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Fail to read an IFC file on Trimble Connect Desktop

Question asked by Olivier Pellegrin on Nov 30, 2018
Latest reply on Feb 10, 2020 by Marko Myllymaa

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Hello,

Some users working on TBC are not able to view any IFC model (coming from Revit or Tekla).

They keep getting this red colour on the model tree within the model viewer.

I think that their computers cannot transform an IFC file into a TRB file. (see picture attached, it stays as a trb.download in his Trimble Connect cache)

The weird thing is that on my own computer, I have absolutly no problem reading and viewing any IFC file.

Nobody in my team (3 different persons) can read any IFC file in any project.

The only solution we found is to manually copy/paste the .trb files from my cache in their own cache. When this is done, they can open the iFC models...

This is a huge issue for us as we make extensive use of TBC in our BIM projects.

Please help us.

Thanks a lot

Regards,

Marko Myllymaa Dec 3, 2018 12:39 AM

Correct Answer

Hi Olivier,

It sounds like your colleagues have managed to get multiple versions of import plugins in their machine. And Trimble Connect Desktop 1.6 is incompatible with some older versions of IFC plugin.

To solve this, they need to follow these steps:

1. Uninstall Trimble Connect Desktop

2. Uninstall Tekla BIMsight

3. Uninstall all plugins, they start either "Trimble Solutions ImportSDK" or "Tekla Model Sharing Foundation"

4. Navigate to following folders and clear them:

C:\Program Files\Trimble Solutions\ImportSDK

C:\Program Files (x86)\Tekla\Model Sharing Foundation

5. Open regedit.exe and navigate to following path and remove all plugins that are listed there:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Tekla Corporation\Model Sharing Foundation\plugins

6. Install Tekla BIMsight if that is needed

7. Install Trimble Connect Desktop

Now all IFC models should work again. Trimble Connect Desktop and Tekla BIMsight use the same plugins, but Tekla BIMsight has older versions, thus it's needed to install first. And try to make sure that installations of the software and their updates is done by same user. If IT admin does the installation, they need to do the updates also.

Hopefully this helps. Please ask, if you need more info on some steps.

Best regards,

Marko Myllymaa

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15 Replies

Marko Myllymaa Dec 3, 2018 12:39 AM
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Hi Olivier,

It sounds like your colleagues have managed to get multiple versions of import plugins in their machine. And Trimble Connect Desktop 1.6 is incompatible with some older versions of IFC plugin.
To solve this, they need to follow these steps:
1. Uninstall Trimble Connect Desktop
2. Uninstall Tekla BIMsight
3. Uninstall all plugins, they start either "Trimble Solutions ImportSDK" or "Tekla Model Sharing Foundation"
4. Navigate to following folders and clear them:
C:\Program Files\Trimble Solutions\ImportSDK
C:\Program Files (x86)\Tekla\Model Sharing Foundation
5. Open regedit.exe and navigate to following path and remove all plugins that are listed there:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Tekla Corporation\Model Sharing Foundation\plugins
6. Install Tekla BIMsight if that is needed
7. Install Trimble Connect Desktop

Now all IFC models should work again. Trimble Connect Desktop and Tekla BIMsight use the same plugins, but Tekla BIMsight has older versions, thus it's needed to install first. And try to make sure that installations of the software and their updates is done by same user. If IT admin does the installation, they need to do the updates also.

Hopefully this helps. Please ask, if you need more info on some steps.

Best regards,
Marko Myllymaa
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- Olivier Pellegrin @ Marko Myllymaa on Dec 3, 2018 6:46 AM
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  Hi Marko,
  Thank you very much, everything is working fine now!
  
  Yes we still use tekla BIMSight only because we find very usefull to be able to a give colored status to conflicts like "ignored" or "assigned" to keep track on clashes whenever models are updated. This feature seems to be gone in TCD, too bad....
  Do you know if there is any way to do it now?
  Thank you for your help,
  Regards,
  Olivier
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  - Marko Myllymaa @ Olivier Pellegrin on Dec 5, 2018 6:55 AM
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    Hi Olivier,
    I'm glad my instructions helped you.
    
    Sorry, the clash symbol cannot be colored in Trimble Connect Desktop. I will add this to our wanted features list. Thanks.
    
    Best regards,
    Marko Myllymaa
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Lucas Gusmao Dec 19, 2018 10:56 AM
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Hi.
I'm having some similar problem.
But my Trimble Connect Desktop opens, but when I click on an IFC file from a list it closes. If a try to open an IFC file from my computer it closes too.
I tryed the same solution Marko gave, unistalled everything and cleared all the files and plugins from regedit. Even unistalled other IFC viewers I had. It didn't solve the problem for me.

I re-installed Tekla BIMSight as well, and won't even open.

Any other thing I can do? My computer is new, I didn't even had old versions.

