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Posts Tagged ‘MicroStation Productivity Toolkit’
MicroStation Today — March 2010 (Volume 17, Issue 3)
Tuesday, 23 February 2010Microsoft Office Importer adds ProjectWise support.
Friday, 15 May 2009By Eiren Smith
What do MicroStation users do if they want to easily import large spreadsheets and word processing data into their design files with perfect formatting? What if they want to maintain a link to the original spreadsheet so that if something changes in the spreadsheet, the design file can be easily — interactively or automatically — updated? What if they use ProjectWise?
Microsoft Office Importer — which now talks to ProjectWise — lets you import word processing and spreadsheet data into your design files with formatting you control.
I’m a little tight on space this month so I’ll keep it brief. I want to tell you about Microsoft Office Importer’s brand-new and most excellent support for Bentley ProjectWise.
You all know what Microsoft Office Importer is, right? It’s Axiom’s super-popular tool for bringing data from Excel spreadsheets and Word documents into MicroStation with perfect formatting with a link to the source spreadsheet or document. Users open the spreadsheet or document, copy what they want to the clipboard, then jump over to MicroStation and paste that data, using the “Paste Clipboard Contents” button on Microsoft Office Importer’s toolbar. In addition to bringing the data in with perfect formatting, it provides tons of options so you can have things formatted exactly the way you want. Microsoft Office Importer also provides a link from that design file back to the spreadsheet or document so that pasted data in the design file can be easily (interactively or automatically) updated anytime in the future if the source spreadsheet or document file changes.
Enter ProjectWise
Microsoft Office Importer has long made all the above extremely easy to do, but (until now) wasn’t able to communicate with ProjectWise. So when Microsoft Office Importer would go to see if the spreadsheet or document had changed, that spreadsheet or document had to be in the exact same location it was when it was originally pasted into that design file. This meant two things:
- The user had to check that spreadsheet or document out of ProjectWise before Microsoft Office Importer could check to see if the design file needed to be updated from that spreadsheet or document; and
- The user had to check the spreadsheet or document out to exactly the same folder as it was checked out to the first time it was pasted into that design file, as that’s where Microsoft Office Importer was going to look for it at update time.
All this was because Microsoft Office Importer simply didn’t talk to ProjectWise. I’m happy to report that that’s now totally handled. Now, when Microsoft Office Importer needs to see if the design file needs to be updated, Microsoft Office Importer can talk to ProjectWise and check out any needed files automatically. This means that Microsoft Office Importer updates of spreadsheet and document data in design files are now totally workable for ProjectWise users.
As I mentioned above, I’m tight on space this month. Check back in the future for a detailed description of how this all works. But don’t let that keep you from trying out the new version of Microsoft Office Importer with ProjectWise support for yourself. It’s so easy to use, you really don’t need to know anything that non-ProjectWise Microsoft Office Importer users don’t know. Take it for a spin!
Four problems users have with MicroStation
Friday, 15 May 2009And four solutions!
Have you ever had difficulty importing text from Microsoft Word or tables from Excel into MicroStation with the correct text justification, tabs and spacing intact?
Have you ever opened a design file and discovered that one or more reference files are not attached due to messed up reference file attachment paths?
Have you ever needed to make changes to some text in hundreds of design files, requiring someone to open each file, one at a time, just to change a few lines?
Have you ever had a design file added to a project requiring you to now renumber a large portion of the files in the project?
All of these situations can be frustrating and time-consuming.
Is it frustrating not being able to import spreadsheet and word processing data with the correct formatting?
What do MicroStation users do when they need to import text or spreadsheets (large or small) into their design files with perfect formatting?
Just highlight and copy your Excel data (or word-processing text) to make it ready for Microsoft Office Importer to paste into MicroStation. The above is a simple example. In actual fact, Microsoft Office Importer can handle massive spreadsheets and documents (including those with very complex formatting).
Using MicroStation’s native Paste and Paste Special functions, users often find that their spreadsheets and Word documents become nothing like they used to be. Also, what if you need to paste a bill of materials (or a schedule) into a design file and keep a link to the original spreadsheet? The handling is as simple as this:
Microsoft Office Importer is easy to use. Just click the “Paste” icon to paste the contents of the clipboard into your design file.
