Microstation Tips And Tricks 2n512o

MicroStation / GEOPAK Tips, Tricks and Frequently Asked Questions

Esther Barwick CADD Design Coordinator

Selecting a Project When a project is selected it sets the variable _USTN_PROJECTNAME, which resolves to set the variable _USTN_PRJECTDATA

This is a system variable which is used by both MicroStation and GEOPAK

ing Arguments At Start-up of MicroStation C:\bentley\program\microstation\ustation.exe –Sfile.txt n Executes a script file when starting MicroStation. The file can include macros, mdl programs, key-ins etc. C:\bentley\program\microstation\ustation.exe –WS(variable) n

Defines a specific variable at startup

C:\bentley\program\microstation\ustation.exe –WRd:\worksp n

Defines the workspace directory

C:\bentley\program\microstation\ustation.exe –debug n

Runs MicroStation in debug mode

C:\bentley\program\microstation\ustation.exe –WUsitefdoteng n

Defines the interface at startup

Default Config File

The dflt.cfg file should contain the 2 lines shown below. The _USTN_NAME variable should be set equal to the last workspace that MicroStation properly exited.

%level 0 _USTN_NAME = sitefdoteng Note: If MicroStation is not opening correctly change the workspace back to examples.

The MicroStation Preference File Note: At times this file becomes unstable due to size or corruption & must be deleted.

A binary file Stores the Saved Settings of the workspace which includes the dialog boxes open status, working directory of last session, previously selected project in MicroStation Manager, etc.

Resource Files The Location Variable for Resource Files is MS_RSRATH. This variable can be set to Create & Locate an MDL’s Resource File in the current working directory. The Advantage:(locating the Resource Files in the working directory) the Settings for each project is ed. The Disadvantage: (if the Resource Files must be deleted, for example, when the program is updated)

the Resource Files must be located in several directories. At times Resource Files are corrupted and should be deleted, if its corresponding MDL file consistently aborts. Also when new versions of an MDL are installed its corresponding resource file should be deleted. Note: Never delete the Resource Files in the Bentley directory.

Modifying Configuration Files Always leave a carriage return at the bottom of the file.

Graphics Accelerator If the computers’ Graphic Accelerator is OpenGL, then set the MicroStation variable to qvisgl (the default). If the computers’ Graphic Accelerator is Direct Draw, then set the MicroStation variable to Quickvis. Disable Direct Draw from the Display Adapter for Quantities Manager

Finding Dialog Box Resource Numbers To find the Resource ID for a dialog box or tool box key-in: To activate it: dmsg dialogdebug toggle OR dmsg dialogdebug on To turn it off: dmsg dialogdebug toggle OR dmsg dialogdebug off Below shows resulting messages when dialogdebug is ON & the Polygon Tool Box is torn away from the Main Tool Frame. (Note the tool box ID Number)

Resolving Conflicts Between Dialog Box Resource Numbers Inability to load the Dialog box or Application & the error “Unable to load dialog ID number ????” displays indicates a conflict between applications. MDL files store Dialog IDs Statically or Dynamically. Note: Application ‘A’ assigns dialog ID#9001 Statically. If Application ‘B’ loads prior to ‘A’ & grabs the ID#9001 Dynamically, then ‘A’ will not load. To Resolve: Find the Dialog Box/Aapplication conflicting & change the order of load. To Avoid Conflicts(with customized tool boxes/frames): Set the variable _USTN_CUSTOMIZEBASEID to a high number (Ex: 50000 for a starting number)

Problems Customizing Toolboxes Deactivate GEOPAK Create the Tool Boxes/Frames locally Create a Tool Frame (necessary for easy transfer of Tool Boxes to other interfaces) A Tool Box created under fdoteng & added to the sitefdoteng interface may need the Resource Number changed using the MDL uimgr .

Interface Manager

Provides a mechanism to copy/modify/delete tool boxes or frames between different interface files.

Pasting Text in a Dialog Box Many dialog boxes in MicroStation and GEOPAK do not the keystroke of V to copy text. Instead you must use the key stroke <Shift>

Increasing MicroStation Undo Buffer When do I need to increase the undo buffer? Example: A ran a set of xsections, a few days later the xsection program aborted using the same input & criteria files. Answer: For some reason the design files exceeded memory allocation due to Complex Elements.

Note: the Undo Buffer should be in increments of 1024.

