Archive for June, 2008

Easing the pain of MicroStation/AutoCAD® translations

Saturday, 7 June 2008

Clearwater, Florida, USA —Translation is almost always a painful subject for several valid reasons. AutoCAD and MicroStation do a lot of important things differently. Because of those differences, users of the two different CAD packages almost always organize projects and implement CAD standards in different ways. This means that when a project created using MicroStation and its drafting methodology has to be submitted to a customer who demands AutoCAD files that comply to AutoCAD CAD standards (for all the reasons clients and project managers can dream up), headaches are going to ensue. Things aren’t any better when the project is done in AutoCAD and has to be delivered in MicroStation format.

You may be reading this and thinking: “Come on now, it can’t be that bad. MicroStation has a built-in translator.” Sure it does, and it is a good one too, but I’ll make you a bet. You’ve never used it to translate an entire project and then had to get it accepted by the client, have you? If you have, you’d be thinking more along the lines of: “I’d rather take a bullet than do another translation.”

Is there any way to ease some of this translation angst (feeling of dread, anxiety, or anguish)? The short answer is “yes”.

Translation projects can be organized into four broad phases:

  • Phase 1: Analysis and testing
  • Phase 2: Pre-translation processing
  • Phase 3: Translation
  • Phase 4: Post-translation analysis and modification

Successful analysis requires knowledge of all the factors that can be managed by the translation software, as well as those that can’t. This means you have to be familiar with both MicroStation and AutoCAD and their differences. It also demands a thorough knowledge of both the CAD standards used to create the original files and the CAD standards required in the output application. Frequently the CAD files making up a project have to be thoroughly analyzed to determine the CAD standards used or to find the CAD files that violate the expected standards so they can be fixed or prepared before translation. This is where the MicroStation Productivity Toolkit starts easing the pain. RefManager for example can quickly report the reference file attachment information of any file, AutoCAD or MicroStation. SpecChecker can report on the level/layers, line styles, fonts and other important symbology and element property information you want to know about the files being processed. Global File Changer can find any file whose settings, like working units or global origin, do not match the expected standards.These same MicroStation Productivity Toolkit programs can also be used in the “Pre-translation processing” and “Post translation processing” phases to modify reference file attachments or element properties and symbology as well as file settings that the translator can’t do directly.

Another MicroStation Productivity Toolkit product that should always be used on MicroStation files either before they are translated or after they are created is FileFixer. It will prevent many of the errors that can occur during a translation and will automatically fix a lot of the unexpected problems that are found on newly created design files imported from AutoCAD.

Post-translation evaluation can reveal unanticipated issues that will have to be resolved before project acceptance by the customer. This can be level/layer display or symbology discrepancies, text characters that are not what you expect, missing geometry and a whole lot more. Whatever the problems may be, MicroStation Productivity Toolkit contains a tool that will save you time in dealing with the problem.

Axiom has a long track record in dealing with translation and our MicroStation Productivity Toolkit customers with Axiom Maintenance Plus customers can take advantage of that experience to get real help with their translation needs.

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Code name: Salamander… What does it all mean? – A MicroStation mystery

Saturday, 7 June 2008

Clearwater, Florida, USA — I came across this story rather by accident. I was sifting through the garbage outside of Axiom when a scrap of paper caught my eye. Scribbled across the top was the phrase “Code name: Salamander — knck ms users scks off.” I knew where it came from, but what did it mean? What was Axiom planning?

The clue that lead to the single most significant discovery of my investigative career.

I spent the next few weeks chasing up blind alleys — always coming to a dead-end.

The next break in the story came as I was carrying a pizza to my car late one night. I heard a sound.

“Pssst.”

The sound worried me as I didn’t have a spare. I checked all my tires, but none were leaking.

I heard the sound again.

“Pssst, buddy. Over here.”

I peered into the shadows suspiciously.

“No, buddy, I ain’t gonna hurtcha. Look, ya wanna know about ‘Salamander’ or not?”

I took a step closer. “Okay, I’m listening.”

“It’s gonna cost you.”

