MicroStation Tips» Level Tips

Using Level Symbology to plot thinner lines.

MicroStation User — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:26:01 +0000

A question we recently received was: “Is there a way to plot the lines in some reference files thinner, without changing the drawing and keep the other reference files the same?”
The easy way to handle this is to use Level Symbology. (The following directions are for MicroStation/J.)

1) From the “Reference” dialog box, select the reference file you want to plot.

2) Go to Settings | Level Symbology. This will open the “Ref Level Symbology” dialog box for that reference file.

3) Select the levels you want to make “thinner”, then click on the Weight check box, under the “Settings” area.

4) Modify the Weight and click .

5) In the View Attributes for your active view, turn on “Level Symbology”.

Enable the “Level Symbology” view attribute to see the level symbology you just set.
That’s it! This does not affect the actual element symbology, only how the element displays in that view. You can turn off the level symbology when you are done plotting.

If you use this procedure often, it would be good practice to set up this up in an unused view. This gives you a “plotting view” that you can modify however you want, without modifying the actual drawing.

Change Level Names in MicroStation V8

MicroStation User — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:15:43 +0000

How do you change the “level” names to our standards? (i.e. “Anchors” level change to Level “24″).

To rename one level at a time, just open the Level Manager (under Settings > Level menu). Then, right-click on the level you want to rename, and select “Rename” from the options. Viola! Now, if you want to rename multiple levels across multiple design files, I recommend you look into a plug-in, like Axiom’s Global File Changer (www.axiomint.com/products), to help you automate that.

Introduction to models for the new V8 user

MicroStation User — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:14:11 +0000

With V8, Bentley introduced MicroStation users to the concept of models. Whereas a V7 design file used to be one single design space, a V8 design file is a container of models, each of which behaves much like a separate design file. You can create an unlimited number of models in a DGN file.

There are two types of models: design or sheet. Design models can be either 2D or 3D. A design model can also be used as a reference or placed as a cell. Sheet models, which are flat and used for drawing composition, are ordinarily 2D (see description of “drawing composition” below). Sheet models let you attach references to create a set of working drawings for the design. By default, the view windows of design models have black backgrounds and those of sheet models have white backgrounds.

MicroStation users familiar with AutoCAD will notice that the model concept is not new to CAD. A design model is similar to the “DWG model space” and a sheet model is similar to the “DWG paper space”.

Drawing Composition

As the name suggests, design models are meant to serve as design environments, where designers can draw components or sections of an overall design and then use sheet models to bring together parts and compose finished, annotated drawings. This is a concept known as “Drawing Composition”. In other words, you can reference in models from the same file into another model in the same file (or another design file if you want). For example, you can design the drawers for a desk in one design model, the table top in another and bring them all together as a complete desk in the sheet model.

Models dialog box
MicroStation V8 offers a simple dialog box to manage models. The Models dialog box can be accessed through File | Models or by clicking on the Models icon.

The Models dialog box is explained in the graphic below:

The Models dialog box (File | Models) is used to create and manage models in an open DGN file.

Useful model key-ins

If you are like most of us at Axiom (read: a geek), then the following key-ins will help you move faster. You can either memorize them or assign them to a function key. Enjoy!

Create a new design model: MODEL CREATE DESIGN
Create a new sheet model: MODEL CREATE SHEET
Import all models from another design file: MODEL IMPORT ALL

These key-in commands will prompt for any additional information they need.

Drag and drop models

You can also drag and drop DGN or DWG files from Windows Explorer into the Models dialog box to import the models from the selected files. Similarly you can use drag and drop to drag models from the Models dialog in another open session of MicroStation to the Models list box and drop them in to import the models. Neat!

Models! Models! Models!

Models have changed the way MicroStation designers work, by providing multiple design environments within one file. This translates to fewer numbers of files per project and easier management of design information. Yet another clever way Bentley has given us to more efficiently communicate design intent.

Introduction to Level Libraries

MicroStation User — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:12:10 +0000

Level libraries are a MicroStation V8 enhancement that allow you to ensure consistency by offering an easy way to standardize level settings in your design files. Level libraries are very similar to the LVL files found in previous versions of MicroStation [Editor’s note: In V7, the levels are not named, they are numbered and the names are just aliases stored in a text file with the extension .lvl.].

Find the Level Manager display under the Settings dropdown.

Making a Level Library
The Level Manager (Settings | Level | Manager) dialog box is where you create, modify and manage the levels you are working with.

First, you need to build your library:

Click the New Level icon to create a new level.

When your library is complete, go to Levels | Export to export your level library as a DGNLIB file or as a CSV file.
Attaching a Level Library
From the Level Manager dialog box, select “Attach” from the Levels drop down menu. This opens the Attach Level Library dialog box where you can browse and attach a level library.

Select “Attach” from the drop down menu.

Browse to find the appropriate library. Hit to attach the library.

The Level Manager dialog will now display the levels in the attached level library.

Filtering Out the Library Name
When a level library is attached to a design file, the name of the level library (filename) shows up next to the level name. Sometimes, depending on the length and complexity of your level and level library names, the Level Manager dialog box can get cluttered and can be hard to read with the level name and level library filename together. Using a handy configuration variable, you can hide the level library filename from view so that it does not show next to the level name.

Here’s how:
1. Open the “Configuration: User” dialog (Workspace | Configuration).
2. Select “Level” as the category and click . Enter the following variable into the New Configuration Variable dialog:
MS_HIDE_LIBRARY_SOURCE_NAMES = 1

Enter in the new configuration variable.

3. Accept and save the configuration variable.
4. Close MicroStation and relaunch it.

Now, look at the Level Manager dialog and you will notice that the level library filename is gone, leaving you with a simplified display in the Level Manager dialog.

End result: clarity!