Learn BIM, online — guides for the free IFC tools

Practical guides for working with IFC, BCF, and IDS in the browser. Viewing, validation, optimisation, conversion, data extraction, model handover, and OpenBIM round-tripping — all written for engineers who'd rather get the model working than read a manual.

All guides

What is BIMCamel? The Online BIM Platform Explained — BIMCamel is an online BIM platform built around real-time collaboration and pipeline automation — a browser-native alternative to traditional desktop BIM software. View, validate, coordinate live, and automate the BIM workflows your team repeats every week.
How to View IFC Files Online — A Free Browser Alternative to Desktop BIM Viewers — Open and inspect IFC building models in your browser, exactly the way a desktop BIM viewer would. The viewer that backs the BIMCamel BIM platform — no installs, no licenses, works on any OS.
How to Convert IFC to OBJ for Blender, Unity, and Unreal — Turn a BIM model into a plain OBJ mesh that imports cleanly into Blender, Unity, Unreal Engine, or any 3D software.
What is IFC? A Plain-English Guide to the Open BIM Format — IFC is the open standard that lets every BIM authoring tool share building data. Here is what it is, why it matters, and how to work with it.
How to Compare Two IFC File Revisions and See What Changed — Side-by-side diff of two IFC models. See which elements were added, deleted, moved, or had their properties modified between revisions.
How to Extract Quantities (QTO) from an IFC Model for Free — Pull element counts, lengths, areas, and volumes out of any IFC file into a spreadsheet. Perfect for takeoffs, cost estimation, and bill of quantities work.
How to Fix IFC Coordinate Systems and Georeferencing Issues — Models exported from BIM authoring or civil design tools often sit thousands of metres from the origin. Here is how to centre them and fix georeferencing for coordination and export.
How to Repair Broken IFC Files and Fix Duplicate GUIDs — Duplicate GUIDs, missing storey assignments, orphaned geometry, and corrupt entities — here is how to diagnose and fix an IFC file that refuses to cooperate.
How to Collaborate on BIM Models Online — Live, Multiplayer, in the Browser — Open a real-time BIM coordination room in your browser. Invite teammates and external reviewers, comment on viewpoints together, drop 3D pins, and round-trip BCF 2.1 into any BCF-compatible coordination tool — no CDE license, no installs, no per-seat fees.
IFC Model Health Check: A Complete Pre-Delivery Checklist — Before you send an IFC file to a client, contractor, or CDE, run through this checklist. Ten minutes now saves days of back-and-forth later.
How to Export IFC to CAD (DWG, DXF, SVG) for Drafting Workflows — Generate 2D CAD drawings and vector exports from your 3D IFC model. No CAD licence, no manual redrafting — just one tool.
What is IDS? A Plain-English Guide to the buildingSMART Standard — IDS (Information Delivery Specification) is how you define what data must be in an IFC model. Here is what it is, why clients use it, and how to make one from Excel.
Online BIM Platforms vs Desktop BIM Tools: An Honest Comparison — Traditional desktop BIM software built the BIM toolkit on the desktop. Online BIM platforms like BIMCamel rebuild it for live collaboration, automation, and cross-OS access. Here's when each wins and how teams combine them.
How to Bulk Modify IFC Files Without Opening BIM Authoring Software — Change hundreds of properties, remove every annotation, strip sensitive data, or restructure an IFC model in seconds — no authoring software required.
A Practical BIM Clash Detection Workflow (Free, No Desktop Coordination Tool) — A repeatable end-to-end process for finding, filtering, assigning, and resolving clashes between disciplines — using free online tools only.
Advanced IFC Splitting Strategies for Large and Complex Projects — Beyond floor-by-floor: split by discipline, zone, element type, or custom property to keep huge models manageable across teams and tools.
How to Run a BIM Workflow Online — Without Desktop Software — Move your BIM workflow into the browser: shared workspace, multiplayer coordination rooms, saved automation pipelines, IFC viewing, and validation. The online BIM platform alternative to a desktop-only stack.
How to Reduce IFC File Size Without Losing Important Data — Large IFC files slow down every tool in your workflow. Learn how to shrink them by up to 90% while keeping the data you actually need.
How to Combine Multiple IFC Files Into One Model — Need to merge architecture, structure, and MEP into a single file? Here is how to combine IFC files in a few clicks.
How to Split an IFC Model by Floor or Building — Extract individual floors or buildings from a large model so each team gets only the data they need.
How to Convert IFC to glTF for 3D Viewing and AR — Turn your BIM model into a lightweight 3D file that works in web browsers, phones, and augmented reality apps.
How to Generate 2D Floor Plans from a 3D IFC Model — Automatically create clean floor plan drawings from your BIM model, no CAD software required.
How to Find Clashes Between Building Elements in IFC — Detect where pipes hit walls, ducts cross beams, or elements overlap before they become expensive problems on site.
How to Edit IFC Properties in Excel and Import Them Back — Export your model data to a spreadsheet, make bulk edits, and push the changes back into the IFC file.
How to Clean Up an IFC Model Before Sharing — Remove clutter, fix common issues, and ensure your model is ready for handover or coordination.
How to Validate Your IFC Model Against a buildingSMART IDS Specification — Check whether your model meets project requirements automatically using IDS (Information Delivery Specification).
How to Create an IDS File from Excel for Free — Use BIMCamel's spreadsheet template to quickly create buildingSMART IDS specification files from Excel or Google Sheets — no XML knowledge required.
How to Upgrade an IFC File from IFC2x3 to IFC4 — Convert older IFC2x3 models to the newer IFC4 format for better compatibility with modern tools.
How to Automate Your BIM Workflow with Saved Pipelines — Chain BIM tools — clean, validate, clash, convert, notify — into a saved pipeline and re-run it on every revision automatically. The repeatable BIM workflow you used to script by hand, in your browser.
How to Share BIM Models with External Stakeholders — Safely, View-Only — Send clients, contractors, or teammates a read-only 3D viewer link to your BIM model. Password-protect it, set an expiration, and skip the install. Or invite them straight into a Collaborate room and review together live.
How to Export Navisworks Files (NWD, NWF, NWC) to IFC for Free — Turn a federated Navisworks model into a clean IFC 2x3 or IFC 4 file — geometry, property sets, classifications, and federation hierarchy preserved — using a free, open-source Navisworks plug-in. No enterprise licence required.