Archive for April, 2008

MicroStation V8 corruption epidemic

Monday, 7 April 2008

New types of V8 corruption are being discovered at an unprecedented rate.

By Steve Palmer

Clearwater, Florida, USA — The FileFixer development team is discovering new forms of V8 design file corruption as fast as new Search and Repair options can be added. Even working seven days per week, the FileFixer team barely keeps up with the new varieties of V8 design file corruption continuously presented to Axiom by MicroStation users.

The FileFixer team meticulously prioritizes the carefully compiled list of new Search and Repair options (planned for future implementation) to maximize the number of additional design files which can be automatically recovered by each new version of FileFixer. Axiom’s goal is to invent a “cure” – before your projects are impacted, before new variations of corruption crash MicroStation, before MicroStation project data is lost and before your models, levels and elements become unselectable (or worse).

FileFixer makes house calls around the world every day.

If a FileFixer owner is impacted by a new variant of corruption – a variant that FileFixer cannot yet automatically handle – the FileFixer team uses file recovery tools (independently created by and available exclusively from Axiom) to resurrect the incapacitated design files. This Axiom-only service is available at no additional charge to FileFixer owners with active maintenance.

The objective for each fresh release of FileFixer for V8 is to attack the most frequently occurring, newly identified forms of V8 file corruption. Each new release is designed to salvage corrupted design files for the greatest possible number of MicroStation users. Since the first commercial release of MicroStation V8, in October 2001, it’s been a never-ending battle.

The diversity of V8 corruption is unprecedented – nothing like V7. This should not be a surprise since the V8 file structure is much more sophisticated than V7. The new complexity in V8 design files provides a greater number of new things that can go wrong.
In fact, Axiom had to develop a new technical language to describe the new categories of damage found in V8 design files. New terms like “structured storage damage” (the file’s internal skeleton is damaged) or “internal compression damage” (V8 elements are compressed [like Zip files] to save space – when compressed data is damaged, MicroStation cannot extract your drawing elements) have been introduced into the MicroStation community out of necessity. [Of course, Axiom's V8 corruption vocabulary is defined in FileFixer's user guide.]

The V8 file format introduced new categories of design file corruption which never existed in V7 files.

More than six years ago (long before most MicroStation Today readers started to migrate their projects from MicroStation/J to V8) the FileFixer development team had already begun implementation of V8-specific Search and Repair features to handle corrupted V8 design files. And it is a very good thing Axiom got an early start tackling the problem of V8 file corruption – if Axiom had waited for the ultimate widespread customer reports about V8 file corruption, far too many MicroStation projects would have been delayed and too much profit lost.

The quantity, diversity and severity of V8 design file corruption continues to impact MicroStation users around the globe and is clearly here to stay.

Since 1985, Axiom has provided the Intergraph and (later) the MicroStation communities with independent and objective file analysis and repair. Axiom’s tradition continues with FileFixer for V8. The FileFixer development team is currently preparing FileFixer for certification with MicroStation “Athens”.

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New InRoads e-learning courses make users billable faster!

Monday, 7 April 2008

Increase InRoads production speed through training fundamentals.

By David McDaniel

Clearwater, Florida, USA — Before we begin, we have an announcement: Axiom is raising a toast to our fifth anniversary in the world of e-learning! That’s right: we’ve been in the business of online training for five years this month — since the introduction of LearningCenter in April of 2003. LearningCenter has since evolved into LearningBay, our complement of courses has grown from three to over a hundred, our staff has quadrupled and we’ve tripled the number of delivery methods available. Thousands of MicroStation users have increased their productivity with LearningBay training. The list of accomplishments is long, so we’ll summarize simply by saying, “We’ve grown.”

Orientation to InRoads includes video and a glossary on every page.

Now for the real announcement: Axiom’s basic InRoads courses have now been packaged into a single group of online courses, Orientation to InRoads, designed specifically for the new InRoads user. This group, called a “library”, is composed of four courses that, together, cover the fundamentals of working within the InRoads environment. Let’s take a look:

  • InRoads 701 — InRoads Essentials: The first course covers the basics of navigating through the interface, defines the CAD platform and introduces the various aspects of the InRoads surface model, the Geometry Project and profile creation.
  • InRoads 702 — Methods, Tools, Reports & Templates: This course covers the basics of the Typical Sections Library, the Roadway Modeler, cross section creation, volume calculations and reporting.
  • InRoads 703 — InRoads Managers: Managers, in InRoads, are tools to help you manage dialog box settings and characteristics of InRoads data. The InRoads Managers course takes an overall look at the Managers, including the Symbology, Feature Style, Geometry Style and Preference Managers. The basic purpose and function of these important InRoads administrative tools are addressed.
  • InRoads 704 — InRoads Locks: The last course in this group gives a thorough overview of the key InRoads locks that are used within the software. Locks are ways of controlling drawing inputs. A majority of the locks are presented with an explanation of their purpose and function.

