For our model viewer we only support IFCs.
All file types can be uploaded to our document section.
Note: The IFC and Point cloud (e57 and las) previews can be loaded in the 3D viewer.
This article contains information about the previewing of the following file formats:
Open file formats
At Catenda we like to work with open file formats so that everyone can work together regardless of the software they own. Typically, anybody can participate in their development due to their inherently open nature. Source This means that it is not just one organization controlling what gets developed.
IFC
Documents section - ifc (any), ifczip (any)
IFC files that are uploaded to the documents section will show a preview of the IFC 3D view.
Objects will not have properties and GUIDs which means the objects cannot be linked to issues.
IFC documents in the documents section can be promoted to a model in the model section.
Models section - ifc, ifczip
Accepted (Official and retired releases by BuildingSMART)
IFC 4
IFC 4.3 - IFC4.3 TC1 (zip), IFC 4.3 ADD2
IFC 4.0 - IFC4 ADD2 TC1
IFC 2
IFC 2.3 - IFC2x3, IFC2x3 TC1
IFC 2.2 - IFC2x2, IFC2x2 ADD1
IFC 2.1 - IFC2x, IFC2x ADD1
IFC 2.0 - IFC2.0
Not accepted (Withdrawn by BuildingSMART)
You can find what IFC releases are official here
Official BuildingSMART sample IFC files can be found here
BCF
Topics - bcfzip (bcf 2.0), bcf (bcf 2.1, bcf 3,0)
Documents - pdf (1.x to 2.0), pdf/a (1,2,3), xfdf, fdf
Comments - PDF comments will be visible when uploading a pdf
Images
There are several ways to display open standard images on Catenda Hub:
Documents - png, gif (static image only)
Issues - Text formatting - png, gif (animated)
You can add a link to a public image in the comment of text in a description or comment of an issue.
Issues - Viewpoints - png, gif (static image only)
You can attach an image to a comment of an issue.
Proprietary image formats
See proprietary image formats here
Video
Videos - Mp4, WebM, OGG
Open office
Documents - odt, ods
Proprietary office formats
See proprietary image formats here
Rich text
Documents - xml
Plain text
Documents - txt
Point Clouds
Documents - e57, las
3D view
Point clouds can be viewed in 3D in the documents section.
This 3D view can also be opened in the 3D viewer.
Proprietary file formats
There are a lot of file format standards developed by organizations that are used by many.
It is important for us that it is easy to use Catenda. We therefore do our best to support as many of the most common filetypes that are used.
Images
There are several ways to display proprietary image formats on Catenda Hub:
Open standard image formats
Open standard image formats can be found here
Documents - bmp, wmf, emf, jpg, tif, tiff
Topics - Text formatting - bmp, jpg
You can add a link to a public image in the comment of text in a description or comment of an issue.
Topics - Viewpoints - jpg
You can attach an image to a comment of an issue.
Autodesk
Documents - dwg, dxf, dwf
Vector graphics
Vector graphics will be displayed with cad formats
Bentley
Documents - dgn
Vector graphics
Vector graphics will be displayed with cad formats
Microsoft
Open standard office formats
see open standard office formats here
Documents - Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher - doc, xls, ppt, pub
Documents - Microsoft Office Open XML - docx, pptx, xlsx, xlsm
Documents - Email - Outlook - msg