Archive for February, 2009

Fix dead design files fast!

Saturday, 7 February 2009

New release now works with V8i

Clearwater, Florida, USA — When design file corruption slows your project down — or worse, brings it to a halt — you don’t have time to mess around. You need the file salvaged now! You need help. FileFixer for V8 gives you that help fast. The latest version from Axiom handles MicroStation V8i files too.

FileFixer continues the tradition of repairing corruption by adding support for design files created by the latest MicroStation version, V8i.

Have you ever had a design file that wouldn’t open? Have you ever been frustrated with MicroStation elements or models that behaved oddly? Have you ever had problems with plotting? For over 20 years, FileFixer has been the tool of choice for CAD managers and CAD users alike to fix these issues. FileFixer gives you the exact technical data you need to understand what’s wrong with your MicroStation V8, XM and V8i files and to fix them fast!

When you run FileFixer, it generates a hyperlinked report. Clicking on a link in the report takes you to the exact user’s guide paragraph you need, speeding your full understanding of the problem, so you can fix your design file that much faster. Here’s how it works: Say you’ve got a project deadline on your hands and a dead design file that FileFixer is reporting as having error “619″. [Editor's note: FileFixer for V8 reports error 619 for elements which have one or more coordinates dangerously close to or outside the design plane or cube.] You probably don’t have a lot of time to study up on the different forms of file corruption, because your boss wants the project done now! The great thing is there’s no research required! Just click on one of the report’s hyperlinked error numbers and a detailed explanation of that error is displayed on your screen. These report hyperlinks provide the shortcut that power users have come to depend on. Of course, if you’re really in a hurry or you don’t need to understand the problem — you just want it fixed — you can still ignore the report entirely and just let FileFixer work its magic automatically. The choice is yours.

In addition to the hyperlinks in the reports, specific help like this is also available for all FileFixer’s settings dialog boxes such as General Settings, Search Settings, Repair Settings and so on.

Using its default settings, FileFixer can detect and repair the vast majority of design file corruption automatically. But let’s face it, design file corruption is infinitely diverse. Any bit, containing “0″ or “1″, out of the millions of bits in a large design file, can potentially contain the wrong value and corrupt the file. To handle this broad range of potential corruption, MicroStation users may need to use FileFixer’s non-default search or repair settings to fully salvage a file. Each of FileFixer’s search and repair settings are thoroughly described in its user’s guide, including advice for when each setting should be used. But what’s the fastest way to find the exact search or repair setting needed to bring a corrupted file back to life?

Each FileFixer settings dialog box includes a help button that immediately displays the relevant section of the FileFixer user’s guide. Instant access to the precise help you need!

With FileFixer, you will never be more than a mouse click away from the exact help you need in order to understand why a design file is misbehaving and what to do about it.

When solving design file problems caused by corruption, FileFixer context-sensitive help is always just a click away.

Smart CAD managers know FileFixer is not just for emergencies. That’s because you can also use FileFixer for preventative maintenance. By simply scheduling regular searches for problems in all of a project’s design files, FileFixer can detect and handle damaged files before they impact projects.

Entirely new forms of file corruption have been discovered in V8 files submitted to Axiom by MicroStation users. FileFixer is the only application that can open and salvage the most severely corrupted design files. There is no other solution.

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Easily modify all your MicroStation tags with just a few mouse-clicks.

Saturday, 7 February 2009

By Rick Sewell
It seemed a typical day as I manned Axiom’s Technical Support phone lines. Calls were coming in with the usual questions. Yes, Global File Changer will replace cells in all of your files in one shot. Yes, FileFixer will repair your file. Then I received a call from a fellow with a question that was quite out of the ordinary.

Changing tags in hundreds or thousands of design files can be done quickly and easily if you have the right tool.

He was looking for something that would allow him to extract tag values from his design files to an external database and also allow him to manage the tag values from there. He needed to do this not on just a single project either but “thousands of DGN files,” he said. “A real, hairy-monster of a job.”

My first thought was that we could likely custom program something to do the job. I didn’t know of any Axiom tools out of the box that would do it. Needing more information in order to give the problem a proper assessment, I had the customer send me some sample files to analyze.

