Best Practice for Converting lines, arcs segments to Smartline????

I am trying to figure out what would be the best practice for converting multiple line segments and arcs to one Smartline (or complex chain I guess). Like in ACAD you would just select all your lines and PEDIT them into one polyline. So I am trying to see what is the best practice in doing the same in MicroStation? Thanks in advance and please let me know if you have any questions or need more information...

Thanks,

Chris

MicroStation V8i SS4

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  • Create Complex Chain is the tool. You can set it to Automatic and it will follow along your connections with no further clicks unless it comes to a fork, and the final click to accept. The only real issue you may run into is if there are gaps or overlaps, but you can set the gap tolerance to work around those somewhat. I believe this command even works with reference elements - as in, you can run the command and select elements in a reference file and a new complex chain will be created that runs along those elements

    I do believe this command is responsive to the Level Lock. I can't recall offhand if it accepts a selection set (and I'm in AutoCAD today for a few more hours).

    MaryB

    Power GeoPak 08.11.09.918
    Power InRoads 08.11.09.918
    OpenRoads Designer 2021 R2

        

    Answer Verified By: Chris LeMay 

  • Looooooooooove the Automatic option. 2 clicks and done! So helpful. Thanks again!.........really 4 clicks, but who's counting.lol..okay, so I added the "Create Complex Chain" toolbox to my Workspace, so now 3 clicks......haha

    C. LeMay

    MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 4) version 08.11.09.829

  • I've done that...

    I much prefer the Microstation way where "fill" is simply a property of a closed element, instead of some separate entity all its own. Moving a whole bunch of traffic drums, and later realizing you forgot to move the "fill" is maddening.

    MaryB

    Power GeoPak 08.11.09.918
    Power InRoads 08.11.09.918
    OpenRoads Designer 2021 R2

        

  • ahhhhhh...yes......i feel ya. Nobody likes having to go back and grab objects again and hopefully still have a constant base point for all if edited and god hopes not resized....i totally get what you mean.

    C. LeMay

    MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 4) version 08.11.09.829

  • so when you were getting double area for an area.........you were selecting the hatched area along with it's polyline perimeter to get the double area in the properties.(in ACAD)?

    yep because it makes no difference  in mstn to select the shape with crossing as the shape and fill ( not pattern) are one object with an extra attribute like colour is an attribute so is fill ..but at the time I didn't  know it wasn't the same in acad.. big trap for mstn users having to just dabble in acad and not know this is different  no fill attribute in acad its an pattern element with its own boundary so there are two boundaries the poly line and the pattern boundary! 

    Lorys

    Started msnt work 1990 - Retired  Nov 2022 ( oh boy am I old )

    But was long time user V8iss10 (8.11.09.919) dabbler CE  update 16 (10.16.00.80) 

    MicroStation user since 1990 Melbourne Australia.
    click link to PM me 

  • Gotcha...Keep in mind when you are hatching in ACAD and you want your hatched area (fill) to move with the object data it's associated with, so basically the perimeter of the boundary. Even if the boundary of the hatched area isn't 1 complete polyline, it will still move with the lines (object data) as long as when you originally go to hatch the area, you want to make sure the "Associated" Panel is highlighted. I typically use this along with the Annotation highlighted as well. And just a quick tip. IF you hatch an area and it's associated, it will apply hatch and give you one Grip inside the pattern as the origin point. It only gives you one grip because your boundary lines are associated with the pattern, so if you move and/or stretch the boundary lines, the hatch will move accordingly. Just like the fill does in MSTN. But you can always select the hatch and un-highlight the "Associative" Panel. This will generate the grips on the entire boundary of hatched area that you can just drag and move freely. So no PL boundary unless you want it. But will not move when object data its inside of moves because it's not Associated. I typically don't use the Associative option for my hatched areas, just because I like having the boundary grips and I hatch a lot of areas that I don't want a boundary around the entire hatched area. I think I asked you if I could do this in MSTN not too long ago and you responded with some info. But I can do the same in MSTN if needed. Sorry for the long email. I