Reference File Problems The MDL FDOT Config must find the _meta_info directory under the Project Number. (run PEDDS when the Project is initialized to resolve problem) To prevent full paths being saved for Reference Files: Set the variable MS_DISALLOWFULLREFPATH. To remove hard-coded reference file paths: use the Giffels refutil program (or) select SiteMenu>Utils>Reference File Utilities> Remove Reference File Path Note: GEOPAK clipping strips off all Reference File logical paths set by TIMS Attach Reference File dialog. ECSO is working with GEOPAK to get this resolved.

Making Solid Filled Shapes Transparent Make shapes transparent by applying a "glass" material to the shapes and then render the view (Constant, Smooth, or Phong). The steps are: n Select Tools > Visualization Tools > Rendering Tools n Select the Apply Material tool

Making Solid Filled Shapes Transparent n

n

n n

n

n

…continued Set the Method to Attach Attribute, and Mode to Apply Material. The name of the material file appears in the Table field. Click on the Open button to open the Glass palette and navigate to the ..\Workspace\system\materials\ folder Select the Palette called "Glass". Select the desired material from the pick list - Glass - Element. The color of the 'glass' will pick up the element's color. In other words, yellow element = yellow glass and so forth. It will prompt you to identify the element. Select & Accept each shape needing to be transparent, or pre-select elements with the Element Selection tool & accept the Selection Set. To view the effects of the glass material: render the view in either Constant, Ssmooth or Phong.

Raster Manager & Cal files

Install any updated versions of Raster Manager Change the Foreground and Background color Use a Plot Driver specifically set up for Raster Manager Note: In MSJ, Raster plot files plotted with Raster Manger are much larger than Raster files plotted with Image Manger.

Plotting Settings for Raster Manager The following options control Raster Plotting of images by Raster Manager: MDLCOMMAND ISV_RASTER PIXEL_RESOLUTION

= implot =1 = 300

CONTRAST BRIGHTNESS RASTER_FENCE NO_DGNRASTER NO_RASTERREF GRAYSCALE

= = = = = =

50 50 0 0 0 0

; For Image Manager ; Plots the raster image, 1=On 0=Off Default=1 ; Resolution of pixels on output (dpi) Default=80 ;Raster Manager uses PIXEL_RESOLUTION to override HARDWARE_RASTER/RESOLUTION ; Contrast in percent, between 0-100 Default=50 ; Brightness in percent, between 0-100 ; Clip the raster to fence, 1=On 0=Off Default=0 ; MS plot of 87/88, 1=Don't plot 0=Plot Default=0 ; MS plot of 90's,1=Don't plot 0=Plot Default=0 ; Plot in gray scale, 1=On 0=Off Default=0

Monochrome Raster background color is specified by the following parameter in Raster Manager, but is ignored by Image Manager. BACKGROUND

=2

; 0=white,1=black,2=color Default=0

For BACKGROUND = 0 or 1 (white or black), the raster foreground is inverted if identical to the Monochrome Raster background. For BACKGROUND = 2 (color), no change is made to the background.

Plotting Grayscale to a Laser Printer To Plot Grayscale to a laser printer, the printer must have PostScript capability. Add the following PEN lines after the “change_pen=“ statement to the PLT file to control the Grayscaling. Make sure that the "change_pen=“ statement is set to "color" or "both“ PEN(n)=(a-b)/RGB=(x,y,z)

Where (n) is the pen number, (a-b) is a single or a range of element color(s), (x,y,z) are the Red Green Blue values. To control the Degree of Grayscale, set the "RGB=" statement inside the parentheses as shown: 10% screen - (233,233,233) 20% screen - (204,204,204) 30% screen - (178,178,178) 40% screen - (153,153,153) 50% screen - (127,127,127)

60% screen 70% screen 80% screen BLACK

- (102,102,102) - (77,77,77) - (26,26,26) - (0,0,0)

Plotting Grayscale to a Laser Printer …continued

Example: Pen Statement that will set color 0 to a 30% screen: PEN(1)=(0)/RGB=(178,178,178) Example: Pen Statements that will map colors 0 - 8 to black & colors 9 - 16 to a 40% screen: PEN(1)=(0-8)/RGB=(0,0,0) PEN(2)=(9-16)/RGB=(153,153,153) Note: The PEN(number) should not be set less than 1. Some printers/plotters have a PEN(0), but MicroStation does not recognized it & will reject the plot configuration file. One useful grayscale is 0%(white). When placing an opaque shape with CO=200 between text elements & an aerial photo, this setting, pen(200)=(200)/RGB=(254,254,254), whitewashes the text background making it more readable.

