BCF collaboration online — track & share BIM issues free
BIMCamel's Collaborate tab is free BCF collaboration in the browser: open an IFC in a coordination room, invite anyone with a link or an invite code, and track issues against the live 3D model — viewpoints, snapshots, comments, assignments, statuses. Everything round-trips as standard BCF 2.1 (.bcfzip), so the same issues open in any BCF-compatible coordination tool your consultants already use.
Reviewers don't need an account: a guest joins with just a display name and gets access to that room only. There are no caps on rooms or participants on any tier — BIM issue tracking here is free for every team, and what you pay for elsewhere in BIMCamel is file size and processing quantity, never the collaboration itself.
Rooms: create in a minute, join with a code
A room is one model plus its issues and people. Create one from any model in your workspace and seed it four ways: start empty, import an existing .bcfzip, pull the findings of a previous validation run, or reuse a BCF from your library. Invites go out as links or short codes, optionally gated by email or password, and each invite carries the role the joiner will get. Teammates with accounts land in the room from their own Collaborate tab; external reviewers join as guests — no signup, just a display name.
BCF 2.1 import and export (.bcfzip)
The room's issue set is a real BCF draft, not a proprietary format with a BCF exporter bolted on. Import any .bcf / .bcfzip to seed a room, and export the room back to .bcfzip — or to a self-contained HTML report for people who just need to read it. Camera positions, selections, and snapshots survive the round-trip, so a topic authored in BIMCamel opens in your desktop coordination tool with the same view the author saw, and vice versa.
Issues with viewpoints, snapshots, and 3D pins
Every topic carries BCF viewpoints: the camera position, the selected elements, and a snapshot image captured from the viewer. In the room, each topic also shows up as a 3D pin in the model — click the pin to jump to the issue, or click the issue to fly the camera to its viewpoint. Topics track status, priority, assignee, due date, and a full comment thread, and @mentioning a member lands in their room notifications.
Seed issues from validation results
Clash detection, IDS checks, health reports, and the rest of the validation suite export their findings as BCF — which means a coordination room can start from them. Create a room seeded from a validation run's findings, or push selected findings from the Validate tab into an existing room with one action. The clash that failed the check becomes a trackable, assignable issue with its viewpoint already captured.
Roles and live presence
Rooms have four roles: owner (full control, can delete the room), editor (authors topics, comments, and viewpoints), commenter (comments only), and viewer (read-only). Exports are available to owners and editors; invites carry the role you choose.
Review sessions are live: teammates' cameras, cursors, and selections stream into the room in real time, each peer visible as a coloured camera frustum in 3D. Click a teammate to follow their camera — the "where are you in the model?" call disappears.
Works with any BCF-compatible tool
Because the interchange format is standard BCF 2.1, BIMCamel rooms slot into whatever coordination stack already exists: author issues here and hand a .bcfzip to a consultant on a desktop tool, or import their BCF and run the review in the browser where nobody needs a license. The Learn library's BCF guides cover the round-trip workflow in detail.
Frequently asked questions
What is BCF?
BCF (BIM Collaboration Format) is buildingSMART's open standard for exchanging model issues — each topic carries a title, status, assignee, comments, and viewpoints (camera position, selected elements, snapshot image) — without exchanging the model itself. BIMCamel rooms read and write BCF 2.1 as .bcf / .bcfzip files.
Can teammates join without an account?
Yes. Share an invite link or code and anyone can join as a guest with just a display name — no signup. A guest gets access to that room only, and the invite can optionally require an email match or a password if you want a tighter gate. Creating a room needs a free account, since the room is built on a model in your workspace.
Is BIM issue tracking free here?
Yes. Rooms, issues, viewpoints, live presence, and BCF import/export are available on every tier, and there are no caps on the number of rooms or participants. Paid tiers raise file-size and processing limits elsewhere in the platform — the collaboration itself isn't metered.
Which BCF version is supported?
BCF 2.1 — the interchange version supported by essentially every BCF-compatible coordination tool. Rooms import .bcf / .bcfzip files and export the room's issues back to BCF 2.1, with an HTML report export alongside for stakeholders who only need to read.
Can I turn clash or IDS results into issues?
Yes. Seed a new room from a validation run's findings, or send selected findings from the Validate tab into an existing room. Each finding arrives as a BCF topic with its viewpoint already captured, ready to assign and track.
What roles and permissions exist in a room?
Four: owner (full control including deleting the room), editor (author topics, comments, viewpoints, and export), commenter (add comments only), and viewer (read-only). The role is set per invite and can be changed per member afterwards.
What happens to a room's data if I delete it?
Deleting a room removes its members, invites, topics, and comments — export the .bcfzip first if you need a record, since that file is the durable, tool-neutral copy of the issue history. Models linked to rooms follow your workspace retention (7 days on the free tier; on Pro and Team, until you delete them).
What happens to my file after processing?
Your file is uploaded over HTTPS and processed on our servers. Guest uploads are stream-only — the working files are deleted as soon as your download finishes. Free accounts keep results for 7 days; Pro and Team keep saved models until you delete them. Files are never shared with third parties or used to train AI.