Users completing these courses do so with the confidence to begin working with the InRoads software and all its tools. And when your users are ready for the next level, Axiom is standing by. We have a full suite of InRoads training courses available, each designed to move users progressively up to the next level of expertise.

Put our experience to work for you. Whether your students are new to InRoads, or old hands that need to advance their game, Axiom has the training solution you need.

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It was twenty years ago today… Steve Palmer enters his third decade with Axiom.

Monday, 7 April 2008

Clearwater, Florida, USA — 2008 marks Steve Palmer’s twentieth anniversary working with Axiom. He took a bit of time away from working on new features for FileFixer to give us an idea of what it was like to be there at the very beginning of Axiom.

Guess what Steve does when he is not programming.

MicroStation Today: Hi Steve. You have been with Axiom for 20 years — what has been the biggest challenge?
Steve: Keeping up with David Greenbaum, the founder of Axiom. In David’s own words, “When you are your own boss, your work hours can be flexible — you can schedule your 70-hours per week whenever you like!”

MST: How did you find your way to Axiom?
Steve: I met David at a holiday party in 1987. At that time, David was a very successful computer consultant and software developer offering innovative new productivity tools to Intergraph sites. Intergraph users flooded David with more demands than he could handle personally, so in 1988 he asked me to help him with overflow projects.

MST: What is your most memorable moment at Axiom?
Steve: Working with David on site at PBS&J. PBS&J gave us access to their Intergraph CAD server and CAD workstations during off-peak production hours (evenings and weekends). David and I could work off site via dial up modem when necessary, but we would also drive across Tampa Bay to PBS&J for very long weekends of intensive software development. David would bundle a collection of technical manuals and food for the day on the back of his motorcycle. He asserted, “Given a sufficient number of bungee chords, any item of any size can be strapped to a motorcycle.” Over the course of just three (intense) Saturdays at PBS&J, David implemented six new product releases, while I managed to sweat out one new release. That product is now known as CellManager. That was my first taste of “Greenbaum boot camp”. I’ve been trying to keep up with David ever since.

MST: Any miracles you have seen with Axiom products?
Steve: One small phone company called us when they had lost their entire outdoor plan for the phone system. They sent the file to Bentley who said 65% of the elements had been deleted. FileFixer salvaged the whole thing. That could have put them out of business.

MST: What was it like when you first started?
Steve: Several independent developers, including myself, worked on assignments defined by David. David was an undisputed Intergraph design-file–format guru who mentored each of us. I remember when David sketched out the inner guts of a cell for me on a piece of paper (it was a stop sign). It was an intense period of software development. FileFixer, RefManager, CellManager, SpecChecker and other well-known Axiom applications originated during those first few years.

Soon, there was so much business activity, it became clear the team had to start working together in a centralized office. In 1991, I met with an attorney to establish Axiom as a corporation. Then I hired myself as David’s first employee. We started renting office space and moved business activities out of our homes.

MST: What positions have you held at Axiom?
Steve: Out of necessity, at one time or another over the past 20 years, just about everything. I’ve spent the majority of my time in our software development area.
Currently, amongst other things, I am the Product Manager for FileFixer. That requires constant evolution and innovation — and fast response.

MST: What do you like most about working at Axiom?
Steve: I love creating technical solutions to problems experienced broadly by our public. When I’m developing software, I completely lose track of time.

MST: What time saving MicroStation applications have you developed?
Steve: I developed early versions of RefManager and CellManager.

MST: What do you feel is the most significant change at Axiom over the past 20 years?
Steve: The quantity of personnel now on the Axiom team and the resultant exponential boost in Axiom’s capacity to service our customer base. Remember, I was David’s first employee. Early on, just a few people handled every aspect of the business. Now the company has teams of staff handling each division of business activity. I remember the first time an employee walked through the office whom I hadn’t met yet (someone else had hired them). It was clear that Axiom had taken on a life of its own.

MST: Anything you enjoy as much as developing software?
Steve: Yes, music. If you knew how many guitars I own (and how much space they occupy at our house), you’d grasp what a wonderful, understanding wife I have.

MST: Thanks, Steve.

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Youngest CEO in America

Monday, 7 April 2008

Ryder Jonathan Greenbaum prepares to take the helm of Axiom.

