MX Users Blog by TSG

MX Data Acquisition Tool

Jason.Walsh — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:11:38 GMT

Hi All

We have recently been getting queries into the help desk asking how to bring certain surveys into MX that aren't listed in MX>File>Import. The tool to use for this is the Data Acquisition tool.

Data Acquisition compiles information from the following sources:

Field Data Formats:

InRoads Text Import Wizard (.tiw)
InRoads Intermediate (.fwd)
GEOPAK (.obs)
Tripod Data Systems (.rw5 & .raw)
Leitz-Sokkia SDR33 (.sdr)
Trimble Link (.job)
Trimble DC (.dc)
Leica Data Pro (.gsi)
Leica DBX (.xcf)
Field Genius (.dbf)
LandXML 1.2
CAiCE Project File (.pt4)
CAiCE SRV (.srv)
CAiCE KCPRaw Neutral (.kcp)
CAiCE KCM (.kcm)
SDMS (.prj, .cal, .pac)
Geodimeter 500 (.dat) Please Note: At this time, User Defined Sequencing is not supported.
SMI V6 & V7 (.raw)
Wildsoft2 GIF-10 (.fld)

Digital Elevation Model Raster Files:

DTED
ERDAS IMG
Spot Dimap
USGS DEM
USGS STDS
GeoTiff

Terrain Model Formats:

GEOPAK TIN
InRoads DTM
MX FIL
LandXML 1.2
LIDAR XYZ files
LIDAR LAS files
MicroStation Point Cloud element (Note: This option is available with the V8i SELECTseries 2 products)

On the page at the link below you can find videos running through various feature of the Data Acquisition tool.

http://communities.bentley.com/products/road___site_design/w/road_and_site_design__wiki/data-acquisition-support-videos.aspx

To transfer the survey to MX you need to select Export to MX in the right click menu as shown below. This function is available for Field Books and Surfaces.

When you click MX modelfile you will have to browse to the model.fil of the project and the model will be exported to a model with the same name. Field Book will export to a string model and Surfaces will export to a triangulation model.

Any questions, please add comments to this post, or drop me a mail at jason.walsh@bentley.com or call us on 0808 1019246.

MX V8i How to add Cut and Fill Hatching to Plans and Longsections

Jason.Walsh — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:53:00 GMT

Hi All.

First Post of the New Year.

This post will explain the process of applying hatching to cut and fill areas of a design for plans and longsections using input files. The images below show what will be achieved.

For this process I’ll be using an example design included in the attached genio file (EXAMPLE GENIO.txt). The models used are detailed below.

Design model – DESIGN UG

Ground model – GROUND UG

Plan Cut and Fill Hatching

To display the cut and fill area on plan the process will use isopachyte triangulation models. Isopachytes are lines of equal level difference between two surfaces, an isopachyte triangulation of a design model and ground model will store the distances between the surface of the design model and ground model, i.e. the depth of cut and fill along the scheme.

For this example the cut and fill areas on plan will be limited to be displayed between the verge and earthworks strings on the left and right of the model. This will require the creation of boundary strings for the left and right earthworks.

Initially create the boundary model using Modify>Edit Models>Create Model

Set the model name as BOUNDARY.

Select the Defaults tab and set the style and feature set as below.

To create boundary string for the left and right earthworks mask files will need to be created to limit the strings to be analysed during the boundary creation.

Create a mask file using Tools>Selection Mask Tables

Select the 2 strings IA00 and EV00 and set as Include String and add to table. Also add Exclude all Others to the table, this is important as without it the mask will not work correctly.

Save the mask as earthworks mask left.msk in the Project folder (it should default to this folder).

Create the earthworks mask right.msk file for strings EV0I and IA0I using the procedure above.

Create the left boundary string using these mask files using Modify>Edit Strings>Create a Boundary Around a Model

Select the design model and click the dropdown arrow for the masking options and select Open Mark File, select the file earthworks mask left.msk as the mask file.