As I opened each sample DGN file, I noticed that all the files were nearly identical. Each file contained a series of cells with five tags associated with each cell. They looked like a bunch of baby title blocks. Title blocks? That’s it! Title Block Manager has the ability to extract tags directly from MicroStation and copy them into Microsoft Excel! [Editor's note: "Tags" are database-like elements that may be attached to graphical elements in design files in order to provide more information about the graphical element (or elements) tagged. Tags can be displayed graphically.]

Just as the name indicates, Title Block Manager was designed to handle title blocks. The initial Title Block Manager release didn’t handle tags. However, it was later discovered that a number of customers used tags in their standard title blocks. To accommodate those users, we enhanced Title Block Manager to extract selected tag values (instead of extracting only regular Title Block Manager text elements from title blocks). This is when the universe opened up.

The new tag handling feature in Title Block Manager isn’t limited to just handling tags in title blocks. It allows you to extract tag values from any tag set in any set of design files! It’s like we have another application entirely living inside of Title Block Manager. We should call it “Tag Manager”. [Editor's note: A "tag set" is a set of associated tags. Each and every tag is part of a tag set.]

Check it out. Figure 1 shows some tag values within a DGN file. In this file, the tag values represent unit numbers in an apartment building.

Figure 1. In this sample design file, the number on each apartment door is a value of a tag. With the right tool, you can extract all your tag values from all your DGN files and have them automatically entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Once there, you can quickly modify as many tag values as you like and put them back into your design file.

This design file contains six occurrences of a tag set (the same tag set is attached to each apartment door). This particular tag set contains three tags. One of these tag names is “Unit Number”. Each tag in a tag set can be given a different value. In this case, the tag values of each of the six “Unit Number” tags are “101″, “102″ “103″, “201″, “202″ and “203″.

Title Block Manager will take each of these values and place them elegantly into a spreadsheet (or a database) by creating a row in the database for each occurrence of each tag set that was placed in the DGN file. Figure 2 shows the actual tag data extracted from the sample design file. Each row in Figure 2 is a record of an instance of a tag set attached to an element. Column B, with the header “TBlockID”, contains the name of the tag set (in this simple example, we are using only one tag set, named “Apartment”). The next column shows the element ID number of the element that was tagged. The heading of each of the next three columns (in Figure 2) contains the name of each tag in the tag set. Notice that the tag set “Apartment” contains three tag names — “Unit Number”, “Size” and “Resident”. Each tag name becomes a column heading in the Excel spreadsheet. Within each field under each tag name, you see the value of that tag for the given element. For example, for element number 461 (the lower left apartment door), the tag value for tag name “Unit Number” is “101″. For that same element, the tag value for tag name “Size” is “2-Bedroom”, and so on.

Figure 2. Title Block Manager automatically, elegantly places all of the essential tag data into an Excel spreadsheet.

You can process all your design files and have a complete library of all the tags used in your files. Being able to do that is pretty impressive. But that’s just the half of it. You can also modify your tag values in the spreadsheet and write the modifications back to your design files!

In Figure 3, I’ve changed all the tag values listed in the spreadsheet under the “Unit Number” column heading from “101″, “102″, “103″, “201″, “202″ and “203″ to “1A”, “1B”, “1C”, “2A”, “2B” and “2C, respectively.

Figure 3. Title Block Manager lets you quickly change tag values in Excel and then easily write them back to your design files (compare the above to the values for “Unit Number” in Figure 2)

With nothing more than a few mouse-clicks, Title Block Manager will write the newly changed values back to the design file. Here is the result (Figure 4):

Figure 4. Tag values are updated in all your design files in about one second per design file modified.

Remember, you can process all your design files here. So go get your tag-laden design files and start having some fun with them.

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What do you mean the global origin is wrong?

Saturday, 7 February 2009

What’s all the fuss?

By Rick Dewitt
In the many years I have worked with CAD professionals, one area that seems to be consistently misunderstood is “global origin”. What exactly is it? What happens if you change it? How do you change it? How does it affect reference files? Does Axiom have any products that can help with this?

So let’s clear the air in this article by starting with exactly what the global origin is and give some explanation of how it is used. The “global origin” of a MicroStation design file (V7) or model (V8) is a setting which defines where, relative to the MicroStation design plane (2D) or cube (3D), the point where X=0, Y=0 and, for 3D files, Z=0 is located.