- Open your Excel spreadsheet or Word document and copy to the clipboard whatever you want placed into MicroStation.
- Load MicroStation and open the design file you want to import data into.
- Microsoft Office Importer will auto-load and be ready for you to just press the <Paste Clipboard Contents> button. (Or if you don’t yet have Microsoft Office Importer, just give Axiom a call.)
- Now data-click anywhere on the design plane to make your paste.
When you paste data using <i>Microsoft Office Importer</i>, all the data comes in with perfect formatting (even on spreadsheets a hundred times the size of the above). Plus Microsoft Office Importer does it all in one paste.
That’s it. Problem solved.
Messed up reference file attachments paths?
A customer from a large engineering firm once called me and said that over the weekend, the IT department had changed a server drive letter from “H:” to “I:”, which was no big deal to the people in the IT department. However, it was a big deal to my friend on the other end of the line, as this “minor change” broke every single reference attachment in all their projects — totaling over ten thousand design files. Also, for some reason beyond his control, it was not going to be possible to change the drive letter back. This story ended happily, however. I told him how to perform the steps below with RefManager™ and it solved his whole problem. Now I’ll share this solution with you.
To make a simple example, we’ll say that all your design files were moved from the “H:” drive to the “I:” drive, without any changes to the folder structure. Here’s how to fix that problem:
- Open MicroStation and choose RefManager for V8 from your Axiom menu.
- Choose “Modify Reference File Attachments” from RefManager’s “Action:” option button. The “Modify Reference File Attachments” box will open and the “Attachment Names” category will be selected by default.
- In the “From:” field, enter the old drive letter, “H:” (without the quote marks).
- In the “To:” field, enter the new drive letter, “I:” (without the quote marks).
- In the “Apply to:” field, choose “Only Vector Reference Files”.
In the example above, the user has told RefManager to change the drive letter stored in his reference attachments from “H:” to “I:”. The user can run this modification on multiple master design files, easily changing all his reference attachments in one easy job.
- Press <Close> to close the “Modify Reference File Attachments” box.
- In the main RefManager dialog box, press the <Select> button next to the “Master Files:” field. Then select the master files whose reference attachments you want to process. When done, press <OK> to return to the main RefManager dialog box.
- Press <Start>. RefManager will replace “H:” drive with “I:” drive in any vector reference attachments in which a path containing “H:” drive is stored. Case (such as an upper-case “H” or a lower-case “h”) is unimportant as this command performs case-insensitive text substitution by default.
It’s as easy as that. When RefManager is done, press the <Display Report> button to get a detailed report of what RefManager did.
Now all your vector reference attachments that had a saved path containing “H:” drive (or “h:” drive) have been changed to point to “I:” drive. If it was any easier, it’d be magic.
Keep in mind the example above is a simple one. RefManager can handle all manner of complex modifications, regardless of why things got all messed up in the first place.
Have you ever spent hours making repetitive changes to some text throughout hundreds of design files?
The need to find and replace various pieces of text throughout a set of design files is something that happens all the time for any number of reasons. Whether it’s making a date change on every sheet in a project or replacing the prefix on every part identification number displayed in thousands of cells throughout a large set of design files, it’s inevitable that changes will be needed. When you have to process lots of files or make lots of different changes, it can be time-consuming, tedious and error-prone.
Say you discover that thousands of text elements scattered throughout an entire set of project files use the words “Street”, “Drive” and “Avenue”. They were all supposed to have been abbreviated but they’ve all been spelled out instead. This “oops” could leave you with a time-consuming, profit-eating ordeal. Fortunately, there’s an easy and quick way to fix this.
Below are the steps:
- Open MicroStation and launch Global File Changer from the Axiom pull-down menu.
- Open the Modify Text custom dialog box by selecting “Custom|Modify Text…”.
- Select the “Replace Text” tab on the “Modify Text” dialog box.
- The <String Format> button can be set to either “Wildcard” or “Regex”. “Regex” is short for “Regular Expression” which is an advanced way for matching specific patterns of text strings. For instance, if you wanted to find the text strings “AG22Street” and “AG33Revision” but not “AG44Ramp” you could use a regular expression that would enable you to find just the first two and exclude the last one. This allows for more sophisticated search and replace functions to be performed in a single operation. For this example, we will just use “Wildcard”.
