for all IFC loading.

IFCNode — MeshInstance3D

Represents a single IFC object in the scene tree.

GDIFCLoaderSettings — Resource

Attach to GDIFCManager.geometric_settings to control the loader.

Building from Source

Requirements

• Python 3.8+ and SCons (pip install scons)
• A C++17 compiler (MSVC 2022, GCC 12+, or Clang 14+)
• Boost headers — fetched automatically by the setup script (see below)
• Android: ANDROID_HOME set with the NDK installed
• Web: Emscripten SDK installed and activated (emcc in PATH)

Steps

# 1. Clone with submodules
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/Muniz1994/GDIFC.git
cd GDIFC

# 2. Download Boost headers into thirdparty/boost/
python tools/setup_boost.py

# 3. Build for the host platform (debug by default)
scons

# Or specify platform and target explicitly:
scons platform=windows target=template_release
scons platform=linux   target=template_release
scons platform=android target=template_release arch=arm64
scons platform=web     target=template_release

The compiled library is placed in ifc-godot-project/addons/GDIFC/ automatically.

Dependencies

Licence

See LICENCE.md.