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New in MicroStation CONNECT Edition Update 7 - Raster Custom Linestyle

Some of you may be wondering if we ever will have a real-life image of a line style instead of the usual plain and simple line style, great news is that we now have it for you. The raster custom line style is the new Technology Preview feature being introduced in MicroStation under Custom Line Style Editor dialog. I guarantee you that it will be easy for you to create one. If you are familiar with creating the custom line styles, then you can do the same with creating the raster custom line styles.

The reason for implementation of this tool is being useful for producing high quality and efficient drawing in a 2D or 3D model. Any type of image editor such as Photoshop, Krita, and others can be used to create an image. Then the created image can be utilized into raster custom line style. For this blog, I am just going to create a raster component using one of the delivered images in the default Image folder.

Let us begin by opening MicroStation CONNECT Edition Update 7 with a newly created 3D design file and giving it the name “RasterStroke.dgn”.

To Set the Path of the Resource File

You will have to first add the path of your line style resource (.rsc) file. Following are the steps to do the same:

In the Search ribbon field box, key-in “Configuration Variables”.
In the Configuration Variables dialog, select Symbology Category.
Select the variable “MS_SYMBRSRC”.
Click the Select button and browse to the folder where your RSC file will be saved and select it.
Click “Done” in the Select File List for Symbology Resources dialog and then click “OK” in the Configuration Variables dialog.

Creating a New Raster Line Style

Go to Attributes section and select Linestyle.
From the Line Style drop down menu, select Manage.
In Line Style Editor dialog box, select File>New to create a new RSC file.
A Create Line Style Library dialog will appear. You will need to browse and select a folder where you will want to save your custom line style resource file. (For setting the configuration path of the Resource file, please refer to “To Set the Path of the Resource File.)
Input a new name and save the resource file.
From the Line Style Editor dialog, select Edit > Create > Raster. In Select Raster Line Style File dialog, choose an image such as “checker.tif” from the default folder, “C:\Program Files\Bentley\MicroStation CONNECT Edition\MicroStation\Default\Image”.
Click Open.

The Monochrome check box controls whether the custom line style will be monochrome or full color. A monochrome (single color) raster line style controls only the shape of the line style, the line color continues to come from the element symbology. In this case, the image data controls the transparency of the style. The source of the transparency data is
selected from the Source drop-down menu. If the image data is grey‐scale or black and white, then the selection of the channel (red, green or blue) is not important. The value of
the selected channel will control how opaque the style is at that pixel. A value of zero will be completely transparent and high values will be opaque. Selecting one of the
“inverted” options will reverse this. If the imagery is black on a white background, then it will be necessary to select one of the inverted options, such that the dark
geometry is opaque and the background is transparent.

The Width check box controls the width of the line style. If this check box is not selected, then the width of the raster line style will be controlled by the line weight. In this case, the style will behave in the same manner, as one of the standard (1‐7) line codes ‐ the width will be independent of the zoom factor. If the Width check box is selected, then an explicit width can be set for the style (with units controlled in the same manner as the standard line style component distances).

Note: Raster line style width can be controlled separately through the Line Style Settings in the same manner as conventional line styles (even if the width setting is not selected).

Creating a New Raster Line Style Compound Component

Select Edit > Create > Name. Give it a name that you will use to select the image of raster component. The reason for this being is to identify the name easily so you will know what to choose for creating a compound component.
Select Edit > Create > Compound. Link the compound and name together. Give the compound a description of which raster image you would select.
Select the raster component.
Save the newly created compound component.
Select the newly created compound linestyle in the line style attributes.
With “Place Smartline” tool or any other element placement type of tools, draw a simple line using the compound component. It should create a raster line using the compound component.

Now, you are a pro with creating the raster line styles and compound components.