Highlights from Day Two at the Indianapolis Road & Site LEARNing Conference

Samir Haque gave a great introduction to MicroStation's 3D tools in his “3D Geometry Creation Tools” lecture.  He started out with simple surface modeling methods then mesh modeling (used most often with terrain modeling). Samir’s tip: Start with contours or elements of the landscape. You can easily move between the different types of 3D elements (solid > surface > mesh).

User feedback on this session: “This lecture was equally beneficial for users new to MicroStation as well as seasoned users that need a quick reminder of the power of MicroStation 3D.”

 

Attendees packed the room for the “Creating Centerline Geometry” workshop with Dave Hoerner. Users learned how to import, create, edit, and view horizontal and vertical centerline geometry for a solid understanding of OpenRoads centerline geometry tools and more importantly the design intent captured by the OpenRoads Technology. All users can share in this learning through the available LEARNserver course. Click here.

 

At the “i-model Overview and Update”, Sam Migliore, Director, Product Management (Apps) identified some of the challenges of information management:

    • Keeping track of where the information comes from  
    • Most data is essentially unmanaged
    • Keeping track of when the information was prepared
    • Aggregating information from multiple sources


Sam says "i-models are the currency of information mobility". In a nutshell: they are precise, have provenance (knows where it came from), are self-describing, and are portable. i-models:

    • Keeps the original content; if using non-Bentley products, content is maintained.
    • Adds changes with date stamps so provenance is maintained.
    • Any application Bentley built on power platform provides ability to publish an i-model
    • Free publishing plugins for 3rd parties, Revit plugin, Civil3D plugin (beta)
    • Automated i-model publishing
    • Can dump data to excel, change visualization


Sam sums up: “i-models are about more than just moving graphics.  It’s about taking chunks of business information and getting it out to people to use.”

 

“Best Practices: From Civil Model to Plan Set” with Derricke Gray:

On auto export vs. manual export Derricke would choose manual to avoid possible conflicts with naming. His exception is in Geopak where to maintain auto annotate you must auto export.

No need to manually prep sheets; there are tools that make this much easier.

User tip: Use AccuSnap settings to adjust the context menus (turn them off, set the delay time from 1 second to 2, 3, 4 seconds.)  

 

Ian Rosam shares “Best Practices: OpenRoads Geometry”:

    • Plan a data structure
    • Define nesting depths
    • Use Ref Snap Lock to help prevent unwanted snaps

To learn more best practices take the full course available in the LEARNserver. Click here.

 

Steve Rick shared tips for how to save time and produce more reliable and effective models using basic 3D navigation to create 2D plans from those models in his "Create 2D Plans Preparation from 3D Geometry" session.  His top learning:

Drawing Model is key:

    • Use drawing model to control the sheet models.
    • Order them in the models list in the order I want team/users to work on it.
    • Gold icon is the active marker (they will plot unless you change the view attribute)
    • Two ways to scale sheets: design 1:1, sheet scaled... or sheet 1:1, design scaled.

 Emphasize the power of DGNlibs:

    • Place elevation callout:  height, set from model.  
    • Create drawing option selects dynamic views (model - drawing - sheet)
    • Check the detail scale tool tip for the true ref scale.
    • Modify saved view properties to control the appearance of the referenced drawing model.
    • To place more views on the same sheet, unselect the create sheet option.

More from Russell Page on the “Transportation Asset Management Evolution”. As TAM becomes more strategic, the traditional silos between asset classes are being removed as are the traditional silos between functions. Russell identified several drivers forcing this rapid evolution:

    • Limited financial resources
    • Aging infrastructure
    • Increasing congestion
    • Increased public awareness
    • Environmental awareness
    • Increased safety targets