Solid Volume report

Hi,

From to time, I get questions from my design engineers concerning volumes of all kinds of solids in my design models, I.e,  I need the volumes of all the foundations, Columns, The bridge slab and both Abutments.

Normally I measure them one by one with the volume tool in the Analyze tab, copy the information into an e-mail and send it, but there must be a more quick and robust way to do it. If I also could combine the volumes with some Items informations, it could be perfect.

In the new Microstation Connect (Just installed) I have played with the Report function, but I haven't found anything that indicates the possibility to setup a report where I can extract Volume data to export it to an Excel Sheet for further manipulation. Then the engineers could be taught generate the reports by them selves. A win-win situation.

Are there anyone that can help me ?

With thanks in advance.

Ole

Parents
  • Hi Ole,

    I think your idea is right in general, but implementation is a bit more complex.

    I get questions from my design engineers concerning volumes of all kinds of solids in my design models

    A question is "What type of solids do you want to report?"

    Historically in MicroStation we have (at least):

    • Solid (primitive element)
    • SmartSolid (stored as SmartSolid cell)
    • FeatureSolid (I guess also stored as a special cell)
    • Parametric solids (introduced in CE)
    Are there anyone that can help me ?

    To create a report is a bit tricky, because

    • You have to include several different types of solids (so it's really good to know what elements are you interested in)
    • When you follow standard procedures, you will probably fail, because you will not find e.g. SmartSolid in report selection

    I was able to select different types of solids using Search in Explorer dialog and to create reports from the searches, and even to merge them step by step into one. But unfortunately, when I opened the same design file again, MicroStation crashes every time I start to work with the report (I hope sent exceptions will be analyzed and the bug will be fixed).

    So what seems to be more stable is to use Search, which is more flexible, and displays Volume also. Disadvantage is that you will have more searches by solid types.

    With regards,

      Jan

  • Hi Jan,

    Thank you for your thorough explanation. 

    I haven't given any thoughts regarding the different types of solids. I can see the problem when requesting volumes for a solid not know what type of solid it is.

    When designing in 3D everything ends up with a volume and provide an exact volume size for excavation, and the usage of Asphalt, Concrete, Gravel, Steel etc. so I find it quite interesting to be able to provide our contractors with that knowledge so they can calculate competitive prices.

    I have hoped that there was some settings I had overlooked when toying with the Report functionality, but it seems more complex than that.

    I have also  received a reply from Joe Summers saying that my request for a volume reports is the fist he has seen. Maybe we will find the volume reporting functionality in a coming update of Microstation. I sure hope.

    Kind regards

    Ole Bro


    ORD Connect:10.08.01.033

    MS Connect: 10.14.02.01

    Projectwise: 10.00.03.49

Reply
  • Hi Jan,

    Thank you for your thorough explanation. 

    I haven't given any thoughts regarding the different types of solids. I can see the problem when requesting volumes for a solid not know what type of solid it is.

    When designing in 3D everything ends up with a volume and provide an exact volume size for excavation, and the usage of Asphalt, Concrete, Gravel, Steel etc. so I find it quite interesting to be able to provide our contractors with that knowledge so they can calculate competitive prices.

    I have hoped that there was some settings I had overlooked when toying with the Report functionality, but it seems more complex than that.

    I have also  received a reply from Joe Summers saying that my request for a volume reports is the fist he has seen. Maybe we will find the volume reporting functionality in a coming update of Microstation. I sure hope.

    Kind regards

    Ole Bro


    ORD Connect:10.08.01.033

    MS Connect: 10.14.02.01

    Projectwise: 10.00.03.49

Children
  • Maybe we will find the volume reporting functionality in a coming update of Microstation

    Reports exist already.  The question is: "Can you write a report that harvest volumetric data?"  Follow the link I provided to see some examples of Reports.  You need to figure out what property of a solid you need to harvest.

    Here's a prototype of a Solids Report definition...

    solids report definition

    Note that we have to specify, in the Includes Items|Item Types field, the types of solids that we want to report.  In this example, I'm reporting Slabs, Cylinders, Toroids and Meshes.  Each of those categories has a Volume property.

    Here's the result for a small DGN model having one example of each element type...

    preview

     
    Regards, Jon Summers
    LA Solutions

  • I can see the problem when requesting volumes for a solid not know what type of solid it is.

    When you do not know it, you have to work with all types. But in fact there are several types only, so evaluating a few DGNs provides good idea what types are used usually.

    I find it quite interesting to be able to provide our contractors with that knowledge so they can calculate competitive prices.

    Anything task that is repeated regularly (or at least often enough) is an opportunity for VBA macro (sometimes NET or C++ have to be used when specific feature is not supported in VBA).

    I have hoped that there was some settings I had overlooked when toying with the Report functionality, but it seems more complex than that.

    I think it's not "more complex", but it's about slightly different approaches and priorities:

    • Reports (and Search tool and in fact the whole MicroStation internally) prefers engineering approach, so you have to always specify exactly what you want to do. MicroStation tools typically hide this complexity, so e.g. Measure volume tool automatically support all element types.
    • You approach is "user's one", so naturally you do not want to take care about internal technical details like how 3D elements are stored.
    Maybe we will find the volume reporting functionality in a coming update of Microstation.

    I have two answers here:

    • It's already there and available for you, as both me and Jon wrote and showed.The only issue is that not all element types are supported (yet), so it's possible to create report for e.g. Solid and/or Parametric Solid, but to work with Smart Solids leads to MicroStation crash.
    • To hope "maybe" anything new will be included is similar to e.g. hoping that Martians will visit you in your office ... it will for sure never happen. When you to discuss anything that should be added to MicroStation, post it to Ideas section.

    The link Jon posted to his web contains useful information.

    and the usage of Asphalt, Concrete, Gravel, Steel etc.

    It sounds like task for Search tool (which I consider one from the most underestimated tools in MicroStation).

    Advanced search allow to quickly build query (which can be later converted to report definition) and it support well all types all 3D element types. It does not allow (at least I do not know about any simple option) to merge more types into one search, but it's easy and quick to define search (like all SmartSolids (BReps) in level xyz), to display results and copy/paste to Excel).

    With regards,

      Jan

  • I can see the problem when requesting volumes for a solid not know what type of solid it is

    Reports rely on ECSchema data (available in the XML files you will find in ..\MicroStation\ECSchemas).  When measuring linear objects there is a catch-all class (what  terms a mix-in) TotalLength and similarly for areas TotalAreaThere is no equivalent TotalVolume mix-in that would make your report design simple.

    Maybe we will find the volume reporting functionality in a coming update of Microstation

    See my post below that shows a Report of Volume and Surface Area.  Other missing report capability includes centre-of-gravity (COG) or similar for areas and volumes.  You might like to post an Idea requesting that COG be made available when defining a report.

     
    Regards, Jon Summers
    LA Solutions

  • When measuring linear objects there is a catch-all class (what terms a mix-in) TotalLength and similarly for areas TotalArea.  There is no equivalent TotalVolume mix-in that would make your report design simple.

    The mix-in you are looking for is called BaseElementSchema:MstnVolume. It supplies Volume and SurfaceArea properties.I don't know if it is accessible from the current version of MicroStation's Reports dialog.

  • Thanks for that hint !

    On further investigation I see that, in a Report Definition, non-specific element geometric properties Volume and Surface Area are available.  Here's the Report preview with those columns added...

    preview

     
    Regards, Jon Summers
    LA Solutions