IfcTriangulatedFaceSet

Natural language names
tesselliertes Element aus Dreiecksflächen
Triangulated Face Set
Ensemble de faces triangulées
Change log
ItemSPFXMLChangeDescription
IFC2x3 to IFC4 4.0.0.0
    IfcTriangulatedFaceSetADDED
IFC4 Addendum 1 4.0.1.0
    IfcTriangulatedFaceSet
      ClosedMODIFIEDType changed from BOOLEAN to IfcBoolean.
      CoordIndexMODIFIEDType changed from INTEGER to IfcPositiveInteger.
      NormalIndexMODIFIEDType changed from INTEGER to IfcPositiveInteger.
IFC4 Addendum 2 4.0.2.0
    IfcTriangulatedFaceSet
      NormalsXMODIFIEDXsdformat changed from Content to Default.
Xsdtagless changed from True to False.
      PnIndexXMODIFIEDName changed from NormalIndex to PnIndex.
IFC2x3 to IFC4 4.0.0.0
    IfcTriangulatedFaceSetADDED
IFC4 Addendum 1 4.0.1.0
    IfcTriangulatedFaceSet
      ClosedMODIFIEDType changed from BOOLEAN to IfcBoolean.
      CoordIndexMODIFIEDType changed from INTEGER to IfcPositiveInteger.
      NormalIndexMODIFIEDType changed from INTEGER to IfcPositiveInteger.
IFC4 Addendum 2 4.0.2.0
    IfcTriangulatedFaceSet
      NormalsXMODIFIEDXsdformat changed from Content to Default.
Xsdtagless changed from True to False.
      PnIndexXMODIFIEDName changed from NormalIndex to PnIndex.
Semantic definitions at the entity
Entity definition

The IfcTriangulatedFaceSet is a tessellated face set with all faces being bound by triangles. The faces are constructed by implicit polylines defined by three Cartesian points. Depending on the value of the attribute Closed the instance of IfcTriangulatedFaceSet represents:

The coordinates of each point are provided by a one-based index into an ordered list of Cartesian points provided by the two-dimensional list CoordIndex, where

Depending on the provision of PnIndex the indices point either directly into the IfcCartesianPointList3D referenced by Coordinates defined at the supertype IfcTessellatedFaceSet, or they point into the PnIndex where the integer values at that position provides the location of the coordinate values within the IfcCartesianPointList3D. See Figure 352 for the handling of point index.

"PnIndex"

Figure 352 — Use of PnIndex

See Figure 353 for using the IfcTriangulatedFaceSet without (as default) and with using the PnIndex.

"IfcTriangulatedFaceSet_01"

Figure 353 — Triangulated face set

Optionally normals can be provided. Only normals per vector are supported allowing for visually curved triangles when the three normals of the corresponding three vertices of a triangle are not co-linear to the normal of the triangular face. If they are identical, normals shall be omited.

NOTE  In case of a body representation having triangular faces with curvature, different normals for all three vertices in context of this triangles are exported, describing the curvature for smooth visualisation. In case of triangular faces with no curvature, the three vertex-based normals are identical and could always be computed from the face. Therefore vertices should only be exported to support smooth visualisation by curvature of triangles. In case of faceted representation no vertices should be exported.

Normals are provided by the two-dimensional list Normals, where

The indices in the CoordIndex point into the list of Normals. The indices of CoordIndex are applied to both points, either directly directly, or via the PnIndex and normals. See Figure 354 for handling of normals.

"IfcTriangulatedFaceSet_02"

Figure 354 — Triangulated face set with normals

NOTE  Using corresponding lists of points and normals allows to use only a single list of indices into both at the expense of having non-unique collections of vertices.

Figure 355 shows the use of IfcTriangulatedFaceSet without annotation. The diagram of the IfcTriangulatedFaceSet represents the indices and the ordered list into which the indices point. The index starts with 1 (indexed as 1 to N), if the greatest index in CoordIndex in N, then the IfcCartesianPointList shall have N lists of 3:3 coordinates.