Clearwater, Florida, USA — Axiom, the world’s largest provider of third-party MicroStation solutions, announced today that Ryder Jonathan Greenbaum will be taking over as CEO of Axiom and related companies. Ryder Greenbaum is the son of Axiom’s founder and current CEO, David Greenbaum.

“We believe he will be the youngest CEO of any size company, anywhere,” said Ed Clark, President of Axiom. “Axiom has always been interested in getting more young people into the design industry and we are very excited about this infusion of new blood into the company.”

“I have had the privilege of working with Ryder’s father for many years and look forward to working with Ryder.”

Behind the scenes
Ryder has actually been active in running the company, behind the scenes, for several months now. His management style is very simple. His assistants run ideas by him and if he smiles, they implement the plan. If he frowns or yells, they don’t. It has been very successful so far. Axiom has made several bold business moves at his direction.

“Ryder Greenbaum’s transition into the company has been very well accepted by the staff. I guess it helps that we will be taking a three-hour break from noon until 3:00pm everyday while he naps. We have to make sure there is absolute quiet in the office,” said Wil Magness, an executive assistant at Axiom. “He does have some very strong opinions and is quick to make up his mind. He didn’t like one of our ideas yesterday and we are still cleaning the strained organic carrots off the wall.”

According to our sources, one of his new ideas is a CAD application that can be used on an Etch-a-Sketch. It is still in development. The project is highly confidential, but MicroStation Today has managed to get some inside information by pulling a few strings (and strategically placing a dessert in one of the executive offices).

“It will be called Etch-a-CAD and will be highly portable. It is being designed to be a lot easier to use for smaller hands. As a bonus, users won’t have to know the alphabet or even how to count,” said Ed Clark over a slice of pecan pie.

“The Etch-a-CAD idea came from one of the toys in Ryder’s office. We were in a brainstorming session and he picked up the Etch-a-Sketch. That’s how I knew he wanted to develop some software for it. I can’t wait until he is able to talk. I’m sure he will tell us about even more amazing ideas then.”

Plans are to have Ryder fully in charge by September of this year, just in time for his first birthday.
Later in the year, Ryder is planning on a tour of the preschools in the area. His plan is to promote the message that you are never too young to go for your dreams.

Ryder had no comment when reached by MicroStation Today. He just sat back in his executive bouncy chair and smiled.

Ryder Greenbaum listens to one of his junior executives.

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Is 4D in your future?

Monday, 7 April 2008

Keith Sands of URS Corp in Tampa talks about increasing productivity with proper training and the future of CAD.

Clearwater, Florida, USA — Keith Sands of URS Corporation in Tampa stopped by the Axiom office here in Clearwater the other day. He talked about the many road projects around the Tampa Bay area, using 3D and 4D in the design and construction process, his 18 years at URS and his push for proper CAD training.

Learning world domination being planned by power-manager Keith Sands and Axiom’s Mike Arroyo.

MST: As an experienced CAD Manager for a major civil engineering player (URS Corp), what are some of the problems you encounter?
Keith: I am the Roadway Group CAD Manager. We normally have 55 to 60 full-time employees in our group. I also support the MicroStation users in the Surface Transportation Planning Group and the Landscape Group as well. We have approximately 450 to 500 people in the Tampa office.

Problems? Well, one thing people don’t realize is that if we have X number of pages that show the finished product of say, the Spruce Street interchange, here in Tampa, we might have anywhere from three to seven times as many pages for maintenance of traffic (the roads you build to handle the traffic during construction).

But really what I want to talk about is training. I think most people you interview for these articles tend to talk more about the technical problems encountered in MicroStation and how MicroStation Productivity Toolkit and its various utilities help them to overcome these problems. I believe that training is a bigger problem to overcome due to the time it takes and the costs that can be associated with most training choices. Those choices involve either sending people to training sessions at another location or taking someone else away from their production to train, instead of producing plans, etc. For several years, I conducted in-house classes in MicroStation that would last four hours per session and would take place after my regular workday was completed. The training would last for 40 hours at which time the attendees would be “ready” to start working on projects. The problem with this approach is that I was continually taking time to refresh the newly trained individual’s memory of how to do things they couldn’t remember from the classes, again pulling me away from production work. When I was promoted to CAD Manager, one of the first things I started searching for was software that could take the place of instructor-led training. After using another company’s software for a few years, I started seeing the Axiom product advertised and arranged to have a demonstration at our site. Needless to say, I was very impressed with the product and decided to replace what we were using with the LearningBay software. We have been using LearningBay for the last couple of years to train our new employees in both MicroStation and GEOPAK. I have been very pleased with the results. The software gives the new users a solid foundation to start from and an excellent resource for review.