It helps when visualizing this concept to think of the MicroStation 2D design plane as a big piece of paper and the global origin as a point on this big piece of paper that we refer to as X=0 and Y=0 in the coordinate system. Although you could put the global origin outside of the piece of paper, we’ll assume, for this example, it’s on the paper. You could set the global origin point, as one example, to be the lower left-hand corner of our piece of paper. (See Figure 1.) If we decided to set our MicroStation design plane with this global origin setting then all the elements we draw on the design would have to have positive X and Y coordinate values because we are not allowed to draw elements outside the piece of paper.

If we set our global origin to be in the middle of our piece of paper then we would have the ability to draw using both the positive and negative X and Y axis directions.

Figure 1. If you set the global origin as the lower left-hand corner of a 2D design plane, then all of your drawing coordinates will be positive numbers.

So what’s all the fuss about global origins? Why not just set the global origin in the center of the design plane or cube for every drawing and get to work? Well, for example, one of the main reasons for difficulties with global origins stems from the fact that, in MicroStation versions prior to V8, the design plane wasn’t big enough for many users’ needs. To solve this problem, many companies and government entities developed CAD standards that demanded the use of a global origin that was located far away from the center of the design plane and still insist on this location today, in order to remain compatible with older (pre-V8) designs. If you will indulge me, I shall elaborate on this so you will have a complete understanding of what I just wrote.

Figure 2. If the center of your design plane was, for instance, the center of a city, then setting the global origin in the center of the design plane would allow you to draw or place elements to the left (a negative “X” coordinate) or below the center of the city (a negative “Y” coordinate).

Prior to V8, the design plane was limited to 4,294,967,296 (232) accessible points on each axis. The accessible points in a design plane were called “positional units”. Depending on the degree of accuracy required, these accessible points were divided by the number of positional units assigned to each master unit (such as feet or meters) to determine the overall “real world” size of the design plane (how big it is in feet or meters). A common usage would be a master unit of “feet” with a resolution of 1,000 positional units for each foot. So if we divide our total number of accessible points by 1,000, we get the total length of each axis in feet. In this case 4,294,967.296 feet. Now let’s say we put the global origin in the middle of our pre-V8 design plane. This would then give us 2,147,483.648 feet in both the positive and negative direction for each axis (in MicroStation). For many MicroStation users, this size was sufficient. However, for civil designs that use real-world coordinates, the number of feet required can easily exceed 4,000,000 on either axis. For these users, setting the global origin outside the design plane was the only way they could place design elements on the design plane when drawing to locations that required large coordinate values.

Example: A road to be built in Oregon has to be drawn using exact locations based on a recognized geographic coordinate system (a standard). In the United States, one common standard requires that geographic locations be represented by the number of feet that a location is to the east and to the north of a specific point (which point is also defined in the standard). In parts of Oregon, the X coordinate (based on this geographic standard) can be in the neighborhood of 4,298,000 feet from that fixed point. Therefore, when attempting to draw a road at this location in MicroStation V7, users had to have the global origin well off the design plane in order to draw their road at the correct “real-world” geographic coordinate point. (See Figure 3.)

Figure 3. Prior to MicroStation V8, some users such as civil engineers would sometimes have to set the global origin off the 2D design plane as the design plane simply wasn’t big enough to accommodate elements placed in design files with very large coordinate values.

Fortunately, as of MicroStation V8, the size of the design plane is now approximately 2 million times larger on each axis, which allows for a “real world” design plane that is much larger than available in previous versions of MicroStation. But even with this huge increase in size, many CAD standards still require global origin settings that match those of the earlier pre-V8 design files. This fact alone frequently causes confusion when other companies (that don’t still have this old requirement) create design files that are not based on this CAD standard.

Hopefully this description gives you a better understanding of “global origin” and of one of the main reasons global origins can cause difficulties. Unfortunately, the Editor informs me that I have already exceeded the column inches available and must wait until next issue to finish my explanation and answer the other questions posed at the beginning of this article. See the next part of this article in an upcoming issue of MicroStation Today.

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How to speed up MicroStation production — CADsmart CEO, Rory Vance, talks about technical competence and production speed

Saturday, 7 February 2009

Clearwater, Florida, USA — CADsmart, headed by CEO Rory Vance, has created a software tool that is designed to help CAD managers assess what’s needed in order improve efficiency and increase production.

Rory takes time off from helping companies meet project deadlines to spend time with his family (and monkey) at the Rock of Gibraltar.

MicroStation Today: CAD managers are more overworked and overstressed today than ever before. How does your program help with that?

