We provide an AccuDraw shortcut to 'bump' the first tool setting shown in the Tool Setting dialog from its initial value to the next available. For example, in the SmartLine tool you can place lines and arcs: The key varies by region, it is tilde…

I have been updating an informal training document written during my pre-Bentley consultancy days to current CONNECT Edition versions. The object of the document is to highlight some of the fundamental operational features of MicroStation and related…

My colleague Shawn McGaffick wrote these four blogs on some of the useful reports that administrators or project leads can run on their data. Reporting for CAD Administrators: Cell Count Reports Reporting for CAD Administrators: Working Units, Scales…

When you create custom tool buttons to add to the Ribbon or Quick Access Toolbar existing icons from the application may be appropriate or you may wish to create your own. Sometimes there may be an existing icon whose pattern is appropriate to follow…

Drawing Scale is a tool box I have permanently docked. In any MicroStation based application press Ctrl + T to open the Toolboxes dialog. To open Drawing Scale scroll down and tick the box, click OK: I turn off Sub Unit and ACS Scale as I rarely…

We frequently suggest that people watch the command prompts in the status bar when learning new MicroStation based applications or techniques: You can see these prompts at your cursor during any graphic operation by adding the following configuration…

Originally published 4 Feb 2015 We have had a few questions about rounding dimensions to the nearest 5mm. This is not currently available via the Dimension Styles dialog but there are now methods available for both CONNECT Edition and V8i. CONNECT…

Here are a few points on using the CONNECTION Client. As this utility is updated more frequently than our primary desktop products always go to the CONNECTION Client wiki for the latest and more extensive information. Right-click on the Tray Icon in…

Like most Ribbon UI applications the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) can be customized, before stating to explore this consider where any customizations will be stored. The default is in personal.dgnlib and will only be available to the person who adds the…

Focus is where input from the keyboard will take effect. Unlike an application such as Microsoft Word, where the input focus is essentially either in the document or in a dialog; MicroStation has several points where keyboard input can be applied. …

We have some heat map display styles available for certain attributes through Thematic Mapping. These apply to the situations they were designed for. There are a host of other situations where heat map style symbology can be useful. James Manfield of…

I tried. I really did try. We had a win with MicroStation, No workspace and no workset. Only to have it taken away again by the developers of the other applications. The reality is Bentley developers have decided to change the way applications, and…

We often need to place notes involving special characters, areas, volumes, angles, etc. Any special character present in the fonts available to MicroStation and applications based on it can be access via the Text Editor dialog. Take the example of…

It is possible to set Configuration variables as Windows Environment Variables. This can be useful in some cases. They should generally be set at the User level, not System level. Use of this method is usually applicable to administrators, but may also…

Younger readers can Google Letratone, the rest of you may remember fiddly scalpel work and just how hard it was to pattern a drawing! Here is a link to a cell library containing percentage dot screens that could be useful for giving a different 'old…

This piece covers a couple of techniques for working with brick dimensions. The first method relies upon the ability of the wall tool in AECOsim Building Designer (ABD) to place walls by offset, the second uses MicroStation's units settings file to…

Here are a couple of golden oldies. While AccuDraw has the RE shortcut to temporarily rotate the compass to an element, in some cases you might want to set the Active angle to a specific angle from an element, perhaps on a on a survey drawing or other…

If you look at the delivered button assignments, Workspace menu > Button Assignments, the key-in for Alt + Data is 'match attributes fromcursor', this only matches the basic attributes: Color; Level; Priority; Style; Transparency; Weight; Symbology…

For administrators or others working with multiple configurations, or perhaps needed to launch MicroStation from another application, Command Line Arguments can be used to specify a number of starting criteria. These arguments, often referred to as…

Basic: • Select the elements to be copied/cut • Ctrl + C/X • Move to target location/model/file • Ctrl + V The elements will be copied/cut and then pasted by the geometric centre of the selection. This generally involves another move for correct positioning…

Think about upgrading from Navigator V8i to Navigator CE? You need to be aware of all these changes... Major Changes in Navigator CE as compared to Navigator V8i: can only open mobile i-models (.imodel) can NOT open files directly from ProjectWise…

Lookup tables are a good way to avoid manual data entry and ensure consistency. Item Types now have a lookup tables capability. Combined with storage of Item Types in shared DGNLIBs and the Pick List feature this is very powerful. The outcome of the…

It disappoints me when I see suggestions like those in https://communities.bentley.com/products/plant/w/plant_design_and_engineering__wiki/28289/how-to-configure-openplant-modeler-to-use-workspace-from-shared-locatio n when options exist to avoid editing…

One of the features of the V8i interface, loved by those that discovered and ran with it, was Position Mapping. The ability to drive the UI with simple alpha numeric sequences led to me receiving support calls from some users referring to tools by their…

For convenience here are links to search results for several of the themes on this blog: SMB - lists articles particularly relevant to smaller users in the SMB/SME sectors OpenBuildings Designer Setting Up in the Real World Using it! CONNECT…