The “Replace Text” tab gives you the ability to set multiple search strings and their replacement values.
- Enter the text value you are searching for in the “Search String” field and what you want it replaced with in the “Replacement String” field.
- Click the <Add> button to add it to the list of replacement combinations.
- Repeat steps 5 and 6 for each search and replace combination you want to make.
- After they are all entered, click the <OK> button and you will be prompted to save this list of changes. Save the file with any name and location you want. (This is so you can use it later if you like.)
- You will be returned to Global File Changer’s main dialog box, where all you have left to do is choose the files you want to process and click the <Start> button to make the replacements you just defined to every file in the list automatically.
Just click <Start> and Global File Changer will replace every matching text element with the new replacement text in all the selected design files.
Within just a few minutes, the text replacements will be complete in all the targeted design files.
How do you quickly renumber 237 sheets?
Imagine that your project is due out on Monday. Your project team spent the weekend putting the final touches on the job. All the 237 sheets have been plotted for the final check. Everything appears to be in order and the tension is starting to ease. Then all of sudden a blood-curdling scream resonates throughout the office. The sheet numbers are wrong. The sheet total is off by one on every sheet and every sheet number higher than 17 is off by one.
Now raise your hand if you would manually open all 237 sheets to edit text? That is just how it has always been done and it works just fine as long you want to spend the entire afternoon editing text in 237 separate sheet files. If you can modify one sheet in one minute, stay on task, not get any phone calls, and not make any mistakes, then we are talking three hours and 57 minutes just to modify the text.
With Title Block Manager, you don’t have to open up each design file individually to make changes to your title blocks. Title Block Manager allows you to quickly update your design files in bulk from changes made in Excel or Access.
You can break it up and give sections to different people to hurry things along. That could make it go faster, or it could just make things worse and increase the chances for error. Let’s round it up to four man-hours just for editing the design files. I don’t remember the last time that I had four hours uninterrupted.
Fortunately, there is another option. It takes about five minutes:
- Open MicroStation and start Title Block Administrator.™
- With Title Block Administrator loaded, click on the <Select…> button next the “Database” field. Navigate to and select your Microsoft Excel (or Access) database.
You can quickly and easily renumber all 237 title blocks at one time.
- Click on the <Edit Database> button on the Title Block Administrator main dialog box. This will open the database selected in step 2 above.
- Increment the values in the “Sheet” column to accommodate the renumbering. Save and close the database.
- Press the <Select > button next to the “Design Files:” field in the main Title Block Administrator dialog box. This will load the “Choose Files to Process” dialog box that allows you to select the sheet files for processing.
- Set “Action:” to <Update selected files from database>. Click <Start>.
- Check your e-mail, get some coffee and a few minutes later the job is complete.
Which scenario sounds better — the one that takes you four hours or the one that takes about five minutes?
Putting it all together
We have found that MicroStation users often come across more than one of the above scenarios. This is one of the reasons why we made sure that all four of the products in this article are included in MicroStation Acceleration Garage, a cost-efficient package of nearly all of Axiom’s time-saving software products and e-learning courses.
Tips & Tricks — Replace text strings with Global File Changer.
Sunday, 1 February 2009By 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.
Fight back!
Sunday, 7 December 2008How to increase your profits in a slow economy
Clearwater, Florida, USA — In a slow economy, software add-ons that consistently save dozens, hundreds or thousands of man-hours aren’t just “nice” things to have, they’re vital.
How much money are repetitive, time-consuming tasks costing you?
David Evans & Associates saves $19,596 per year by using Microsoft Office Importer. Oregon DOT saves $42,000 per year in man-hours by using FileFixer. Barone-Shultz saved just one of their clients $5,400 on just one project using CellManager, a savings of 90% of the total project cost.
Washington Group saved $16,400 using MicroStation Productivity Toolkit on just one project over one weekend and potentially saved millions of dollars in lost income. Valero Paulsboro Refinery saved an estimated $125,000 on just one project using tools included in MicroStation Acceleration Garage.
Increase profits and reduce expenses.
