Archive for February, 2007

Easily make batch changes to tag and dimension text!

Wednesday, 7 February 2007

Inventive software release handles huge time-consuming MicroStation task with a few mouse clicks.

CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, USA — Having to modify tag or dimension text in multiple design files is near the top of the list of most painful MicroStation tasks.

Global File Changer’s Element Selection feature can isolate any combination of elements or symbology, giving users total control over batch modifications.

Say you discover that the thousands of text, tag and dimension elements scattered throughout an entire set of project files must be in Arial True Type font. Oooops, right now they are all in the MicroStation Working font. (By the way, this is a common occurrence, particularly when migrating files from V7 to V8.) This leaves you with a time-consuming, profit-eating ordeal. Not fun at all.

You’ll be glad to know that with the new release of Global File Changer, this problem is now finally solved. Global File Changer’s Modify Text feature now processes tag and dimension text as easily and quickly as it handles standard text, even on very large sets of MicroStation files.

Global File Changer’s Element Selection Utility
A key part of successful batch processing is being able to easily isolate the elements you need to modify from those you want to leave unchanged. In the past, MicroStation’s Select By Attributes feature has been a helpful tool in making simple selection sets on individual files, but it is limited in the element-specific attributes it can isolate and is cumbersome to implement in a batch process.

Global File Changer’s Element Selection utility doesn’t have these limitations. Virtually any graphic element type — including tags — and any element attribute or group of attributes can be used to isolate the specific elements you want to modify or remove from the set of elements to be processed. Implementation is as simple as giving each selection criteria a name and then activating it with a simple key-in command.

In short, users who get this new release of Global File Changer should never again have to go through the mind-numbing, tedious work of manually changing text within dimensions and tags.

What does Global File Changer do?
If MicroStation has a function or key-in for it, you can use Global File Changer to make that same change or perform that operation on thousands of files at a time. In addition, Global File Changer has a rapidly growing list of custom commands that can:

  • Batch convert text elements containing numbers from feet to meters, meters to feet or apply a custom conversion formula that could, for example, add 100 feet to each contour label (new in V8).
  • Modify text attributes used in tags and dimensions (new).
  • Change text or text node justification while retaining the text’s original position.
  • Rescale text by a specific scale factor for height, width or both.
  • Replace any set of cells with any new set of cells.
  • Rescale cells by any factor from their current scale or to a specific scale value.
  • Count cells in each design file or get the total count for the entire batch.
  • Flatten 3D files to a specific “Z” value or move all elements to a specified “Z” value.
  • Copy design file settings from a donor file to a whole set of files.
  • Easily re-map elements (including cell and shared cell components) from their current
  • level to a new or existing level.
  • And more!

Global File Changer’s list of custom commands grows with every new release.

Who needs Global File Changer?
Chances are you do. If you work for customers or executives who change their minds, have standards that change, want your file standards to improve or need to make changes to multiple design files, then Global File Changer will pay for itself the first day you use it. Many of our customers tell us that the more they use it, the more they realize its power and see its benefits.

Axiom Maintenance Plus and Tech Support
One of the huge advantages that Axiom’s MicroStation Productivity Toolkit and Global File Changer customers enjoy is access to our fast and experienced technical support team. Sometimes the way to make the changes you want is not immediately obvious. That’s where Axiom’s Maintenance Plus and technical support team come in. Many of the problems you face have already been solved and a fast, effective solution already exists. You can call Axiom tech support with any problem and they will work closely with you to solve it quickly.

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Editor’s Forum: Why We Need a Unified CAD File Format

Wednesday, 7 February 2007

By John Evens, UK
Firstly, these comments are my own personal views based on 22 years in the construction industry and IT and CAD and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.

There may well be a shortage of MicroStation users in the future. If MicroStation has an aging user base, it is probably more due to the fact that Autodesk is better at marketing and promoting their products than Bentley, especially outside the US.

In the UK, for example, many trade publications seem to contain a larger proportion of Autodesk-related advertisements than Bentley advertisements. Also, because more contractors and suppliers use Autodesk products, the demand is much greater for the DWG file format than the DGN.

Those of us who have used both products would mostly agree that MicroStation is a much better product. But the factors an organization uses to determine which product to use are based on market forces, volume sales and what everyone else within the supply chain is using.

These are the factors the decision makers and finance directors use in deciding which product to buy — not what is best for the production teams who have to use the software. This is a major problem because the decision makers never use the applications, so they are in the worst position to make a decision. They are the ones who pay for the product and end up paying more long term as work is produced in less efficient ways than is possible had a more informed decision been made to opt for a better product.

I have long wished for a general-purpose file format that each application developer can hook into and add functionality to using plug-ins. That way the customer base can pick and mix the functionality the customer needs without having to buy into monolithic applications where only 20% of the command set is used by 90% of users. Why should we have to pay for functionality we never use?

MicroStation is in a better position than most to capitalize on transfer of product because of its ability to open and edit AutoCAD files and run in DWG mode. This effectively makes the DWG file format independent of applications; organizations can use both AutoCAD and MicroStation to drive DWG.

