This Client Server article is republished in its entirety from 2004 for reference purposes.
By Bentley Technical Support Group22 March 2004 Modified: 21 April 2005
MX in MicroStation is an implementation of MX that runs in the MicroStation environment. The power of three-dimensional surface modeling as used in MX is combined with the drawing capabilities of MicroStation to give a complete system for the design of civil engineering projects and the production of the associated drawings.
When you run MX in MicroStation there are configuration options you need to modify to help you interact between these two systems.
The configuration settings are used to configure the method in which MX interacts with MicroStation. There are two directions in which a mapping may be used: cell mapping (MicroStation to MX) and macro symbol mapping (MX to MicroStation). Both map between MicroStation cells and MX macro symbols, but the cell mapping is used to define how your drawn cells are stored as MX data, while the macro symbol mapping is used to interpret how any macro symbols requested by an MX option are drawn on the DGN. Go to MX menu > View > Configuration
There are two headings on the MicroStation Configuration Options panel (Figure 1, below):
Line styles: This panel determines how MX dashed and macro line styles are represented in MicroStation.
Macro line styles can be represented using MicroStation custom line styles, a multiple cell representation, or a linear pattern. Select the representation you wish to use by clicking the appropriate button.
Generally, the best representation is achieved by using a custom line style, because it will ignore the spacing between points. However, if you need the point spacing to be considered (for example, at a vertex of a line), you may wish to use a cell representation or a linear pattern. Linear patterns do not stretch to fit between points, whereas cells do.
Dashed line styles can be represented by using one of the eight built-in MicroStation line styles (0-7), a multiple cell representation or a linear pattern. Alternatively, you can create them on the fly using custom line styles when required. Again, you can select the representation you wish to use by clicking the appropriate button.
If you set the macro line style to Custom, you should set up the mappings for individual macro line styles using Macro Line Style Mapping.
Using a custom line style is more efficient than using a multiple cell representation, which can make drawing file sizes very large.
Macro line styles: This panel allows you to map MX macro line styles to MicroStation custom line styles and specify a suitable scale for the mapping. For example, the MX hedge line style HEDGE can be mapped to the MicroStation custom line style { Tree Line } at a scale of 0.5. Alternatively, you can select an existing MicroStation line style (0 to 7) rather than a custom line style.
If a macro line style is encountered in a drawing that is not mapped, MX searches for a custom line style of the same name but with the prefix MOSS_; for example, MOSS_HEDGE. If no such line style exists, then a cell representation is used instead.
Macro symbols: This panel allows you to map MX macro symbols to MicroStation cells. For example, when you import a drawing containing the macro symbol AMOSSSYM, the symbol will be replaced by the MicroStation cell MS_SYM.
The Ignore MX Macro Scaling box allows you to ignore any scaling factor already applied to the MX macro symbol. If this is not checked, any scaling factor on the macro symbol is combined with the scale you specify on this panel.
You can map to cells with both short and long names and browse to the attached cell library and any library in the cell library list. To set up the cell library list, select Workspace -> Configuration from the MicroStation menu followed by Cells. The folders defined by Cell Library Directories are also included in the search.
Fonts: This panel allows you to map MX hardware, software, and true type fonts to MicroStation font numbers. For example, you can map the MX default hardware font DFLT to MicroStation font number 1.
To see the relationship between a MicroStation font name and font number, you can click on the Place Text icon and scroll down the list of available fonts.
Line widths: This option maps MX line widths to MicroStation line weights. This allows full control over the line widths imported from the MX drawing.
Ignore Line Widths: If you want to create all elements in MicroStation with a line weight of 0, check this box.
Create Point Standard Symbols as Points: This option increases drawing speed by replacing MX standard point symbols (for example, as used on spot elevations) with MicroStation active points.
Simplified Geometry as Complex Chain:
If you want simplified geometry elements to be created as complex chains rather than a series of individual lines and arcs, check this box. Simplified geometry elements are automatically created on the level Simplified Geometry (level 62) when you create a master string, and can be created explicitly from other strings by using the simp_geom key-in.
Seed files: This panel is used to select the seed files and cell library to be used when the DGN is created from MX data.
Seed files must be stored in the folder specified by the configuration variable MS_SEEDFILES. By default, this folder is ...\mfw\mfm\seed. Additional seed files are provided in this folder for international coordinate systems.
MX in MicroStation uses seed files containing standard settings that have been configured for optimum performance with MicroStation. These files are indicated by the following configuration variables (accessed from the Workspace -> Configuration menu or from the MX option View -> Configuration -> MX to MicroStation):
Variable File Description MOSS_CELLSEED mx_cell_seed.cel MX cell library MOSS_DRAWING_SEED mx_seed_cm.dgn Metric seed file used for drawing pages (DPFs) mx_seed_inch.dgn Imperial seed file used for drawing pages (DPFs) MOSS_MODEL_SEED mx_seed_m.dgn Metric seed file used for drawing model (DPWs) ms_seed_ft.dgn Imperial seed file used for drawing model (DPWs)
If you wish to use a common cell library, then check the Use Common Cell Library box. The cell library you specify is now used for all drawings. If you do not check this box, a different cell library may be used for each drawing.
You can create an empty seed file from the current DGN using the Create Empty Seed File from Current DGN options. First, type or browse for the name of the new seed file to be created. If you wish to open the seed file after it has been created, check the Open New Seed File box. Click Create Seed to create the seed file. The current DGN is copied to the specified seed file and all elements are then deleted from this new file.
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