 

IfcTriangulatedFaceSet_Example-01

Figure 168 shows an IfcTriangulatedFaceSet represented by

CoordIndex: ((1,6,5), (1,2,6), (6,2,7), (7,2,3), (7,8,6), (6,8,5), (5,8,1), (1,8,4), (4,2,1), (2,4,3), (4,8,7), (7,3,4))
IfcCartesianPointList3D: ((0.,0.,0.), (1.,0.,0.), (1.,1.,0.), (0.,1.,0.), (0.,0.,2.), (1.,0.,2.), (1.,1.,2.), (0.,1.,2.))

Figure 355 — Triangulated face set geometry

 

NOTE  The definition of IfcTriangulatedFaceSet is based on the indexedFaceSet and indexedTriangleSet defined in ISO/IEC 19775-1. The use of PnIndex has been adopted from triangulated_surface_set defined in ISO-10303-42.

HISTORY  New entity in IFC4.

Informal Propositions:

  1. If Closed = TRUE, the same topological constraints as imposed by an faceted boundary representation shall be safisfied. In particular:
    • each face shall be unique;
    • each edge shall be used by exactly two boundaries of faces;
    • the topological normal at each point on the boundary of the triangulated face set shall point away from the mater ial of the solid.
Attribute definitions
#AttributeTypeCardinalityDescription G
2NormalsIfcParameterValue? L[1:?] L[3:3] An ordered list of three directions for normals. It is a two-dimensional list of directions provided by three parameter values.
  • The first dimension corresponds to the vertex indices of the Coordindex
  • The second dimension has exactly three values, [1] the x-direction, [2] the y-direction and [3] the z-directions
X
3ClosedIfcBoolean? Indication whether the IfcTriangulatedFaceSet is a closed shell or not. If omited no such information can be provided. X
4CoordIndexIfcPositiveIntegerL[1:?] L[3:3] Two-dimensional list for the indexed-based triangles, where
  • The first dimension represents the triangles (from 1 to N)
  • The second dimension has exactly three values representing the indices to three vertex points (from 1 to 3).
NOTE  The coordinates of the vertices are provided by the indexed list of SELF\IfcTessellatedFaceSet.Coordinates.CoordList.
X
5PnIndexIfcPositiveInteger? L[1:?] The list of integers defining the locations in the IfcCartesianPointList3D to obtain the point coordinates for the indices withint the CoordIndex. If the PnIndex is not provided the indices point directly into the IfcCartesianPointList3D. X
NumberOfTriangles
:=SIZEOF(CoordIndex)
IfcIntegerDerived number of triangles used for this triangulation. X
Inherited definitions from supertypes
Entity inheritance IfcTriangulatedIrregularNetwork IfcTessellatedFaceSet IfcTessellatedItem IfcGeometricRepresentationItem IfcRepresentationItem
Attribute inheritance
#AttributeTypeCardinalityDescriptionG
IfcRepresentationItem
LayerAssignmentIfcPresentationLayerAssignment
@AssignedItems
S[0:1]Assignment of the representation item to a single or multiple layer(s). The LayerAssignments can override a LayerAssignments of the IfcRepresentation it is used within the list of Items.
IFC2x3 CHANGE  The inverse attribute LayerAssignments has been added.
IFC4 CHANGE  The inverse attribute LayerAssignment has been restricted to max 1. Upward compatibility for file based exchange is guaranteed.
X
StyledByItemIfcStyledItem
@Item
S[0:1]Reference to the IfcStyledItem that provides presentation information to the representation, e.g. a curve style, including colour and thickness to a geometric curve.
IFC2x3 CHANGE  The inverse attribute StyledByItem has been added.
X
IfcGeometricRepresentationItem
IfcTessellatedItem
IfcTessellatedFaceSet
1CoordinatesIfcCartesianPointList3D An ordered list of Cartesian points used by the coordinate index defined at the subtypes of IfcTessellatedFaceSet. X
HasColoursIfcIndexedColourMap
@MappedTo