This is what I am trying to achieve: DWG becomes the file format to use, but is driven by both AutoCAD and MicroStation. Things like color tables, layers, text styles, dim styles, custom linestyles and multi-lines would be set up based on the lowest common denominator (usually AutoCAD) file format restrictions. This means that the organization can keep MicroStation and the trained user base won’t need to be retrained to use AutoCAD and provides us with a wider selection of staff from the employment marketplace. Also, Bentley does not push Powerdraft hard enough and both MicroStation and Powerdraft are priced above AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT which further deters organizations from investing in Bentley products.

AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT are also marketed towards the personal, home user and can be bought off the shelf in many computer shops. Bentley needs to hit this sector of the market really hard with a version of MicroStation that retails for under £500.

On another point, the issue of people taking up other professions lies in one simple fact. Those “professionals” in the construction industry are simply not as valued and certainly not paid what they are worth in comparison to those in the medical, teaching and legal professions. Those who run down architects and engineers need to realize that the profession does more than they think in terms of the social fabric of our countries. Things won’t get better until this fundamental issue is resolved.

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Google SketchUp attachments supported in new RefManager for MicroStation V8.

Wednesday, 7 February 2007

CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, USA — Axiom, the world’s most experienced developer of time-saving MicroStation software solutions, announces the release of RefManager for V8 version 8.4a. RefManager allows users to manipulate, debug, organize and control MicroStation reference file attachments in bulk.

Google SketchUp model of the Bank of America building in Saint Petersburg, Flori

RefManager for V8 now supports Google SketchUp reference file attachments, a feature new to MicroStation V8 XM Edition.

Google SketchUp is a simple-to-use 3D modeling system. Bentley and Google recently joined forces to develop support for SketchUp 3D models as MicroStation reference files. Axiom handles SketchUp reference file attachments like other vector MicroStation reference file attachments — such as V7 and V8 DGN files and DWG files.

RefManager allows users to stay in control of every reference file attachment on their CAD system. Whether users want to make bulk modifications, attach or detach references or even report on the status of attachments, RefManager can complete many tasks ten to a hundred times faster than MicroStation on its own.

Users can easily learn how to use SketchUp with the self-paced tutorial that is included.

Other recent RefManager enhancements make it even easier to standardize your level display settings — for every level, for any view, in any attachment, in one or many master files.

Also, RefManager now allows greater control of Global Display and Global Freeze for all attachment levels. RefManager saves level display settings for re-use over and over to create discipline-specific sheet files or snapshots of project milestones as your project progresses.

Enhanced Level Display and Level Symbology Reports
By popular demand, RefManager now offers full reporting capability for V8 attachment level display and level symbology settings.

Enhanced Level Selection
RefManager for V8′s level display and level symbology modification features are all intimately connected with the levels used in your reference file attachments. It is now easier than ever to precisely select the levels you want to process with RefManager.
Level selection enhancements include:

  • Wildcard search for matching level names.
  • Display of level descriptions and the name of the file from which the level definitions were obtained — for example, one or more different .dgnlibs.
  • The ability to read level names from a file (indicated by “@” and full path).

RefManager now allows you to turn on or off the display of levels in reference files.

RefManager now allows you to modify level symbology in multiple files at the same time.

And there’s more…
RefManager now offers a master file model search filter. This allows precise control over which master file models are processed by RefManager. Also included is a new option to exclude files from reports if they do not match the selection criteria — this results in more concise reports. Clipping boundaries are now reported in user-friendly master units instead of Units of Resolution. Regular, Cross-reference and Missing reports now process read-only master files.

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If only FileFixer could fix the human soul…

Wednesday, 7 February 2007

By Reverend Bethel Chapman, Design Manager, Valero Paulsboro Refinery and Pastor, CornerStone Pentecostal Assembly
PAULSBORO, NEW JERSEY, USA — One afternoon, I was using FileFixer to repair ten MicroStation design files with problems such as “end of file missing”, nested cell corruption and a number of other various problems. I thought to myself — if only I had this tool in my church, what great people we would have in this world.

Reverend Bethel Chapman and Dan Lottes of the Valero Paulsboro Refinery

Just think, when people come to my church with all kinds of problems and hang-ups, just run them through “SoulFixer”. Within seconds their sins would be washed away and the lust problems would disappear. Depression and stress would dissipate. Hate, envy and malice would all turn to love. What a beautiful solution to the problems of mankind.

I then came to my senses and my ten files that had gone through FileFixer were totally repaired and operating perfectly.

My name is Reverend Bethel Chapman and I currently have two jobs. I am currently Design Manager of the Design and Reproduction Department at the Valero Paulsboro Refinery and I am a pastor at the CornerStone Pentecostal Assembly Church, in Williamstown, New Jersey. Since 1985, my job in the church world is to try to fix souls as FileFixer repairs bad design files.

