Hello,
I think this is a very general question, I tried searching the forum for similar threads but couldn't find any. Let me try to phrase the question:
Our clients request all As Built documentation to be delivered in PDF and DWG. They won't accept DGN because Microstation / Openbuildings Designer / ProStructures (the softwares we use at our company) are simply very little known or used in our region. So that means I have to convert all sheets to DWG.
Unfortunately though, I can't find a good setting to create well structured DWG file. What I would like to achieve is a single DWG file for each sheet where the geometry, annotations, ... from the (DGN) drawing models are placed in the model space and the layout contains viewports. The way it would be if I created the drawing in AutoCAD for example. Other software like Revit and Tekla Structures do this in a good way, in my opinion.
The best I can achieve from Bentley products, without having to use XREF to external files, is to use the option to "merge" references. But this means that all geometry will be drawn in the layout/paperspace of the DWG file and model space will remain blank. This is unacceptable.
I can imagine one of the difficulties is that DWG only supports a single "Model space", which would correspond to the design/drawing models in a DGN file. And one sheet usually references multiple of those models.
The other softwares I named above handle this by placing all the geometry side-by-side in the model view, then creating the relevant Viewports in the layout. A much more elegant solution, meaning mostly that one can simply measure in the model space without worrying about scale etc.
As it happens I just got a question from one of my colleagues related to this exact problem, while I was typing this post. So I'm 100% certain that we are not the only people struggling with this, there must be others, architects, ... who have the same issue.
Is there a solution for this? Or would it require a big amount of rework for the DWG exporter to create such functionality?
Since there has been quite a bit of response on this topic, and a lot of views, I created this MS Idea: DWG Export - Merge drawing models to model | MicroStation Ideas Portal (aha.io)
For those who agree this would be useful addition, please vote
Hi Johan,
Thank you for doing this!
Regards,
Regie