Rory Vance: They’re overworked partly because they or their users aren’t as technically proficient as they could be. The stress comes from having too much to do in not enough time. Training in general can both increase someone’s speed as well as proficiency which handles both of the problems you mentioned. What we offer is the ability to determine what specifically they need training on. If you increase someone’s technical expertise, designs can be completed faster and with fewer errors. This leads the way to getting projects done faster.

MST: How much improvement are companies actually experiencing with your program?
Vance: Our goal, which is often exceeded by our customers, is to help increase performance by just five percent in a year. Research has shown that significant productivity gains can be achieved by targeting simple performance improvements each year. For instance, a target of five percent annual improvement in performance is worth 12.5 extra days per person per year. [Editor's note: Example given is for 50 weeks (two weeks off for vacation) per year times 5 work days per week. Multiplying 250 days by a 5% performance improvement equates to 12.5 extra days per designer.] For a firm that has 20 designers, if you increase each of their performance by just five percent, the company gains the equivalent of an extra person working full-time at no extra cost. These days, with competition the way it is, that extra person could be crucial to the success of a company.

MST: Can your program reduce the amount of time — and therefore expense — that someone has to spend on training?
Vance: Yes, it certainly can. Training for the sake of training isn’t smart. If someone is already proficient at 80% of the software they’re working on, why waste time and increase company expenses training them on the part of the software they’re already good at? Instead, tailor the training to the 20% that needs improvement. The assessments show what areas a person is weak in as well as which areas they’re strong in. They also give companies the ability to monitor and manage performance improvements. We have a saying at CADsmart, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” At the end of the day, if you don’t know what your staff don’t know, then you’re not maximizing your efficiency.

MST: You call them “assessments” but they sound like tests to me. Most people don’t like taking tests. What’s different about CADsmart?
Vance: A test is where you study something and then find out if you retained and can apply the information you studied. Our software provides an assessment of skills in a live, real-world scenario. All we’re interested in doing is helping to show where users are strong and where additional training is indicated. After someone takes a CADsmart assessment, they receive a certificate with a full breakdown of how they did in each area of the assessment, along with a detailed training-needs analysis. Our software also has a discreet recording feature, so sessions can be replayed for training or support purposes afterward. With a test, you either pass or fail and you either go on or don’t. Our assessment is different. We provide an exact “road map” on how to increase performance and proficiency. This will result in faster production and fewer errors. We’ve found that the combination of both assessment and training can bring about a dramatic increase in both width and depth of knowledge of our customers’ CAD users.

MST: The assessments only seem to be part of the issue. The users would need training as well, which you don’t provide. When are you going to add that to your line of products?
Vance: We don’t offer training nor will we ever offer training. Yes, training is the other element needed after assessing. However, CADsmart specializes in assessing CAD skills. It could be viewed as a conflict of interest if we also provided the training. We leave the training to others. Ideally, companies would use a system like LearningBay, which provides on-demand, tailored training on specific areas. That way, users get training on the exact area that they need training in. Again, the idea is to determine what the weak areas are and then provide training targeted to those areas and not spend a lot of time and money grinding away at areas that a person already knows well.

MST: How often are the assessments done?
Vance: Companies only need to assess their employees and contractors once or twice a year. First, you do an assessment and then you let the person complete some training in the area or areas that were weak. A training program can then be created based on the results of the detailed training-needs analysis. This process of assessment and training is then repeated over and over. The results of the repeated assessments provide CAD managers with ongoing skills assessment of users and gives a roadmap for training that will improve both the quality and the quantity of work produced. It’s a continuous improvement loop.

MST: Can CADsmart be used as a method of screening contractors and new employees?
Vance: Yes. Originally, CADsmart was developed as a way to automate CAD skills assessment for Human Resource personnel. In addition to benchmarking CAD performance and targeting training needs, Human Resource personnel use our software to help determine CAD skill levels. How do you know if a job candidate — employee or contractor — is as good at CAD as they say they are? Our unbiased skills assessment not only helps determine the actual skill levels of both employees and contract workers, but can also be used to negotiate pay rates.