Axiom creates tools for CAD managers and users that not only make their jobs easier, but also help them get projects done faster. In addition, LearningBay’s e-learning courses make users more effective and efficient when using MicroStation and MicroStation products such as GEOPAK and InRoads. LearningBay’s “on demand” e-learning courses produce better results and yet are less than a quarter the cost of offsite training and less than half the cost of onsite training. What’s more, the training can be done over and over to keep skills fresh. That’s simply not possible with either onsite or offsite training without incurring additional costs.
CAD managers spread too thin
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 (meaning they have other duties as well).
- 61% are in salaried positions (average base salary: $53,847, or roughly $27 per hour.
- A CAD manager supports an average of 41 CAD users.
- 16% have purchasing authority.
Cost justification
No matter how good a product or service is, you still have to explain its value to decision-makers in a language they understand: money. This is why the CAD manager has to be business savvy and where cost justification comes in handy. The below, real-life examples show savings in terms of man-hours. In each case, one or more Axiom products greatly improved the productivity of the user or users involved and saved the company large amounts of money. According to the previously mentioned survey, the average salary for CAD managers was $27 per hour. Typically, taxes, insurance, benefits, training, management, overhead and other employee-related expenses are about 20% of salary costs. Thus, the following examples use $33 per hour as the company’s cost for the employee’s time. The actual cost of each Axiom product mentioned in the following examples was only a fraction of the overall amount saved by the company by using the product. All of the products mentioned below can be purchased separately or as part of MicroStation Acceleration Garage.
Example 1
One customer needed to change 200 drawings from an existing design for re-use in a new project. The task required all existing reference numbers on all drawings be re-mapped to new project numbers. The estimated time to do this manually was approximately 80 hours. At an average of $33 per hour, total cost would have been $2,640. Using Global File Changer, the actual time spent was 3 hours at a cost of only $99. This is a savings of $2,541 or 96% on this one three-hour project.
Example 2
Another customer, who regularly uses FileFixer, comments, “FileFixer ends up saving us approximately 400 man-hours a year. We couldn’t be nearly as productive without it.” Again, applying a $33-per-hour cost to this example, this results in a $13,200 savings in man-hours each year. Keep in mind that the $13,200 is only the figure for the savings. It doesn’t even begin to take into account the extra profit from all the additional work that gets done in those 400 extra man-hours.
Example 3
Another customer states that, “whenever any MicroStation file came back from the client, our drafters would spend an average of about two hours finding and correcting the CAD standards violations. If one figures that we get about 20 files per submission sent back to us by the client, that it takes a 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, then there are 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 instead of two hours. In dollars, that saves $3,960 in man-hours on each and every project.
Example 4
Another customer had 400 design files in a project where a non-standard set of cells was used throughout the design process. They had to replace literally thousands of instances of multiple cells throughout all 400 design files. They were looking at 330 man-hours to fix this and a late delivery of the project. However, using Global File Changer, they were able to update all 400 design files with the “Replace Cells” function in a little over three hours — only 20-minutes of which required an operator to be present. The remaining time was simply the processing time. The total time, including the processing time, was only 1% of the time the design team estimated it would have taken to make the changes by hand. They saved $10,879 just by running Global File Changer — once!
Savings plus increased production
The money saved in man-hours is only part of the picture. What these examples don’t take into account the value of the additional work that the users involved can now get done. In other words, for each hour of work that one of Axiom’s products can save a company, that hour can then be used to generate more income on another project. Free advice on increasing profits
Make the vendors vying for your budget dollars work for you. Use their resources to get your projects done faster and more accurately and don’t be afraid to try and implement new technology. Contact Axiom and schedule a no-obligation, one-on-one, online demonstration with one of our product managers to discuss how the products included in MicroStation Acceleration Garage can greatly increase your rate of production and maximize the return on your budget dollars.
Making your MicroStation life easier
Friday, 7 November 2008by TJ Crabtree, Maintenance Service Consultant
Clearwater, Florida, USA — Have you ever bought some software and then had to struggle with getting it up and running? Here at Axiom, we are not satisfied to just sell software. We want our software used. That’s why we make it — to make the MicroStation user’s life easier.
Rochester, New York, USA — Bergmann Associates CAD Manager, Melcher Mack, has been in the CAD industry for over ten years. He gave us some insights on changes he’s seen in the industry as well as his prediction on where it is going.
Melcher Mack — on a crusade for true BIM
MicroStation Today: What is your background?
