FAQ - Dynamic Views


 Product(s):AECOsim Building Designer
 Version(s):CONNECT Edition and V8i
 Environment: N/A
 Area: Drawing Views
 Subarea: N/A

Q: What is the difference between Dynamic Views and Building Views?

Dynamic Views are the underlying MicroStation functionality essentially composed of Clip Volumes, Display Styles, Saved Views and Reference attachments. This allows you to resymbolize 2D/3D geometry based on the Display Style applied to the elements within the Clip Volume, which can be recalled via a Saved View and referenced into a sheet model.

Building Views add Building-specific resymbolization options to Dynamic Views, including section plane hatch/patterning, Unification, Family/Part symbology overrides, and Drawing Rules for Architectural, Structural and Mechanical disciplines. Note that capabilities and operation of these rules differs between disciplines.

The best method for creating Building Views is to use the Callout tools, these offer a significant degree of automation to the process of drawing creation.  

Q: Is Drawing Extraction Manager obsolete?

Drawing Extraction Manager is not included in AECOsim Building Designer CONNECT Edition. It has been superseded by Dynamic Views for design exploration and drawing production.

Drawing Extraction Manager is still available in AECOsim Building Designer V8i.

There is a tool for converting existing Drawing Extraction definitions into Building View definitions. By selecting an existing drawing definition within the Drawing Extraction Manager dialog and clicking on the “Sync Drawing View to Drawing Def” tool - the center icon across the top of the Drawing Extraction Manager dialog box - a new Building View definition will be automatically created in the Building View Manager. This new Building View definition will use every drawing view setting that is common between the two; e.g., Region settings, Plan Symbol usage, Cut Patterns, etc. This same tool can also synchronize the auto-generated Building View definition when the original drawing definition is modified.

Having this tool in place allows you to continue using Drawing Extraction Manager for projects still using V8i production and as an aid to migrating to CONNECT Edition.

Q: What is the purpose of the configuration variable BB_DVDATASETELEMENTS? The help file mentions workflows that use Building Views vs. Drawing Extraction Manager, and also the need to disable this variable when modifying DGNLib files. But it’s still a little unclear what this variable actually does, and how it should be set.

1. Behaviour regarding Dynamic Views:

For AECOsim Building Designer SS3 and later, BB_DVDATASETELEMENTS = 1 is defined at the application level. To make it inactive set it to BB_DVDATASETELEMENTS = 0. A null value will not override the default setting of 1. A scenario where you would do this is described in 2. below. 

Warning: BB_DVDATASETELEMENTS = 0 may have been added to a configuration on workspaces/projects using Drawing Extraction Manager to prevent content (levels, etc.) required for Dynamic/Building View creation being copied into project DGN files. Before using Dynamic/Building Views it must be removed to allow the default value of BB_DVDATASETELEMENTS = 1 to take effect. If the '0' value is allowed to persist there will be many elements missing from Dynamic/Building Views.

The purpose of this configuration variable is to generate the levels necessary to properly display Dynamic/Building Views based on the levels and symbology defined in the applicable Family/Part definitions. This is a totally different process altogether than when using Drawing Extraction Manager.

The Drawing Extraction process creates new graphics in an independent design file and/or model, using levels based on Family/Part assignments. For example, a single object in the 3D model, such as a wall, could potentially extract to four different levels – Cut Plane, Forward View, Cut Pattern and Centerline. When this wall needs to be generated in the drawing extraction, if the levels defined in its assigned Part do not exist they will simply be created during the extraction process.

Dynamic/Building Views, on the other hand, do not create or write new graphic elements at all. Instead, they simply change the display of the existing elements in the 3D model and present them to the screen. So using the wall example mentioned above, the Drawing View may need to represent the resymbolized Cut Plane, Forward View, Cut Pattern and Centerline for that wall.

Since MicroStation cannot display graphics to the screen if the required levels do not already exist, we need a way to create them ahead of time.

To accomplish this, Building applications will read all project and dataset Family/Part files when opening a DGN file, then compare the levels assigned in those part definitions against the levels that currently exist in that active DGN file. If the levels needed by the Family/Parts do not exist, we will force them to be created by generating a series of hidden elements using those missing levels. The creation of these hidden elements helps prevent these new levels from being inadvertently deleted, since you cannot manually delete a level if an existing element is using it.

