Drawing in MicroStation - California State …

1 Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Drawing in MicroStation 1 Chapter Three Drawing in MicroStation PLAY VIDEO INTRODUCTION In this chapter you will have a brief introduction to several fundamental aspects of MicroStation from how to create a design file to how to use the mouse and Drawing tools. EXERCISE: FILE NAVIGATION The first dialog you see after launching MicroStation V8i is the File Open. (You can also go to File menu, then Open, to open this dialog when in MicroStation s design environment.) Note: The folder at the top, Look in or Save in, is where you find a file or where you store a new file. Hold the cursor over different icons to get familiar with the functions. Notice the User, Project and Interface buttons at the lower right corner of the dialog. MicroStation V8i can be set up for specific users of projects with different user interfaces. To Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Drawing in MicroStation 2 keep things simple you will use untitled for the remainder of this so your first task is to change them to untitled, if they are not already set to this value.

2 CREATE A NEW FILE 1. Create a new file by clicking on the New File icon. 2. Enter file name as First. Note: The seed file name is A seed file (or template) is just a file that contains settings. It is used to start a new file by copying the contents into the file you now name. 3. Click Save. This will close the New dialog, saving a file with name you gave it, in the Save In location, with contents copied from the seed file. 4. Click Open. This opens file named First in the MicroStation V8i working environment. FILE EXTENSION The MicroStation V8i Drawing files have an extension .DGN (similar to AutoCAD .DWG, VersaCAD .2D, etc.) Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Drawing in MicroStation 3 FILE SAVE/BACKUP/WORKFILE Some CAD software such as VersaCAD or AutoCAD use a Workfile concept. The saved Drawing is loaded into the workfile then work is done. The Drawing is then saved from the Workfile back to the Saved file. MicroStation V8i works on the saved file directly.

3 So to create a backup, it is necessary to make a copy of the MicroStation V8i file before starting a work session or, more likely, to save a backup copy at the end of each successful session. Loading a File Use the File menu to load any of the last ten files used. These are located at the bottom of the menu. Drawing There are several ways to display the main toolbox for adding elements and modifying elements after they are added to a file. Normally, when MicroStation V8i is installed and first launched, the main task frame will be displayed automatically. The command icons on the top of task bar on the left are the ones which are used to modify a Drawing . The tool icons just below these are the ones used to place elements such as lines, circles, text, etc. These are now divided into Tasks: Drawing and Drawing Composition. Note: Older versions of MicroStation open with both Drawing and modifying tools in one toolbox. That approach can still be used by selecting Tools > Toolboxes > Main Classic from main menu bar.

4 TOOLS The Main tools can be found in the Main Task Bar on the upper left hand side of the program. MicroStation V8i has tools organized by Tasks. The Main Task Bar contains nine tools, outlined and described below. The other tools, seen in the Task Bars, such as under Drawing or Drawing Composition, will be discussed later. 1. Element Selection Used to select a tool 2. Place Fence Used to place, modify, and move the fence or delete the fence contents 3. Copy Used to copy, move, resize, rotate, mirror, and create arrays of Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Drawing in MicroStation 4 elements 4. Update View Used to update current view 5. Change Element Attributes Used to change an element(s) to the active element attribute settings 6. Drop Element Used to drop or create complex elements from their component elements 7. Modify Element Used to modify element geometry 8. Delete Element Used to remove an element 9. Measure Distance Used to perform measuring operations Note: Several of the Main Task bar tool icons point to related tools.

5 Look for the small arrow in the lower right corner of the icon for accessing these additional tools. Clicking and holding the data point (left mouse) button on any of these icons will reveal a list of the related tools. Drawing TOOLS The Drawing tools are used to draw and modify elements. There are nine main categories within the Drawing task. These are outlined and described below. Linear toolbox Used to create and place linear elements Polygons toolbox Used to create and place polygonal elements Circles toolbox Used to create and place circular elements Patterns toolbox Used to create and place patterns in elements Tags toolbox Used to create and attach tags to elements Text toolbox Used to write and place text within a Drawing Cell toolbox Used to create and manage cells within a Drawing Measure toolbox Used to perform measuring operations Dimensioning toolbox Used to perform dimensioning operations Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Drawing in MicroStation 5 Drawing COMPOSITION TOOLS The Drawing Composition tools are used to compose a finished presentation of your Drawing .

