What's New

OpenBridge Modeler, OBM is now built on the latest MicroStation CONNECT Edition Platform as well as the OpenRoads Designer CONNECT Edition Framework. This initial release of OBM is the first release on this new generation and leverages and builds on the enhancements and capabilities  offered by these underlying platforms.

To make the transition from V8i to CONNECT Edition for our users seamless, OBM retains similar functionality as in V8i to a large extent with several minor improvements based on user feedback. Several new capabilities such as plan and profile views for Bridge, option to install a companion application of LumenRT designer for visualization and enhanced i-model creation are now part of Open Bridge Modeler. Going forward several new capabilities are being planned in quarterly releases, and OBM will continue to leverage the MicroStation and Open Roads Designer platform and expose additional functionality that will benefit the bridge community by creating parametric, intelligent bridge models rapidly and accurately.

Supports MicroStation CONNECT Edition Update 7 and OpenRoads Designer Update 3

Power Platform Changes

• 64-bit support.
• Bentley Cloud Services - Helps you produce better designs by facilitating collaboration, interoperability, standardization, and skills development. It also provides greater insight and control over project design, deliverables and the people working on them. Each CONNECTED Users and CONNECTED Projects is provisioned with a CONNECTION Center on the Bentley Cloud Services site. This portal provides users access to each of the following services and more.
• Improved Help System Learning options - You can learn at your own pace through On Demand options. You can watch video lectures, download hands-on workshops, watch the SIG recordings. You can also have live interactions, attend a virtual classroom or SIG, you can go to a physical event like a user group, get Account Specific Training, get live training through our Channel Partners or attend any of the Bentley events globally. We have given our users many, many ways to learn.
• Item Types - An item type is a user defined set of properties used to describe an object or element. Item types can be assigned to rebar, concrete, steel, any graphical element. Once assigned to features in the model, they can be reviewed, reported on and displayed as annotation or in a table and exported to i-models (see this Item Types - Introduction Bentley Communities article for more information).
• Annotation with field types with Favorites - When using the Place Note tool, annotations fields can be added that include intelligent fields which link to various properties in the model and business properties in the design model. They can be saved as favorites for easy placement and gets updated whenever a property data change occurs.
• Constraints - With constraints you can embed your design intent into the model by adding persistent relationships between elements. There are three distinct categories of constraints, 2D, dimensional and 3D.
• Parametric cells - You can now include variables, constraints, item types and variances when driven by variables and placed as parametric cells. This provides users the flexibility to include in parametric cells formulas, inter-object relationship and user defined data.
• Functional Components and variables - You can now create smart parametric models that can be driven by variables and placed as parametric cells. These are cells with built-in rules governing size and geometric relationships.
• Acute3D - Captures reality by turning photos into 3D models automatically with ContextCapture. Produces meshed surface models from a series of digital photographs of existing structures or as built projects. By geo-referencing a model, it allows the model to be correctly located in a similar geo-referenced design file.
• Display rules - Is a powerful new feature in which an engineering model's display can be overridden based on many criteria. Display rules can access file, model, references and other properties. Display rules do not change the symbology of the model it is strictly for display time, however the result can be printed to PDF and other formats. However, Display Rule results can be exported to PDF's or printed.
• Reports and Tables - The report tool extracts graphical or business information from file or design objects based on a number of criteria. Reports can be exported to a variety of formats or the content of the report can be placed graphically with the new a table feature.
• Sheet Indexing - Is a centralized list of drawings available in a WorkSet, they can be organized by folder, discipline, contractor etc., it supports comprehensive sheet numbering rules like prefix/suffix, start number, and increment number. Additionally, other project specific properties can be associated with each sheet, and can be placed as a table.
• Visualization - CONNECT Edition brings several new features for visualization such as, the animation producer now supports 3D constrained geometry, the texture replicator produces more realistic textures and several new procedural textures have been added.
• Georeferencing - Is the process of relating a design to a real world location, the primary reason is the interoperability with GIS, easy of visualization in Google Earth and integrating with GPS on mobile devices.