Posts Tagged ‘FileFixer’

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Tips & Tricks — Load your favorite MicroStation V8 commands fast with a function key.

Tuesday, 7 October 2008

By Rick Sewell
Busy MicroStation users are always on the lookout for a faster way to get work done. Here is a simple way to speed things up using function keys.

Have you ever noticed that row of keys at the top of your keyboard that start with “F” and seem to get no use at all? Well it just so happens you can make use of those F-keys (function keys) to invoke dialog boxes or commands in MicroStation.

It is 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, we’ll load AccuDraw using the key sequence <Shift+F12>.

  1. Go to Workspace|Function Keys….

    2. The “Function Keys:” dialog box allows you to assign commands to your F-keys.

  2. Toggle on the “Shift” key checkbox at the top of the dialog box. (See “A” in the image above.)
  3. Select “F12″ from the pull-down list. (See “B” in the image above.)
  4. In the “Action:” input box, enter the MicroStation key-in command “AccuDraw Activate”.
  5. Press <OK> to close the “Function Keys:” dialog box.
  6. Now try out your new trick. Press <Shift+F12> and watch AccuDraw load!

Remember you can enter any valid MicroStation key-in command you want. In case you’re wondering, MicroStation does publish an index of their key-ins, called the “MicroStation Key-in Index”, under the “Help” menu. To access this index, go to “Help”, click on the “Contents” tab, then click on “MicroStation Key-in Index”.

See a list of MicroStation key-in commands by Clicking on the “MicroStation Key-in Index” from the “Contents” tab of the “Help” dialog box.

MicroStation is the powerful CAD system that it is because it can be made to work for you. Take advantage — use this tip and get your projects done faster!

Don’t spend time repairing thousands of files when only a few are the real troublemakers.
It’s a waste of computer resources to repair thousands of files at a time when the majority of them don’t need to be repaired. Instead, use FileFixer’s “Search for Problems” feature and the following settings to generate a list of the true troublemakers. This lets FileFixer identify the design files with serious errors. Then, you can use FileFixer’s “Automatic Design File Repair” to repair just the troublemaker files. This is the efficient way to ensure the integrity of a huge quantity of project design files.

FileFixer’s “Search for Problems” feature will find the true troublemaker files.

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FileFixer release detects and repairs another new V8-specific fatal error.

Sunday, 7 September 2008

Enhanced reporting features also added to new release.

Clearwater, Florida, USA — It’s official. The judge’s final tabulation has been revealed. “No prior release of FileFixer has included a longer list of enhancements. These new enhancements will help resurrect annihilated design files faster than ever,” said Axiom Product Manager Steve Palmer.

Don’t let your hard work go up in smoke. Automatically repair MicroStation files with FileFixer.

Three major enhancements include automatic detection and repair of a V8-specific fatal error (described in detail below), automatic detection and repair of design file header elements (element type 9) and greatly enhanced reporting features that enhances the user’s ability to quickly discover what’s wrong and what can be done about it.

[Editor's Note: Because of the sheer number of new enhancements made to FileFixer, we decided to cover just a few of them in this publication. To get a full list of the new enhancements or to download a free evaluation copy, call 727-442-7774 extension 1209 or send an e-mail to 1209@AxiomInt.com.]

FileFixer for V8 repairs scrambled V8 files so that MicroStation can open them.

Newly discovered V8-specific fatal error is now handled automatically.
One new category of V8 design file corruption is so severe that MicroStation is not able to access the data in a V8 design file even when the file’s internal data itself is intact.

FileFixer for V8 now detects and handles “cross-linked” data — a term coined by Axiom to describe a scrambled internal directory in a V8 file.

When FileFixer detects this error, it sorts through the wreckage and repairs the internal directory so that the file can again be accessed by MicroStation.

This new feature is similar to recovering a corrupted hard drive with Symantec’s “Undelete” which allows users to access data that is still present on the hard drive but inaccessible due to a corrupted internal directory on the hard drive.