Melcher: In high school, I took an architectural elective course where I worked on designing my dream house. Later, I went to college for Marketing Management but found I was more interested in designing things than selling them. So, I went back for Mechanical Technology.
MST: I’m sure Bergmann Associates was happy about that. What type of work does your firm do?
Melcher: Bergmann Associates has been around since 1980. We offer an extensive range of engineering, architecture, planning and design services for commercial, institutional, retail, education and industrial leaders as well as agencies at all levels of government.
MST: What have been some highlights for you personally in this industry?
Melcher: After I started working at Bergmann Associates, we began looking at 3D design packages. This is when I really “got it.” Once I could see more of what we were drafting instead of 2D lines and arcs, I really got into CAD. Helping the company transition from primarily designing in 2D with just a few design packages to using 3D in our design process and using multiple design packages tailored to specific disciplines has definitely been a highlight for me.
MST: What are some of the most challenging aspects of your job?
Melcher: Bergmann Associates is engaged in a number of both small and large projects. For instance, we’re one of four firms working on the Renaissance Square project here in Rochester, New York. For me, the most challenging part is maintaining all of the software packages that we use on our different projects. Keeping multiple design packages working efficiently in multiple disciplines across multiple offices can be very challenging, to say the least.
MST: As a CAD Manager, what kinds of problems do you encounter?
Melcher: Anything from “how do I get this icon on my screen” to “I just lost three hours worth of work”. It’s frustrating losing work or trying to get software to do something that it should do but doesn’t. Axiom’s tools help with that. Although I first heard about Axiom through mailings, it was at the BE Conference where I really saw what software options Axiom developed. [Editors note: The "BE Conference" is an annual conference sponsored by Bentley Systems.] Axiom tools have increased our productivity with software like Microsoft Office Importer. We have been very impressed with what that tool can do.
MST: What do you use Microsoft Office Importer for?
Melcher: We have several people who use Microsoft Office Importer on every project they do. They use it with Microsoft Word for general notes and with Microsoft Excel for extensive tables like schedules or bill of materials. One of my colleagues recently told me the product was great, worked well and really saved hours of time on each of their projects.
MST: What would you like to be doing in ten years?
Melcher: As long as I’m involved with design technology in some fashion, and not just pushing paper, I’m sure I’ll be content.
MST: What book do you wish you’d written?
Melcher: The types of books I have read are not the types of books that I would want to write. For an example Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. In order to write it, I’d have to experience it and that’s one I’d rather not.
MST: If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be?
Melcher: If it’s during the workweek, my Father — he’s retired!
MST: What do you predict will be the “next big thing” in CAD?
Melcher: The big issue in CAD today is true interoperability. If we can accomplish that, we will see technology really take off in this industry. The buzz in the industry right now is BIM. [Editor's note: Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the process of generating and managing building data such as geometry, spatial relationships, geographic information, quantities and properties of building components (like manufacturing information).] We all say we are “BIMing” or attempting to do BIM, but until true interoperability exists, I don’t believe you can accomplish it. The major CAD companies are acquiring a lot of software packages to cover each phase of a project to accomplish BIM. I think their intentions are to have software in each phase of BIM that’s interoperable. The problem is, we all use a different lineup of software to accomplish our goals on a project. Most likely, it will always be that way. This industry will accomplish more once there is a certain level of true interoperability between multiple software companies. I believe International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) has the most potential to make interoperability happen.
MST: Thanks, Melch
That’s where I come in. My name is TJ Crabtree and I am your friendly Axiom Maintenance Plus gal. We really do go to great lengths to ensure that our software gets used. As a matter of fact, there is a sign on the wall here that lists one of our major goals as: “Outstanding products successfully being used.” The “being used” part is key. We have a policy here that someone from Axiom’s Customer Service Department calls everyone who purchases an Axiom product within a few days after they get the software to make sure they were able to get it installed and working. Axiom not only provides technical support for the Axiom products that help you to be more efficient with MicroStation, but often we can help with your MicroStation-related issues too.
There are many things Axiom does to ensure our products are successfully being used. For example, we routinely send Axiom technicians all over the globe. Recent trips include Kansas City, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Germany, Canada and England, to name just a few. (I volunteered, but I didn’t get to go to England.)
