Tip MicroStation Tip: AccuSnap – Cycle Through All Elements Within Range Using AccuSnap, it’s easier to snap to the desired element when there are multiple elements within range of your snap tolerance. Simply use the…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Selecting an Alternate Sheet Using Print Styles are a great way to help standardize your printing processes. If you’re using Print Organizer they are a necessity. Print Styles can…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Active vs. Passive Named Groups When using the Add to Graphic Group tool to create Named Groups there is a Member Type selection for Active or Passive. The Member Type settings are as…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Setting the default font When opening design files you may occasionally get a warning message about a missing rsc font. The default is to replace the missing font with the STANDARD rsc…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Flood Methods – Part 2 A previous tip detailed that using any of the Flood Methods in MicroStation requires the entire region being flooded by visible in the view window.…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Automate Coordinate Entries – Part 2 I previously published a tip on how to use Excel to format bearing and distance values so they were compatible with MicroStation key-in entries. Then exporting…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Use viewing tools during placement Did you know that you can use tools from the View Control Toolbox while in the middle of an element placement tool, such as Place Smartline, without losing…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Design Script lineweight remapping Starting with MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 3) you may use IPlot design scripts in addition to MicroStation pen tables to resymbolize you drawings during…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Save Settings on Exit I see a lot of users who have the Save Settings on Exit option toggled on in their User Preference settings. While this can be a great benefit to have… Read…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Standardize color and gray shade output Do you have problems getting consistent colors on your plots? Sometimes users change color tables that cause odd colors to be printed. When submitting a…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Improve PDF image quality in Raster Manager and Descartes Vector PDF documents attached in Raster Manager or Descartes typically work without issue. Using scanned, or other raster PDF documents, on the other hand, can…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Printing Problem Quick Fix MicroStation printing problems; we’ve all had them, and they always seem to happen at the most inopportune time. You check and recheck your print…
Tip MicroStation CONNECT: Multiple Application Windows MicroStation has always had the ability to manage windows independently on dual monitor workstations. To support the expanded monitor capabilities in Windows 8…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Finding a Tool Key-in At EnvisionCAD we provide training for CAD administrators and advanced users. As part of this instruction we cover building custom function key menus, tool…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Element Selection Element selection is a very widely used tool with many options available to the user. I remembered one tip that is very handy and easy. When selecting your…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Flood Methods There are many tools in MicroStation that contain a Flood method to create a shape, fill a shape, or to complete some other type of operation. In all of…
Tip MicroStation CONNECT: Pen Table Macros Written by Rod Wing Support for the legacy MicroStation Basic macros has been removed in MicroStation CONNECT. This also means these macros can no longer be…
Tip MicroStation Tip: XYZ Text Delivered with MicroStation is a toolbar that will label coordinates in the file and import/export coordinates. From the MicroStation pulldown menu select…
Tip MicroStation CONNECT: Model Properties Written by: Rod Wing In MicroStation CONNECT Edition the old Element Information dialog has been renamed Properties. Continuing the trend we saw in…
Tip OpenRoads Tip: Black and Blue Manipulator Preference Written by Bob Mecham After working in OpenRoads for a while you may notice that the size and color of the Manipulator is rather hard to read. Maybe I am…
Tip MicroStation CONNECT: Add Custom Tools to the Ribbon Written by Rod Wing The Menu Bar pull downs are no longer supported in MicroStation CONNECT. Many organizations created custom pull downs for organizing…