Finally! V8 design file header elements can be fixed with FileFixer.
The design file header element is normally the first element in a MicroStation design file. It stores a variety of vital information. When it is corrupted, entire projects can be put on hold. FileFixer replaces a corrupt design file header with a healthy one. Design file header corruption might be the culprit when:

  • MicroStation can’t open the file.
  • The FIT command behaves oddly.
  • MicroStation aborts after loading the file.
  • Text elements do not display correctly.
  • There is other odd, inexplicable behavior when attempting to work with the file.

This vital and frequently used FileFixer for V7 feature is now available to MicroStation V8 users for the first time.

Selecting <”Serious Errors” and worse (errors 600 and greater)> in your search settings lets you zero in on serious design file problems.

FileFixer’s reports are now on steroids (it’s a metaphor, not an Olympic disqualification).

FileFixer’s reports include hyperlinks from every error to the exact passage in the user guide that describes what the error means. The latest release of FileFixer also includes hyperlinks from every “Search and Repair” option to the appropriate passage in the user guide.

“The new FileFixer for V8 is a life-saver for anyone using MicroStation V8,” said Palmer. “Not only did we re-write the program from the ground up for V8, we’ve added numerous enhancements to the program making this the most valuable new FileFixer release ever.”

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Why settle for a toolkit when you could have the whole Garage?

Sunday, 7 September 2008

Finish MicroStation projects in record time.

Clearwater, Florida, USA — Axiom, the world’s most experienced developer of time-saving MicroStation solutions, announces the biggest package of time-saving MicroStation tools and e-learning courses they have ever offered.

Send your regular MicroStation to Axiom’s Garage and it will come out as Super-Station.

Most are familiar with Axiom’s MicroStation Productivity Toolkit, the popular package of Axiom’s best utilities. Axiom is taking that idea one step further with the release of MicroStation Acceleration Garage.

“I gotta tell ya’,” said Axiom’s Vice President for Technology, Oscar Albornoz, “I think Axiom senior management has lost it. I couldn’t believe this when I first heard it. They want us to roll just about every software and learning tool we have into one gigantic package at a ridiculously low price. They want me to practically give our best technology away. I don’t know how this is going to work or how long it can last. I mean you can’t do that forever.”

MicroStation Acceleration Garage will be composed of all the following products rolled into one package:

  • All the tools in MicroStation Productivity Toolkit for V7
  • All the tools in MicroStation Productivity Toolkit for V8
  • All of Axiom’s MicroStation, GEOPAK and InRoads e-learning courses
  • LearningBay Professional Learning Management System or hosted service
  • Title Block Manager — Achieve title block consistency automatically!
  • English-to-Metric — Universal working units conversions
  • RasterDgn — Easily edit raster reference files without leaving MicroStation. In addition, Axiom is going to include some of the new products previously mentioned under the code name “Salamander”. (See the June edition of MicroStation Today). Many MicroStation users saw the prototypes at the BE. These include:
    1. Global Workspace Manager — Manage all your MicroStation workspaces without leaving your desk. (Slated for release in Fall 2008.)
    2. CadExplore Browser— Find and zoom in on any MicroStation element or model in your whole corporation instantly. (Slated for release in December 2008.)

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What's it worth to you? — Increasing quality of life for the overworked CAD manager

Thursday, 7 August 2008

Clearwater, Florida, USA — Today’s CAD manager needs help. Whether communicating with decision-makers or supporting all his users, the CAD manager is spread too thin. I am willing to bet that the bulk of the CAD manager’s time is spent handling emergencies, instead of aligning the future of the team with the company’s expansion objectives. So why not get some outside help?

What would you do with an extra 400 hours?

What is Utility Software?
Utility software consists of programs that enable you to get your job done faster and more efficiently. Utility software handles redundant and time-consuming tasks by automating processes that take too long by the usual means. The programs in MicroStation Productivity Toolkit are utilities. Each solves a specific problem and increases the productivity of the user, by saving time while performing tedious, time-consuming tasks.

