Archive for March, 2007

FileFixer even handles explosive decompression.

Wednesday, 7 March 2007

Clearwater, Florida, USA — “HELP ME! I can’t open my V8 file with MicroStation!” Axiom’s support team hears this plea all too often. They receive more calls about V8 design file corruption than V7 design file corruption.

MicroStation attempts to abort gracefully after opening a corrupted V8 file.

MicroStation V8 users report models which they can’t activate. They also report elements which no longer reside on a defined level. MicroStation users commonly complain about elements which can’t be selected, moved or copied. All of these project stoppers are obvious manifestations of design file corruption — and FileFixer can eliminate every one of these problems, allowing you to get back to work.

Theoretically, any bit (“0″ or “1″) in a design file can represent the wrong (corrupted) value. There are an infinite number of corruption possibilities. Yesterday’s power glitch or that flaky new network card (or any number of other factors) can disrupt data transfer and change the state of any bit in your design files.

Fortunately, FileFixer is able to identify and repair the most disastrous categories of MicroStation design file corruption. Out of the billions or trillions of zeros and ones in your design files, FileFixer can detect the true production killers and budget busters — those corrupted bits which block projects and cause MicroStation users the most headaches. FileFixer is like Sherlock Holmes on steroids — it can literally find the right grain of sand on the beach.

FileFixer’s Search and Repair capabilities have evolved from nearly two decades of relentless research and development — all focused on analysis of corrupt design files submitted to Axiom by MicroStation users like you.

The latest version of FileFixer for V8 (version 8.7d) distinguishes itself by achieving an unprecedented milestone for FileFixer. The most menacing remaining category of V8 corruption has been conquered by new FileFixer Search and Repair features. This means Axiom now provides complete corruption solutions for all of the most commonly encountered categories of V7 and V8 corruption, confirmed by detailed analysis of customer files.

What was the last unconquered continent in the world of V8 design file corruption?

Internal compression damage can destroy a lot of drawing geometry.

Explosive Decompression
The innermost data in all V8 files is compressed (like .zip files). When the compressed portions of a V8 file are damaged, there is no way to access the elements within.

Internal compression damage was discovered to be the most common new form of V8 file corruption — FileFixer for V8 version 8.7d now handles this. Tests confirm recovery of thousands of previously inaccessible elements in corrupted files submitted by MicroStation users.

No other application anywhere, including MicroStation itself, can open files with severe internal compression damage — except FileFixer for V8. FileFixer can recover these previously inaccessible elements — allowing you to get back to work!

The completeness of FileFixer for V8 now matches its older sibling, FileFixer for V7. Axiom has now conquered all continents of corruption for both V7 and V8.

Do not wait until there’s trouble on your island. Run FileFixer as a preventative maintenance program to catch and fix design file corruption in the early stages.

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CAD Controversy

Wednesday, 7 March 2007

Letter to the Editor: Scottish-born CAD professional shares his views on the shortage of CAD users.

Dear Editor,

I am a product of the industrial base that was Glasgow, Scotland. I served my time in John Brown’s Shipyard as a draftsman. At the end of the school term, the gates would open and the shipyard and engineering works would open their gates and suck us all in. In retrospect, it could be viewed as child labor, but it provided thousands with a solid training and trade to be proud of. It never did any of us harm and did build character.

For the next four years, we would be exposed to every aspect of the industry while simultaneously attending college on a part-time basis where we could learn additional theories — like math, science and technology — to add to the practical training we were receiving.

Today the situation is a bit different. We do not have the concentrated industrial bases that were prevalent in the UK when I was trained and therefore a different approach towards training must be found.

In order to draw young bright minds into engineering and specifically the CAD profession, we must go into the schools and demonstrate what we do. I visit the local technical college and give presentations to the civil engineering group. I intend to do the same at the local high schools and show the kids that there is an alternative to either sticking your hand down a toilet or going to university. I am convinced that most kids are not aware of what we do. As an example, last year I was the coach of our local under-18 boys’ soccer team. Not one of them had any insight into the type of work I was involved with, but when I showed them prints of 3D models that I had done, their interest perked.

In order to fill the void, we should be bringing in more young people from community colleges and providing them with a solid training program (as we do at my company, HATCH LTD), while also going to the high schools and doing presentations. If we all did this, we could fill the gap. But it won’t happen overnight. Remember, today’s kids like computers and they like to play games, so show them your best animations in the real world and they might just take an interest.

Charles McGowan Designer’s Lead
HATCH LTD
Mississauga, Canada

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Mississippi Department of Transportation CAD Manager’s three favorite design tools: FileFixer, RefWriter and Microsoft Office Importer.

Wednesday, 7 March 2007

Jackson, Mississippi, USA — This month the MicroStation Today user spotlight shines on John Ward from the Mississippi Department of Transportation (DOT). John gave us an overview of how he uses FileFixer, RefWriter and Microsoft Office Importer to keep Mississippi DOT’s CAD standards up to par.

John Ward of the Mississippi Department of Transportation

MicroStation Today: Please give a brief description of your CAD history.
John: I graduated with special honors from a local community college in 1982 with an Associate’s Degree in Drafting and Design. Straight out of school, I started working with the Highway Department’s Roadway Design Division.

