Additional Resources for MicroStation

Articles

Blog

DOT OpenRoads Designer, GEOPAK, InRoads, and Civil 3D Downloads

We at EnvisionCAD have been working with a number of DOT configurations, and we thought it would be helpful to start cataloging which states have their ORD…
Blog

MicroStation and OpenRoads Designer: Optimizing your remote working configuration

  Working from home is the new normal for a lot of companies. There are numerous methods businesses are utilizing for establishing remote connections and…
Blog

Bentley Licensing: It’s almost midnight

It’s been two years since Bentley announced the end of SELECTserver. CONNECT Edition: The clock is ticking Now, January 1, 2021 is only a few short weeks…
Blog

Freeware MicroStation VBA Macro: AutoCloud

EnvisionCAD is rereleasing our suite of freeware MicroStation VBA macros for MicroStation CONNECT Edition. One macro, or set of macros, will be released each…
Blog

OpenRoads Designer Roadmap During a Global Pandemic

Take advantage of this time to prep for the transition to OpenRoads Designer CONNECT Edition and MicroStation CONNECT Edition. This transition can easily be…
Blog

Thanks a million!

Thanks to you Last month we reached a goal of ours and it’s all thanks to you! EnvisionCAD reached 1 million views (and counting) on our YouTube channel!…
Blog

Ten Commandments for Creating Configurations in CONNECT

When we build custom Configurations for clients there are some general rules by which we abide. These general rules are also passed on to our students…
Blog

Bentley Products, Terminology, and Versions: Making sense of the confusion

The more we talk to our clients, and other Bentley users, it has become crystal clear that many users and organizations are very confused by the terms and…
Blog

CONNECT Edition: The clock is ticking

Still haven’t made the leap to MicroStation or OpenRoads Designer CONNECT Edition? Bentley has announced that as of January 1, 2021 they will officially…
Blog

MicroStation CONNECT Edition Update 5

Bentley has released the fifth update to MicroStation CONNECT Edition.  Like many of the previous updates, this release is primarily bug fixes with a few…
Blog

MicroStation CONNECT: Organization, Workspaces, and Worksets

MicroStation CONNECT Edition configurations are a bit different from previous versions of MicroStation. The basic configuration file (.cfg) format and syntax…
Blog

Bentley Civil Products V8i (SELECTseries 4) Maintenance Release 2 Released – V08.11.09.872

Bentley Civil Products V8i (SELECTseries 4) Maintenance Release 2  – V08.11.09.872 – has been released and is available for download from Bentley…
Blog

MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 4) Released

MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 4) – Version 08.11.09.829 – has been released and is available for download from Bentley Software Fulfillment. The…
Blog

Top 10 Blogs at EnvisionCAD in 2015!

1.  MicroStation Connect Edition Now Available The CONNECT Edition provides the first common environment for comprehensive project delivery – comprising a…
Blog

Top 10 EnvisionCAD Tips of 2015!

1.  MicroStation Tip:  Aligning Patterns What you will have is multiple patterns that align perfectly across different elements. Click here to learn how this…
Blog

MicroStation CONNECT: New Keyboard Shortcuts

With the new ribbon interface in MicroStation CONNECT replacing the MicroStation V8i Task Bar a new set of keyboard shortcuts has replaced positional keyboard…
Blog

MicroStation CONNECT Edition Now Available!

The MicroStation product team is pleased to announce the availability of MicroStation CONNECT Edition on the Fulfillment Center.  This ground-breaking next…
Blog

MicroStation CONNECT Edition – The top five things you need to know

Here at EnvisionCAD we were all excited  when MicroStation CONNECT Edition was released. We had been testing the technology preview releases, but seeing the…
Blog

Bentley Systems – iPad Apps Roundup

Bentley iPad Apps Roundup Its been nearly two and half years since Bentley released their first two iPad apps ProjectWise Explorer and Bentley Navigator.…
Blog

MicroStation Visualization Roundup

I am asked all the time. “What are some good MicroStation resources if I want to start rendering and animating in MicroStation?” Here are some…
Blog

MicroStation Pranks

In the spirit of April Fools Day we have compiled a few MicroStation pranks you can play on our coworkers. When your victim leaves their desk for a few…
Blog

My Top 10 Civil 3D Pet Peeves

Written by The EnvisionCAD Civil 3D Team.   1. Viewports not locked. So, your scale and location are set for your viewports, yet you don’t lock any…
Blog

Infographic: Bits of Wisdom from CAD/BIM Managers

Please share your bits of wisdom in the comments below. People who read this post also read:                                 … Read more…
Blog

Top 5 Distinctions between IT and CAD Management

Written by: Lisa Polonski, Review by: Ron Brys.   IT managers are typically responsible for licensing and installing software instituting company-wide…
Blog

My Top 14 MicroStation Pet Peeves

Written by Bob Mecham.   1.  Move the drawing to 5000, 5000 and rotate so the road runs West-East. Did you know a kitten dies every time a buildings…
Blog

A Virus in a Design File?

