By Rick Sewell, Axiom Director of Customer Services

Rick Sewell, beloved CAD ace, lives to help CAD users get their projects done on time. He really lives for this stuff. Give him a call and put him to the test.

If you want to impress your co-workers and superiors, then provide them with a 3D PDF that really shows your handiwork. (As a note, you will need a PDF viewer that can handle 3D PDFs such as Adobe PDF Viewer or BlueBeam’s Revu.) Here’s how:

1. Start by opening your sheet model and ensure you have your 3D reference attached.



Figure 1. It’s easy to create 3D PDFs from 3D references. This figure shows two 3D reference models that were attached before plotting.

2. Go to File | References to load your “References” dialog box.
3. Highlight the reference that you want plotted in 3D.



Figure 2. Use the “References” dialog box to select the 3D reference or references you want to plot in your 3D PDF file.

4. Click the little “Plot as 3D (PDF)” icon that sits at the bottom, middle of the “References” dialog box.
5. Now go to File | Print…
6. From the “Print” dialog box click on the “Printer” icon.
7. You’ll be prompted to name and save your PDF. Name it what you’d like, set the location you want it saved and then press the {Save} button to begin creation of your PDF.
8. Next, go to the location where the file was saved and double-click to open it.



Figure 3. Hovering your mouse over the image of the reference that was plotted activates a toolbar with icons that have functions that allow you to navigate your 3D file.

9. Use the items on the toolbar to navigate around your 3D file.

Want More MicroStation Know-how? Call Now!
For more information on cool tips and tricks, check out our LearningBay courses by visiting www.AxiomInt.com/microstation-training. You can also schedule a free demonstration about training solutions or talk with one of our MicroStation Consultants by calling 727-442-7774 extension 3530.

Send Us Your MicroStation Tips!
Send your favorite MicroStation tip or trick to MsTips@AxiomInt.com. We will give you full credit for the tip and your peers will look at you with reverence.

By Rick Sewell, Axiom Director of Customer Services

Rick Sewell, beloved CAD ace, lives to help CAD users get their projects done on time. He really lives for this stuff. Give him a call and put him to the test.

Busy MicroStation users are always on the lookout for faster ways to get work done. Covered here is a simple way to speed things up using your Function keys.

Have you ever noticed that the row of keys at the top of your keyboard that start with “F” never seem to get much use? Well, it just so happens you can make use of those F-keys (Function keys) to invoke dialog boxes or commands in MicroStation.

It’s really simple to assign commands to the Function keys. You can use Function keys by themselves or in combination with other keys. In this example, I’ll show you how to load AccuDraw using the key sequence {Shift+F12}.

1. Go to Workspace | Function Keys…



Figure 1. “Function Keys” is the dialog box that allows you to assign commands to your F-Keys.

2. Toggle on the “Shift” key by checking it in the upper segment of the box.
3. Select “F12″ from the pull-down list.
4. In the “Action:” window, enter the MicroStation keyin command “AccuDraw Activate”. (See Figure 2.)



Figure 2. In addition to using the function key, you can also use any combination of {Ctrl}, {Alt} and {Shift} for a total of 96 different combinations.

5. Press {OK} to close the “Function Keys:” dialog box.
6. Now, try out your new trick by holding down the shift key and pressing “F12″.

Remember, you can enter any valid MicroStation keyin command you want. In case you’re wondering, MicroStation does publish their key-ins in “Help”. Go to Help | Contents.

Figure 3. Assigning function keys to the MicroStation key-ins that you use on a regular basis can save you time when working on a project. You can find a full list of MicroStation’s key-in commands by going to Help | Help Topics while in MicroStation.

MicroStation is the powerful CAD system that it is, because it can be made to work for you. Use this tip and get your projects done faster.

Want More MicroStation Know-how? Call Now!
For more information on cool tips and tricks, check out our LearningBay courses by visiting www.AxiomInt.com/microstation-training. You can also schedule a free demonstration about training solutions or talk with one of our MicroStation Consultants by calling 727-442-7774 extension 3418.