Select Next to continue

Save the newly create boundary string as BL00 in the BOUNDARY model, note that the temporary boundary displays as a highlighted area showing its final location.

Create the right boundary string using the procedure above using earthworks mask right.msk as the mask file and save the boundary string as BR00.

The rest of the procedure involves the use of the attached input file (Design Plan Cut and Fill Area Disp.inp). The sections of the input file related to the creation of the hatching are explained below.

Use Design Model and Ground Model to create Isopachyte Triangulations

*Left Triangulation*

TRIANGLE,GROUND UG,DESIGN UG

TRIANGLE,ISO TRIA

962,3=TD00

999

TRIANGLE,Ground Model Name,Design Model name

TRIANGLE, Isopachyte Triangulation Model Name

962,3= Proposed Isopachyte Triangulation String Name

999

Trim Isopachyte Triangulations using user created Boundary Strings for Left and Right Earthworks

*Left*

TRIANGLE,ISO TRIA,BOUNDARY

TRIANGLE,ISO TRIA

961,BL00,TD00,TD00

999

TRIANGLE, Triangulation Model Name,Boundary Model Name

TRIANGLE, Triangulation Model Name

961,Boundary String Name, Triangulation String Name, Trimmed Triangulation String Name

999

Leaving the triangulation string name the same will overwrite the initial triangulation string.

Hatch areas of Isopachyte Triangulations for Areas of Cut and Fill

DRAW,ISO TRIA

801OVER

803,PLAN,NOPA,TRUN,7=1000

*Left Fill Area Hatch*

805,5

807,5,7=0.001,10=90

870,TD00,4=-1,5=-5,6=0.

*Left Cut Area Hatch*

805,2

807,2,7=0.001,10=90

870,TD00,4=-1,5=0,6=5

DRAW, Isopachyte Triangulation Model Name

801OVER

803,PLAN,NOPA,TRUN,7=1000

805,Line Colour

807,Colour of Pattern,7=Hatching Interval (0.001 for Solid),10=Angle of Fill (default = 90)

870, Isopachyte Triangulation String Name,4=-1,5= Lower level, above which all triangles are filled,6= Upper level, below which all triangles are filled

For Fill hatching Field 5 must be set as greater than the maximum depth of fill on the scheme (-5 in this example) and Field 6 set as 0. For Cut hatching Field 5 must be set as 0 and Field 6 set as greater than the maximum depth of cut on the scheme (5 in this example).

Colour Indexes are 1 to 255, the first 10 colours are

1 - Black, 2 - Red, 3 - Green, 4 - Blue, 5 - Cyan, 6 - Yellow, 7 - Orange, 8 - Pink, 9 - Pale Blue, 10 - Grey

Long Section Cut and Fill Hatching

To create the cut and fill hatching on a long section involves the use of the attached input file (Design Longsection with Cut and Fill Area Disp.inp). A standard longsection input file has been modified to create the hatching by including additional sections. The additional sections of the input file related to the creation of the hatching are explained below.

*Fill Area Hatch*

807,5,7=0.001,10=90

875,MC00,10=-1,5=,,7=-1,8=,

876,LZ00,5=,,8=,

*Cut Area Hatch*

807,2,7=0.001,10=90

875,MC00,10=1,5=,,7=-1,8=,

876,LZ00,5=,,8=,

807,Colour of Pattern,7=Hatching Interval (0.001 for Solid),10=Angle of Fill (default = 90)

875,First String Name (design string),10=Hatch Indicator (-1= Fill,1=Cut),5=,,7=Boundary Indicator(1=draw boundary,-1=do not draw boundary),8=,

876,Second String Name (ground string),5=,,8=,

Any questions, please add comments to this post, or drop me a mail at jason.walsh@bentley.com or call us on 0808 1019246.

MX E-Seminar. Thursday 17th November 2011. Data Import, Data Export and Data Acquisition.

Skybluesfan — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:30:00 GMT

All,

For those who turned up to the E-Seminar last week, many apologies. Some unforseen circumstances caused us to postpone.