The BB_DVDATASETELEMENTS configuration variable, if set, tells the software to perform this Family/Part level check and force the creation of any missing levels, thereby allowing Building Views to display the correct resymbolization based on part assignment.

2. Behaviour when modifying DGNLIBs:

When modifying DGNLIB files, it is very important that this configuration variable is set to '0'. If the variable remains at its default of '1', when the DGNLIB is first opened all available Family/Part files will be scanned and all missing levels (and hidden elements) added to that DGNLIB file. The best way to avoid this occurrence is covered in Managing dgnlib files.

Q: Does BB_DVDATASETELEMENTS exist in CONNECT edition?

No, Building/Dynamic Views are the drawing creation mechanism for CONNECT Edition so the behavior controlled by BB_DVDATASETELEMENTS is the default. The BB_DVDATASETELEMENTS variable has been removed.

Should it be required to prevent the levels and other elements required for successful DV creation being copied into active DGN files, two new variables can be set:

BB_DVDATASETELEMENTDISABLE and BB_DVLEVELSDISABLE are included as undefined variables. Setting them to 1 will prevent copying of dataset content, this is likely to result in degraded Building/Dynamic View results. See Managing dgnlib files for a valid use of BB_DVDATASETELEMENTDISABLE.

(Note: If BB_DVDATASETELEMENTDISABLE is set to 1 and BB_DVLEVELSDISABLE is undefined, then DV Levels will be disabled just as if BB_DVLEVELSDISABLE were also set to 1.)

Q: How does using Cached Visible Edges help me?

This is described in detail in ABD SS6 - Best Practices - Cached Visible Edges. CONNECT Edition has introduced enhancements to the processes described that makes using and managing Cached Visible Edges more efficient. Please search the help documentation for "Cached Visible Edges" and check the "What's New" section as CONNECT Edition updates are released.

Q: How can I (re)display Clip Volumes in order to make changes to them?

To make the Clip Valiums permanently visible , open the Saved Views dialog and click on the Show column (far left) for the applicable named view. When you are finished making changes to the Clip Volume, turn its display back off by un-checking this option so that it does not display in any existing Building View models.

Selecting a Dynamic View Marker will temporarily display its Cilp Volume with handles for manipulation.

Q: For some reason I suddenly cannot seem to modify any of my Clip Volumes. The white rectangular section clip is displayed, but clicking on it has no effect at all.

It's likely that the Element Selection tool settings have been changed so that the “Disable Handles” option has been turned ON. When in this state, you cannot modify a Clip Volume or any other element that uses Edit Handles. In order to change this behavior, open on the Element Selection tool and check whether the “Disable Handles” button on the right side is turned on (depressed). If so, click on it in order to turn this option OFF. You may also want to verify that the selection Method is set to Individual and the Mode set to New. This combination will allow you to directly click on the section clip shape.

Q: I'm using a drawing rule so that space labels will be automatically generated in my Building View, but for some reason I just do not see them. The rule seems to be correct, and my label cell is intact, so I’m not sure why this might be happening.

Check the Drawing Scale of your Building View. If using a 1:1 scale it’s certainly possible that your space labels are there, but so small in relation to the building components that they display as dots.

Questions relating to early V8i versions:

How can I update a Drawing View when attaching/detaching references, modifying clip volume, etc?

There are three methods that should work:

1. The recommended method:

  1. 2. Update the Saved View as needed in the 3D model, detach its reference in the sheet mode/file, then reattach. This should propagate the changes made to the Saved View.  

3. When you attached the Building View for the first time turn ON the “Synchronize with Saved View” option. Any changes to the Saved View will automatically be applied to all reference attachments that use it. This method is not necessarily recommend since you could unknowingly change the appearance of a drawing without know it.

Note: Any changes made to geometry falling within the Saved View clip volume should be visible automatically. That’s why we call them Dynamic Views!

