What's New?
What's New?
What's New?
What's New?
What's New?
What's New?
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MicroStation V8 2004 Edition substantively enhances interoperability with AutoCAD.
MicroStation's support for AutoCAD file formats extends to the AutoCAD 2004 DWG format. In the 2004 Edition, you can open, edit, and save to AutoCAD 2004 files.
In addition, the 2004 Edition supports the following AutoCAD features:
Associative dimensions — MicroStation supports associative dimensions in DWG files from AutoCAD 2002 and later releases. Within MicroStation, you can also create, edit, and save associative dimensions to DWG files.
Layer filters — MicroStation supports layer filters in DWG files from AutoCAD 2000 and later releases. Within MicroStation, you can also create, edit, and save layer filters to DWG files. Layer filters are loaded when a DWG file is opened, and changes are written when the file is saved.
Multi-line styles — MicroStation supports multi-line styles in DWG files from AutoCAD v14 and later releases. Within MicroStation, you can also create, edit, and save multi-line styles to DWG files.
Wipeout entities — MicroStation supports wipeout entities in DWG files from AutoCAD 2000 and later releases. Within MicroStation, you can also display, edit, and save wipeout entities.
Password-protected DWG files — In MicroStation, you can open password-protected DWG files. When you try to open a password protected file, the Password dialog box prompts you to enter the password.
Choosing File > Export > DGN, DWG, DXF opens the Export File dialog box, which lets you save the current file to a different format. The dialog box is similar to the Save As dialog box.
After you save the output file, the current file remains open. This is different from File > Save As, which saves and opens the output file.
DWG or DXF files may contain inconsistent, corrupt, or lost data. In many cases, MicroStation can correct or ignore errors within a DWG/DXF file. For details, see Recovering corrupt or invalid DWG/DXF files.
DWG Audit (Utilities > DWG > Audit) scans a DWG and/or DXF file, and generates a report on the number of objects audited and the number of errors found. If errors are found, an alert box asks if you would like to correct the errors.
To run DWG Audit without being prompted to fix errors, use the DWG AUDIT FIX key-in.
The DWG Open Options dialog box is redesigned. The options previously under the General and Advanced tabs are listed in an option menu under the Basic, Advanced, and Line Weights categories. The Advanced and Line Weights categories include new options.
The dialog box also contains these icons:
Open DWG Settings File lets you retrieve DWG Open and Save As settings from a DWG settings file (*.dws).
Save DWG Settings File lets you save DWG Open and Save As settings to a DWG settings file (*.dws).
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DWG Open Options dialog box | |
The Advanced DWG Open Options category includes these new options:
Use Seed File Global Origin. If on, the DWG file uses the global origin from the DGN seed file.
Set Axis Lock if OrthoMode =1. If on, if the AutoCAD ORTHOMODE system variable is set to 1 in the DWG file, the Axis Lock is turned on.
Map Logical Names to XRef Block Names. If on, XRef block names are used for reference logical names.
Display Units Alert. These options identify conditions that cause the DWG/DXF Units alert box to display.
Prior to the 2004 Edition, DGN line weights were mapped to DWG line weights only through a linear mapping specified by the line weight scale factor. In the 2004 Edition, the DGN line weights can be individually mapped to DWG widths in either millimeters or inches. The same line weight mapping is used for both opening and saving to DWG.
The line weight scale setting has been removed, but if an existing V8 settings file is used with the 2004 Edition, the scale value is used to generate the initial map values.
The Save As DWG/DXF Options dialog box is redesigned. The options previously under the General and Advanced tabs are combined on the General tab, along with many additional options, in nine subcategories.
The References tab and Filter tab also include additional options. The options under the Remap tab are unchanged.
The dialog box also contains these icons:
Open DWG Settings File lets you retrieve DWG Open and Save As settings from a DWG settings file (*.dws).
Save DWG Settings File lets you save DWG Open and Save As settings to a DWG settings file (*.dws).
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Save As DWG/DXF Options dialog box | |
The Advanced category includes these new options:
Convert Empty Enter-Data Fields to Spaces — if on, empty enter data fields within text are converted to space characters (“ ”).
Set UCS from Current ACS — if on, the AutoCAD UCS (User Coordinate System) is set from the current ACS (Auxiliary Coordinate System).
Save Front and Back Clip Planes — if on, the front and back clipping planes are set when a view in a DGN file is saved to DWG.
Save Active Dimension Settings — if on, the active dimension settings are saved to the DWG file.
Force Positive Extrusion to Clockwise Arcs — if on, a positive extrusion is maintained (and the arc direction reversed) when saving clockwise arcs to DWG.
PolyFace Mesh Tolerance Angle — controls the accuracy of the approximation when elements are saved to polyface mesh entities.
Application Data — these options control whether non-displayable application data is saved to the DWG file.
The References category includes this new option:
Map Logical Names to XRef Block Names — if on, MicroStation uses the reference logical names for XRef block names when the file is saved to DWG.
Prior to the 2004 Edition, DGN line weights were mapped to DWG line weights only through a linear mapping specified by the line weight scale factor. In the 2004 Edition, the DGN line weights can be individually mapped to DWG widths in either millimeters or inches. The same line weight mapping is used for both opening and saving to DWG.
The line weight scale setting is removed, but if an existing V8 settings file is used with the 2004 Edition, the scale value is used to generate the initial map values.
The Entity Mapping category includes these new options:
Planar Line Strings — these entities can map to Polyline or 3D Polyline entities.
Nonplanar Line Strings — these entities can map to Polyline and 3D Polyline entities.
Flat Solids and Surfaces — these entities can map to ACIS Entity, Polyface Mesh, or Wireframe entities.
Curved Solids and Surfaces — these entities can map to ACIS Entity, Polyface Mesh, or Wireframe entities.
Filled Elements, 2D Unfilled Elements, 3D Unfilled Elements — these options map various types of filled or unfilled elements to Polyline, Polyface Mesh, Solid, Face, Region, or Hatch entities.
The Cells category includes this new option:
Create Block Entities with ByBlock Properties — when cells are saved to blocks in the DWG file, these options set the properties for block entities (elements in a cell) to ByBlock. These options only apply if all block entities (elements) have the same value for a given property.
The Fonts category includes this new option:
Text Style Name Template — this option controls the default name setting for text styles.
The TriForma category includes this new option:
Create Block Names from TriForma Part Family — if on, the block names for TriForma components are assigned from the TriForma Family and Part name.
When saving to DGN or DWG/DXF files, the References tab provides two new options:
Convert Reference Files — If on, all files attached as references are converted to the selected format. For example, when saving to DWG, all attached references are also saved to DWG.
If the master file is saved to a different directory, all references are also saved in that directory. If the master file is saved in the same directory, each reference is saved in its original directory.
Allow Optimized Clip for Reference Merge — if on, the surfaces, solids, and shapes are maintained when they are clipped during the merge process. If off, the surfaces and solids are dropped to their boundary/wireframe elements.
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Save As DWG/DXF Options dialog box, References tab | |
When saving to DGN or DWG/DXF files, the Filters tab provides two new options for saving frozen levels and tags to the output file.
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Save As DWG/DXF Options dialog box, Filter tab | |