OpenRoads Create 3D Design Model Error

Sanders,

I don't recall if I ever replied to your message, but we are still dealing with this issue. We begin each project using a seed file that has been supplied by our client, with each one getting a coordinate system attached. Other than that, the seeds appear to be the same. We have one project where we don't have this problem and we have been using this as the seed file for the past couple of years. As we will occasionally get new seed files to use where we see the problem again, but I can't tell what the difference is between the seed files, other than the coordinate system. Would I be able to upload the good file along with the bad file for testing?

Thanks,
Ken

Sanders,

I don't recall if I ever replied to your message, but we are still dealing with this issue. We begin each project using a seed file that has been supplied by our client, with each one getting a coordinate system attached. Other than that, the seeds appear to be the same. We have one project where we don't have this problem and we have been using this as the seed file for the past couple of years. As we will occasionally get new seed files to use where we see the problem again, but I can't tell what the difference is between the seed files, other than the coordinate system. Would I be able to upload the good file along with the bad file for testing?

Thanks,
Ken

Ken: I have seen similar issues across many clients since OpenRoads was released.  An example is in a large midwestern state DOT where they were experiencing greater incidence of crashes than expected. They were literally crashing every 5 minutes. Built a new seed file and the crashes went away. Well, Openroads crashes sometimes, sorry to say, but not every 5 minutes.

For seed files which have been around for years (sometimes decades) they just seem to accumulate cruft which OpenRoads finds objectionable.  These problems are not always obvious or easy to find. 

I always recommend that when starting to use OpenRoads that new seed files be generated from scratch. Since seed files are pretty basic now, compared to the olden days, it just makes sense to start fresh. My standard practice when developing new workspaces is to record the DGN settings from the current seed file then throw it in the trash. Then I make a brand new seed file starting with one of the seeds delivered in the product.

Thanks for the input, Robert. If I take the latest Bentley delivered seed file, I plan on just going through the design file settings to ensure all looks good for our use. Do you see anything else that would need to be checked? Thanks again.

Here's my list of things I review in the seed:

• Make sure there is no global origin shift (EXTREMELY Important)
• Define Coordinate system
• View Attributes
  • Turn Off grid (personal preference)
  • Turn Off clip volume, clip front and clip back (highly recommended for convenience)
  • turn ON default lighting (for convenience)
• DGN settings
  • Set angle readout, precision and everything else related to Microstation.
  • Check the grid settings here - if the grid master or grid reference values are set to large numbers then OpenRoads has a fit. Don't know why but t does. If values are greater than 100 then things go wacky, so keep it small. 
  • View Options Civil - set the various precision and etc. as appropriate
    • Pay particular attention to the station equation setting (By Name for InRoads environment and By Index for Geopak)
  • Working units
    • Set the proper units of course.
    • Set Solids Working area to 1.0 (very important, mostly for Subsurface Utilities). Reasonable values are 0.1 to maybe as much as 2.0.  800ish (a common default in many seed files) is bad.
• Attach the appropriate color table
• Settings > Drawing Scale - I like to define a default scale
  • Side note: Scales can be tricky when dealing with legacy DOT workspaces.  This is a long discussion in and of itself.
• I like to set the default text style (for convenience) 
•  Locks
  • Set Snap divisor- I like 4 so that keypoint snap will give quarter points, but that's just me, so I usually set it to 1 or 2 in the seed.
  • Graphic Group Lock - I like it on by default but this can be dangerous so I am starting to rethink

Again, great information. Thank you Robert.

Can you explain the Solids Working Area a bit more. All of our files seem to be the 800+/- miles value. Changing this to on or two miles seems counter-intuitive.