My CAD History
I have been working in the engineering profession since 1968. I became a junior designer for R.W. Booker Consulting Engineers in St. Louis, Missouri while still a junior at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Illinois. In February of 1970, I went to work for Mobil Oil Corporation in Sauget, Illinois in the Design Engineering department. I was later transferred to the Paulsboro, New Jersey refinery. I specialize in designing piping systems, tanks, fractionation systems and generally all facets of mechanical engineering design.

How Axiom tools have been a blessing to us
My Design Lead Supervisor, Dan Lottes, has implemented several tools in MicroStation Productivity Toolkit to eliminate thousands of hours of tedious work and wasted time.
For instance, we recently constructed three new process units here at the refinery. As a result of this new construction, we received 12,000-plus design files from our contractors. Using Global File Changer we were able to select text, delete it, attach a cell library, place a new cell at the correct scale, angle and location and drop the cell, for over 1,000 designs at a time. Using RefManager, we were able to make reports on what design files had what reference files so we could run our batch plotting program. RefManager also detached all the needless reference files from the entire group of design files. Using RefMerge, we were able to automatically merge all reference files attached to each design into the design file itself. Using RenamePlus, we were able to do batch renaming for thousands of design files that did not quite match our file-naming procedure. Using DgnCompare saved us hours of painstaking work when it came time to merge the contractor’s revision with our current revision of the design.

Dan Lottes found that MicroStation Productivity Toolkit was so valuable that he wanted all his designers to have access to its goodies. We purchased a site license last month and now all of our designers have access to all of the great tools contained in MicroStation Productivity Toolkit.

How much money did we save?
The money we saved by using MicroStation Productivity Toolkit was substantial. If we were to project that it would take a minimum of 15 minutes to process one design then we are talking about 3,000 man-hours. We were able to complete the job in less than 500 man-hours. That’s a savings of 2,500 man-hours at a very conservative rate estimate of $50.00 per hour, we were able to save $125,000 dollars. We have continued to use MicroStation Productivity Toolkit with all of its tools and Toolkit has been incorporated into our everyday arsenal of design tools.

Prediction for the future of CAD
Since I began designing in CAD in 1987, there have been great improvements in hardware and software designs. We can model designs in 3D. Rotate, turn, cut sections through the designs, walk through the entire model and do many other things. With the improvements in software, there is no telling where we are going. Nonetheless, it will be an exciting ride.

Thanks!
Thank you for thinking of us at Valero Paulsboro Refinery and thank you so much more for creating such a great, helpful tool as MicroStation Productivity Toolkit.

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She wants diamonds. You want MicroStation Productivity Toolkit.

Wednesday, 7 February 2007

CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, USA — It’s true that MicroStation shops around the world report saving time by using the software applications in MicroStation Productivity Toolkit. It’s true that many Federal and state agencies like the US Army Corps of Engineers, 38 state Departments of Transportation and thousands of engineering firms in 66 countries use MicroStation Productivity Toolkit to reduce project costs.

MicroStation Productivity Toolkit is the gift that keeps on giving you more time and increasing your productivity

Sure, with Toolkit you can complete your projects on schedule, below budget and with greater profit. You can impress your boss and your clients.

But let’s get personal. What will you do with all the time you save using Toolkit? Imagine leaving work on time for a change! Imagine spending your free time doing the things you love with those you love. On Valentine’s Day, Toolkit could be more effective than cupid’s arrow — a dozen roses or candlelight dinner won’t do you much good if you’re stuck at the office (without Toolkit).

“We could never accomplish this without the Axiom Toolkit.” D.D., Flour Inc.

“CellManager is killer, we love the thing.” W.J., Cobb Fendley & Associates Inc. [Note: CellManager is a software application included in Toolkit and is explained later in this article.

“Thank you very much for your prompt response and good information.” J.R., King County

MicroStation Productivity Toolkit combines Axiom’s top time-saving programs into one cost-efficient package. The V8 Toolkit includes 16 applications. The V7 Toolkit includes 22 applications. Each component application is designed to automate or simplify productivity problems common to MicroStation sites. If you run into a tedious MicroStation-related problem or have a time-consuming bulk modification task at hand, MicroStation Productivity Toolkit can help.

With FileFixer you can repair that file which won’t open on the eve of a vital client submission. With RefManager you can update your reference file attachments project-wide (wherever IT relocated your projects on the server). With CellManager you can consolidate multiple cell libraries into a single library and then automatically document the new master library for project personnel. That’s just three Toolkit components. Visit www.AxiomInt.com to learn about all 22!

And on top of all that, once MicroStation Productivity Toolkit is delivered, the entire Axiom staff is standing by to assist you with any needs that you may have.

“Pat your guys on the back (or better yet buy them a beer). They did a good job.” J.J., Washington Group

“You made my day.” G.M., Bechtel

“Thank for the research, it was extremely helpful.” K.G., Ove Arup & Partners

It’s up to you how to enjoy your free evenings and weekends. MicroStation Productivity Toolkit might be Cupid’s best kept secret.

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