Tip MicroStation CONNECT: Bring back the Tasks Dialog Written by: Rod Wing As you probably know MicroStation CONNECT employs a ribbon style interface similar to Microsoft Office and AutoCAD. We recommend that…
Tip MicroStation CONNECT: Associating Files to a WorkSet Written by: Rod Wing One of the many changes in the MicroStation CONNECT Workspace is that the former Project setting has been replaced by WorkSet. This is…
Tip OpenRoads Tip: 5 Things to Know When Working with Superelevations Written by: Bob Mecham Working with superelevations in the OpenRoads SS4 release is much different from previous versions of InRoads or GEOPAK. Here are 5…
Tip AutoCAD Civil 3D Tip: Adding Sample Lines in the Middle of the Existing Sample Line Group Written by Ben Johnson Have you ever created a group of corridor section views, done a bunch of labeling edits to your automated code set labels; and then…
Tip MicroStation Tip: What’s New in V8i (SELECTseries 3) Update 2 Written by: Bob Mecham With the release of the new OpenRoads – V8i (SELECTseries 4) Maintenance Release 1 comes a new release of MicroStation V8i…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Rendering Material Assignments in Google Earth Written by: Bob Mecham Credit to: Margaret Valletta – McFarland Johnson I was providing professional guidance to Margaret on a 3D rendering project.…
Tip MicroStation Tip – Aligning Patterns Written by Bob Mecham When patterning or hatching a detail it is beneficial to be sure the patterns align between adjacent elements. This can be done by…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Keyin to Toggle between AccuDraw and Civil AccuDraw Written by Mark Templeman – Senior Transportation Designer at JEO Consulting Group, Inc. At last months Nebraska User Group 2015 spring conference Mark…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Working with Linestyles – Scale, Shift, Direction Written by Bob Mecham Scale Here is a key-in I had to dig up for a project I was working on. All of my existing custom linestyles were placed in… Read more »
Tip MicroStation Tip: Set Reference Presentation – View Flags Written by: Bob Mecham You are probably aware of using View Attributes in MicroStation. The View Attributes dialog allows you to affect whether and how…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Selecting your DWG Version Written by Rod Wing When you install MicroStation the AutoCAD Real DWG library is also installed. The Real DWG library allows MicroStation to work with…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Raster Manager Cache Manager To facilitate quicker raster image display, Raster Manager will create temporary cache files of certain image types. The cached image files will be subsets, or…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Apply Elevation to Shapefile Attachments Attached shapefile graphics by default are attached with a Z coordinate (Elevation) value of 0. Starting in MicroStation v8i (SELECTseries 3) elevations can be…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Automate Coordinate Entries Written by Rod Wing For those of you who have had to do a lot of coordinate entry in MicroStation, either through the key-in browser or using AccuDraw, you…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Modify Dimension Text Editing text in a dimension can be done the same as editing any other text in the file. Text Toolbar Open the Text toolbar from the pulldown menu: Tools…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Editing Cells Quickly Hopefully by now you have been using MicroStation V8 and have realized how nice Cell Library management has become. Here is one more tip that should help you…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Coordinate Input Written by Bob Mecham. Placing elements in MicroStation is usually done one of two ways: absolute coordinates or relative to an existing point.…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) Written by Bob Mecham. MicroStation can import files from external application such as Microsoft Word and Excel. Link an Excel Sheet to MicroStation: 1. Open…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Keypoint Snap Written by Bob Mecham. The Keypoint snap mode is often the most useful snap mode for drafting operations. This is because the Keypoint snap mode snaps to…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Multi-snap and Setting Priority Written by Bob Mecham. Multi-snap is an extension of AccuSnap allowing the user to use more than one snap at a time. For example, Keypoint, Nearest, and…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Send to Back Written by Bob Mecham. When conducting MicroStation V8 user training we cover the Edit > Bring to Front command. During the course of the demonstration of…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Useful Keyboard Shortcuts Written by Bob Mecham. Text Editor When int he Text Editor Dialog box there are some useful keyboard shortcuts to help you get around. – Ctrl+C (Copy…
