1. science
2. social science
3. linguistics
4. translation

VOLUME 19
THE WORLD’S LARGEST CIRCULATION MICROSTATION® PRINT PUBLICATION
DGN
DGN
ISSUE 11
MicroStation
®
DGN
DGN
DGN
DGN
DGN
DGN
DGN
DGN
DGN
DGN
Want to print multiple MicroStation files to a
single PDF? This how-to guide will show you
exactly what you need to know. Page 3
Tips & Tricks
New Video Series Exposes
Translation Secrets
Why don’t translations between MicroStation
and AutoCAD come out as expected? New
video series exposes ten secrets you can use to
help get translations right. Page 3.
Need Multiple MicroStation
Files in a single PDF?
MicroStation can print multiple design files to
a single PDF, but not many people know how.
Here’s a quick, step-by-step guide. Page 3.
TODAY
Time-saving MicroStation News
Translating Between MicroStation
and AutoCAD Again?
How to use Translation Manager to
get translations done right the first
time and every time after that
By Rick DeWitt,
Axiom Senior
Product Manager
I don’t care what anyone tells you, there
is no such thing as a
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
PRESORTED STANDARD
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
TAMPA‚ FL
PERMIT NO. 8107
Axiom
1805 Drew Street
Clearwater‚ Florida 33765 USA
MicroStation News
Got Lots of DGN or DWG Files
to Translate?
Getting a translation right once is good. But
how can you speed up the process next time
if you need to translate multiple files several
times throughout the life of a project? Page 1.
Axiom News
Removing Text Styles the Easy
Way
If you’re ever faced with having to make bulk
changes, such as modifying or removing text
styles, throughout dozens or hundreds of
DGN files, here’s something that will speed
you along. Page 1.
What’s the Ideal
Frequency for Upgrading
Your CAD Software?
3%
Every Year
Every 5 Years or More
Every 1 to 2 Years
Never
Every 2 to 4 Years
Source: www.cadalyst.com
Ever have a problem with translation between
MicroStation and AutoCAD? You may want to
know these secrets. Page 3.
one-click, omnipotent
translation button for
translations between
Mi c ro St at i on and
AutoCAD files. But
you can make these
translations much easier, less time consuming
and far less frustrating. This is particularly
true when you have to
do translations at various stages throughout
the same project or for
the same customer, client or subcontractor.
Tra n s l a t i o n
Manager simplifies
the translation process
and allows you to automatically create project
settings files, which can
be used over and over
on subsequent translations of files from the
same project, vendor or
Now there ‘s a faster way to get translations to come out as expected. Not
only that, but it’s easier than ever to re-use the settings when translating
files from the same customer (or contractor) or when you have to translate
files from the same project at different times during the life of the project.
contractor. Translation
Manager starts off
by wr iting e ver ything involved in the
translation process into
a named “Project” file.
Translation Manager
continues by providing
See “Translations
Done Right the First
Time and Every
Time” on page 2.
How to Globally Change Text
Styles in any Number of DGN Files
And do it all in one fell swoop
By Rick DeWitt,
Axiom Senior
Product Manager
CAD standards may
be a pain, but they’re
a fact of life. So, what
do you do when you’re
faced with a situation
where you have tens,
hundreds or maybe
even t housands of
MicroStation files that
use a text style when
you don’t want one or
that use the wrong text
style? For example,
let’s say you’ve received
a number of DGN
files that were translated from AutoCAD.
AutoCAD requires
that all text have an
associated text style.
But, in MicroStation,
that isn’t a requirement and your CAD
standards dictate that
text styles aren’t used.
So now you need
to remove the association with the text style,
but without affecting
the way the text looks
Want a fast and easy way to modify text styles in any number of MicroStation files in batch? With
Global File Changer, you can make thousands of different types of changes such as changes to
text, level symbology settings, text styles and more. Changes are made in batch and with laser
precision to any number of design files you choose.
and displays in all your
MicroStation files. If
you’re a glutton for
punishment, you could
manually go into each
file and remove the
styles, one by one. But
is that really how you
want to spend your
day? Or, you could use
Global File Changer’s
new modify text style
feature and make those
changes automatically
to any number of files.
