Transform IFC Model

Offset, rotate or mirror the whole model with a controlled placement transform.

Move, rotate or mirror an entire IFC model with a controlled placement transform. Upload the model, set the offset, the rotation about a point you choose, or a mirror axis, and download the model in its new position.

Models arrive in the wrong place constantly. A consultant authored at survey coordinates when the project convention is a base point near the origin. A merged set has one discipline offset from the others. A model needs rotating to match the site grid, or mirroring for a handed unit. Doing any of that in the authoring tool means going back to whoever owns the model; doing it here is one run.

When to reach for it: When a consultant's file sits in the wrong position or orientation and must be aligned before merging or federating.

What you get: The same model with a controlled transform applied to its placement roots — geometry, properties and GUIDs untouched.

Example: Shift a misplaced structural model 12.5 m east and rotate it 90° so it lines up with architecture.

Three transforms, and the rotation origin that matters

Offset — independent X, Y and Z translation. The usual case is bringing a model authored at survey coordinates back near the origin, or aligning a discipline that came in displaced.
Rotation about Z — a rotation in plan, about an origin point YOU specify rather than about the world origin. That distinction is the whole difference between a usable rotation and a useless one: rotating a building sitting 40 km from the origin about the world origin sends it somewhere else entirely, and you would then need to calculate the offset to bring it back.
Mirror — for handed layouts and mirrored unit types. Off by default, because it is not something you want to apply by accident.

Georeferencing: compensate, or lose the position

If the model is georeferenced, moving its geometry breaks the relationship between its coordinates and the real world — the map conversion still describes where the model USED to be. That is a genuinely nasty failure, because the model now looks tidier and is wrong in a way nothing reports.

So there's an option to compensate the map conversion: the geometry moves and the georeferencing is adjusted by the same amount, keeping the model's declared real-world position correct. Turn it on whenever the model has georeferencing you care about — and check whether it does with the Coordinate & Georeference Check before you move anything.

Dry run, and what it doesn't touch

Dry run reports what the transform would do without writing anything. Worth using: a transform is easy to get wrong by a sign or an order of magnitude, and the result looks perfectly plausible until it's overlaid on something else.

Only placement changes. Elements, properties, relationships, GlobalIds and the spatial hierarchy are all untouched, so the model stays fully valid and every data workflow is unaffected. If what you need is a unit change rather than a move, Convert IFC Units rescales geometry and updates the declaration together — don't try to fix a unit problem with a transform. And if the model simply has no georeferencing, the Georeference Editor writes a proper map conversion and projected CRS instead of moving geometry, which is usually the better answer.

How to move, rotate or mirror an IFC model

Upload your IFC file
Enter the offset, rotation and/or mirror
Click Run to transform every placement root
Download the transformed IFC

Under the hood

BIMCamel parses IFC files in the browser using the open-source web-ifc engine and renders models with @thatopen/components + three.js. Heavy operations (clean / optimise / validate / convert) run on disposable server-side workers using the same web-ifc stack plus our own .NET pipeline; results stream back to your browser as soon as they're ready. Uploads sit on our servers only as long as your tier's retention window allows and are never used to train AI.

Frequently asked questions

How do I move an IFC model to a different location?

Set the X, Y and Z offsets and run. The whole model translates; elements, properties, relationships and GlobalIds are untouched. Use dry run first to confirm the numbers.

Can I rotate the model about a specific point?

Yes — you give the rotation origin as well as the angle. That's essential rather than a nicety: rotating a building that sits 40 km from the world origin about the world origin sends it somewhere else entirely.

Will moving the model break its georeferencing?

It would, unless you turn on map-conversion compensation — otherwise the georeferencing still describes where the model used to be, and the model is wrong in a way nothing reports. With compensation on, the geometry moves and the declared real-world position stays correct. Check whether the model is georeferenced with the Coordinate & Georeference Check first.

Should I transform the model or fix its georeferencing?

If the model's position is genuinely wrong, transform it. If it's correctly placed but doesn't DECLARE its real-world position, use the Georeference Editor to write a proper map conversion instead — moving geometry to compensate for missing georeferencing makes the model wrong for anyone who has the correct offset.

Can I preview a transform?

Yes — dry run reports what it would do without writing anything. Use it: a transform is easy to get wrong by a sign or an order of magnitude, and the result looks entirely plausible until it's overlaid on something else.

Which IFC versions are supported?

IFC2x3 and IFC4 — the two schema versions exported by essentially every AEC authoring application. IFC4x3, the infrastructure schema, works too: it opens in the viewer, and validation, health reports, property-set editing and georeferencing all run on it. Tools that need geometry processing, such as clash detection and 3D export, aren't verified on IFC4x3 yet.

What's the maximum IFC file size?

Up to 25 MB as a guest, 100 MB with a free account, 500 MB on Pro, and 1 GB on Team. The caps are on upload size only — every tool itself is available on every tier.

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 keeps them 90 days and Team 180 days. Files are never shared with third parties or used to train AI.

Is Transform IFC Model free?

Yes. Transform IFC Model is free to use — guests get 3 runs a day with 25 MB uploads, and a free account raises that to 10 runs a day with 100 MB uploads. No trial clock, no watermarks.