“Look, I have three kids, I can’t afford…”

“I don’t want your money, bub. Just hand over some of that pizza.”

I reluctantly took a slice of pizza out of the box and gave it to him.

He anxiously wolfed down the pizza, looked around, and then back at me.

“Well?” I asked.

“All I’m gonna say is I overheard something. I ain’t gonna say who and I ain’t gonna say where. They was throwing out names — names like ‘RasterDgn,’ ‘DgnSearch,’ ‘Enterprise Workspace Manager’ and uh….” He looked at me and then at the pizza.

I picked up another slice and held it toward him. When he reached for it, I pulled it back.

“What else?” I asked.

“And another name: ‘Translation Helper’. I don’t know what it means, that’s just what I heard.”

I gave him the other slice and he disappeared into the shadows.

At first I thought his “inside information” was just another wild goose chase.

I went back to my office and started a “Salamander” file. I put it in the cabinet next to other stories I was working on.

The next day held a major breakthrough on the Salamander case.

Myself and two of my closest associates had just completed a rousing game of charades when my phone rang.

“Hello?” I answered.

“I have more information,” said a deep, gruff voice. “Meet me in the park. Bring food.” And he hung up.

As I drove to the park, my head swam with questions. RasterDgn, Enterprise Workspace Manager, Translation Helper, Axiom, MicroStation… What was the connection? And who was this hungry informant?

I stopped to purchase a box of “Lance Toasty Rich ‘N Creamy Peanut Butter Crackers” on my way to the park. When I arrived, I saw him sitting on a park bench, dressed in a trench coat and a dark, wide-brimmed hat.

“Did you bring the food?” The mysterious informant muttered.

I handed over the crackers and sat down across from him. He stuffed a handful into his mouth and leaned in closer.

“Imagine, if you will, the ability to easily and affordably edit raster images within the MicroStation vector universe. What if you could write regular MicroStation elements like text and cells to the raster file in just one step for a fraction of the cost of other similar products?”

His eyes were slits now, as he stared at me with dark intensity.

“Now, I heard that this probably won’t be complete until later this year, but suppose there was an application that would walk you through the choices and decisions necessary to make a translation come out as desired and expected when translating from AutoCAD to MicroStation or vice-versa.…”

I gasped! But he wasn’t finished.

“Suppose this application also incorporated customized preprocessing and post processing routines, along with a truly ‘User Friendly’ interface so that anyone familiar with either AutoCAD or MicroStation could translate their files to the other format with ease and a high level of success!”

A red convertible skidded to a stop twenty feet to our right!

“It’s not safe here!” The informant leapt up, grabbed a fistful of crackers, and ran toward the foliage.

I got up calmly and walked in the opposite direction — careful to avoid eye contact with David Greenbaum, the Chief Executive Officer of Axiom and owner of the red convertible. I had to get to a grocery store fast to stock up for my next meeting with the informant.

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The secret behind excellent infrastructure

Saturday, 7 June 2008

Baltamore, Maryland, USA — How do you ensure excellent infrastructure? What is the real secret behind it? What “infrastructure” underlies all excellent infrastructure?

That infrastructure has always played a critical role in every society’s ability to survive is obvious. It’s the full and wide-ranging effects that infrastructure has on a society that are often grossly underestimated. Roads, bridges, aqueducts, rail lines, modern utilities, airports — imagine a place where these things are broken, poorly planned or failing. Think for a moment of some countries that have badly failing infrastructure. Now, think about how these same countries are doing in the arenas of business, health and general population well-being.

How did King Cheops build the Pyramids at Giza to withstand 5,000 years of elemental battery?

Notice any connections?
Unfortunately, there are locations (cities) with poor infrastructure even in modern countries — including in the United States and Europe, for example. The general population may take infrastructure for granted, but the builders of our society know it’s the foundation of all else and must be maintained at all times.

This year’s BE (Bentley Empowered) theme is “BEst Practices for Sustaining Infrastructure.” A conference dedicated to infrastructure is both timely and relevant. Believe it or not, the term “infrastructure” only came into wide use in the 1980s. Prior to that, infrastructure was used primarily to refer to military installations, and in fact, the word itself was only coined in 1927! It’s interesting that it took that long to come up with the perfect term to describe a concept that has been around since the first Homo sapiens dug a trough around his cave to keep the rainwater out during heavy thunderstorms.