I’ve created my Building View and it looks great when I switch to that model within my DGN file. Is there some way I can display this Building View in my main 3D model, so that I can interactively see all changes as I make them?

Yes, this is possible. In the desired view window click on the upper left icon to open the View Attributes dialog. In the View Setup task, click on the Saved Views drop-down and select your Building View from the list. The elements in that view window should now display as per the selected Building View.  You can also apply the desired DV from the Saved View dialog, selecting the view window in which you would like to see the DV applied.   NOTE: If you want this change to persist, remember to Save Settings prior to exiting the file.

In a project with two floors where some rooms have a double height, I have created a Building View of the second floor plan from the 3D model. But no matter where I set the Forward View depth, the space names from the first floor show up in the drawing, even where they should be hidden by the second floor’s slab. I thought that Architectural drawing rules only annotated elements that fell across the cut plane, so is there something that is causing these spaces to behave differently from other objects?

The Ceiling Height property value determines the overall range, or volume, of a space. So even though the space’s shape element is hidden below the second floor slab in this scenario, the space's Ceiling Height value extends beyond and through the slab into the cut plane of the Clip Volume, causing it to be annotated.

Correcting the space height would be the optimal solution in this case, removing any connection to the second floor and allowing only the second floor space labels to display. You could also turn off the Spaces drawing rule in the Building View definition. This will remove annotation from all spaces associated with that drawing.

In addition to control the display of all space annotation en masse, annotation from Architectural rules can be hidden individually by right-clicking on the annotation and selecting "Hide Annotations" from the context menu. Similarly they can be unhidden by selecting the element to be annotated, right-clicking and selecting "Unhide Annotation from the context menu. Or, for the first floor spaces showing up on the second floor, you can right-click on the Space Label (in your sheet) and from the popup menu select "Hide Annotation".

We typically use two types of sheets for our larger building designs:

The natural workflow would be to attach the full-scale sheet file to the border sheet. But the Building View cannot be a nested reference, so we only get the annotations from the first sheet. We have to attach the building view separately and then the annotations show up in the border sheet as well. Is there a better way of doing this?

When attaching a Building View to an external sheet for drawing composition, all of the applicable elements should display. If this is not happening, please verify the following:

  1. When attaching the Drawing View file as a reference to the sheet, double check that the proper model is selected. For example, I may have a Drawing View in a DGN file named "Drawing.dgn", which has two models in it: “Default” and “2nd Floor”. If I open a new DGN file called Sheet.dgn and attach Drawing.dgn as a reference file, the model I should select is “2nd Floor”, not “Default”.
  2. Double-click the reference attachment and check that Live Nesting is turned ON, and that Nest Depth to 99 to insure that it catches all of the reference file attachments.
  3. If using Relative Paths for your reference files, make sure that option will work properly with your setup. If the nested reference (the actual Drawing View) cannot be found using the Relative Path option, it will not display. The best option is to define your standard project paths using the configuration variable MS_RFDIR.

What is the purpose of the file BB_ELEMENTTEMPLATE.DGNLIB? It is included under the configuration variable MS_DGNLIBLIST and points to $(TF_DATASETNAME)\DGN\BB_ELEMENTTEMPLATE.DGNLIB. However, after searching my hard drive I was not able to not find this file anywhere. Is it necessary?

This DGNLIB file contains a Detailing Symbol Style definition named “BB_BuildingCallouts” that changes the default style of the Section, Elevation and Detail Callouts as follows:

The color is changed from black to red.

The line weight is changed from 0 to line weight 2.

The level assignment is changed to G-ANNO-SYMB.

After following the steps below, when you use one of these three callout commands from the Create Views task group (while in a Building View model) you will be able to click on the “Detailing Style” pick-list and switch from the “Default” style to “BB_BuildingCallouts”. Note that in subsequent releases of V8i, this file will be renamed as BB_DetailingStyle.dgnlib.

  1. The BB_ELEMENTTEMPLATE.DGNLIB should be located in the \DGN directory of your dataset; for example, \Bentley\WorkSpace\TriForma\ArchDatasetNcsUS\dgn.
  2. Make sure that the location and name of this file is included in the MS_DGNLIBLIST configuration variable.
  3. In order to load any DGNLIB located in the \dgn folder, make sure that the following statement is included in your PCF file: MS_DGNLIBLIST < $(TFDIR)dgn\*.dgnlib
  4. Comment out the following statements, since they are no longer necessary due to step # 3 above.