In the late 1980s, our state legislators passed a transportation bill that provided the funding to upgrade highways across the state. I was fortunate enough to be selected as one of the design team leaders to provide support as CAD was implemented throughout all of our departments.

So, here I am today as CAD Applications Manager for the Mississippi Department of Transportation (DOT) Roadway Design Division. Our division is responsible for the design and drafting of all the state highway construction plans.

With the help of those around me, I created our CAD standards and used them to implement all the MicroStation-related menus and program add-ons we now use to design in MicroStation. The changes that I have been through over the years have all been exciting, challenging and sometimes frightening, but I have been able to move forward with enhancements and maintenance of our in-house standards and design tools.

Looking back, I feel honored to have been able to work with the people at Mississippi DOT and companies such as Intergraph, Bentley and Axiom to help me take part in building what I think is a successful use of CAD throughout the years. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll have a few more left ahead.

MST: What are some of the problems you encounter and how do Axiom products help solve those problems?
John: I have used Axiom products for a long time. FileFixer has been extremely helpful for helping me repair MicroStation V7 design files. I could stumble my way through the EdG utility, but in many cases FileFixer was the only way I could have repaired some of the design files.

Another Axiom product that we have used over the years is RefWriter. Our users have to use a lot of reference files in their workflow and RefWriter significantly reduces time spent switching between multiple files. Users just click on an element in the reference file and it becomes the active design file where changes can be made.

We also have to do a lot of quantity calculations. Spreadsheets really improve the speed and quality of doing calculations. Microsoft Office Importer does a superb job of bringing that data into MicroStation design files and automatically updating the design file when the spreadsheet changes.

MST: What would you like to be doing in 10 years?
John: I hope I can retire from regular work around that time. My oldest son should be out of the house by then. My youngest daughter is nine, so hopefully in ten years she’ll be getting close to moving out also! Then I can find something relaxing to pass the time such as drawing, painting and photography so I don’t drive my wife crazy.

MST: What’s a book you wish you’d written?
John: It’s ironic, I write technical manuals all the time, but I don’t like to write. It definitely wouldn’t be anything computer-related. I love good action and adventure stories, so it would have to be something along the lines of Star Wars, Indiana Jones or James Bond.

MST: Any predictions for the future of CAD?
John: I’m not very good at predictions. I’m almost always wrong! However, if I had a wish, I would like to see a better way to communicate with computers. I think the keyboard and mouse have to be replaced with something better. Perhaps voice controlled computers, but that would have to be improved with better “AI” [artificial intelligence]. If someone could solve this, it could definitely be the next big thing in everything we do with computers.

MST: Thank you, John.
John: Thank you.

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Time travel is possible, if you use RefWriter.

Wednesday, 7 March 2007

Is time travel possible? Does my time end if I don’t beat this deadline? The Axiom labs have discovered ways to bend time, meet deadlines and stop the neighbor’s dog from barking. This article will show you one method for traveling to and from reference files while shortening the time line between them.

Using Axiom’s RefWriter is like taking a shortcut through a wormhole.

How does this work?
Using Axiom’s RefWriter, the time saved editing reference files and returning to the master file is like taking a shortcut through a wormhole (a “wormhole” is a hypothetical phenomenon that is essentially a “shortcut” through time and space.) Let us consider the steps needed without RefWriter. Notice that in MicroStation an element in a reference file can’t be modified. Here are the steps to modify the element using MicroStation V8 without RefWriter.

  1. Place the cursor over the reference element to display the reference file name.
  2. Select the “References” tool from the “Primary Tools” toolbox.
  3. Find that reference file in the “References” dialog box.
  4. Right-click on that reference file attachment to display the reference tools.
  5. Select the “Exchange” command. The reference file opens up displaying the area, settings and view that were active the last time someone saved settings in it.
  6. Turn on or off levels to display needed elements or to hide elements obscuring the view.
  7. Window area or zoom to display only the relevant elements.
  8. Attach additional reference files if necessary to ensure changes on your reference file are accurate (this alone requires multiple steps).
  9. Modify the element.
  10. Select the original file from the recently used file list on MicroStation’s file menu.

Lab tests took 25 mouse clicks. You may have a few more or less depending on the state of the reference file.

Then, we did the same operation with RefWriter:

  1. Select RefWriter from the Axiom menu.
  2. Click on the “Select reference file by double-clicking element” icon.
  3. Select the reference element. The selected reference file automatically opens, with the same area, level settings, view settings, tool settings and reference files as the design file that you just left. These settings are applied temporarily. Upon exiting the reference file, settings remain as they were saved before opening it with RefWriter.
  4. Modify the element.
  5. Click on the RefWriter command “Return to previous master design file”.

Lab tests report that RefWriter saves at least 15 mouse clicks each time a reference file must be edited. Newtonian physics and Einstein’s theories have failed to explain how RefWriter warps time and reduces mouse clicks. Using networked supercomputers and advanced conversion formulas, time saved equals 907.18474 kilograms (1 ton). This conversion gives us the following equation: Time saved with RefWriter = a ton. Your results may vary.

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