CAD managers Spread Too Thin
At Axiom, we understand that saving time is a principal objective. According to Robert Green’s “CAD manager 2005 Survey”, 26% of CAD managers reported that “their number-one frustration was not having enough time to do their job well.” Surprised? Here are some other numbers from the survey:

  • Only 31% of CAD managers perform their management duties full time.
  • 61% are in salaried positions (average salary: $53,847, or roughly $25 per hour).
  • A CAD manager supports an average of 41 CAD users.
  • 16% have purchasing authority.

Cost Justification and the Return on Investment
No matter how good the software is, you still have to explain its value — to yourself and to decision-makers — in a language that they understand: money. This is why the CAD manager has to be business savvy and understand how the money folk think. This is where cost justification and return on investment analysis come in handy.

Cost justification is the process of determining the return on an investment. The savings are measured and evaluated relative to the cost of the product.

We are on the same page if we agree that everything you spend your budget on should greatly contribute to your production. It is with this principle in mind that I present you three scenarios in which having a utility program greatly improved the productivity of the user and saved the company significant amounts of time and money.

Scenario 1
One of our customers reported the following costs associated with importing Excel spreadsheets into design files using MicroStation by itself: $40 (average designer and CAD drafter hourly rates added together) x 2.75 (average number of hours it takes to completely import a large spreadsheet using MicroStation alone) x 15 (number of monthly work days that at least one spreadsheet is imported) x 12 months = $19,800 per year spent importing spreadsheets.

Here is the cost of importing Excel spreadsheets into MicroStation files using Axiom’s Microsoft Office Importer: $25 (average CAD manager hourly rate) x 4 (average number of minutes it takes to import a large spreadsheet using Microsoft Office Importer) x 15 (number of monthly work days that at least one spreadsheet is imported) x 12 months = $300 per year spent importing spreadsheets using Microsoft Office Importer. Total yearly savings due to Microsoft Office Importer: $19,500. After subtracting software costs, maintenance fees and training time, the return on investment in the first year of the use of the software is a staggering 1,950%.

Scenario 2
One of our FileFixer customers commented, “FileFixer ends up saving us approximately 400 man-hours in a year. We couldn’t be nearly as productive without it.” If we apply the $25-per-hour rate to this scenario, we have a return on investment in the first year of 233% — the first year!

Scenario 3
Another scenario, “Whenever any MicroStation file came back from the client, our drafters would spend an average of about two hours finding and correcting the CAD standard violations. If one figures that we get about 20 files sent back to us by the client, that it took the drafter about two hours to spot and correct the violations, and that there are about two to three submissions in the lifecycle of our design projects, this totaled approximately 120 man-hours per project spent in corrections — time spent not earning any new revenue!”

Instead of doing it the hard way, the firm now uses SpecChecker and gets the work done in five minutes. In dollars, that is savings upwards of $3,000 in man-hours and a 33% return on investment after just the first project!

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Keeping planes in the air

Thursday, 7 August 2008

An interview with FAA Engineering Technician, Carolyn Seritt

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) turns to Carolyn Seritt for solutions when things get turbulent.

Atlanta, Georgia, USA — When you fly into an airport, do you ever recognize something and think, “Holy Cow, I did that!” Carolyn Seritt does. She is an Engineering Technician on the Computer Aided Engineering Graphics (CAEG) team of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in Atlanta. She helps FAA engineers with software problems. She is the “go-to” person when problems arise. We had a chance to talk with her at length at the Bentley Empowered Conference in Los Angeles.

MicroStation Today: Hello Carolyn, what is happening in your life these days?
Carolyn: The most exciting thing about my job right now is I get to do some extra work on the Hurricane Team.

MST: The Hurricane Team? What’s that?
Carolyn: After a hurricane, the FAA deploys a special team to get air traffic control equipment back up and running. We have damage assessment teams that go out and then restoration teams to handle any reported damage. The main objective is to get equipment back on-line. We might have to repair radar equipment or replace a window in a tower. We even have a portable tower that we can drive out if the tower is damaged.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) turns to Carolyn Seritt for solutions when things get turbulent.

