Why my CADD is better than AuoCAD

This started in a thread in the annotation forum and someone suggested this topic, so as one who likes trowing rocks at bee hives, I took up the baton and am going to kick this off.

  • Can you reference the paperspace into another paperspace or a model?
  • Can you reference a file to itself?
  • Can you create multiple models in a single file?
  • Can you display linetypes on 3D polylines?
  • Can you create linetypes that represent real world objects and do not scale with Annotation scale?

Later, after others have added to this list, I will post AutoCAD features that I like that MicroStation does not offer...

Who's next?

Parents
  • Bingo! I just thought about this issue. This week, I was swamped with production work. But our AutoCAD license server kept turning itself off, and then, one of the guys from one of our other offices was platooned to our office for an AutoCAD project. So on three different days, he was on three different PC's. So on day 1, I had to run my special programs to configure Civil 3D to see our customizations. Had he been working in MicroStation, he would have simply launched from the standard icon.

    Day 2 he gets moved to a new PC. Repeat process. Day 3 new PC - but deadlines were at this point at critical mass - so he was forced to work with OTB software.


    Charles (Chuck) Rheault
    CADD Manager

    MDOT State Highway Administration

    • MicroStation user since IGDS, InRoads user since TDP.
    • AutoCAD, Land Desktop and Civil 3D, off and on since 1996
  • Great - BeCommunities beginning to get almost like CadTutor! Like, people writing as if they want to be understood.

  • Going from Microstation to AutoCAD, I find myself right-clicking all the time to finish the command, lol.

  • Hi all,

    I dunno about all you guys, but to me, there is no comparison. Microstation rocks, even compared to rhino and Sketchup, let alone Autodesk. Here's why, and it's the same as I tell my whole team:

    - I work as a designer creating conceptual 3d models.  I create 300m towers in a day.  Or massive shopping malls in 2-3 hours. It's china, so everything I do needs to be super quick. You can't even get this speed in rhino (I know because I have rhino gurus in the rest of my team).

    - using  autocad to do 3d modelling is a really horrifying experience.

    - autocad can't render.

    - autocad can't scale in one dimension

    - i often model and modify using nodes. Autocad has them too but not nearly as advanced.

    - in microstation u can create meshes for landscapes, and stamp/stencil.  Don't think autocad can do that.

    - autocad splines suck. Microstation bsplines are awesome and rebuilds le. Same as their surfaces.

    - grouped holes rock.

    - I can render a whole model using shapes, rather than surfaces.  Don't think autocad can do that.

    - luxology renderer is awesome in microstation.  It's easy to get a glow happening. Or reflection etc, instead of having to use colors to represent glossiness like in Max.

    - Accurdraw rocks.  Powers lector is unbeatable. Fence manipulations don't exist in any other software. Using fence to cut whole buildings and mirroring has saved me on many occasions.  In rhino u have to intersect each surface.....and wait for a crash.

    - I can layer materials, and acheive amazing effects that even my max visualisers are struggling to remake.

    - I can script my section cuts and render views and batch render remotely. (A system I configured)

    - scale or rotate by element centre is a godsend for creating or rotating fins.

    - references and self referencing is awesome. To hell with bind / insert in autocad. Whoever knows the difference?

    To be honest he list goes on.

    Anyone want to challenge me? Go ahead. But I consistently work 1.5-2 times more faster than anyone else in the office.  Often I'm the only on who can do the task and it's because of microststion.

    If only Bentley used social marketing better...

    Ken

  • Just to share other things autocad cannot do:

    - reference something, then switch off the snap or select tick.

    - add and minus from displaysets

    - select by layer (I think autocad can't)

    - add vertex to dimension is nice discovery.

    - grouping is handier than blocks.

    And to be fair, things I really wish in microstation that autocad has:

    - tables.  I hate microstation tags. Autocad tables are awesome

    - blocks are v cool in autocad too.

    - I don't love editing microstation dimensions and text, although I'm not sure autocad is any better

  • Unknown said:
    Tables.  I hate microstation tags. Autocad tables are awesome

    What's the link between AutoCAD tables and MicroStation tags?