So how do you ensure excellent infrastructure?
The Egyptians are an example of a society that eventually learned the secret. If you were to go to Egypt and visit more than just the tourist attractions, you’d see a landscape that also includes lots of examples of failed infrastructure, many of which are right next to some of mankind’s oldest architectural marvels. Why are some pyramids still standing while others are just a pile of rocks?

One word: training.
The Egyptians learned from their mistakes and developed and then taught techniques that worked. The smarter builders gained and then passed on that hard-won knowledge and were successful in making lasting monuments.

Training is the key to infrastructure. Axiom is a leader in the arena of online training. Axiom provides a wide selection of courses for engineers and MicroStation users through the LearningBay product line, which covers such subjects as:

  • MicroStation (versions V7, V8 and V8 XM)
  • GEOPAK
  • InRoads
  • AutoCAD

LearningBay has over a hundred courses in all. Civil packages such as InRoads and GEOPAK place emphasis on specific areas of infrastructure like site planning, road design, survey, drainage and others. And getting this training has never been easier. Axiom now has a delivery method for companies of any size. Are you a large company with many users? LearningBay Enterprise is tailored specifically for huge organizations. Not quite that large but still need to train multiple users company-wide? Axiom’s LearningBay Professional solution is for you. Rather not manage the training system yourself, no matter how large your company? Axiom has a hosted option that will fit your needs. Are you a single user but still want to get this valuable training? Sign up for the online service and you’ll be off and training in no time. Each of Axiom’s training courses are available via any of these methods.

Call or visit our web site to learn more. The future of our infrastructure depends on the preparation and training done today.

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Saving time, saving money and getting the job done

Saturday, 7 June 2008

Clearwater, Florida, USA — Maybe you’ve heard stories of Axiom’s time-saving MicroStation utilities salvaging the “unsalvageable” design file, or completing 200 man-hours of work in a matter of minutes.

Making MicroStation work easier, faster and more efficiently puts more money in the bank and more time in your weekend. Isn’t that where they belong?

Now it’s time to hear it straight from the individual owners of MicroStation Productivity Toolkit:

Doing weeks of work in three hours
“Last week I was asked to ‘convert’ approximately 200 drawings from an existing design for re-use in a new project. The task required all existing reference and mark numbers on all drawings be re-mapped to new project numbers, including a few commonly used permutations.

“Naturally, the project manager had left it to the last minute to assign this task, and was worried that he wouldn’t achieve the first submission date — especially after he’d unsuccessfully tried to find and replace the numbers manually in a trial-run of ten drawings.

“He was skeptical when I told him I could do all of them this afternoon if he wanted. All I required was an Excel spreadsheet with the old and new numbers. “Once I had the spreadsheet, it took me 30 minutes to re-format the data for Global File Changer to import, and a couple of hours for it to process all 200 drawings — less than three hours in all. To do this manually would probably have taken us weeks!

“Now, instead of being slightly behind schedule, his project is a few weeks ahead of schedule!

“This is just one example of the many tasks I’ve been able to use MicroStation Productivity Toolkit for — I highly recommend it for any organization processing large numbers of DGNs or DWGs.” C.A.

Increasing productivity with no side-effects
“Just to let you know, it is working perfectly. Thanks for your help.

“The replace cell is also working fine, it’s impressive to see that the cells update without losing the tag values.

“Most often with MicroStation, I find that something else goes wrong when trying to fix another [problem] or that the fix available is limited in scope or incomplete by nature.

“It is quite amazing how Axiom tools can handle all the oddities and offer perfect solutions without side effects.” M.B.

Doing the work of six draftsmen in three hours
“I love it! It’s very easy to use. I did the work of six draftsmen in three hours. I saved 15 to 16 hours of work. This tool can be used so many ways. I want to get it for my whole department. I really, really like this tool. And I got excellent help down there [at Axiom]. I called in and they helped me a lot. You have a good team down there. We also use FileFixer all the time, everyone does.” D.D.