MST: Sounds exciting. How did you get to where you are today?
Carolyn: I have been a drafting technician since 1974. I was the first female to enroll in drafting and design at the Walker County Technical School. At that time, it was truly a man’s profession. I had many obstacles to overcome, but I loved drafting so I persevered.

My father was on a survey crew in the early 1900s. He built roads and bridges all over Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and Alabama. He inspired me to select drafting and design as my career. I am a mother of two engineers. Matt, my elder son, is a computer engineer. Bart, the youngest, is a civil engineer. I guess you could say engineering is in our blood.

I started out drafting on the board. I have worked for a land surveyor and a civil engineer. I have also done land planning and run-off control. [Editor's note: "run-off control" is the control of water that does not soak into the soil and has to be controlled.] In years past, I worked out in the field as a survey technician. My husband and I owned a small surveying and engineering company. It was my job to clear the path through the woods and brush while setting the points to survey by. It was nice to be outside, but when it was 90 degrees and there were yellow jackets stinging or it was below 30 degrees, well, I was not too happy with those circumstances. That was the time when I would try to find a way to stay in the office and work. Being married to the boss did have its advantages.

I learned to draft on the computer in 1993 when the FAA hired me. My first CAD experience was with a product called Autotrol, a CAD application that was very similar to MicroStation. Later I used AutoCAD. Currently I use MicroStation.

MST: How did you first hear about Axiom products and how have they helped you?
Carolyn: Our drafting coordinator turned us on to Axiom’s products. Our drafters run FileFixer on every file before closing and saving, fixing all kinds of problems behind the scenes. We have used Axiom’s FileFixer for more than eight years. In that time, we have used FileFixer to clean up more than 35,000 drawings. When we send our drawings out to vendors, they praise the way our files are so manageable and the electronic data is so clean. Our specialist for the outside vendor drawings uses Axiom tools constantly. We also ask our vendors to use FileFixer when they are contracted to do our drawings.

MST: With your family history in engineering, what do you predict will be the “next big thing” in CAD?
Carolyn: I envision that a CAD program might become voice commanded in the future. In the past, when I was on the board using the old Leroy set, I dreamed that perhaps one day I would type the text for a drawing, or someone would invent a device that would do the inking for contour lines. Now look at us. [Editor's note: During the days when drafting was done by hand, neat lettering could be done using a Leroy lettering set made by drafting supply company Keuffel & Esser.]

MST: What would you like to be doing in ten years?
Carolyn: I see myself being retired from government service in ten years. I plan to move to my 45 acres in north Georgia. I hope to be using my skills and knowledge to develop that tract of land into a home. I want to become as self-sufficient as possible. I have lived a wonderful life in engineering and I use that knowledge often.

MST: What’s a book you wish you’d written?
Carolyn: The book I wish I would have written is “How I Won the Lottery”. In all seriousness, I am writing a book about the comedy of life as the only girl in a family of five boys, growing up on farms in Alabama and Georgia.

Once when we were cutting wood and I was picking up sticks, I was not paying attention as well as I should when Dad cut down a small tree (about 8 inches in diameter) that landed right smack on my head. It was a wet area and when I moved my feet to stagger around, my footprints were two inches into the ground. I felt like one of those cartoon characters that had been driven into the ground with the stars circling. Luckily there were no injuries — I don’t think. (Some people might argue that point.) All in all I would say that I have had a wonderful career. I am blessed.

MST: We hope you do win the lottery so you can add that to the book you are writing.

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A fifth grader can repair corrupted MicorStation files with FileFixer

Monday, 7 July 2008

Clearwater, Florida, USA — When your car’s brakes grind and your transmission gushes fluid and clouds of dark smoke flow from your tailpipe, do you wait for a really serious problem before taking your car to a mechanic?

If a MicroStation exception dialog is the only indicator of design file corruption you know, you and your colleagues are likely chronically impeded by design file corruption you aren’t aware of. A MicroStation exception message is merely the most obvious indicator of corruption — it’s as obvious as your car’s transmission falling out on the highway.