Regards,
Lucas.
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- Olivier Pellegrin @ Lucas Gusmao on Jan 4, 2019 1:48 AM
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  Hello Lucas,
  Whenever I have an issue like this (Software shutdown when I try to open a file), it is often due to a restriction made on my computer to use some applications. Try to open TCD or BIMsight on Admin Mode, with antivirus paused and contact your IT guy. It seems like your IFC import plugin can not run on your PC.
  Regards
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- Marko Myllymaa @ Lucas Gusmao on Jan 18, 2019 1:33 AM
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  Hi Lucas,
  
  Could you check the event logs? Open Event viewer and navigate to "Applications and Services Logs / Trimble".
  Right click to that and save the events to a file and send it to me, marko.myllymaa --at-- trimble.com
  
  Best regards,
  Marko Myllymaa
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Guest Dec 18, 2019 5:16 AM
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Hi,
My colleague has a similar issue.
Trimble Connect for desktop on his PC fails to open models (I tried with IFC, DWG and SKP files), while on my PC it works just fine with the same files. Loaded models that fails to open appear red in the side bar like in the image below.

I found this thread and follow the steps from the answer : uninstal Trimble connect and BimSight and all the plugins.
Unfortunately, it didn't solved my problem.
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- Yves van Loon @ Guest on Dec 18, 2019 6:10 AM
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  We have exactly the same problem on just one of our workstations.
  TeklaBimsight was never installed here.
  Uninstall en re-install TrimbleConnectDesktop did not solve the problem.
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- Marko Myllymaa @ Guest on Dec 18, 2019 6:19 AM
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  Hi,
  
  Did you do the registry clearing also? Was the plugins listed in registry?
  Is your colleague doing the actual installation himself/herself?
  After installation of the Trimble Connect Desktop, do you see import plugins installed? In the "Add or remove programs" list? In the registry?
  
  Best regards,
  Marko Myllymaa
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  - Yves van Loon @ Marko Myllymaa on Dec 19, 2019 3:55 AM
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    Hello Marko,
    Yes I've tried again following your steps:
    
    1. Uninstall Trimble Connect Desktop - OK
    2. Uninstall Tekla BIMsight - WAS NOT INSTALLED
    3. Uninstall all plugins, they start either "Trimble Solutions ImportSDK" or "Tekla Model Sharing Foundation" - WERE NOT INSTALLED
    4. Navigate to following folders and clear them: - FOLDERS DON'T EXIST
    C:\Program Files\Trimble Solutions\ImportSDK
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Tekla\Model Sharing Foundation
    5. Open regedit.exe and navigate to following path and remove all plugins that are listed there: - NO PLUGINS LISTED
    Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Tekla Corporation\Model Sharing Foundation\plugins
    6. Install Tekla BIMsight if that is needed -NOT NEEDED
    7. Install Trimble Connect Desktop - OK, SAME RESULT, PLUGINS DON'T INSTALL, NO ERRORS OR WARNINGS DURING INSTALLATION
    
    Please advice,
    Best Regards,
    Yves
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    - Sava Devic @ Yves van Loon on Dec 24, 2019 1:15 AM
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      Hi Marko and Yves,
      Here's what happend for me after following Marko's instruction:
      
      1. Uninstall Trimble Connect Desktop - OK
      2. Uninstall Tekla BIMsight - OK
      3. Uninstall all plugins, they start either "Trimble Solutions ImportSDK" or "Tekla Model Sharing Foundation" - UNINSTALED
      4. Navigate to following folders and clear them: - FOLDERS CLEARED
      C:\Program Files\Trimble Solutions\ImportSDK
      C:\Program Files (x86)\Tekla\Model Sharing Foundation
      5. Open regedit.exe and navigate to following path and remove all plugins that are listed there: - PLUGINS DELETED
      Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Tekla Corporation\Model Sharing Foundation\plugins
      6. Install Tekla BIMsight if that is needed - DIDN'T INSTALED IT
      7. Install Trimble Connect Desktop - OK, SAME RESULT
      
      Regards,
      Sava
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  - RYAN NORQUAY @ Marko Myllymaa on Jan 5, 2020 11:54 AM
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    Same issue...
    Thanks in advance,
    Ryan
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    - RYAN NORQUAY @ RYAN NORQUAY on Jan 5, 2020 12:08 PM
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      After further testing IFC files load fine the issue is only with XML files.
      Thanks,
      Ryan
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Sava Devic Feb 10, 2020 6:14 AM
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Hi all,
We managed to fix the problem with uninstalling the plugins via the site below
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17588/windows-fix-problems-that-block-programs-being-installed-or-removed

I did try to follow Marko's instructions before, but it seem I couldn't uninstall all the plugins by classical means.
My colleague used this site with the instructions from Tekla CS to uninstall the leftovers plugins and finally it works!

Hope it helps,
Sava
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- Marko Myllymaa @ Sava Devic on Feb 10, 2020 10:17 AM
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  Hi Sava,
  
  Thanks for letting us know that you have resolved the issue. This was first time when Trimble Connect Desktop needed help of Microsoft tool. I have had it used on Tekla BIMsight cases earlier.
  
  Best regards,
  Marko Myllymaa
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