Creating an Image in MicroStation for PowerPoint or Word Create an EMF image file using these settings in a PLT file: num_pens = 255 ; defines pens used model = sysprnmetafile default_extension = 'emf‘ ; default extension

Insert the image file into Power Point or Word

Adding Hotboxes to SiteMenu # Automatically load GuidSign and AutoTurn MS_MDL > C:/AutoTURN 4/ MS_MDL > C:/GuidSign/ MS_MDLAPPS > C:/AutoTURN 4/ MS_MDLAPPS > C:/GuidSign/ SM_HOTBOX3 = 1 SM_HOTBOX3_TOOLS = 9001@gsv7 SM_HOTBOX3_COLOR = GREEN SM_HOTBOX3_POSITION = 890,6,12,12 SM_HOTBOX4 = 1 SM_HOTBOX4_TOOLS = 40@atv7 SM_HOTBOX4_COLOR = YELLOW SM_HOTBOX4_POSITION = 858,6,12,12

Disabling Fly-Over Activation of HotBoxes Modify the HotBox Flyover configuration variable to be set equal to zero. Example: n

Sm_hotbox1_flyover=0

The will then have to click on the box to activate it.

D&C Manager Tips & Work-Arounds D&C problem with Construction Mgr & MR1 n “MR1 for GEOPAK 2001 Updates” for the D&C Manager creates a problem when importing data into the Construction Manager. (A patch is now available) n To Retain the use of Construction Manager: Replace 2 files (acbook.ma & cmp.ma) in the GEOPAK/bin directory installed by the MR1 with the previous version. n To Replace Files: Once MR1 is installed, rename the NEW files (acbook.ma & cmp.ma) to (acbook.new & cmp.new). Copy the OLD files (acbook.ma & cmp.ma) into the bin directory. This allows the older version of D&C Manager to remain with all of the updates in the MR.

Setting the Scale when Placing Custom Linestyles from D&C Manager The Scale Factor for Linestyles is set globally. From D&C select Settings > Design All FDOT Custom Linestyles are created at True Size or placed at the file’s Plot Scale.

Checking D&C Attributes GEOPAK provides an Attribute Viewer & an Adhoc Attribute Manager This allows the to easily see if the correct Pay Item or Adhoc Information is attached.

Criteria GEOPAK 98 criteria files ran in GEOPAK 2000 or GEOPAK 2001 gave the following syntax error: %XS-E-INVIEI. Invalid sequence of ‘IF/ELSE IF’ statements. ‘IF’ statement must precede an ‘ELSE IF’ statement for a sequence of ‘IF/ELSE IF’ statements.

The Reason: GEOPAK 98 would allow a bracket out of place or perhaps an incorrect ‘IF/ELSE’ statement.

GEOPAK 2000 & GEOPAK 2001

tightened up the syntax checking so these type errors are now caught.

Coordinate Geometry GPK files become corrupt, sometimes, for no apparent reason. Using the Key-in “Rebuild Database” is the only correction.

Coordinate Geometry

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Used when there is a “shift” or offset in the Alignment STORE CHAIN RAMPD CUR AC31 S1 SHIFT S2 CUR AC32 A51 STA 0+00

Coordinate Geometry

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NEXT Available Allows a Multiple Environment Each has individual Next Available Element Preferences Next Available Element Settings are maintained between MicroStation sessions

Coordinate Geometry NEXT Available SHOW NEXT ELEMENT

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Coordinate Geometry

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Store NEXT Available & SET NEXT Element Via Key-in: n STORE POINT ? 10000 20000 n LOCATE ? P76 245 S 45 23 34.56 E n STORE CHAIN ? P101 CUR 4021 CUR 107 n SET NEXT POINT S1 n SET NEXT CHAIN CHAIN1

Coordinate Geometry

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Make Input File to Create Required ASCII Data The GEOPAK Make Input File command produces a GEOPAK Format Input File containing Coordinate Geometry Commands for previously stored Coordinate Geometry Elements. Key-in COGO: MAKE INPUT FILE EX901.IUS CHAIN EX90

Coordinate Geometry

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Merging 2 GPK Files n Open 1st job number (ex: job001) n Make Input File ALL Where includes job number to be merged into (ex: merge002.iop) n Open 2nd job number (ex: job 002) n Load and Read Input File Caution: Open Input File before reading & adjusting the point numbers. If both Databases have the same point numbers & Redefine is on, they will be overwritten.

Coordinate Geometry

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Navigator: ID Element works only with COGO Visualized Elements, not with D&C Manager drawn Elements n Selector can create a Selection Set. n $SEL can be used to substitute the Selection Set in any COGO command n

Conclusion Questions? Information n Esther Barwick n (850) 245-1600 n [email protected]