Tip VBA Tip: Input Boxes Written by Rod Wing. Like a Message Box, the InputBox displays a modal dialog with a message/prompt string and a tile. With an InputBox there are…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Moving Elements to Elevation Written by Bob Mecham. MicroStation has the ability to use relative values with a “#”. When using the XY=key-in you can type # and the value will…
Tip AutoCAD Civil 3D Tip: How To Create New Parts for Pressure Pipe Catalogs Written by Ben Johnson. In the last tip, I outlined how to add pipe materials/sizes to Pressure Pipe Catalogs in Civil 3D. This is a follow-up to that…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Dimension Audit Utility Written by Bob Mecham. This utility is used to verify dimensioning in the active model. All the dimensioning is located and any errors are reported. Open the…
Tip MicroStation Tip: V8i SS3 with Google Earth and Map Written by Bob Mecham. In this tutorial we will assign a coordinate system to a MicroStation DGN file and then export the file to a Google Earth KML file.…
Tip AutoCAD Civil 3D Tip: How to Add New Pipes to Pressure Pipe Catalogs Written by Ben Johnson. Pressure Pipe Networks are fairly new to Civil 3D, and anyone who has worked with them has noticed that Civil 3D only comes loaded…
Tip VBA Tip: Get Current Value of All Your Variables Written by Rod Wing. The Locals toggle button in the Debug toolbox opens or closes the Locals window. The Locals window will display all of…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Manage Font Utilities Credit goes to Kae Calloway at Dominion. To add a font to a Resource file (*.rsc),: 1. Open the Keyin dialog box – Utilities > Key-in 2. Mdl…
Tip MicroStation Tip: 3D Civil Content for MicroStation Visualization Written by Bob Mecham. I am often asked, “Where do you get 3D MicroStation Cells and other 3D content?” There are a number of free and pay…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Apply Element Template to Shapefile Attachment Written by Rod Wing. ArcView Shapefiles contain the graphics of individual GIS layers, but the graphics have no color, weight, or line style symbology.…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Mouse Mechanics Written by Bob Mecham. Mouse functionality has been greatly expanded by the inclusion of useful tools assigned to the typical two button mouse with…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Align Tool Written by Bob Mecham. From the Manipulate toolbox, the Align tool will help you align elements and text to an edge of an existing element. Align…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Backup and Undo Written by Bob Mecham Ever make a mistake? Who hasn’t, save yourself some grief. Backup Keyin: backup By keying in the word ‘backup’…
Tip Selection Drag Port-Starboard or Starboard-Port This tip has been translated to Pirateese in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day. In t’ V8i release o’ MicroStation t’ Element Selection overlap…
Tip MicroStation Tip: Activate Reference for Editing Written by Bob Mecham. A new powerful enhancement to V8i MicroStation is the ability to edit reference files with in the active design file. By simply right…
Tip Opening a Web Browser to a Specific Page Written by Bob Mecham. Does your company have their own internal standards or project standards on a particular web page? By customizing MicroStation pull…
Tip Controlling the Origin of a Copy/Paste Written by Bob Mecham Using the Windows Clipboard you can easily copy design elements from one design file to the next. Prior to copying the elements…
Tip Move Part of a Cell Written by Bob Mecham. Do you find yourself needing to move only a part of a cell and your CAD Manager tells you not to drop any cells? Well… Read…
Tip Placing a North Arrow in a Rotated View Written by Bob Mecham. Placing a North Arrow in a rotated view such as a plan and profile sheet can be done right the first time if you use AccuDraw… Read…
Tip Change AccuDraw Display Written by Bob Mecham. There is a handy little key-in that will change the rectangular display of AccuDraw. Using the below key-in you can change the X Y…
Tip Customizing Values in AccuDraw Popup Calculator Written by Bob Mecham. To take the AccuDraw with Popup Calculator another step further than Complex Expressions. Popup Calculator has an added feature…
Tip AccuDraw Popup Calculator and the use of Complex Expressions Written by Bob Mecham. To take the AccuDraw with Popup Calculator one step further I will show some of the uses of “=” function. The popup calculator…
Tip AccuDraw with Popup Calculator Written by Bob Mecham. You can keep your calculator turned off when you need to perform math functions in MicroStation. Using the popup calculator math…