    I got to admit, so for me and using AutoCAD for over 20+ years and C3D over 10 and only using MSTN a little under a year now, I really really like the MSTN process and the settings and overall logistics from creating an entire new drawing from scratch or just revising drawings that hit my desk on a daily basis. I think Bentley did a really great job in implementing the design process all the way to plotting. The most aggravating thing about MSTN is getting drawings the guy that has been using MSTN for 15+ years and the drawings are not using Annotation for the Text Styles and Dimension Styles. It makes me want to shoot myself in the face the consistent wrong way he continues to do. So if the drawing is going to be 1/2" = 1'-0" (24), he will reference the model into another model that he references the border file and he will add all his dimensions and text in the model over the reference and he edits a dim style text size to the standard heights required for our standards. So if my engineer asks him to change the scale to 3/4" = 1'-0" (16), he has to create a new DimStyle and dimension everything all over again or have to move the other dim style and edit that one. PAIN IN THE A$$ RIGHT.... So I can't work like that, so if and when ANY of his drawings cross my desk, I will go thru and properly keep my design full scale 1:1 and set my Annotation for the model accordingly. And I always create a separate "Sheet" Model that has my border referenced to it at 1 to 1. The I dimension and and my annotation to the model area where the object data should be. So if I need to change the scale, all I need to do is change the Annotation scale in the model properties and of course adjust the referenced model to the same scale. Or he will have a drawing in one model and scale the border file "up" accordingly to the scale it will be printed. So for example he has a drawing that will be plotted as 1/4" = 1'-0" (48). He will reference his border file and scale it up 48. And add his dimensions and text with his edited dimension and text styles accordingly. But the craziest part that drives me nuts is...So The USACE has a standard text size on the drawings we submit to the as .01, sub-title is .015 and the Text is .02. Sounds easy, right. I just use the same Dim Style and Text for all their drawings as they have specified and given us the files to use accordingly. So, as far as scale size goes, I never have an issue EVER with size of dimensions and texts and annotation on my drawings, because it's always a click away to apply and add to a drawing. But for some reason. For instance the standard text height is .01...so he doesn't use Annotation, so he scales everything to whatever it needs to be. So if the scale is 1/4"=1'-0" (48), you would just take .01 X 48 = 0.48 for his text height and so on for the different sizes, but instead of clicking of the text and reading text height 0.48, it will be either under or over close to the number 90% of the time. So the text height is 0.47254 and sometimes it's way of, like he had a drawing that was at 24 scale and his normal text height for everything was .28554.....I mean I can't even wrap my head around what goes through his mind when implementing this. and I have tried to show him how to use the Annotation Styles and he doesn't have to have all these...…..well I can't tell him he is causing problems, but he is creating so much work for himself and if one sheet has more details on it with a different scale, he just draws it right there in the same model as the scaled up border and other detail is. I typically have a model for each detail that has a different scale factor. And I dimension and add my annotation to the models where the drawings reside. So you have your Design models and I create my Sheet models for the work that will be needed on each sheet accordingly. Just like you would in ACAD with Model Space and Paper Space with your Layout Sheets. Same concept. So yeah, when these drawings come into my workflow. I can't just edit them and spit out a drawing for my engineer knowing how much crap is wrong with the drawing(s). It's a battle I have just learned to live with. I just hope he sees the drawings I have corrected and all the drawings I have created since I have been here and opens one up and says "Hey!!!..this is really set up pretty darn good and everything is to standard and realizes he needs to turn on his Annotation Lock if he doesn't see some of the data. He has never said anything, but like I said, when I get his drawings, the annotation is NEVR turned on. Crazy...Anyway, sorry for the rant and hope our day is going well.

    C. LeMay

    MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 4) version 08.11.09.829

  • Yeah, I love the multiple models and annotation scale! Even easier than AutoCAD, in my mind.

    When I was doing bridge detailing, I would also just create a separate model for every scale detail I needed. And when I need to change the scale of a detail, I could either change the scale of that model (if it was the only detail in it) or I could reference that model into the properly scaled model and just copy everything through. With "Propogate Annotation" scale on most all the annotation would scale appropriately and I just needed to shift it around without trying to reannotate everything or (worse) try to scale my text up.

    And when I reference the detail onto the sheets, Microstation can manage the reference scales for me. Easy as pie. Everything drawn to true size, all annotations at the proper scale and all details scaled properly.

    I remember before all of these things were introduced and it's SO much less work now!

    MaryB

    Power GeoPak 08.11.09.918
    Power InRoads 08.11.09.918
    OpenRoads Designer 2021 R2

        

Reply
  • Yeah, I love the multiple models and annotation scale! Even easier than AutoCAD, in my mind.

    When I was doing bridge detailing, I would also just create a separate model for every scale detail I needed. And when I need to change the scale of a detail, I could either change the scale of that model (if it was the only detail in it) or I could reference that model into the properly scaled model and just copy everything through. With "Propogate Annotation" scale on most all the annotation would scale appropriately and I just needed to shift it around without trying to reannotate everything or (worse) try to scale my text up.

    And when I reference the detail onto the sheets, Microstation can manage the reference scales for me. Easy as pie. Everything drawn to true size, all annotations at the proper scale and all details scaled properly.

    I remember before all of these things were introduced and it's SO much less work now!

    MaryB

    Power GeoPak 08.11.09.918
    Power InRoads 08.11.09.918
    OpenRoads Designer 2021 R2

        

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