Whenever you’re faced
w it h ma k ing bu l k
changes throughout
a set of MicroStation
design files, Global
File Changer will handle it for you. One of
its most important
jobs is to get sets of
drawings cleaned up
to meet standards for
submitta ls. Global
File Changer’s newest
See “Making
Global Changes to
MicroStation Files the
Easy Way” on page 4.
www.AxiomInt.com • Fax 727-442-8344
Page 2 • MicroStation Today
Translations Done Right the First Time and Every Time
Continued from page 1
tools to evaluate the files
you plan to translate and
even modify the files if
whether DGN or DWG.
Now, when you need
to translate the same set
of files again for the next
t r a n s l at ion mo de .
This is where you select the type of files
you’re translating and
Figure 1. By saving project settings from one batch of translations, Translation
Manager not only helps you get translations done right the first time, but makes
it easy to reuse those settings the next time you have to do the same type of
translations.
necessary. After that, it
walks you through configuring the translation
using a Wizard so you understand what each setting does and how it affects
your results. When you’re
done, simply save all these
settings into your project
submission or you have
to translate a new set of
files for the same client
or subcontractor, all you
have to do is load your
saved Translation Manager
project file, select the files
you want to translate and
click a button. It doesn’t
Figure 2. Choosing which files to process is as easy as
dragging and dropping the files (or entire directories of
files) into the “Choose Files to Process” dialog box and
clicking {OK}.
file and click a single button to translate all the files
in your project. An optional final step — which you
can also save into your
project file — repairs and
cleans up the translated
files and makes modifications that are sometimes
necessary to meet a particular CAD standard in
the new output format,
get much easier than that.
Here’s how simple it is
to create and reuse your
Tran sl ation Manage r
project file:
Create the Project
1. S t a r t Tr a n s l a t i o n
Manager and go to the
“Project” menu and select “New…”.
2. N e x t , s e l e c t t h e
what you’re translating them into. In this
example, I’m going to
translate a batch of files
from AutoCAD 2010 to
MicroStation V8.
3. Now, select Project
| Save As… and create a project name
for this translation
proje c t . We’ l l u s e
“Hwy290toV8.pjt”.
4. N o w , s e l e c t t h e
AutoCA D drawing files you want to
process. You can do
this by clicking the
{Select…} button to
the right of the “Which
files do you want to
translate?” field on
the main Translation
Manager dialog box
(Figure 1), which opens
the “Choose Files to
Process” dialog box
(Figure 2). Then, simply drag and drop your
files into this dialog
box from Windows
Explorer or use the
icons to browse or
search for the files you
want to translate.
5. Click {OK} to close
the dialog box and return to Translation
Manager’s main dialog box. You will notice
that the “Destination
folder:” field shows the
same folder as the files
selected to translate. (If
files were selected from
more than one folder,
the “destination folder” will be the folder of the last file in the
list of files to process.)
This is the location that
Translation Manager
will use for the translated files. Or, if you
want, you can choose
pre-process the files (as
needed), configure and
translate the files and (optionally) post-process to
compress, modify or repair files after a translation. Translation Manager
can do this all for you on
any number of files at
once. When finished, simply save the project settings, which includes a list
of all the file names and
the settings of every step,
for future use.
translated (usually just a
few minutes), you can then
click the {Post-process}
button, if needed. A few
minutes later, the properly translated files are done
and ready for your submittal or use. Yes, it’s that easy
and that fast.
As a note, you can create as many project settings files as you want for
as many different types of
translation projects you
have. You can even open
Figure 3. From Translation Manager’s main dialog box, you can easily select the
translation mode, the files to translate and where to store the translated files. Using
Translation Manager will not only help you get your translations done right the first
time but also saves you time on the first and every subsequent translation.
a different location. If
you want the translated
files to go into the same
folder as the source
files, simply turn on the
checkbox for “Put each
translated file into the
same folder as the original file.”
6. Once these basics are
established, save everything to the project
file by clicking Project
| Save.
Translating Files the
First Time
Now that the basics of the
project are saved, you can
have Translation Manager
Translations Done
Fast and Right —
Every Time
The next time you need
to translate files, you can
reuse your previously
saved settings. This is a fast
way to translate files that
are from the same project, client or contractor.
All you have to do is start
Translation Manager, click
Project | Open, select the
project file that has the settings you want to use (for
example, “Hwy290toV8.
pjt”), select the new files
you want to translate and
click the {Translate} button. When the files are
previously saved projects,
make changes to the settings and then save them
as a different project name
for those projects that just
have a few differences.