You can demonstrate for yourself how pervasive design file corruption actually is by running FileFixer’s “Search for Problems” command on the design files in your MicroStation project directories. At the end of FileFixer’s analysis, look at the summary of errors at the top of the report. How many errors were found? How many of the reported error numbers are greater than 500 (big trouble)? You don’t want one of those errors to impact project completion on the eve of an important submittal, do you?

No, MicroStation isn’t supposed to behave like that.

Unselectable models, elements on undefined levels, misbehaving “fit view” commands or unwanted plotting results aren’t just MicroStation “idiosyncrasies” you have to tolerate day after day. These are common manifestations of corruption which hinder your work with MicroStation, adding time and frustration to your projects. Like parasites, these pesky manifestations of corruption sap your time, patience and profit day after day. To the uninformed, these non-obvious manifestations of corruption (no smoke, fire or blood) consume more time cumulatively than the obvious manifestations of corruption (such as a MicroStation exception dialog message). When you see a MicroStation exception dialog box, you know your file is toast, no doubt about it — load FileFixer immediately, repair your file and get back to work minutes later. Of course FileFixer can eliminate those obvious, catastrophic corruptions but, more importantly, FileFixer detects and eliminates the “non-obvious” (to the uninformed), profit-draining corruptions.

It’s easy to salvage dead or missing design files.
Despite hundreds of thousands of lines of code and decades of hard-won Axiom experience busily at work for you behind FileFixer’s mild exterior, FileFixer remains easy to use. So easy, even a fifth grader could use FileFixer to salvage dead or misbehaving design files.

In fact, ease of use was the emphasis of the most recent release of FileFixer. The newest FileFixer is simultaneously more powerful (more forms of corruption detected and handled) and easier to use than ever. Everything you need to know about each instance of design file corruption in your files is available with the click of a button — a description of the cause for each instance of corruption in your files, the result (project impact) from each instance of corruption and the solution for each type of corruption.

FileFixer can be your MicroStation design file reliability robot.
The newest enhancements to FileFixer are exciting, but in no way diminish the importance and value of features which have existed in FileFixer for many years.

For example, MicroStation power users around the globe monitor the health of their project files automatically by initiating FileFixer’s “Search for Problems” command. Using Windows Task Scheduler, go to Start|Settings|Control Panel|Scheduled Tasks. FileFixer’s “Search for Problems” can create a list of files containing the most serious corruptions. The next morning you can review that file list and use FileFixer to repair just the true troublemakers in that list — very efficient. But you can take automation one step further. That list of the most seriously corrupted files (created by “Search for Problems”) can be used as input for FileFixer’s “Automatic Design File Repair” command. This allows you to isolate the most severely corrupted files (usually the minority) and repair them automatically. This is the most efficient and hassle-free way to maintain the health of your project files.

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The father of American architecture – An interview with President Thomas Jefferson.

Monday, 7 July 2008

Monticello, Virginia, USA — In addition to being the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was also an accomplished architect. He designed Monticello (his home in Virginia), the Virginia State Capitol Building and University of Virginia’s entire original campus. In celebration of the birthday of the United States of America, MicroStation Today arranged to speak to him about his love of architecture.

MicroStation Today: Tell us about yourself.

Mr. Jefferson: Well, I’ve been called “Man of the People”. I spent the better part of my life establishing the rights of the states. Aside from practicing law and politics, I also dabbled in many fields over the years such as fishing, archeology, writing, architecture and gardening. I actually came up with a way to enjoy English peas, fresh from the garden, three full months out of the year by staggering the planting of fifteen different types. English peas are wonderful!

MST: I bet they are! Now Mr. Jefferson, I suppose most of our readers know what you have done as a statesman, but can you tell us some things about yourself that our readers might not know?

