I've seen a few posts show up in the search results for Blender. I'm wondering if anyone here has established a workflow for making MicroStation 3D Models usable in Blender?
What I'm looking for is:
I recently did an initial test and the only file format format I had some success was OBJ but I'm about to make a more concerted effort and was curious if OBJ is still the way to go or if FBX or other is the better route to go down?
1.First if you are working with some Geographic Coordinate System and have huge value for the coordinates you need to move the objects close to (0,0). Blender cannot handle objects well that are far away scene origin.
2. For export I will recommend two options: FBX or OBJ. In export options you need to set Invert Y and Z but then keep the axis settings in Blender for import by default (-Z Forward, Y Up). Or keep uncheck the option for axis in MicroStation and for import in Blender set: Y Forward, Z Up.
3. The option for import OBJ in Blender Split by Group will create separate elements in Blender for each level in MicroStation.
4. If you have imported the model, select one and go to Edit Mode(Tab), press A to have selected all vertices, press M and select Merge by distance. It will remove all duplicated vertices.
5. If some of faces are not displaying properly it may have a relation with Normal. So select the face and press ALT N and try these options.
Enable displaying of normal could be helpful. These options are only available in Edit Mode.