Call Now!
For more information on
Translation Manager or
to receive a free trial version, contact an Axiom
MicroStation Consultant
today! Call 727-442-7774
extension 2764, e-mail
[email protected] or
visit Axiom on the Web
at www.AxiomInt.com
now! MST
Get Translations Between DGN and DWG Files Done Right the First Time!
With Translation Manager, you can:
• Avoid messy translations between MicroStation
and AutoCAD.
• Simplify the process of translating files
between MicroStation and AutoCAD and
improve the results.
• Get expected results when translating files and
easily reuse the settings for future translations.
Call 727-442-7774 extension 2334, e-mail [email protected] or visit
Axiom on the Web at www.AxiomInt.com now!
Call 727-442-7774 extension 3328 in the United States.
E-mail [email protected].
www.AxiomInt.com • Fax 727-442-8344
Tips & Tricks
How to Create Multi-page PDFs
Directly from MicroStation!
By Rick Sewell,
Axiom Director of
Customer Services
H
ere in Axiom
Support Land,
people regularly ask us if we have a
tool that will perform
some specific task in
MicroStation. Usually,
the answer is “Yes” and
Rick Sewell, beloved CAD
we show them the tool
ace, lives to help CAD users
and how it works to
get their projects done on
save them time. But
time. He really lives for this
sometimes we give a
stuff. Give him a call and
different answer. One
put him to the test.
question that comes up
quite often is “Does Axiom have a tool that will allow
you to print multiple MicroStation files to a single PDF
file?” My answer, “Nope, no need. You can already do
that in MicroStation V8i.”
The fact is, not everyone realizes that this feature
already exists. It’s available through the MicroStation
“Print Organizer”. I think the reason that not everyone realizes that the feature exists is because the Print
Organizer can look a little scary if you’re not familiar with it. And why bother getting into the “Print
Organizer” when you can just keep printing from the
old standard “Print” dialog box, which MicroStation
retained from previous versions?
Anyway, we didn’t feel it was necessary to create a
tool to do something that MicroStation already does and
does well. It’s surprisingly easy to do, too! Here’s how...
1. Go to File | Print Organizer.
2. Click the {Add Files to Set} button (Figure 1). This
will load the dialog box “Create Print Definitions”.
Page 3 • MicroStation Today
{Printer Setup...} button to open the Printer Setup
dialog box.
6. The field labeled “File Name:” will be empty. Press the
“Browse” icon. (See Figure 4.) This should open to default to the location where all of your installed plot
configuration files are stored. (If not, just navigate to:
“C:\{Your MicroStation base directory}\Workspace\
System\pltcfg\”.) Select the file named “pdf.pltcfg”
and press {Open}. Then press {OK} to return to the
“Print” dialog box.
Figure 4. All of the MicroStation plot configuration files
are usually stored in the same place for easy access.
7. Find the field labeled “Submit as:” and set the value
to “Single print job”. (See Figure 5.)
Figure 5. The “Print” dialog box has a few simple but
important and powerful options.
8. There’s one final setting that isn’t required but that I
like to use. Toggle on the option labeled “Open print
file after creation”. This will cause the PDF to open
after the plot is complete so that you can see your
completed product.
9. Press {OK} and your print job will start processing
all of your files.
When the job is complete, your Adobe reader will automatically load and open your newly created multipage PDF!
Figure 1. The MicroStation V8i Print Organizer is
where you’ll get way more control over your printing
than just the standard “Print” dialog box can give you.
3. Press the {Add} button, then navigate to and select
all the files that you would like to print to your PDF
and press {Done}.
4. Press {OK} in the “Create Print Definitions” dialog
box to return to the “Print Organizer” dialog box.
5. Press the “Print” icon (Figure 3) and the Print dialog box will open. On the Print dialog box, Press the
Which ones could you use?
Rick DeWitt, Axiom’s
senior product manager,
has spent countless hours
translating tens of thousands of files and recently
released ten of his top
secrets on how to reduce
the mess when translating
between MicroStation and
AutoCAD.
Sure, both MicroStation
and AutoCAD have the
ability to read and write
each others’ files. And they
work great if you just have
simple files or don’t care
about the resulting mess
that can occur.
