Is there an equivalent to "Layer Translate" from AutoCAD in OpenRoads?

For example, our survey department uses different linestyles/colors than our engineering department, so we use Layer Translate to shift everything to their format. Is there an equivalent to that in OpenRoads?

  • You may need to explain to us exactly how "Layer Translate" works. Does it remap elements to different layers? Does it change the ByLayer colors, etc.?

    Microstation is best set up to draw level information from a centralized level library, called a DGNLIB. That way all the layers are available, and don't need to be loaded into and controlled by the individual files. You CAN import levels directly, and you CAN override the level attributes, but DGNLIB files streamline and standardize all that - if things are set up well, you don't often need to do that. Also, if levels get out of whack, you can "Update from Library" to set them back the way they are supposed to be.

    With that being said, you may want to review how you all set things up. There are a few different options.

    One of the options would be to set up your level library with the ByLevel attributes set by the survey department, and the Level Overrides set up for engineering. Viewing levels with their Overrides is a simple View Attribute that can be turned on and off by whoever is working with the file. And if a level doesn't need to change, you can "undefine" overrides for that level, or that library file. This may be the easiest thing to consider; it just takes a bit of setup, then it's nearly automatic without even altering your survey drawings.

    Related to this may be "Display Styles". This is new in MicroStation CONNECT. I haven't played around with it much, but I believe Help has information about how that works.

    In the past, it was easy enough to set up "twinned" level libraries for one group and the other, with identical levels with different definitions. One group would be set to automatically load "Survey" and the other group would be set to load "Engineering". Kind of odd, but the drawing would take on the level attributes of whichever library was attached. I found it a little confusing , and it had certain pitfalls, but I did know a few people who used this effectively.

    You can also Save As DGN to use a level mapping table to convert the drawing from one level setup to another. You'd have to set the table up, but you could use it over and over again. You would just have two copies of the drawing - a Survey version and an Engineering version.

    MaryB

    Power GeoPak 08.11.09.918
    Power InRoads 08.11.09.918
    OpenRoads Designer 2021 R2

        

  • Layer Translate in AutoCAD has the ability to remap to different layers, as well as color, linetype, weight, etc. Here is what the AutoCAD tool looks like.

    We were also looking for a way to convert the AutoCAD layers to their corresponding OpenRoads equivalent. Some of these files will be going out to our state DOT, so I'm not sure if the "twinned" level libraries would work for that, although I will look into that for the inner-office stuff. 

    Do you have any resources I can read for the level mapping table? I am unfamiliar with that, although that sounds more along the lines of what I am looking for.

  • I wasn't sure if you just wanted to display your information in a different way, or if you actually needed to convert levels. Since you are actually converting levels, I agree that remapping is what you need. Here is the link to the MicroStation Help page that contains information about the remapping spreadsheet: https://docs.bentley.com/LiveContent/web/MicroStation%20Help-v21/en/GUID-19D69EF8-0A19-AFF1-33B2-584251B1F9C1.html

    That should get you a good start. It probably is the closest thing to what you want. If you are working with reasonably standardized files, you should be able to create the spreadsheet once and use it over and over again.

    You can also remap elements manually from one level to another through the right-click menu in the Level Manager, but that's not very efficient for more than a handful that just were drawn wrong.

    MaryB

    Power GeoPak 08.11.09.918
    Power InRoads 08.11.09.918
    OpenRoads Designer 2021 R2

        

    Answer Verified By: Clayton Cody