Tip AccuDraw & Bearing KeyIns Written by Bob Mecham. Need to key-in bearings? Here is a little known trick that makes this easier. First, set your AccuDraw settings to read-out in…
Tip Reference AutoCAD to MicroStation and coordinates do not match Written by Bob Mecham. We have taken this support call twice in the last month so I thought I would share a solution with everyone in case you have the… Read…
Tip Saved Views now store Reference Display States Written by Bob Mecham. Recreating plots in MicroStation has never been easier With the release of MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 3) we now have the ability to…
Tip Change the InRoads Roadway Designer background screen color to white Written by Bob Mecham. White background for the Roadway Designer dialog Whether you have a personal preference to use white as your background color or you…
Tip Google Map Integration with MicroStation Locate your project in Google Maps With the release of MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 3) we now have the ability to integrate Google Maps with MicroStation. …
Tip Customizing Sheet Models in MicroStation The default sheet sizes are referenced from the sheetsizes.def file. To create your own custom definitions copy this file to your corporate workspace folder.…
Tip Bentley DGN reader for Windows 7 Save time finding the right files using Bentley DGN reader for Windows 7 With the release of MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 3) we now have the ability to…
Tip Terrain Models in MicroStation SELECTseries 3 MicroStation SS3 Terrain Models With the release of MicroStation V8i SELECTseries 3 we now have the ability to import a LandXML surface file into a DGN file. A…
Tip MicroStation Commands – Did you know? MicroStation Gems – Screen Capture – 1 of 12 It’s all about productivity and profitability right? To stay competitive, stay in business, and…
Tip New Reference Attachment Options In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to attach a reference file using different methods. ; First we will begin with Coincident and Coincident – World…
Tip MicroStation Debug Sometimes you need to know what configuration variables are being set, and when they are being set. It could be that you are creating a new workspace, editing…
Tip Working with a 3D File – Display Depth and Active Depth Here are solutions to a couple of the most common issues we hear about. Key-ins: (watch your prompt & message fields) AZ=? will display your ‘active…
Tip Text Masking using Text Styles When placing text in a plan sheet it is preferred that there is no line work or graphics behind the text. Having the graphics behind the text makes it…
Tip Element Display Order in 3D Design Files In this tutorial we will show you the new procedure in MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries) to control the display order of elements in a 3D design file. The…
Tip Drape an Image on a Surface In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to drape an image onto a triangle or mesh surface.
Tip Longitude, Latitude Coordinate Input In a previous tip we demonstrated how to obtain geographic coordinate readouts in MicroStation V8i and later releases. It is also possible to enter coordinate…
Tip Rendering – Fur Settings for Grass The ability to render realistic grass has been included in the (SELECTseries 2) release of MicroStation. Below are the steps and a couple tips on working with…
Tip Attaching Point Clouds in MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries) The ability to reference Point Cloud data has been included in the (SELECTseries 2) release of MicroStation. It is as easy as attaching any reference file in…
Tip Change Font Size in Word Processor Dialog If the text in the word processor dialog is too small or jagged try increasing the display size with this key-in. “wordprocessor displayfontsize x”…
Tip Geographic Keyins In MicroStation V8i and later releases that support geographic coordinate systems there are key-in commands available to manage coordinate system definitions.…
Tip Longitude, Latitude Coordinate Readout In MicroStation V8i and later releases that support geographic coordinate systems it is possible to obtain Longitude, Latitude coordinates from a design file.…
Tip Array Along Path In the newer releases of MicroStation an option was added to the Construct Array tool. The older options included Rectangular and Polar now there is a new…
Tip Reference Orientation New in MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 1) is the ability for an existing attachment to have its attachment method changed without having to detach and then…
Tip Create a Feature Table Report in InRoads Survey V8i (SELECTseries 1) Since Bentley has moved to the XIN file format creating a simple Feature Table Report seemed lost. There is a new way of creating a Feature Table Report or…
