Overview

Problem: You need to set up and use a drawing frame / border in your sheet models for final drawings. (the standard MX unit is 'cm')

You need to make sure you have installed the October release of MX XM or later. You have a small choice of routes. This depends on the state of your existing set of borders and, or whether, you will be making up brand new border DGNs.

We are going to show you how to set up new borders specifically for MX. Save them to your standard 'styles or borders' folder, then how they are selected and used within Mx final drawings.

1. Open MX without starting a project. This depends on your MX preferences but you may need to go into a project and then go Project >close. Start a new DGN. Whether or not you initially select \Programfiles\Bentley\MX\MFW\Mfm\Seed\mx_seed_mm.dgn - you do need to check these settings.
2. First choice: do you want one 'default' MicroStation model (see FAQ reference at the end) in your DGN or do you want the 'base' model plus a 'sheet' model. In the former case you need to make your default model into a sheet model. We will follow this route.
3. Go to Settings > Design file > Working units. Set Master unit and Sub unit to mm. Set Advanced settings > resolution to 1000 per millimeter. (Ignore the warning not to change these settings. See views below)
4. In File > models > make the 'default' MicroStation model in your DGN - into a sheet model. This method avoids you having to keep selecting the sheet model in Edit PSU when setting up in MX.
5. Then select your paper size (eg: ISO A1) NB: CHECK that the page size reads correctly. (grey field next to the 'ISO') (if the size looks wrong then switch the model from 'sheet' back to 'model' and back to 'sheet' again. (so that it reads the design units again)

   

    

6. Go back to your Models tab. Make sure that the scales are set to 1:1
7. Second choice - New geometry or use an existing drawing border: For the first you can draw up your new frame on to the sheet using standard CAD tools.
8. Always check and re-check the distance measurement across the bottom of the frame.

    

    

9. In the second case: You could also import the 'geometry' of an existing frame by attaching a cell library - or a DGN file - which is or contains your border. Then place that border as a cell. See below:

    

    

10. Simply place this cell (formed from your existing DGN) into the sheet model. (Remember the design units are inherited from the master DGN not the one you are inserting.)
11. Once again check and re-check the distance measurement across the bottom of the frame.

You should now have a frame appearing on your sheet model, which measures the correct size in (mm), similar to point 8/ above.

This file you can save into your standard folder as a new border for use with any project. At this stage it is worth noting that in MicroStation there are several points at which you can apply a secondary scale to a border, which is in fact a reference in its own right. So while many people would save a separate DGN for A0 and another for A1 and so on - it is possible to use the same frame in different drawing sets by rescaling on the fly. In addition one can combine several sheet sizes and styles as different 'models' in the same DGN. This requires clear knowledge of MicroStation. For our purposes we are describing a straight forward approach where all subsidiary scales are to be set 1:1.

The reason why this is slightly different to standard MicroStation - especially in terms of the resolution - is that the MX 'enhance model' is hard defaulted to cm. This means that an underlying factor of 0.1 converts to mm. In the case of an inches project this factor is 2.54.

Now a simple run down on inserting your mm border:

1. In your MX project proceed to VIEW>Configuration in the MX menus. Set this to the relevant new seed file for sheet models. In this case mx_seed_mm.dgn.

    

    

2. Now save your project, Exit from MX and go back in to effect the setting.
3. Now once you have a drawing in the base model you can go ahead with using the final drawings tools to produce a set of drawings. Go to DRAW>Layout Pages.

    

4. Select the mm option and then only mm PSUs (layouts) will appear for selection. Pick one and go to EDIT.

    

   Blank PSU - previous border may or may not be available.

5. Browse to your new border (DGN) file. The frame should appear.

    

6. Check measurements. Check -Settings>design file>working units. These should all tie up with those set in your new frame DGN.
7. Now File >Save / Save as your PSU to include the new border.
8. You should now be able to proceed to finishing your set of drawings after choosing the PSU, master string and your plan scale.

    

Note: Use of the standard Sheet model seed files installed in the \mfm\seed folder for both your new border DGNs and for the corresponding sheet model in your current project should allow a seamless combination of the two. The method we have shown you highlights the need to keep a close eye on how the Design file /units are adjusted to make this happen. Suggested reading on MicroStation models: http://selectservices.bentley.com/en-US/Support/Support+Tools/TechNotes+and+FAQs/MicroStation+V8/Models.htm

See Also

Product TechNotes and FAQs

MX TechNotes And FAQs

External Links

Bentley Technical Support KnowledgeBase

Bentley LEARN Server

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