About Adding Specialized Types

Most AEC types cannot be specialized. Only one type per package can be specialized (for example: BridgeOtherSpatialStructureElement in Bridge Spatial Structure Types package).

Note: For more information, about adding specialized types, see Model Specialization Management User Guide: Creating and Editing a Specialization Type.

Your parent package must be the package containing the DS types you want to specialize (for example: Bridge Spatial Structure if you need to specialize a BridgeOtherSpatialStructureElement).

If you need your new type to be extended by your own customer extension, you must define both your types and extensions within the same package.

If you need your extensions to comply with IFC import/Export or the BIM Attributes panel, you must specify Ifc as package prefix. It is recommended that you do not define any attribute on your specialized type since they will not be handled through IFC import/Export nor displayed in BIM Attributes panel.

For example, if you need to create a new type to model bridge temporary supports as well as some related attributes to import through IFC:

  • Create a package named BridgeOtherSpatialStructureElement, prefixed Ifc, with BridgeSpatialStructureElement as parent package.
  • Create a type named 3DSBridgeTemporarySupport and specializing BridgeOtherSpatialStructureElement.
  • Create an extension named Pset_3DSBridgeTemporarySupportCommon with Ifc3DSBridgeTemporarySupport as scope.
  • Define attributes in IfcPset_3DSBridgeTemporarySupportCommon named for example: Pset_3DSBridgeTemporarySupportCommon_MyAttribute.