Anyway, the E-seminar will now be this Thursday at 14.30.

Here is a reminder of the new date and subject:

Thursday the 17^th of November at 2.30pm

Data Import, Data Acquisition and Data Export

The agenda for the session:

Data Import
- ASCII Files including Genio, Text Files, LandXML , LIDAR
- DWG / DGN / DXF
- OS
- Point Cloud Data
- Referencing
- Data Export
  - CAD Files
  - Site Reports / Setting Out Information
  - Spreadsheets
  - ASCII Files
  - Data Acquisition
    - New Tool at SS3
    - Raw Survey Data in to MX
    - Types of Data.
    - Overview of functionality
    - Anything anybody wants to see within the time allocated

As always the session will be for approximately 40 minutes, with time at the end for Q&A.

The meeting site is here: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=465&password=M.7B3A13EDD6C2C4D0F0396797D5DECA

It’s best to test the connection before the start time to be sure you can get access. Should you have a problem connecting I have a document which should help. Please get in touch.

The seminars will be recorded and published on Simon Peggs blog site (the recording of the CAD tools session has been posted to the blog):

http://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/skybluesfans_blog/default.aspx

For those who don’t have sound cards on the PC’s here are the details of the conference line:

Chairperson Name:	PAUL BENNETT
Ready-Access Number:	08004960579
Secondary Ready-Access Number:	+44 02079040084
7-Digit Access Code:	7993434

When logging in to the Elluminate site could you please put your email address in the name field as many attended the last event that we couldn’t identify. For those with several logging in as one could you please add a + at the end of your email address – I will contact you after the session for a list of who was watching with you.

Please confirm by email if you are able to attend.

Simon

MX E-Seminar recordings Cad Drafting

Skybluesfan — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:43:00 GMT

Hello All

We've completed the recordings of the last e-seminar, well to be honest all the hard work has been done by my esteemed colleague Mr Dean Rickwood. So many thanks to Dean.

The live session was attended by over 50 users, so thanks to those who did. If you didn't catch it, you can view the recordings.

Dean has split the recording up in to two chunks to make it more manageable for you to deal with

I've had a few problems trying to attach them to this post as they are quite large. When I've resolved the issue, I'll attach them to this post. In the mean time you should be able to download them easily from the FTP Site. The FTP site does periodically get cleared up, so if for any reason you can't get them it may be that they've been deleted. Drop me an email, and I'll repost them.

Attached below are links to our FTP where you will find recordings of his recent E-Seminar on using the CAD tools within MXStandlaone.

ftp://ftp.bentley.nl/pub/outgoing/cad_drafting_part_1.zip

ftp://ftp.bentley.nl/pub/outgoing/CAD_Drafting_Part_2.zip

Just cut and paste into your browser and it should start downloading.

NOTE

There is a new Link to two smaller WMV files :

ftp://ftp.bentley.nl/pub/outgoing/caddraftingpart1800x600.wmv

ftp://ftp.bentley.nl/pub/outgoing/caddraftingpart2800X600.wmv

I do encourage you to have a go at some of the things Dean has shown, I'm convinced they will add value to the product and improve your workflow.

As always, and problems or any questions about the content, please either post below, email me at simon.pegg@bentley.com or give us a call on 0808 1019246 (see previous post).

The next E-seminar is schedule for November 10th. Keep an eye out for your email, and I will post more details here nearer the time.

Simon.

PS I'm on Leave 24th 28th October, so during that time, any problems, give us a ring.

MX V8i. What's a Survey Display or Style Set going to produce.

Skybluesfan — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:09:49 GMT

Hi All,

We get asked about how a Style Set is going to look, or how to specify a survey and how to get it to look how you want it to.

The start of this is really your Survey Style Set. This dicatates string naming and the colours and styles that its going to produce.

Sometimes we get asked this question from the other direction. I've been sent a style set, but I've no idea what its going to produce.