Note: For more precise control another option is to comment out the configuration variable in step # 3 and un-comment any of those below:

You may also edit the detail styles for any of the three commands by opening BB_ELEMENTTEMPLATE.DGNLIB and modifying the applicable settings. Note: Once you have placed one of the three callouts, you can click on the magnifying glass icon next to the “Detailing Style” pick-list which will automatically activate BB_ELEMENTTEMPLATE.DGNLIB for editing.

Is it possible to "export" Drawing Views to external files for viewing in pre-V8i versions of MicroStation, or to save to DWG?

Yes, you can use the File > Save As function to produce an independent DGN file that can be opened in prior versions, or saved to DWG, using the following steps:

  1. While in your sheet model choose File > Save As, with the “Save as type” field set to “MicroStation V8 DGN files”.
  2. Give the output DGN file a new name so you don't overwrite the original.
  3. Click on the Option button to open the "Save as V8 Options" dialog box.
  4. Click on the Reference tab.
  5. The first check box is "Merge Visible Edges of 3D Attachments to Sheets". Check this box to make it active.
  6. Click on the small magnifying glass icon that appears to the left of this check box.
  7. In the "Visible Edge Settings" dialog box that now opens, click on the 4th check box down labeled "Expand Hatch" to make it active, and then click the OK button. This option is designed to generate hatch/patterns in the output DGN file.
  8. Back on the "Save As V8 Options" dialog, click on the Filter tab and then click on the "Models..." button in the middle of this tab.
  9. A "Select Models" dialog will appear. Click and highlight only the model that contains the sheet you want to export. This will reduce processing time and file size. Click OK.
  10. Back on the "Save As V8 Options" dialog box click OK.
  11. Back on the initial "Save As" dialog, assuming you have already given the output file a new name click the Save button to generate the output DGN file.
  12. You should be able to open this file in either XM or V8i, as well as save as DWG.

Is there any type of “tolerance” setting when exporting Drawing Views to external DGN files or for plotting?

Yes, there is a tolerance setting that affects the output of vector graphics to external DGN files as well as for plotting. If this value is set too high, some elevations and sections may not produce all the graphics seen on the screen when saved out as vector graphics or plotted.

You can access this setting during the Save As process by clicking on the magnifying glass icon noted in Step # 6 from the item above. In the "Visible Edge Settings" dialog box, set the Tolerance field to 0:1 (one inch) or its metric equivalent as a starting point. If that still does not provide the expected results, you may have to adjust this field again and give it a larger value.

This tolerance setting works based on the range/extents of the elements being processed. The larger the range, the tighter this tolerance needs to be. For example, if you are saving a plan view of a door and the extents of the view are clipped tight around that door, a low tolerance value will suffice and the door arc will appear very smooth. However, if you need to plot a large floor plan instead, a higher tolerance value would be required in order for that same door arc geometry to be generated smoothly.

This same tolerance will be used when plotting vs. using the Save As command. In this case you can access this setting outside of the Save As dialog by choosing File > Export > Visible Edges, which will open the same "Visible Edge Settings" dialog box mentioned above.

I’ve noticed that when dimensioning in a Drawing View model, not all dimensions remain associative even if I don’t modify the elements being dimensioned.

In V8i 08.11.05.xx, the two primary conditions where dimension association may not be retained are when dimensioning: A) 2D elements that fall along the Cut Plane. B) 3D elements that fall within the Forward View. These cases are scheduled to be resolved in the upcoming V8i 08.11.07.xx SELECT series update release.

I've noticed that visible edges are noticeably segmented when using Export Visible Edges, instead of displaying as smooth arcs. Is there any way to control this?

For performance reasons all edges are faceted before exporting an HLN file when using the V8i series. This is the same result you would see when enabling the “Facet All surfaces” option in MicroStation V8 XM Edition. The preferred option in V8i is to use Drawing Views instead.