Meeting (or beating) project deadlines
“I want to thank you and your staff for your exceptional service in getting the V7 and V8 Office Importer to me at the drop of a hat. It made a big difference and the job went out on time. Great tool. “Thank you for all of your efforts and I will be in touch.” R.O.

Making translations from MicroStation to AutoCAD a cakewalk
“The majority of our projects have AutoCAD deliverables and have to be translated from USTN [MicroStation] to AutoCAD. We could never accomplish this without the Axiom Toolkit. Can’t do without it.” D.D.

Handling messed up design files before it’s too late
“We mainly use the FileFixer product, and we use it to fix corrupt files and to make sure files are clean when we send them out of the office. I can not measure the financial savings of the product has given us, but I can say that it has saved us time when fixing corrupt files. This can be much quicker than retrieving from our archives.” J.H.

Making MicroStation work easier
“We use the Office Importer and RefManager very often. Even if those two products were the only tools used, I would be totally satisfied.” D.L

Changing 1,300 reference attachments at once
“Thank you very much for your time… I now love RefManager. I wasn’t looking forward to changing 1,300 reference attachments manually.” C.S.

Changing hundreds of drawings in two minutes
“I changed 241 drawings in about two minutes! Thanks!” D.W.

Fixing misbehaving design files
“We have utilized the Axiom tools set since [MicroStation] version SE and are happy with the results. Although we do not use it on a daily basis, we have used it most often for fixing designs that exhibit bad behavior and RefManager for fixing reference file attachment locations, aliases and settings.” J.L.

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Tips & Tricks — Create your own MicroStation pull-down menu.

Saturday, 7 June 2008

Clearwater, Florida, USA — The default installation of MicroStation has nine pull-down menus containing way over 100 menu items. That’s not counting a couple dozen submenus on these same menus that contain another 100-plus menu items. Clearly MicroStation has no shortage of available options. And every one of them is necessary in order to accommodate the many and varying ways that companies use MicroStation.
But the reality of a CAD drafter is often one of simple repetition. On any given project or part of a project, it is quite common that you’ll only use a few key menu items. Creating your own pull-down menu allows you to put all of those key items in one place for convenient access.

How to create your own MicroStation pull-down menu

  1. Load MicroStation and open any design file.
  2. Go to Workspace|Customize.

    3. The “Customize” dialog box is where you can really make MicroStation your own.

  3. From “Customize” dialog box, select the “Menu Bar” tab.
  4. The right-hand window lists all of the current MicroStation pull-down windows. You need to highlight the window that you want your new pull-down window to be placed next to. Your menu will be added directly above the menu that you have highlighted. For example if you want your menu to be between the “File” and “Edit” menus, then highlight the “Edit” menu. Press the <Insert> button to load the “Insert Menu” dialog box.

    5. MicroStation out of the box is good, but customized menus could help make you one of the elite operators.

    The “Customize” dialog box is where you add menu items to your custom pull-down menu.

  5. From the “Insert Menu” dialog box, enter your menu name of choice in the “Label:” field and press <OK> to return to the “Customize” dialog box.
  6. You’ll now see the menu that you named and inserted and that menu is ready to be populated with the features of your choice. Double-click on it and you will see an “Empty Menu Item” waiting to be modified. Highlight the “Empty Menu Item” and press the <Modify…> button.

    7. You can create custom menu items based on your most common key-in commands.

  7. In the “Label:” field, enter what best describes the first option you will be adding to your custom pull-down menu. You have the option to add a standard MicroStation key-in to run. You can create a SubMenu to branch off of your custom menu. You can even load a MicroStation tool box. Make your selection and press <OK> to return to the “Customize” dialog box.
  8. Repeat Steps 6 and 7 to add more menu items.
  9. Press <Save> on the “Customize” dialog box to have your customized menu added to the available MicroStation pull-down menus.

    10. Save time and mouse-clicks with your own customized pull-down menu.

Now admire your creation and consider that you can mold it into whatever you want.

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