The list of problems that
come from translations is
so long it almost defies belief. Just some of the common problems that people
run into are that the translated files:
• Have incorrect working units.
• Don’t meet the required
CAD standards because the resolution
isn’t right.
• Have the wrong dimension (3D when it should
be 2D or vice versa).
• Have elements that are
the wrong size.
• Have elements that are
not at the right coordinate locations.
And the list goes on. Want
to learn exactly how to prevent or handle these?
Better Translations
Between MicroStation
and AutoCAD Can Be
Yours
I carved out some time and
put together a series of videos that will help you uncover the secrets you need
to know in order to improve your translations between MicroStation and
AutoCAD (in both directions). Just go to Tips.
AxiomInt.com and click
on the “MicroStation–
AutoCAD Translation
Secrets” image to find ten
secrets that should help improve the ease and accuracy of your translations. MST
Fix Any MicroStation File
Automatically!
Why let file
corruption stop
MicroStation
crashed.
production?
Here are just a
few things that FileFixer can quickly
solve:
Figure 6. Your beautiful multi-page PDF!
Figure 2. The “Create Print Definitions” dialog box is
poised for selecting files and allows you to apply predefined print settings to your job or manually apply
print settings on the fly!
10 Secrets for Better
MicroStation–AutoCAD
Translations
Want More MicroStation Know-how? Call Now!
For more information on cool tips and tricks, check out
our LearningBay courses by visiting www.AxiomInt.
com/microstation-training. You can also schedule a
free demonstration about training solutions or talk
with one of our MicroStation Consultants by calling
727-442-7774 extension 3222.
Send Us Your MicroStation Tips!
Send your favorite MicroStation tip or trick to
[email protected]. We will give you full credit for
the tip and your peers will look at you with reverence. MST
• Problems that cause MicroStation
to crash or prevent design files
from opening.
• Missing elements or elements that
can’t be selected , moved, copied
or deleted.
• Plotting problems or anomalies.
• Fit View problems.
• Problems after migrating design
files from V7 to V8 or V8i.
Call 727-442-7774
extension 2634 or visit
www.AxiomInt.com/file-fixer.
Figure 3. The Print Organizer dialog box makes it totally
clear which files are going to be printed in this job.
Call 727-442-7774 extension 3328 in the United States.
E-mail [email protected].
www.AxiomInt.com • Fax 727-442-8344
Page 4 • MicroStation Today
Making Global Changes to MicroStation Files the Easy Way
Continued from page 1
feature addition gets text
styles in drawings updated to meet client standards.
An Easy-to-use
Solution for Cleaning
Up Sets of Drawings
Let’s take a common example of the kind of problem you can solve with this
new feature. Translated
AutoCAD files always
custom command, you can
remove all the unwanted AutoCAD text styles,
without altering the way
the text displays in the
MicroStation version of
those files. Here’s how easy
this is:
1. Open one of the files
that has a text style that
you want to use. (You’ll
select the rest of the files
to process later.)
box. (See Figure 1.)
4. Click the {Text Style…}
button in the “Text
Style” section of the
dialog box to open the
“Select Text Style” dialog box.
5. Click the text style to
highlight it in the dialog
box. (See Figure 2.) The
“Style (none)” text style
represents no text style.
For our example, we
want to remove the text
If you’re a glutton for punishment, you
could manually go into each file and
remove the styles, one by one. But is that
really how you want to spend your day?
arrive with text sporting text styles since text
styles are a requirement for
all AutoCAD text. Many
MicroStation shops don’t
want this. Using Global
File Changer’s Modify Text
2. L o a d G l o b a l F i l e
Changer from your
A x i o m p u l l - d ow n
menu.
3. Select Custom | Modify
te x t… to open t he
“Modify Text” dialog
Figure 1. Global File Changer allows you to make global
changes to just about anything in a single design file or
in hundreds of design files at once, including changing
or removing all or specific text styles.
style, so select “Style
(none)”. This choice is
particularly useful if
the files you want to
modify were originally
AutoCAD files and you
need to remove the text
styles, without modifying the way the text itself displays.
6. As the unwanted text
styles could also be
associated with text
that exists in cells and
shared cells, check the
options “Text in cells”
and “Text in shared
cells” in the “Text to
Process” section of the
“Modify Text” dialog
box. (See Figure 3.)