Tip Top Ten things worth mentioning about InRoads Suite V8i SS1 InRoads SELECTSeries 1 was released about a week ago and there are a few tools worth mentioning right away to get you excited about this release. The following…
Tip New ACS Plane Snap in V8i The new ACS Plane Snap has replaced the Depth Lock which was used in 3D files to keep elements placed as planar. In V8i the new way of placing elements… Read…
Tip Text Field Place Holder New in MicroStation V8i are Text Field Place Holders which will allow for the field to be undefined until used in a model. In this example we will use…
Tip Trim Tools Updated in V8i SELECTSeries 1 In MicroStation V8i Select Series 1 the trim tools as you know them have been renamed and enhanced to become more productive for the user. Trim To Intersection…
Tip Open, Import, or Attach Shapefiles without Bentley Map In MicroStation V8i Select Series 1 the ability open ArcView Shapefiles (.shp) and MapInfo files (.mif, .tab) has been included without the need for Bentley…
Tip Active Template Tab While editing templates, access to additional information about the template is available by selecting the Active Template Tab. Some uses are: In the example…
Tip Color Preferences finally stored as a Preference In MicroStation V8i the ability to store color preferences for drawing background colors and element selection and highlight colors can finally be stored under…
Tip Template Documentation Link To add additional documentation to your Template Library there is the option to link external documents or websites that can add a quick link to supporting…
Tip Compute Pond Volumes As a follow up to last months tip we thought we should share the InRoads hydrology tools that can be used for computing pond volumes. Hydrology Add-on From the…
Tip Generate Sloped Surface Command New options have been added to the Generate Sloped Surface command that will make generating slopes easier than before. In the example below generate sloped…
Tip Georeferenced Reference Attachments In MicroStation V8i two geographic transformations have been added to the Orientation options that will perform on-the-fly reprojection of attachments with…
Tip Control Code SPC A new control code was added to the V8i release of Inroads. The Single Point arC (SPC) control code will add a through point curve when no PC or PT… Read…
Tip Collections and Arrays Collections in VBA are objects that can store groups of related items, much like an array. Unlike arrays, a single collection can store items of different…
Tip Change Case MicroStation V8i has added a Change Case selection to the right click menu in the Text Editor – Word Processor dialog. Simply right click in the text…
Video OpenRoads Tip – Create Terrain Element from Corridor and Add Exterior Boundary Written by: Bob Mecham In this tip we will show you how to create a terrain element from your corridor. Then we will show you how to constrain the…
Video 3D Photo Match In this tutorial we will demonstrate one workflow to create a photo simulation using MicroStation. Below are some items to consider before you take your first…
Video InRoads Tip: V8i SS2 Feature Editing – Radius Returns Written by Ronald Brys. See all of our InRoads tips on this YouTube playlist. Last Month’s Tips: MicroStation: 3D…
Video InRoads Tip: GEOPAK Corridor Modeling – Cross Section Annotation Written by Ronald Brys. Overview on how to annotate cross sections generated using Corridor Modeler in GEOPAK SELECTseries 2. See all of our InRoads…
Video Working with Civil Geometry Written by Bob Mecham. In this tutorial we will demonstrate the Civil Geometry tools by creating an intersection. We will show the geometric relationships…
Video Remove User Data – InRoads V8i Written by Bob Mecham. When manipulating graphics displayed from InRoads in MicroStation those elements can disappear when the alignment is redisplayed.…
Video Import LandXML into MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 3) Annotate the Terrain Model Written by Bob Mecham. In this tutorial we will import a LandXML file into MicroStation and view its feature properties. Then we will review the annotation…
Video Create Profiles from Multipoint and Graphics in InRoads V8i (SELECTseries) Written by Bob Mecham. In this tutorial we will demonstrate creating profiles using the Multipoint and Graphics options. Adding a name to the Multipoint or…
Video Vector Icons in MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 3) Written by Bob Mcham. In this tutorial we will show you how to create and edit vector icons in MicroStation v8i (SELECTseries 3). Vector icons give users the…
Video Import Graphics to create a Template – InRoads V8i In this tutorial we will import MicroStation graphics to create an InRoads template. See all of our InRoads tips on this YouTube playlist. Last…