6 These tools will not be dealt with in the rest of this manual, but you are free to explore their uses when you have completed a Drawing . VIEW CONTROL TOOLS The View Control tools located within each view and available from the Settings menu are used to control the different options within your eight different views. There are seventeen tools within the View Control toolbox which are outlined and described below. 1. View Attributes Allows you to see and edit which attributes are viewable in the selected view. 2. View Display Mode Changes how the view window is viewed. (examples: transparent or opaque) 3. Adjust View Brightness Changes the brightness within the view window. 4. Update View Updates (redraws) the contents of a view window(s). 5. Zoom In Increases a view window s magnification, making elements appear larger. 6. Zoom Out Decreases a view window s magnification, making elements appear smaller. 7. Window Area Prompts you to draw a rectangular area in the design that is to be displayed in a view.

7 8. Fit View Adjusts the view magnification so that the entire design is visible in the view. 9. Rotate View Rotates the current view. 10. Pan View Views a different part of the design without changing the view magnification. 11. Walk Used only in 3D drawings to walk in and out of the different parts of the Drawing . 12. View Previous Shows the previous view. 13. View Next Comes back after seeing the previous view. 14. Copy View Copies the contents of an entire view and its corresponding attributes into another view or views. 15. View Perspective Changes the perspective within the view window. 16. Clip Volume Used only in 3D designs, selects a portion of the Drawing to work on while hiding the rest of the Drawing until the clip is cleared. 17. Clip Mask Selects a portion of the Drawing to mask, or hide, so that changes can be made to smaller portions of the Drawing . Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Drawing in MicroStation 6 THE DATA POINT, RESET AND OTHER MOUSE FUNCTIONS There is one more thing to learn before beginning to draw in earnest.

8 MicroStation V8i is set up for a minimum of a 2-button mouse. The left button is referred to as the data point. This button used for selecting a menu or tool as well as graphically entering coordinate pair (X&Y) locations. The right button is called the reset button (Reset for short) and is used for different operations including: to reset to the starting point of a tool operation, reject a highlighted element selection or reject select a snap point. These days, most mice have a center scroll-wheel. The scroll-wheel is used to zoom and pan. Roll the scroll wheel forward to zoom in and back to zoom out. Press and hold the scroll-wheel to pan. Snapping is one of the fundamental features of any CAD system. MicroStation V8i offers a number of different types of snap. Right now, it is set up to snap automatically on grid points (every inch) or to a keypoint on an object. To snap to a keypoint, the reset and data buttons are pressed simultaneously. A large cursor will appear showing the tentative location you snapped to.

9 If it is where you want it, press the data button once more to accept it. If you don t like it, press the reset button and try again. Snapping can be done automatically with AccuSnap. You will learn more about AccuSnap later. EXERCISE: Drawing A FEW ELEMENTS Now you are ready to start Drawing or creating our design file. Start by making a scratch pad Drawing of one each of most of the Drawing tools. 1. Draw a line between 3 dots (grid reference points). 2. Draw a box (Place Block tool). 3. Draw an arc. 4. Draw a circle and other elements until you have drawn one of each. Note that MicroStation V8i is always in continuous draw mode. For example, when Drawing lines, after Drawing one line, MicroStation is ready to draw the next line and then the next, etc. There are several ways to stop Drawing lines and other elements: 1. To stop Drawing lines and begin another tool such as a circle, click on the circle tool. Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Drawing in MicroStation 7 2.

10 To stop Drawing lines but stay within the line Drawing tool, press the Reset button. 3. To stop Drawing lines and exit all commands, click on the Element Selection tool. One exception to the above: when Drawing curves, you must first accept the desired curve using the reset button before terminating the Drawing tool. TOOL SETTINGS The Tool Settings dialog opens automatically when you select a tool. The Tool Settings contents and heading will change depending on which Tool is in use. It contains all of the settings available for that particular tool. Note the colored ball at the top of the screen. This is called Popset. If green, the Tool Settings will appear right next to the tool you select. It disappears when you move the cursor beyond it. If red, the Tool Settings dialog is always displayed. HOW TO SEARCH FOR A NEEDED TOOL If you re not sure what tool or function an icon represents , simply move the cursor over it and the short description of the tool or function displays at the bottom right corner of the icon (also known as the tool tip.)