S[0:1]Reference to the indexed colour map providing the corresponding colour RGB values to the faces of the subtypes of IfcTessellatedFaceSet. X
HasTexturesIfcIndexedTextureMap
@MappedTo
S[0:?]Reference to the indexed texture map providing the corresponding texture coordinates to the vertices bounding the faces of the subtypes of IfcTessellatedFaceSet. X
Dim
:=3
IfcDimensionCountThe space dimensionality of this geometric representation item, it is always 3. X
IfcTriangulatedFaceSet
2NormalsIfcParameterValue? L[1:?] L[3:3] An ordered list of three directions for normals. It is a two-dimensional list of directions provided by three parameter values.
  • The first dimension corresponds to the vertex indices of the Coordindex
  • The second dimension has exactly three values, [1] the x-direction, [2] the y-direction and [3] the z-directions
X
3ClosedIfcBoolean? Indication whether the IfcTriangulatedFaceSet is a closed shell or not. If omited no such information can be provided. X
4CoordIndexIfcPositiveIntegerL[1:?] L[3:3] Two-dimensional list for the indexed-based triangles, where
  • The first dimension represents the triangles (from 1 to N)
  • The second dimension has exactly three values representing the indices to three vertex points (from 1 to 3).
NOTE  The coordinates of the vertices are provided by the indexed list of SELF\IfcTessellatedFaceSet.Coordinates.CoordList.
X
5PnIndexIfcPositiveInteger? L[1:?] The list of integers defining the locations in the IfcCartesianPointList3D to obtain the point coordinates for the indices withint the CoordIndex. If the PnIndex is not provided the indices point directly into the IfcCartesianPointList3D. X
NumberOfTriangles
:=SIZEOF(CoordIndex)
IfcIntegerDerived number of triangles used for this triangulation. X
Formal representations
XML Specification
 <xs:element name="IfcTriangulatedFaceSet" type="ifc:IfcTriangulatedFaceSet" substitutionGroup="ifc:IfcTessellatedFaceSet" nillable="true"/>
 <xs:complexType name="IfcTriangulatedFaceSet">
  <xs:complexContent>
   <xs:extension base="ifc:IfcTessellatedFaceSet">
    <xs:attribute name="Normals" use="optional">
     <xs:simpleType>
      <xs:restriction>
       <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:list itemType="ifc:IfcParameterValue"/>
       </xs:simpleType>
       <xs:minLength value="3"/>
      </xs:restriction>
     </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
    <xs:attribute name="Closed" type="ifc:IfcBoolean" use="optional"/>
    <xs:attribute name="CoordIndex" use="optional">
     <xs:simpleType>
      <xs:restriction>
       <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:list itemType="ifc:IfcPositiveInteger"/>
       </xs:simpleType>
       <xs:minLength value="3"/>
      </xs:restriction>
     </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
    <xs:attribute name="PnIndex" use="optional">
     <xs:simpleType>
      <xs:restriction>
       <xs:simpleType>
        <xs:list itemType="ifc:IfcPositiveInteger"/>
       </xs:simpleType>
      </xs:restriction>
     </xs:simpleType>
    </xs:attribute>
   </xs:extension>
  </xs:complexContent>
 </xs:complexType>
EXPRESS Specification
ENTITY IfcTriangulatedFaceSet
 SUPERTYPE OF(IfcTriangulatedIrregularNetwork)
 SUBTYPE OF (IfcTessellatedFaceSet);
  Normals : OPTIONAL LIST [1:?] OF LIST [3:3] OF IfcParameterValue;
  Closed : OPTIONAL IfcBoolean;
  CoordIndex : LIST [1:?] OF LIST [3:3] OF IfcPositiveInteger;
  PnIndex : OPTIONAL LIST [1:?] OF IfcPositiveInteger;
 DERIVE
  NumberOfTriangles : IfcInteger := SIZEOF(CoordIndex);
END_ENTITY;

Link to EXPRESS-G diagram EXPRESS-G diagram

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