Video Using Point Cells in a Visualization – Tree Example In this tutorial we will show a workflow for placing a number of trees into a MicroStation Visualization utilizing Point Cells. There are two properties of a…
Video Visualization Example – Trees, People, and Signs In this tutorial we will show you a workflow for placing Trees People and Signs into your 3D rendered images with MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries). See all of…
Video Print Organizer Overview In this tutorial we will give you an overview of the MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries) Print Organizer dialog and settings. See all of our MicroStation tips on…
Video Working with Dialogs in MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries) In this tutorial we will work with dialogs in MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries). We show you how to dock, hide, tab, and set transparency to a number of dialogs…
Video Working with Lidar Data using Data Acquisition tools in InRoads V8i (SELECTseries) In this tutorial we will show you how to import lidar data into MicroStation using the Data Acquisition tool. See all of our InRoads tips on this YouTube…
Video Geometry Tables in InRoads V8i (SELECTseries) In this tutorial we will show you how to create a geometry table in InRoads. Then we will demonstrate how to place the geometry table in MicroStation V8i…
Video What’s new with Fences In this tutorial we will show you whats new with fences in MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries). The new tools include Copy Move Fence Contents, AccuSnap with…
Video Applying Link Sets to Elements In MicroStation V8i the ability to link elements to files, folders, keyins, and websites is handled through the Project Explorer dialog. By linking supporting…
Video MicroStation 3D Solids Tutorial In this tutorial we will look at some simple 3d tools for creating a flange. See all of our MicroStation tips on this YouTube playlist.
Video Import Lidar Data In the InRoads V8i (SELECTseries 1) release there is a new tool called Data Acquisition. This tool can be used for acquiring many different data files from raw…
Video Use Annotation Scale with References MicroStation V8i has the added functionality to apply Annotation scale to reference file attachments. When you change the Annotation scale of the current model…
Video Connect MicroStation V8i to a Web Map Server MicroStation V8i has the added functionality to connect to a live Web Map Server (WMS). WMS is a standard for serving georeferenced map images over the…
Video MicroStation V8i Open a DWG File In this workflow demonstration we will open a DWG file into MicroStation V8i. See all of our MicroStation tips on this YouTube playlist.
Video MicroStation V8i Import a DWG File In this workflow demonstration we will import a DWG file into MicroStation V8i. See all of our MicroStation tips on this YouTube playlist.
Video MicroStation V8i Save As a DWG File In this workflow demonstration we will Save As a V8 DGN file to a DWG file. See all of our MicroStation tips on this YouTube playlist.
Video Colors Colors are no longer limited to only one color table with 256 colors. Colors can be selected from True Color, Industry Standard and User defined Color Books.…
Video Gradient Fills When placing closed elements gradient fills can be applied from the tool settings dialog. Options for gradient fills include one, two or multiple color…
Video Match Element Symbology with the ALT Key Pressing the Alt key then left clicking on an element will change the active symbology to the element selected. This works in the XM and V8i releases of…
Video MicroStation V8i Tip – Model Enhancements In MicroStation V8i there is now the ability to open a different model in each view from one design file. The model is fully editable in the view. See…
Video MicroStation Tip – Drag and Drop Attributes For both MicroStation XM and V8i you have the ability to drag and drop an element from the design file to the Attributes toolbox to quickly change the current…
Video MicroStation V8i Tip – Selection Enhancements < In the V8i release of MicroStation the Element Selection overlap and inside mode works the same as other CAD packages. If you drag your cursor Left to…
Video MicroStation V8i Tip – Element Selection Criteria Expanding the Element Selection criteria of the dialog will display additional categories for selection such as Text Style, Dimension Style, Multi-Line Style,…
Video MicroStation XM Tip – Pentable Level Wild Cards In the XM and V8i release of MicroStation Pentables can use level wildcards to resymbolize elements. View all of our MicroStation tips in this…
Video MicroStation Tip – Explorer keyin From the MicroStation Key-in Browser applications such as Internet Explorer, Notepad, and Windows Explorer can be opened. Adding application command line…