7. After you’ve chosen the
text style and checked
which text elements to
process, click the {OK}
button and you will be
prompted to save this
list of changes. Save the
file with any name and
location you want. (This
is so you can use it later
if you like.)
Figure 2. Global File Changer makes it easy to select the
text style that you want to use when modifying text
elements in batch. By default, the text styles contained
in the active master file and the text styles from any
active DGN library will be displayed.
8. You will be returned to
Global File Changer’s
ma i n d ia log box .
From here, click on
the {Select…} button
to choose the files you
want to process.
9. Once the files are chosen, simply click the
{Start} button to make
the changes you wanted
to every file you selected, automatically.
Global File Changer is
limited only by your
imagination. Any command you can type at the
MicroStation command
prompt can be automatically repeated on any number
of design files you choose.
It can be used to make
thousands of different types
of changes — with laser
precision — to any number
of design files you choose
and makes all the changes
in batch.
That said, here are just
a few examples of what
Global File Changer can do:
• Search and replace multiple text or tag values
in a series of design
files.
• Move elements between
levels easily.
• Compare design file settings in one file to multiple files at the same
time, and report on any
settings violations.
• Update design files settings in a set of files.
• Replace any or all cells
in your design files with
a new version of those
cells.
Figure 3. Global File Changer’s power is limited only
by your imagination. For instance, if you need to make
changes to a large amount of text and would like to do
it all at the same time, you can do that with Global File
Changer.
• Flatten 3D files to a specific Z value.
• Scale a whole series of
design files.
• Scale all the elements
in a whole series of design files.
• Cha nge t he master
units of a series of design files from feet to
meters.
• Change the global origin of a series of design
Solve MicroStation Problems Fast!
MicroStation Acceleration Garage™
120
80
Garage includes tools that allow you to:
•Train on MicroStation, GEOPAK, InRoads, AutoCAD and Revit
without leaving your desk.
•Fix any MicroStation file automatically.
•Import spreadsheet and word processing data into MicroStation with
perfect formatting.
•Solve any MicroStation reference file problem fast.
•Easily edit raster reference files — in color — without leaving
MicroStation.
•Make unlimited changes to multiple design files quickly and easily.
•Achieve title block consistency automatically.
•Take control of your MicroStation cell libraries.
•Perform quality-assurance checks on your MicroStation files quickly
and easily.
•Merge a design file and its reference files into a single file.
files.
• Attach a different cell library to a series of design files.
• Lock all the elements
in a set of design files
so that they cannot be
changed.
• Unlock those same elements, all at once.
• Turn on the display of
line weights in a series
of design files.
• Scale each text element
in a design file about
its center, justification
point or lower left.
• Scale each cell in a design file about its center or insertion point
(origin).
• Lots, lots, lots more.
160
See the Power of
Global File Changer
for Yourself. Call Now!
For more information on
Global File Changer or to receive a free trial version, contact an Axiom MicroStation
Consultant today! Call 727442-7774 extension 3329,
e-mail 3329@AxiomInt.
com or visit Axiom on the
Web at www.AxiomInt.com
now! MST
200
MPH
(MicroStation Productivity per Hour)
40
240
280
0
320
0
320
•Quickly view design file differences.
• Find details, cells, blocks and more in any number of files — fast.
•Save time while working with multiple design files.
•Easily control the display and plotting sequence of elements in dozens
of design files with a single command.
•Use an advanced MicroStation spell-checking program with
unparalleled features not found in other spell checkers.
•And more!
280
40
80
(MicroStation Productivity per Hour)
MPH
240
For more information on Garage, call 727-442-7774 extension 1642, e‑mail
[email protected] or visit Axiom on the Web at www.AxiomInt.com!
Copyright © 1995–2012 Axiom. All Rights Reserved. Acceleration Garage, FileFixer, LearningBay, Global File Changer and Translation Manager are trademarks of Axiom. MicroStation and InRoads are registered trademarks of Bentley Systems‚ Incorporated. Neither Axiom nor MicroStation
Today are affiliated with Bentley Systems‚ Incorporated. GEOPAK is a registered trademark of GEOPAK Corporation. Axiom is not an affiliate or licensee of GEOPAK Corporation. Other trademarks are held by their respective owners. Not responsible for inadvertent errors.
Call 727-442-7774 extension 3328 in the United States.
E-mail [email protected].