Axiom Maintenance Plus
More than your average maintenance program, Axiom Maintenance Plus combines tech support, software upgrades, training and custom programming to cover all the bases. The technical staff here at Axiom strives to ensure that, as a user of Axiom’s products, you always have all the benefits you need to really get the most out of your Axiom products.
The Axiom name for customers that have Axiom Maintenance Plus is “Maintenance Plus Holders”, but I like to call them “VIPs”. My father is a civil engineer, so I understand my customers and what they do.
With Axiom Maintenance Plus you get:
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The latest updates for the products you own, provided at no charge.
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Unlimited technical support via telephone, fax, e-mail or mail. If you are having a problem, just let us know.
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Bug fixes and work-arounds. We specialize in solving production snags and MicroStation workflow issues.
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High priority given to your enhancement requests. We get lots of requests for easier ways to do things in MicroStation. That is how we know what new features to add to our software. We look at Maintenance Plus holders’ requests first.
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The latest version of the product, sent automatically at least once a year.
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One hour of free user training via the Internet or two hours of free custom programming, for every $500 paid on annual maintenance.
MicroStation Productivity Toolkit, MicroStation Acceleration Garage and Axiom Maintenance Plus
Both MicroStation Productivity Toolkit and MicroStation Acceleration Garage combine many of Axiom’s top, time-saving utilities into a single, cost-efficient package. Occasionally we add new programs to both Toolkit and Garage. As a bonus for Toolkit or Garage owners with Maintenance Plus, you get any and all new products that get added — free of charge.
The curse of the mummy’s deadline
Tuesday, 7 October 2008An interview with Romulus III — Chief Architect to Ramses II
Cairo, Egypt — In search of an appropriate interview for the October edition of MicroStation Today, I found myself in Cairo, wandering the streets and looking for a story. A few of the locals informed me that the Egyptian Museum had a healthy collection of mummified ancient Egyptian kings, so I thought — being the Halloween issue — it couldn’t hurt to take a look.
In ancient times, missing a deadline could mean your death.
After wandering through halls laden with artifacts from the tomb of King Tutankhamun, I located Ramses II, arms crossed and with a gold mask covering his face. I kept walking and a few displays down, there was another mummy in an open casket, a roll of papyrus and ancient Egyptian pen laid at his feet.
Intrigued, I picked up the papyrus and was startled to discover… it held blueprints for a pyramid! If I could interview this chap, the article would fit right into the October edition! I picked up the pen and thought for a bit. My eyes darted to the inscribed plate in front of the casket: “Romulus III — Chief Architect to Ramses II”. Suddenly, the mummy started to move!
MicroStation Today: My god!
Romulus III: Aaaaauuuuuuuurrrrrgggghhhhh! Who disturbs my slumber?!
MST: Um… Er, hello. That would be me. I’m a reporter for the monthly periodical called MicroStation Today. It’s a CAD-related magazine… MicroStation specifically. I was wondering, could I do an interview on you? I’m sure our readers would love to hear about your experiences as an architect in ancient Egypt!
Romulus III: Hmmmm… As you have taken my drafting pen, you have incurred the wrath of the dreaded Romulus III — Chief Architect for Ramses II. This, I cannot forgive.
MST: What if I were to replace the pen immediately after we do our interview? No harm, no foul right?
Romulus III: Well, I suppose that would be alright. It is a tad drab just sleeping all the time. What have you got?
MST: Well, you must have a pretty interesting story on how you began as an architect. Can you tell us about that?
Rumulus III: I started off as a mason [someone who builds with cement and materials like stone and brick] when I was 15, carving stones and such. There was a complete lack of wood, so most of our buildings were built of stone, which was just as well, I heard that a lot of them are still standing today. You can’t say that about most structures that old. Anyhow, I wasn’t that fond of manual labor, so I apprenticed under a master architect, and he taught me a lot. By the time I turned 24, I was Ramses’ Chief Architect. I had a lot of respect, but also a lot of responsibilities. Structure design is no walk-in-the-park, let me tell you. I would have given anything for some way to speed it up and handle the problems that kept popping up.
MST: You know they have something like that now, it’s called “MicroStation”. It’s a Computer-Aided-Design software program. It lets you design entire structures with pinpoint accuracy and much faster than traditional pen and papyrus.