Send Us Your MicroStation Tips!
Send your favorite MicroStation tip or trick to MsTips@AxiomInt.com. We will give you full credit for the tip and your peers will look at you with reverence.

These video tutorials will save you time.

Ed Mendoza, veteran CAD Professional and Axiom Learning Expert, provides tips from his storehouse of experience.

What if every time you had to work with MicroStation reference attachments you had a few tricks up your sleeve that made your work easier and could save you minutes or even hours of time? I’ve created ten free video tips that will show you time-saving tricks such as how to:

• Gray out your reference attachments to make your active file stand out.
• Apply 3D display styles to 2D reference views.
• Use selection handles to adjust your clip boundary and relocate your reference attachments.
• Correctly display both visible and hidden edges in 3D reference views.
• And much more.

Want to learn how to save time when working with reference attachments? Come join me and let me share some of my hottest reference attachments tricks with you in these short video tutorials. Just go to Tips.AxiomInt. com and click on the “MicroStation Reference Attachments Tricks” image to watch and follow along as I go over these ten tricks that can save you time when working with reference attachments.

By Rick Sewell, Axiom Director of Customer Services

Rick Sewell, beloved CAD ace, lives to help CAD users get their projects done on time.

By Rick Sewell, Axiom Director of Customer Services
For years, you’ve been using the Element Information tool to see what kind of stuff your elements are made of. While you usually find the information you’re looking for, you also find a whole lot more information that you never want. This has changed in SELECTseries 3. Now there are settings that allow you more control over what information is displayed when you choose the Element Information tool.
Here’s a look (Figure 1) at the traditional results when using the Element Information tool:

Figure 1. The standard-issue, information-laden Element Information dialog box. In SELECTseries 3, this information can now be customized to display only what you want it to display.

Notice that at the very top it shows “Line” as the element type and then all the element details are beneath that. But what if you want to display something different than the default stuff that comes out of the box? For instance, what if you only want to display certain element details? In this example, I’ll show you how you can see elements sorted by color. Here’s how.

1. Go to Settings | Element Information.
2. Press “Type” next to “Organize By” and you’ll be provided with the following listed options: Type, Name, Level, Color, Style and Weight.

   

   Figure 2. With the new settings dialog box in SELECTseries 3, you can thin out the Element Information output to only the information you want!

3. Choosing any one of the listed options will make it so that the item selected is now the one that will be reported at the top of your Element Information tool output.
4. Now press “Show” next to the “Property Grid” and you’ll have the option to select “Hide”. Hide will make it so that no element properties other than the ones controlled by the “Organize By” feature will display the next time you use the Element Information tool.

Check out what you can do with colors in Figure 3.

Figure 3. So clean. The Element Information output now displays only what you tell it to.

For the example in Figure 3, I set “Organize By” to “Color” and “Property Grid” to “Hide”. Now all you can see is the element sorted by color. The number 2 indicates the color number and the number 1 in parentheses represents the number of elements that have that color. To make this more clear, here is what it would look like if you selected multiple elements with differing colors:

Figure 4. Now you can easily see how many elements use a specific color with the new Element Information settings.

When you have multiple elements selected, you can expand each listed color in the list to see exactly what element type is using that color. This works the same way for which ever element property you’re sorting by in the “Organize” By” list. Give it a whirl and try different settings to optimize this tool for you.

Want More MicroStation Know-how? Call Now!
For more information on cool tips and tricks, check out our LearningBay courses by visiting www.AxiomInt.com. You can also schedule a free demonstration about training solutions or talk with one of our MicroStation Consultants by calling 727-442-7774 extension 3222 or sending an e-mail.

Send Us Your MicroStation Tips!
Send your favorite MicroStation tip or trick to MsTips@AxiomInt.com. We will give you full credit for the tip and your peers will look at you with reverence.