Another feature of the LearningBay software is that an individual can be designated to the role of instructor, thereby having the permission to review the progress of the students and view the test scores for each class that a student completes. Several experienced users are also taking advantage of this training to learn new techniques, and methods of resolving design problems for both MicroStation and GEOPAK. This also is realizing a substantial amount of savings in our training budget every year, while improving drafting and design skills of our personnel.

MST: Where do you think CAD is going?
Keith: I believe that we will eventually design everything in 3D and information from the 3D model will in turn be able to be used to actually run some of the equipment that is used in building roadways and other construction, especially earthwork. (This is already being tested). I believe that 3D simulations will be used to find design problems before they are discovered during construction. What I envision is an actual 3D model, derived from the proposed design, being used in conjunction with software that has yet to be developed. This could simulate a drainage condition of a specific amount of rainfall over a given time span that could actually be set in motion and the results viewable in real time. Or perhaps a simulation of vehicular movements along a proposed interchange to determine if certain defined vehicles are able to negotiate the turning radius as designed. Another hot topic is 4D which involves the use of CAD files and scheduling software to visualize the construction process and make sure everything works together as intended, before construction begins.

I also believe that Intelligent Transportation Systems will evolve into a more sophisticated element of roadway (highway) design, involving the use of more advanced computers built into our automobiles and utilizing even more the power of Global Positioning Systems to guide traffic and decrease congestion. It will also help to decrease the frequency of auto accidents and help traffic find detours around troubled areas of travel.

MST: What do you do when you are not working?
Keith: When I am not at work, I like to involve myself in home improvement projects, golf, art projects with my wife, photography or kayaking around the great waterways in this area of Florida.

MST: How did you get into CAD?
Keith: I worked as a land surveyor for 15 years and then migrated into civil engineering roadway design, as the two fields work closely together. I’m originally from Pendleton, Oregon, a small town in the northeastern part of the state. I moved to Florida in 1984, to get away from the depressed economy in that part of the country.

MST: What would you like to be doing in 10 years?
Keith: It would be great if I was able to be retired and working on enhancing my artistic abilities, relaxing and having the resources to travel.

MST: What’s a book you wish you’d written?
Keith: Are you serious? I have never had any desire to be a writer. I do love to read though.

MST: If you could trade places with anyone for just one day, who would it be?
Keith: That would be my wife. I would love to be able to see things from the perspective of the person I love the most. The person that I consider my best friend and that I trust above anyone else.

MST: Thanks, Keith.

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Tips & Tricks — The Project Manager’s nightmare! How do you quickly renumber 237 sheets?

Monday, 7 April 2008

Clearwater, Florida, USA — Imagine that your project is due out on Monday. Your project team spent the weekend putting the final touches on the job. All the 237 sheets have been plotted for the final check. Everything appears to be in order and the tension is starting to ease. Then all of sudden a blood-curdling scream resonates throughout the office. The sheet numbers are wrong. The sheet total is off by one on every sheet, and every sheet number higher than 17 is off by one.

Now raise your hand if you would manually open all 237 sheets to edit text? That is just how it has always been done and it works just fine as long you want to spend the entire afternoon editing text in 237 separate sheet files. If you can modify one sheet in one minute, stay on task, not get any phone calls, and not make any mistakes, then we are talking three hours and 57 minutes just to modify the text.

You can break it up and give sections to different people to hurry things along. That could make it go faster, or it could just make things worse and increase the chance for error. Lets round it up to four man-hours just for editing the design files. I don’t remember the last time that I had four hours uninterrupted.

A quicker way
There is another option. Using Title Block Manager, export all title block information to a database (Excel or Access). Then make changes in Excel and export all the corrected title block data back to your design files. It takes five or ten minutes and is less error-prone than having a team of ten CAD operators editing the text. Instead of a blood-curdling scream, the sites that have Title Block Manager would have a different scenario. You would hear “OK, time to use the Axiom tools.”

The steps are simple:

  1. Open MicroStation and start Title Block Manager.
  2. With Title Block Manager loaded, select Microsoft Excel (or Access) to edit the title block database.
  3. Click on <Edit Database>. It takes a couple minutes to use the automatic increment and the copy feature to renumber all the sheets and change the total sheets field in the database. Save and close the database.
  4. Click on <Select Files> to select all 237 sheet files.
  5. Click on the <Update selected files from the database> action.

    6. Edit your title block data in bulk with Excel and Title Block Manager.

    Renumber all 237 title blocks at one time.

  6. Click on <Start>, check your e-mail, get some coffee and four minutes later the job is complete. Times may vary slightly.

Now which scenario sounds best to you? Updates that take you four hours or just over six minutes — you decide.

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