Written by Rod Wing. A design file virus? Not exactly. In my 25+ years of supporting MicroStation I’ve seen this happen more times than I can count. A user,…
Blog

Introducing our Newest Book – Bentley Descartes V8i (SELECTseries)

Written by Rod Wing. EnvisionCAD has released a new Book: Bentley Descartes – V8i (SELECTseries)   Bentley Descartes V8i (SELECTseries) is available…
Blog

Highlights from the 2013 Bentley LEARNing Conference

Another Bentley Conference has wrapped with a lot of buzz and anticipation of OpenRoads Technology. Bob Mecham and Ron Brys attended the 2013 conference and…
Blog

Increase daily productivity by defining Plotting Variables in MicroStation

Written by Bob Mecham.    If there is one constant in your daily work, at some point you will need to plot your MicroStation file.  Plotting is one area…
Blog

Featured MicroStation and InRoads Books

   Reduced Book Prices!   InRoads V8i (SELECTseries) Site Design – $35 InRoads Site design using the Site Modeler commands new in the…
Blog

Learning VBA

Have you purchased VBA books in the past hoping to teach yourself how to create VBA macros? While there are excellent, comprehensive, reference books…
Blog

MicroStation VBA Fundamentals Manual and Class

Written by Bob Mecham. MicroStation VBA Fundamental Training and Manual from EnvisionCAD EnvisionCAD is pleased to announce our newest class offering and…

Tips

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: Create a two line Note element with the leader extending between the lines of text

Using typical dimension settings when using the Place Note tool with two lines of text it displays like this: In some cases this is ok, but there are many…
Tip

MicroStation CONNECT Tip: Update 15 Undocumented Additions:

With every MicroStation update, there is a What’s New section in the help documentation that highlights the new features in each release. While working…
Tip

MicroStation CONNECT Tip: Custom WorkSet Properties as Text Fields

In MicroStation CONNECT Edition we encourage the use of creating project specific WorkSets. One reason for this is to take advantage of the custom WorkSet…
Tip

MicroStation CONNECT Edition Tip: Workflow and Tab Switching

The ribbon interface introduced in Bentley’s CONNECT Edition MicroStation platform-based products is generally well crafted to facilitate common workflows…
Tip

MicroStation CONNECT Tip: AccuDraw Compass Rotation

In MicroStation CONNECT Edition the AccuDraw compass rotation shortcuts (such as RE, RQ, T, etc.) only work if the Context Sensitivity setting is toggled on.…
Tip

MicroStation CONNECT Tip: Ellipse by Ends

In MicroStation CONNECT Edition there is a new Ends method for placing Ellipses. Using this method you place the ellipse by placing the two ends of the primary…
Tip

ORD – MicroStation Tip: MS_DGNLIBLIST variables

In the CONNECT Edition products there are many new resource-specific MS_DGNLIBLIST variables. When do you use them, and when do you not? I’ve had…
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 CONNECT Tip: Editing recorded macros

The Bentley Macro Recorder (BMR) in MicroStation CONNECT allows the user to record tool selections, data points, and key-in entries. These are saved in a .bmr…
Tip

MicroStation CONNECT Tip: Disable User Preference settings

In the MicroStation User Preferences dialog there are two settings turned on by default that you probably want to disable. The first of these is the Help…
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

ORD – MicroStation Tip: AccuDraw Set Origin

While working in OpenRoads Designer (ORD) there are many times you need to preform some standard MicroStation tasks. When doing so you may get frustrated that…
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 CONNECT Tip: Multiple Application Windows

In MicroStation CONNECT Edition you probably already know that you can open up to four separate application windows. What you may not know is that if you only…
Tip

MicroStation CONNECT Tip: Managing User level configuration settings

To the chagrin of CAD Managers everywhere MicroStation CONNECT Edition stores the User Preference files along with the user’s Personal.ucf file in the…
Tip

MicroStation CONNECT Tip: Place Line tool hidden

Starting with MicroStation CONNECT Update 11, the Place Line tool is now hidden by default in the ribbon groups. The Place SmartLine tool can replace the…
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

OpenRoads Designer CONNECT Edition Tip: Windows Update Causing Crash with Corridors

Windows 10 Spring Creator Update (1803) There is a known issue with the Windows 10 Spring Creator Update, 1803 with numerous Bentley CONNECT Edition software.…
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: Apply pen table action to all references

In some cases you want your Pen Table actions to get applied to all reference attachments when printing. An easy way to ensure this is to define a large…
Tip

MicroStation CONNECT: Display Rules

Display Rules are one of the many new features in MicroStation CONNECT Edition. These are a set of criteria that can be applied to a Display Style to change…
Tip

MicroStation CONNECT Tip: Place Label

The new Place Label tool is similar to Place Note. Instead of a text note the user places a cell with, or without, a leader line. Using the tool…
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 CONNECT Tip: Drop Element

The Drop Element tool icon in MicroStation CONNECT ribbon (Drawing -> Home -> Groups) has been expanded to offer specific drop tools without having to…
Tip

MicroStation CONNECT Tip: Place Note

There are two significant changes to the Place Note tool in MicroStation CONNECT. The first change is that the option to select a Text Style setting in the…

Video Tips

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

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

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

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

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 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 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…