Mr. Jefferson: Hmmm… Well, not many people know that I was the first president to shake hands when greeting people instead of bowing. I always liked to keep my posture in tip-top shape. It’s amusing to look around now and see how much the handshake has caught on!

Aside from that, I used to keep a pet mockingbird named Dick in the White House study. I would let him ride on my shoulder whenever possible. I even trained him to take bits of food that I held between my lips at meals! Dick would always hop along after me, never far from my side.

MST: That’s amazing! Now earlier you mentioned that you “dabbled” in architecture. I Googled your name and I would hardly call that dabbling, can you tell us about some of your history with CAD?

Mr. Jefferson: Oh, CAD? When I started out, CAD hadn’t even been thought of yet. The majority of my work was on pen and paper, I had to use Axiom’s conversion services to convert it all to DGNs. I dare say, working with design files is exponentially easier then working with the old pen and paper. I was so relieved when the conversion was done!

Anyhow, after the conversion was complete, I used my design of Monticello to put a little 3D application on the web so that people can do a virtual tour.

MicroStation was a big step up from the old days of pen and paper. I must admit that when I first started using MicroStation, I did run into some problems. One day I was walking through my bear garden — I kept quite a few bears in my garden, they were gifts from Lewis and Clark you see — anyhow, I was walking through the garden and I received a call from an associate of mine at the American Institute of Architects. He was frantic, babbling about how he was sorry and he meant no harm. When I finally calmed him down, he explained that he had been working on the Monticello design and when he hit “fit view”, the whole design file had become a dot! I immediately called Axiom, they sent me FileFixer and the file was back to normal in a matter of minutes. I don’t know how we got this far without any of their tools! I immediately purchased MicroStation Productivity Toolkits for all five of my designers and it has paid for itself several times over.

MST: What is your title? What are your daily duties?
Mr. Jefferson: I guess I would describe myself as the author of the Declaration of American Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom. Oh yes, also the Father of the University of Virginia. Those are the things I am most proud of.

As for daily routines, I really do so many things. I spend some time on archeology, digging up old ruins and such.

There is one thing that I have done for many years though. Quite some time ago, I was given a large piece of cheese, a 1,235 pound hunk of it to be exact. I’ve been chipping away at it for years now with crackers and apples and such. Have you ever heard the term “The Big Cheese”? That term actually originated from this fantastic gift — interesting bit of trivia.

MST: What are some of your biggest CAD jobs? Please provide details on them.
Mr. Jefferson: I’d have to say that designing my home in Virginia, the Monticello, was quite a job. But the Virginia State Capitol and the University of Virginia campus were both pretty large as well.

We were actually right in the middle of a huge job — hundreds of design files — when the United States switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. This meant that we had to change the date by eleven days in each and every title block! That would have been days and days of man-hours! Luckily, I had Title Block Manager! I was able to make the change in every single design file in just a couple of minutes! I really dodged a bullet there! [Editor's note: The Gregorian calendar handles leap years differently than the Julian calendar and more accurately reflects the time it takes the Earth to revolve around the sun.]

MST: What is your favorite TV show?

Mr. Jefferson: West Wing.

MST: If you could have a conversation with anyone, living or deceased, who would it be? What would you talk about?

Mr. Jefferson: Ah, that’s easy! That would be English philosopher, John Locke. I always wished that I had had the chance to speak with him. I was inspired by his thoughts on property and value. For instance, the idea that ownership of property is created by the application of labor, and nothing else. If you were to read the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence, there is no doubt that you would see shades of Locke shining through.

As for what we would talk about? Anything and everything! I’ve studied his work and philosophies. But I know nothing of the man! For instance, who was his favorite football team? Did he prefer a particular genre of music? These are the things I would ask.

And, of course, I never tired of debating political theory with my good friend John Adams.

MST: Any final words for our readers?

Mr. Jefferson: Never give up on freedom. I went through a lot to help get us where we are today and I’d say I’ve given everyone a pretty good head start. But keep in mind, I’m not merely talking about politics, I’m talking about every aspect of your life. Since this is a CAD periodical, I’ll just say that if there is a barrier in your way that is preventing you from doing your job right or if it’s stealing your weekends from you, get the tools you need to get it done right and right now. That’s what I did and it worked out pretty well for me!