To resolve all these problems with how a Style Set displays things, a couple of versions ago, we built the Style Set Checker.

This can be found under Tools>Style Set Checker.

Then it really does exactly what it says.

You have toggles across the top to select which types af Style sets are shown, and then you can tick or untick to select individual Style Sets

Once you have picked one, it loads the details up on the bottom panel.

It will display the string mask, sub reference etc etc. The edit and display buttons now become active, so you can save a style set to a csv file, use the Display Style Set tool, open in the Style Set Editor or open in Notepad (Not recommended !).

The Display style Set button gives you plenty of options for displaying it. Basically, what it does is create a string in a temporary model for every feature in the style set, and then draws that string as per the style set.

Just pick the options you want, and a drawing gets created.

This is a section of the Detail Survey Style Set.

If you then needed to pass this on to some other part of your project group, e.g. Surveyors, or Landscape Designers etc, you could create a PDF of this.

This is only part of theStyle Set Checkers functionality. Please have a go with it.

Any questions, please add comments to this post, or drop me a mail at simon.pegg@bentley.com or call us on 0808 1019246.

Simon

MX E-Seminars Starting Up Again

Skybluesfan — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:34:53 GMT

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you know that the first of this seasons E-Seminars is This Thursday 6th October at 2.30 pm.

Dean Rickwood will be presenting a seminar on using some of the CAD tools within MX Standalone.

They have been around since MX XM, but its still something that come up at User Group meetings, that users don't know what the CAD tools do, and how they can be used day to day.

We appreciate that AutoCAD has long been the more prevalent CAD tool you use, but you can do everything you do in AutoCAD, in MX Standalone. Its just knowing where it is and what its called. Therefore part of Deans presentation will be showing equivalent AutoCAD tools inside of MX Standalone.

From listening to you the users, we think this should be beneficial to all MX users. We're not trying to direct you away from AutoCAD, but sometimes, it is easier just to stay in Standalone and do some of the simple drawing things in there, rather than dip out.

Hope to see you there. for details either drop me and email simon.pegg@bentley.com or Paul Bennett paul.bennett@bentley.com

Just so you can pencil future E-Seminars in to your diary, we plan on holding them at 2.30 first Thursday af the month, although we may try sometimes drop in ones in between.

Any topics you would like to see covered, let me know.

Simon

PS. The E-seminars will be recorded and posted here shortly aftrewards, and yes I am aware that we are a couple of recording behind. We'll get them posted soon.

Civil Product Support, including MX, Bentley RailTrack, Arenium and Power Civil.

Skybluesfan — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:28:00 GMT

Hello All,

As of today, we have a new telephone system which we hope will make it easier for us to interact with you.

The new Phone Number is a Free Phone Number and for the UK is :

0808 101 9246

You will then enter a menu option from which you can choose how to contact us.

The levels are as follows, (Existing issues only use the top level) :

Level 1, New or Existing Issues. For new issues press 1, for existing issues, press 2 and have you ST number handy. If you don't have your ST number, use option 1. We can transfer you.

Level 2. If you have your Customer ID number Select 1, if you don't press 2.

Level 3 Select a Product Group. Press 6 for Civil Products

Level 4 Press a Product Press 3 for MX and Arenium or 2 for Bentley RailTrack.

You can enter a menu option at any time, and do not have to wait to go through the whole menu. So to get hold of MX Support for a new issue you dial :-

0808 101 9246 then press 1 then 2 then 6 then 3.

You will then be passed through to an engineer.

Rest assured, it will still be either myself Dean or Jim here to answer your calls, and in additon we have an extra MX Support engineer, Jason Walsh. He's been with us for a while, working out of our Dublin Office, and is an experienced MX user. So its all the same team, just a slightly different way of getting hold of us

Please feel free to give this service a try out, just to be happy with how you need to contact us. Also please bear in mind, the old number will disappear very soon.

