What gets exported

Archeform writes IFC4 — on SketchUp 2026. The export is three steps because SketchUp’s own exporter cannot write two things that matter: material layers and anything nested inside another classified object.

1. Check the model — the shield in the Project palette
2. File → Export → 3D Model, format IFC
3. Plugins → Archeform → Add Layers to IFC… and Add Windows/Doors to IFC…

Full walkthrough: Your first IFC.

On SketchUp 2025, most of this page doesn’t apply

SketchUp’s exporter reads element classification from IFC 2x3 on 2025 and from IFC 4 on 2026 — a property of the host application, not something Archeform controls. Everything below this notice — names, GlobalId, quantities, property sets, material layers, spatial structure — depends on IFC 4 being read. On 2025 you still get a file with correct element types (IfcWall, IfcSlab, …), just none of the rest, and step 3 above refuses to run rather than write IFC 4 data into a file that isn’t. Reasoning and the test that confirmed it: Supported versions.

Element classes

Element	Class
Wall	IfcWall
Window, door, skylight	IfcWindow, IfcDoor
Slab	IfcSlab
Roof	IfcRoof
Stair	IfcStair
Ramp	IfcRamp
Railing	IfcRailing
Beam	IfcBeam
Column	IfcColumn
Column grid	IfcGrid
Footing	IfcFooting
Zone	IfcSpace
Storey	IfcBuildingStorey
Site	IfcSite
Pipe, duct	IfcPipeSegment, IfcDuctSegment
Fittings	IfcPipeFitting, IfcDuctFitting

What each element carries

GlobalId — the 22-character IFC identifier, derived deterministically from the element’s internal id. The same element exports with the same identifier every time, which is what lets a viewer or a checker track it across revisions.

Name — the same name shown in the Outliner.

PredefinedType — set from what the element is, not typed in: a strip footing exports as strip_footing, a stair as half_turn if that is its shape.

Quantities — Qto_*BaseQuantities, computed from the geometry. Openings are deducted from net figures, so net area and volume are the ones you would bill.

Property sets — Pset_*Common, filled from the dialog: load bearing, external, fire rating, thermal transmittance, status.

Material layers — if the element carries a composition. See Material layers.

Spatial structure

Project → site → building → storey → elements. Elements drawn inside a storey are contained in it, which is what a viewer shows as the tree.

An element drawn without an active storey has no home in that tree. It exports, but it sits loose — one more reason to set up storeys first.

Units

Quantities are stored in SketchUp’s internal units and converted by the exporter according to the file’s own unit definition. Lengths inside property sets are in metres, following the convention the schema uses for things like Span and Elevation.

So a DN 110 pipe reports 0.11 in its property set and its true value in the quantity set. That is not an inconsistency — it is two different conventions in the same standard.

Running the extra steps twice

Both post-processing commands write a marker into the file and refuse to run again. A second pass would duplicate every element it had already written.

Each keeps a .bak beside the file before touching it. To redo an export, export from SketchUp again and run each command once on the fresh file.

What is not there yet

• IfcMaterialLayerSetUsage — the layer set is exported, but not its geometric offset from the wall axis or which side is which. A viewer knows the order of the layers, not their side.
• Door and window schedules as IFC quantity data.

See also

• Material layers
• Openings in IFC
• Model check