Skip to content

BIM Workbench

In one sentence: The BIM workbench is FreeCAD's Building Information Modelling environment — it provides tools for creating architectural and structural geometry organised in a Site → Building → Level → Space hierarchy, with full IFC import/export and native IFC editing.

What is the BIM workbench for?

BIM (Building Information Modelling) extends CAD into architecture and construction: geometry is not just shape, but also carries semantic meaning (this face is a wall, that element is a door), quantities (area, volume, cost), and interoperability data (IFC class, property sets).

FreeCAD's BIM workbench provides:

  • Parametric building elements — walls, columns, beams, slabs, doors, windows, stairs, roofs, pipes, frames, panels, trusses, and equipment.
  • Project structure — Site → Building → Level → Space hierarchy that maps directly to IFC concepts.
  • IFC support — import/export of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) files, plus Native IFC editing that keeps the document as a real IFC model at all times (no conversion step).
  • Annotation and documentation — section planes, 2-D views, dimensions, labels, schedules, and TechDraw integration.
  • Material and classification — assign materials and IFC property sets to elements.

The BIM workbench incorporates and supersedes the older Arch workbench. Most Arch_* commands are still available within BIM.

IFC and Native IFC

IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) is the open standard format for BIM data exchange. FreeCAD supports:

Mode Description
Classic IFC Import an IFC file as FreeCAD objects; edit them natively; export back to IFC.
Native IFC The FreeCAD document is the IFC file — every object maps directly to an IFC entity. Editing happens directly on the IFC model without a conversion step.

Native IFC is the recommended mode for new projects that will be exchanged with other BIM software. Classic IFC is useful for viewing or lightly editing imported models.

Project hierarchy

BIM objects are organised in a containment hierarchy:

Site
 └── Building
      └── Level (BuildingStorey)
           └── Space
                └── Wall / Column / Beam / Slab / Door / Window / ...

Each level corresponds to an IFC class: - Site → IfcSite - Building → IfcBuilding - Level → IfcBuildingStorey - Space → IfcSpace - Wall → IfcWall / IfcWallStandardCase - Column → IfcColumn - etc.

Menu Contents
2D Drafting Sketch, Line, Wire, Circle, Arc, Ellipse, Polygon, Rectangle, BSpline, BezCurve, Point
3D/BIM Site, Building, Level, Space, Wall, CurtainWall, Column, Beam, Slab, Door, Window, Pipe, PipeConnector, Stairs, Roof, Panel, Frame, Fence, Truss, Equipment, Rebar; Generic 3D tools (Profile, Box, Builder, Library, Component, Reference)
Annotation Text, ShapeString, Dimension (Aligned/Horizontal/Vertical), Leader, Label, Hatch, Axis, AxisSystem, Grid, SectionPlane, TDPage, TDView
Snapping All Draft snap modes + working plane shortcuts
Modify Move, Copy, Rotate, Clone, SimpleCopy, Compound; Offset2D, Trim/Extend, Join, Split, Scale, Stretch; Upgrade, Downgrade, Add, Remove; Array, PathArray, CutPlane, Mirror, Extrude, Boolean (Cut/Fuse/Common)
Manage Setup, Views, ProjectManager, Windows, IfcElements, IfcQuantities, IfcProperties, Classification, Layers, Material, Schedule, Preflight
Utils TogglePanels, WPView, Arch utilities (SplitMesh, MeshToShape, Check…), IFC utilities (IfcExplorer, IfcSpreadsheet, Diff)

See also