In all honesty, this change is long overdue. Our old phone system, is cumbersome, and not the most reliable. We've been using it for over 10 years, and it provides no interaction with our CRM functionality, and is light years behind what all other support providers use. The new system also should provide better call quality too, and as I said, its free for you to dial.

I look forward to hearing from you via our new system, and please have a go at using it as soon as possible.

Any feedback, please drop me a mail at simon.pegg@bentley.com

Simon

MX Parish Notices.

Skybluesfan — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:46:22 GMT

Hi Everyone.

Sorry for being a bit quiet on the Blog recently, but now we've got the User group Meetings out of the way, I hope to be more active on here.

Couple of things to talk about.

Firstly, thanks to everyone who attended the User Group Meetings. I hope that you gained something beneficial from them. We certainly did. We hope to have some notes to publish on them soon. I'll probably put them on my Blog here. Thanks particularly to all the organisations who agreed to host the meetings. without excpetion, we found you helpful and hospitable. Feel free to get in touch if you think you can host in the future.

Secondly, we will be recommencing the e-seminars very shortly. The feedback from the User Group meetings was very positive on these, and something you would like to continue with. We hope to hold the next one sometime in early August. We have a number of topics in mind for the next 5 or 6, but if there is anything you are particularly interested in, please get in touch. We also have a couple of recordings of the previous ones to complete, and post. Hope to do them shortly.

Thirdly, we have again, fallen behind on Service Ticket closures, so we're trying to catch up with them. You may receive a number of How Did We Do emails in one go. Feel free to fill in one or many.

Finally, as those who attended the User Group Meetings can attest, depsite rumours to the contrary, we are still developing MX and we are still bug fixing in MX, so please, if you have any problems, queries, issues etc, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. We want to hear from you.

Keep an eye out for the E-Seminar Details, both here and by email. I'll start posting soem more technical content shortly. As always, any comments, drop me a mail or reply on here.

01403 217749

simon.pegg@bentley.com

MX User Group Meetings Spring / Summer 2011

Skybluesfan — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:44:00 GMT

Hi Guys,

Here are the dates and locations for the MX User Group Meetings in May / June 2011. For more details, please drop me a mail You should have already started recieving emails about this.

As usual, there will be a mix of Interactive Debate, Problem Solving, Helpful Hints and Tips, and Training and News on MX Development, and as usual, its Free.

North East, Parsons Brinckerhoff Newcastle Thursday 5th May - Simon Pegg

Scotland, BEAR Scotland, Perth, Friday 6th May. - Simon Pegg

Yorkshire, Sheffield City Council, Sheffield, Wednesday 11th May - Dean Rickwood

North West, Cheshire County Council, Thursday 12th May - Dean Rickwood

East Anglia. WS Atkins, Chelmsford, Wednesday 1st June - Dean Rickwood

Midlands, Mott MacDonald, Birmingham, Thursday 2nd June - Dean Rickwood

South. Giffords, Southampton, Wednesday 8th June - Simon Pegg

South East. Bentley Systems, Horsham. Thursday 9th June - Dean Rickwood

South West, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Exeter Tuesday 14th June - Simon Pegg

South Wales. Capita Gwent, Wednesday 15th June. Simon Pegg

Hope you can all attend, for the usual mix of viewes. Should be an interesting meeting with exciting news on the way forward for MX.

More details to follow.

Simon

simon.pegg@bentley.com

MX and AutoTrack

Skybluesfan — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 10:32:32 GMT

Hi Guys

Something I thought you all ought to be aware of.

You can now run AutoTrack inside of MX V8i Standalone.

I've attached a couple of PDF's about this, and it is actually soemthing you have been able to do for a while. For some we reason we haven't publicised it too much.

For those of you who don't know, AutoTrack is a swept path analysis tool made by Savoy Software.

Any questions, please get in touch.

Simon

First Post of 2011.

Skybluesfan — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 10:53:57 GMT

Hi All,

Sorry its been a bit quiet on the Blogging front recently. Not sure where the end of last year went........