Romulus III: That’s amazing! And there are no problems with it?
MST: Sometimes there are, but there are tools like FileFixer and Title Block Manager that help sort those out quickly and painlessly.
Romulus III: Wow! Sounds like those would have been life-savers!
MST: Yeah, I know.
Romulus III: I don’t think you do! I was executed for not finishing the designs for Ramses’ “Thebes Temple Remodeling Project” in time! That man was an insane multi-tasker! He wanted all existing monuments to reflect his divine nature and power, so we had to come up with plans to redesign dozens of existing temples in his image, and he wanted it done in a month!
MST: You could have done it in a week with MicroStation and Toolkit.
Romulus III: Exactly! Now you know what I mean when I say “life-savers”. Anyhow, at least I was given the gift of eternal life by mummification. He must have liked me to some degree.
MST: Yeah… Next question: What do you think is your greatest accomplishment?
Romulus III: The Ramesseum, hands down. [Editor's note: The Ramesseum is a memorial temple that was built by Pharaoh Ramses II in 13th century B.C. It currently lies in ruins across the Nile river from the city of Luxor.] There were three statues of the man [Ramses II], one of them weighed over 1,000 tonnes! It was preceded by two courts and had giant pillars, huge walls, the works! I am definitely proud of that one. I heard it’s not doing so well today though. Pity.
MST: What is your favorite movie?
Romulus III: Well, you’d think that I don’t watch TV, stuck here in my display. However, the museum guard booth is just down the hall a bit, as you can see, and last year one of the guys (“Bakari”, I think his name is) brought his daughter to work. She sat in there and watched a cartoon called “The Prince of Egypt”. Excellent film, very true-to-life stuff. I pulled my wrapping down a bit from over my eyes and watched the whole thing. I laughed so hard, I started coughing up dust!
MST: Yeah, I saw it too, good stuff. Now, what do you predict will be the “next big thing” in CAD?
Romulus III: I had always thought it would be wonderful if they made a special table with instruments attached that helped you measure distances and draw perfect lines and curves on your papyrus.
MST: Yeah, that’s already been done. It’s called a “drafting table”.
Romulus III: Ah, I see. Well… then how about some sort of magic box that can hold thousands and thousands of designs. Maybe even simulate the designing process — allowing you to draw faster and more accurately!
MST: Yeah, we’ve got that too. It’s called a “computer”. And the “Computer-Aided-Design software” I told you about earlier is what simulates the designing process.
Romulus III: So that’s what a computer is? Fantastic! I heard you say “computer” earlier, but I just ignored it. Didn’t want to tie you up for too long here. Anyhow… So you’ve already got that, huh? Okay, well I’m sure there are things that could be improved, like, say a guy needs to make bulk changes to all of his designs? Changing all circles to squares or making all of a certain type of line thicker, that would be a “next-big-thing” wouldn’t it?
MST: We’ve got that too, it’s called Global File Changer and it’s part of Axiom’s Toolkit.
Romulus III: What about when something goes wrong and you can’t open your designs?
MST: FileFixer handles that. It’s also in Toolkit.
Romulus III: Well you know what? You just may have asked the wrong mummy!
MST: That very well may be the case, Romulus. I’ve got to catch a flight in about half-an-hour. Are you ready for me to replace the pen?
Romulus III: (Yawn) Yes, I think so. I’m growing rather sleepy. This is the most excitement I’ve had in the last 700 years!
Romulus crossed his arms and laid back in his display case. I placed the pen and the papyrus back at his feet and made my way outside to flag down a cab. “The Editor is not going to believe this,” I thought, clutching my notebook to my chest. I hopped in the cab and said, “To Cairo International Airport! And step on it!”
Why settle for a toolkit when you could have the whole Garage?
Sunday, 7 September 2008Finish 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:
- Global Workspace Manager — Manage all your MicroStation workspaces without leaving your desk. (Slated for release in Fall 2008.)
- CadExplore Browser— Find and zoom in on any MicroStation element or model in your whole corporation instantly. (Slated for release in December 2008.)
What's it worth to you? — Increasing quality of life for the overworked CAD manager
Thursday, 7 August 2008Clearwater, 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!
The father of American architecture – An interview with President Thomas Jefferson.
Monday, 7 July 2008Monticello, 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.