MST: To all American MicroStation users, have a wonderful Independence Day.

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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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How to win the war on MicroStation terror

Wednesday, 7 May 2008

MicroStation users overcome fearsome productivity barriers!

Clearwater, Florida, USA — Have you ever encountered a situation that made you want to send an SOS?

  • You’re in the trenches. 250 design files and their reference files must be submitted tomorrow and you notice all the links to the reference file attachments are broken.
  • You think you are done and notice that your client’s company name is misspelled in 300 design files.
  • After taking hours to import a spreadsheet containing the costs of all the materials involved in a project, you discover the spreadsheet has been updated and has almost completely changed. Now you have to go back and re-import!
  • You are ready to submit the design file to your client. Suddenly the system crashes and an error message comes in: “Unable to open design file. Please contact your local site administrator blah blah blah…”

Should you send up the white flag? No — you call Axiom.

Our goal, at Axiom, is to help you win the war against MicroStation production barriers. We want to help you handle MicroStation problems, save time and meet your project deadlines. Find out how others have dealt with missed deadlines, late nights, lost weekends and upset clients. In this article, we share some of our all-time favorite war stories with you.

How to save time, meet deadlines and look like a MicroStation genius as you easily handle everything that comes your way.
The tedium of repetitive manipulation of design files ties up valuable resources, consumes man-hours and devours project profits. With the tools in MicroStation Productivity Toolkit, expensive, time-consuming tasks can be a thing of the past.

Here’s what a few of our clients wanted you to know:

“Last week I was asked to convert 200 drawings from an existing design for re-use in a new project. The task required all existing references and mark numbers on all drawings be re-mapped to new project numbers. The project manager was worried that this would not be achieved by the first submission date, especially after a manual trial run of ten drawings. He was skeptical when I told him I could do all of them in one afternoon if he wanted. It took a couple of hours for Global File Changer to automatically process all 200 files, most of which time I was still productive doing other tasks. To do this manually would have taken weeks. Instead of being behind schedule, the project is a few weeks ahead of schedule!” C.A.

“[Before Microsoft Office Importer] there was a lot of time being wasted. We used to have to bring in spreadsheets one column at a time. Instead of wasting about an hour per revision, I used Microsoft Office Importer and handled the problem in four clicks of a mouse.” C.M.

“We recently had thousands of reference files that got messed up and would have taken at least two weeks to fix. RefManager fixed them automatically in four hours.” L.C.

“I now love RefManager! I wasn’t looking forward to changing 1300 reference file attachments manually.” C.S.

MicroStation quality of life
You can spare yourself the worry and aggravation of not having the tools you need to get the job done, by just having Toolkit ready in your arsenal. Our clients share how the versatility of MicroStation Productivity Toolkit relieves project anxiety:

“We started using Microsoft Office Importer on one of our larger projects and some of the Product Managers liked it so much that they started using it for the index and summaries of a lot of our smaller projects.” S.K.

“I use the tools in Toolkit every day and it’s invaluable. A problem will come up and I’ll say, ‘I bet we can solve that with Toolkit’, and we usually do.” L.C.
“Do yourself a favor and buy MicroStation Productivity Toolkit.” B. M.

Trouble getting everyone doing it right?
MicroStation Productivity Toolkit applications can be used to ensure project quality and standards — while still meeting deadlines. By submitting error-free designs on time, and meeting or exceeding your customer’s expectations, you’ll impress them and secure future business. SpecChecker (part of MicroStation Productivity Toolkit) is particularly handy for automating quality assurance checks and repairs. Here are some examples from MicroStation Productivity Toolkit owners:

“Using FileFixer and SpecChecker we are able to stop problems before they affect our schedules.” D.H.

“I’ve used SpecChecker to reorganize the symbology of elements in many of our design files. This saves me 85% of the work I would have had to do myself!” F.L.