The phone system changes haven't come in to effect yet, so pelase keep using the existing number.

I will be posting up a few more video clips soon, including the last couple of E-Seminars.

We will also have another e-seminar shortly, topic still to be decided upon.

Also we're starting to consider the next round of user group meetings, possibly beggining in March and finishing the other side of Easter, so keep an eye out for more info on those, plus if anyone's happy to host a meeting, let me know,.

I'll be back with some more technical content shortly, (if you have any ideas of what you'd like to see, post here), in tthe meantime, please don't hesitate to get in touch, no matter what sort of issue you are having.

Tel : 01403 217749 or email simon.pegg@bentley.com or dean.rickwood@bentley.com

Simon

Changes to Bentley Civil Support Phone Numbers including MX, Arenium, Bentley Railtrack and MX Licensing.

Skybluesfan — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 15:12:46 GMT

Hi Guys,

After using the same phone sytem for about 20 years, we are finally getting around to updating it.

In the near future, we will be moving to a new Voice Over IP telephone system. From your point of view for the actual call, there won't be any noticeable difference (we hope), but the existing 01403 217749 will be changing.

When the changeover occurs the new number from the UK will be 0808 101 9246 and from Ireland 1800 948 368. Please note that these are now FREEPHONE numbers, so you won't be charged to get in touch anymore. You will be given several menu options, but for any Civil Product support including MX, Arenium, Bentley Rail Track, MX Licensing, Power Civil or any general Civl Product advice you can hit 8 at any time, and avoid most of the menu.

The same Support Engineers are still here, myself, Dean Rickwood and Jim Irvine, and in addition we have added extra Civil resource in our Dublin office, Jason Walsh. Some of you will already have spoken to Jason.

So there really be no change in the suppport process at all apart from a different number to call. Please store the number as you need to.

We should be contacting you via email, when it actually happens, and I'll post a blog when the new number is live. We're just waiting on a few things from our telephone provider.

Alternatively you can log a Service Ticket on line using the Service Ticket Manager, which is being used more and more. See the link below :

http://appsnet.bentley.com/srmanager/addcall.aspx

So to sum up, change of number and extra resource. Please do not hesitate to call us, no matter how large or small the problem. Its what you pay SELECT for.

Any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch, either call me or email me at simon.pegg@bentley.con

Simon

MX E-Seminar.Recording Posted. MX user Interface Part Two.

Skybluesfan — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 09:48:00 GMT

Guys,

Here's part two of the User Interface E-Seminar recording.

Once again, thanks to Dean Rickwood for presenting and producing the video.

More coming soon, although I am On Leave next week, so there's not likely to be anything then !!!

As always, any queries or problems with this or anything else, please get in touch.

simon.pegg@bentley.com or 01403 217749.

Simon

MX E Seminar. Recording Posted. MX User Interface Part One

Skybluesfan — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:15:00 GMT

Hi All,

The last one seemed to go down well. I've not had any negative comments about downloading and viewing the Video, so I'm assuming it was all OK.

I'm going to try and roll these out fairly regularly, as we have a small back catelogue on various topics.

If there's anything you specifically want to know about, let me know.

Again, any comments greatfully received. Email me at simon.pegg@bentley.com or comment below.

This video clip is Part One of Two about the MX User Interface. Again, thanks to Dean Rickwood for presenting the seminar, and produicing the Video Clip, and Paul Bennett for organising it.

Hope this is useful.

Simon

MX E-Seminar. Recording posted. Non-Tangential Alignments

Skybluesfan — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 15:52:00 GMT

Hi All,

Just a quick post to test something out.

We have reorded the last E-Seminar that Dean did, and are thinking of what is the best way to make them available.

I'm going to try and attach one to my Blog, and see what the download time is like. They can be quite big about 10MB, so they are not email-able.

Any feedback would be helpful.

Update : You can either click on it to watch it, or right hand mouse button to save the wmv

Any feedback on watching it, greatly appreciated, both how it views, and of course any questions on the content.