MST: Where do you see the future of CAD going?
Vance: More and more there’s a big push for “sustainability” both in the CAD environment and in the world at large — sustainable life-styles, sustainable communities, sustainable economies. Right now, in the CAD arena, Bentley is pushing sustainable infrastructure. Autodesk is pushing “sustainable design” and has even created a position called “Director of Sustainability”. A lot of factors go into the concept of “sustainability”. But it means more than just being “green” and making responsible choices in materials. No matter how you look at it, creating a sustainable anything comes down to creating a sustainable company, which is built on the individuals that work there. If you empower the individual to be able to be more proficient and more able, then the company is more likely to survive. A community that has thriving companies is more likely to be sustainable than one that doesn’t. The same goes for a city, state or country. At the end of the day, it’s the individual with the right tools and the right know-how that makes the difference.

MST: Thanks, Rory.

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MicroStation V7 tips from Lee Wilson of Day & Zimmermann

Saturday, 7 February 2009

This month’s tips come from Lee Wilson. Lee is the CAD manager at Day & Zimmermann in Kingsport, Tennessee. Thank you for sending us in your tips, Lee!

Lee Wilson, CAD manager at Day & Zimmermann, Kingsport, Tennessee.

Back to center
Ever had a dimension extension line cover up a centerline? It is possible to turn the display of a dimension extension line on and off by using the key-in “CHANGE DIMENSION EXTENSION” and picking the element (in this case an extension line). It also works with selection sets.

To turn a dimension extension line on or off, type in “CHANGE DIMENSION EXTENSION” and select the extension line.

This will enable you to turn those extension lines off and not have to drop the dimension.

To turn a dimension extension line on or off, type in “CHANGE DIMENSION EXTENSION” and select the extension line.

It works as a toggle, so if you want to turn it back on, just click the missing extension line.

Quick copy without the fence
Ever wanted to copy a certain element or set of elements without using a fence? Using the Element Selection tool, you can pick multiple elements to copy by holding the <Ctrl> key while you select the elements. After you have selected all the elements you want to copy, press <Ctrl-C> to copy. Then, press <Ctrl-V> to paste. This will place the elements from the center point.

To go a step further, you can place a tentative point on the selection set, then press <Ctrl-C>. This procedure will place the items on your clipboard from that tentative point you selected. As long as you keep this session of MicroStation open, this can be pasted to any design file by pressing <Ctrl-V>.

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Tips & Tricks — Replace text strings with Global File Changer.

Sunday, 1 February 2009

By Rick Sewell
Global File Changer is exactly what it sounds like. This thing can change just about anything in your design files and fast. It is my personal favorite Axiom product due to its amazing versatility.

While it is true that Global File Changer is incredibly multifaceted, the single most utilized feature by far is its ability to change text. Global File Changer allows you to change a number of text attributes such as font, justification and size to name a few. However, the most commonly desired text-changing feature, in my experience, is the ability to replace an existing text string with a new text string. For this reason, I wanted to write it down for all to use.

Global File Changer’s main dialog box is jam-packed with goodies. Its bulk file-changing capabilities are limited only by your imagination.

Replacing text with Global File Changer
For this example, let’s say “Linkin Street” was misspelled as “Lincoln Street”.

  • First, load Global File Changer from the Axiom pull-down menu.
  • From the Global File Changer main dialog box, choose Custom|Modify text… and then select the “Replace Text” tab.
  • In the field labeled “Search string”, enter “Lincoln”. In the field labeled “Replacement string”, enter “Linkin”.
  • Since Global File Changer has the ability to process more than one set of search and replace parameters, it is necessary to confirm what you have entered into the “Search string” and “Replace string” fields. Press the <Add> button to commit your entries to the list.
  • Choose File|Save As… to load the “Save Modify Text File” dialog box. Enter a name and then navigate to a convenient location to save your text change parameters. Then press <Save>.
  • Press the <OK> button to return to the main Global File Changer dialog box.
  • The “Key-in File:” field will automatically be filled in with the command needed to change your text, based on the parameter file you created. Ensure that the “Design Files:” field lists the files you intend to process and the “Report File:” field contains the path and file name for the report file you want created.
  • Press <Start>!

Global File Changer’s Modify Text dialog box allows you to replace a text string with another text string in multiple design files at the touch of a button.

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MicroStation Today — February 2009(Volume 16, Issue 2)

Sunday, 1 February 2009

Click here for back issues.

MicroStation Today — August 2009 (Volume 16, Issue 2)

Download a PDF version of this issue.

To read the pages above, download Adobe®‘s free Acrobat Reader®, if not already installed in your computer.

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