     
    Regards, Jon Summers
    LA Solutions

Reply Children
  • Hi Jon,

    I know there other tools like FlexiTable to get data out of MIcrostation :).  but for out of the box features, this is what I needed to do some times:

    - i have a survey with RL text on there, but the survey is flat.  I need a 3d model from the info.  

    - so i open the survery in Autocad.  i use their tables feature to export just the text into a tabulated Excel.  The text represent Z value.  X and Y comes from their position in local CAD file.

    - import into GC and GC will read the excel and output points along XYZ

    - reimport points into Micrstation and make a mesh from points.

    so.. if i was to use Microstation.. i would somehow need to play with tags etc.. to be honest its been a number of years i tried exporting this kind of data from Microstation, and back in v8, it was laborious and limiting.  I dont think its been updated in v8i, so i havent used it.  Nevertheless Autocad tables and the way you can get data out of it is far more superior.

    Ken

  • What is RL and GC?

    If you like Bentley Applications you can do this 2D to 3D  easily with InRoads. Sure Tags have to drop to Text, first.

    We have a little VBA-Tag-Tool that synchronises Tag-values interpreted as Z- and changes attached Cells to that Z-Value, vice versa.

    If you like to know more open a new thread in the Bentley Road and Design Forum

    Regards

    Frank

    since 1985: GIS, CAD, Engineering (Civil)  Senior Consultant : [Autodesk Civil 3D , Esri ArcGIS, VertiGIS: in previous days : Bentley MS V4 - V8i, GeoGraphics, Bentley Map V8i, InRoads,  HHK Geograf, IBr DAVID] :  Dev: [C, C++, .NET, Java, SQL, FORTRAN, UML]
    [direct quote by: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Schmidt]: "Wer Kritik übel nimmt, hat etwas zu verbergen"
    Wer Grammatik- und/oder Rechtschreibfehler findet, der darf sie behalten :-)

  • Unknown said:
    I have a survey with RL text

    A VBA macro could export text elements with the coordinates of each.  Assuming that RL text, what ever that is, represents height data, you could shuffle those data in Excel and then reimport as 3D coordinates.

    The VBA macro could probably do all the above in one operation.

    Unknown said:
    I would somehow need to play with tags

    It remains unclear why you think tags should be involved.

     
    Regards, Jon Summers
    LA Solutions

  • Unknown said:

    Hi Jon,

     out of the box features, this is what I needed to do some times:

    - i have a survey with RL text on there, but the survey is flat.  I need a 3d model from the info.  

    Ken

    What kind of crappy cockamainey survey ( or surveyor) gives you data only in 2d? Should be take out and beaten to death with a brass theodolite!
    But if you only have 2d I dont see how the text has the xy of a string their may be spot height  or Rls next to points  but  have you tried the export coordinates tool in mstn it can label all the vertices or points with an arbitary  number and increament  but it then gets the xy of each point  if the data is a few simple strings  you can match the lables to the RL text... but if you just want to export your 2d text RLs and if the text justification is the xy  of the survey data there is a good old basic macro we've been using for year .. I have uploaded it here but before Jon summers jumps on me for still advocating basic macros you guys can rewrite it or convert it to VBA and publish it here...once you've used this to export the text xyz you can then reimport andplace 3d pints in mstn withthe import coordiantes tool into a 3d file and then continue as you have been to make mesh or dtms etc form points with just plain microstation...
    As you can tell I too have done this alot ....I havc even used civtools too place text RL for  hundreds of spot heights where only the 3d points have been provided
    also uploaded the method these forums... have fun and if you convert it to vba I want a copy uploaded here for all to share.... have fun ok?

    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 

    ExtractText.zip
  • HI Jon,

    to be honest i dont play with VBA much.  but even if i did, i need speed and ease of use, mainly because if i set a workflow, and i would like others in my team to learn it. and advocating VBA for most people isnt a great idea. Further i think GUI is very important, so having to use VBA is a bit of a optional tool, rather than a core tool in my opinion.   In autocad, exporting this data is really easy and highly flexible.  So if i had to choose, id still choose the Autocad method.  the method im using in autocad only scraps the surface of how it exports data.  

    as for tags, i think you got me.  maybe it doesnt involve it.  last time i tried export areas dynamically linked to excel i used tags.  so i assumed this would be the case.  hence when i said, somehow need to play with tags.. because id have to figure it out if it was the case or not.  My apologies.