MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 3) has been released. When you download and install it, you will notice some changes with previous versions of MicroStation V8i. Here are some technical points of note: The installer has been changed considerably and now directly incorporates the prerequisites. Similar to other products (i.e. Bentley View), you no longer need a separate download and install of the Bentley Desktop Prerequisites -- the installer checks...

Still have Archive (.mar) files around?? If you still have MicroStation Archive files and want to be able to access the data inside, it is recommended to convert them to packager zip files. Beginning in MicroStation V8i Select Series 3, the ability to extract/open archive files will no longer be available. Click here for detailed information on the Archive tool in MicroStation V8i Select Series 2. Click here for information regarding using Packager...

Information If you have not heard yet, Settings Manager will be removed from MicroStation in a future TBD release; however it has been replaced by much better functionality. For a while now, Bentley has provided a better solution that supercedes Settings Manager -- DGNlibs, Tools, Tasks, and Templates. The ability to migrate any functionality you have created in Settings Manager into these items also exists. Bentley wants to give our users one last...

This blog is about the Sheet Border utility in MicroStation. Many times we need to develop our drawings at different standard drawing scales. To overcome this difficulty, MicroStation provides sheet borders to develop a perfectly scaled sheet layout. These customized sheet borders are actually design files available in the System folder of the MicroStation Workspace, and are ready to use with minimal modifications. The System folder that comes along...

How to set the transparency of specific levels in a master file as well as in a (nested) reference file to a specific value, using a key-in. Actually setting the transparency is quite close to setting the display for (nested) reference levels (see: http://communities.bentley.com/products/microstation/b/microstation_blog/archive/2010/12/17/key-ins-to-switch-levels-on-off-in-a-master-file-and-nested-references.aspx ) So also here, editing of (nested...

In MicroStation V8i an enhancement was made for setting the global origin (GO=) and also a change in how the current origin is reported. For more information regarding the change in how the global origin is reported there is a good blog by Tim Hickman that covers this in detail - “ It aint the same old origin ”. With regards to changing the origin in MicroStation V8i, when you key-in “GO=” or “Active Origin”…...

How to switch a level in a nested reference on or off using a keyin. In order to be able to switch on/off levels on a nested reference, the following settings/variables need to be checked first, to allow editing and saving the changes to the levels: Key in: set refleveloverrides on As that is a file specific setting, make it permanent by using File>Save Settings Variables: MS_LEVEL_EDIT_NESTED_ATTACHMENT_LEVELS = 1 MS_LEVEL_LOAD_ATTACHMENT_FILTERS...

This term "DWG Fidelity" used in conversation lately. Also, this scenario appears to be a rising trend... Electronic deliverables for a project need to be in DWG. The project is started in DGN format. At or near the end of the project, the project files are converted to DWG. Some translation issues show up. Now with limited time, you scramble to correct these issues to meet your deadlines. DWG workmode is the perfect solution for this. To...