“When dealing with lots of CAD files like I do, I don’t know how I could check all of them if I didn’t have SpecChecker.” S.A.

Save money and increase profits.
There is no better evidence of the cost-effectiveness of MicroStation Productivity Toolkit than the results owners achieve with it. MicroStation Productivity Toolkit owners explain:

“My company has a corporate Bentley license (about 30 sites) and this office was the first one to acquire Microsoft Office Importer. Every chance I get, I tell the other sites that it works and that within the first week, it paid for itself.” S.C.

“When it comes to the purchase of additional licenses of MicroStation Productivity Toolkit, money is not an issue. My guys rave about Axiom tools. Just the other day, we handled 6,000 design files with RefManager and it saved us an incredible amount of time.” M.E.

“I love FileFixer. It saves me many, many man-hours!” M.K.

“FileFixer alone makes MicroStation Productivity Toolkit worth it!” R.S.

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Working with a "glorified etch-a-sketch" – Transportation Manager Ronald McDonald talks about solving MicroStation problems at the Alabama Department of Transportation.

Wednesday, 7 May 2008

Montgomery, Alabama, USA — Transportation Manager Ronald McDonald has been with the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) since it was known as the “Highway Department.” He has also been using MicroStation since it was Intergraph IGDS. He gave us some tips on making MicroStation work easier.

Ronald McDonald — mild-mannered CAD manager by day, but on Halloween… “biker dad.”

MST: What are some of the problems you encounter in your position at ALDOT?
Ron: The usual problems in a government position of keeping the users happy and functional and also keeping management happy and assuring them that the tax dollars we spend are put to good use. I hold the position of Transportation Manager but the working title is listed as “Design Bureau Systems Manager”. The Design Bureau has the largest single user base for CAD applications in ALDOT. My support team tries to keep everything in the Bureau running smoothly. And that includes all our applications, not just CAD. Sometimes it stretches my team a bit thin to try to keep up with so much.
In earlier days when I was more “hands-on” with CAD, FileFixer helped me tremendously in saving time on design file repairs. Now that EdG is a thing of the past, FileFixer is the only game in town for design file repair.

MST: What is something you have learned about working with CAD at the DOT that could help other CAD users?
Ron: One thing I have learned working at ALDOT has been the value of communication. [Communication] is a valuable asset anywhere you work, but especially in this arena. Too many times I learned about someone in the hinterland struggling with a CAD-related problem that had already been solved, or at least addressed, in the central office. Even within the same working sections, there have been times when better communication could have saved a lot of time.

I have noticed that the best users are the ones who know that the computer is merely a tool. It is a “glorified etch-a-sketch” and if you can’t do it with a pencil and paper, then you don’t need to get upset when the computer application (whatever it is) gives you a wrong answer.

Keeping a uniform platform structure definitely has been an improvement over having two or three to support. I have been working with IGDS since 1985. I started with early MicroStation versions in 1988. Trying to make MicroStation V2.x work on a CLIX workstation like IGDS did was a challenge. [Editor's note: CLIX was a version of UNIX developed by Intergraph.] Then trying to get pc versions working at a similar level added to the challenge.

MST: What do you predict will be the “next big thing” in CAD?
Ron: I would predict that true 3D imaging such as holographs would be the next big thing in CAD. The mouse, keyboard and screen would be a thing of the past and the operator or designer would speak the model into existence and it would easily be converted into a viable design product, whatever it may be.

MST: How did you get started with ALDOT?
Ron: I started at what was then the Alabama Highway Department in June 1968, about four days out of Samson High School (in a small south Alabama town). I was on the engineering training program they had at that time. I worked three summers surveying with them. I changed majors while at Auburn University and I resigned from the training program. After graduation from Auburn in August 1972, the job market in my major (radio, TV and film) was a bit thin. I eventually went back to work with Highway, starting back at the bottom again in April 1973, and have been with them since then. So this June, I will celebrate a 40-year association with this department.

MST: Thanks, Ron.

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