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You are here: Home / MicroStation / Add drawings into MicroStation Sheet

Add drawings into MicroStation Sheet

March 16, 2011 by Edwin Prakoso 4 Comments

In this Article...

  • Creating a new sheet
  • Placing drawings
    • Modify drawing boundary
  • Placing 3D model
    • Create projection view
    • Setting reference presentation

Let’s continue working on MicroStation tutorial. This time we will create a new sheet using MicroStation seed file we created before, then we will put our drawings inside it.

Creating a new sheet

Let’s start. In MicroStation, you may add sheet model in the same or different DGN file. I don’t really know how you MicroStation users usually do this. But AutoCAD users usually put the layout (or sheet) within the same file where they create the drawing. However, I see that in Autodesk vertical products, the 2D generated drawings can be in different files. This also common when we use Sheet Set in AutoCAD.

Now I will let you decide where you want to put it. Or if your company already use MicroStation, you may want to share how you do it.

Now create a DGN file. Use the seed file we created before.

We already have one sheet. Let’s add one more. Go to menu file>models.

Click create a new model.

In create model dialog, choose type: sheet from seed. Then click the magnifier to choose our seed file.

choose_seed

Find the seed file, open it. You will see a dialog asking you to choose which model you want to use. Choose A1 sheet we created before.

Hint:

A seed file allows you to have several sheets settings. You may want to have settings for several paper sizes in a seed file.

select_models

Click OK.

Give name ‘table design’.

Now we have two sheets in this design file.

view_groups

Placing drawings

OK, now that we already have the sheets, how can we put our drawing in it?

If you have a drawing, you may use it. But if you don’t, you can download this file and use it.

Let’s open A1 sheet views if you haven’t open it. You can switch to that view using view groups (see image above).

Go to menu file>references.

In the dialog, click attach reference.

attach_reference

Choose the file you want to put here.

MicroStation will open another dialog box. In this dialog, change the detail scale to 1:100. Or if you use your own drawing, adjust the scale as necessary.

detail_scale

Click OK.

Now you can see the file listed in references dialog box. You also should see the drawing in your MicroStation view.

references_dialog

You can move the drawing when the file is selected in this dialog. You can move, copy, scale, and use other manipulate tools at the top of this dialog.

Modify drawing boundary

Let’s try to clip the reference. You can close or simply move the reference dialog box. Activate place block and draw a rectangle like below.

drawing_boundary

Back to reference dialog box. Make sure the drawing is selected. Now activate clip reference.

clip_reference

Pick the rectangle we created before. The drawing is now clipped.

clipped_drawing

The other tools are at the bottom of this dialog. You can change the drawing scale, rotate it using the fields there.

I will not discuss about this dialog further here, because the details about it are supposed when we talk about references. (I hope I can cover it soon)

Placing 3D model

Can we place 3d model? Yes. let’s try to place our 3D table in the 2nd sheet.

The steps are the same. The difference is, after you select the file, you need to tell MicroStation which view you want to use. Change the view to top and use 1:5 scale.

top_view

Click OK, and the drawing now appear.

table_top

Create projection view

A good tool that is really useful when you work with 3D models is copy/fold reference.

copy_fold_reference

This will add a new projected drawing based on selected reference. You can quickly add front and side view using this tool. Select which drawing you want to create projected view (we only have one now) then activate the tool. Click in your drawing where you want to put it.

Don’t forget to check the tool settings!

copy_reference

Setting reference presentation

When you work with 3D models, you may want to use different presentation. Below, I add one isometric view and set the drawing presentation to illustration.

final_sheet

You can do it by selecting the drawing, then activate set reference presentation.

set_reference_presentation

By default, it will use the parent presentation. But we can override it for a specific drawing. You can change the display style in the opened dialog box.

reference_presentation

This tutorial ends here. Now you should be able to create your own seed file and add drawings with different scales and boundary inside your title block. We will cover more in references and views for 3D.

About Edwin Prakoso

I work as a Sr. Consultant in PT Cipta Satria Informatika. I've been using AutoCAD since R14 and Revit since Revit Building 9. I occasionally write for AUGIWorld magazine and I am also active in Autodesk discussion forum. I'm a member of Autodesk Expert Elite, an appreciation for individuals who give contributions to the Autodesk community.
Connect with me on twitter or LinkedIn.

Filed Under: MicroStation Tagged With: add drawing, MicroStation Basic, reference, sheet

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4 Comments
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Colin
Colin
9 years ago

Great help, I am used to Autocad so its quite a change.

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david
david
10 years ago

Can you please move the buttons to like you on FB and G+ etc.? They are blocking the beginning of almost every sentence. Using IE here.

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Edwin Prakoso
Edwin Prakoso
Author
Reply to  david
10 years ago

Can you email the screenshot how it block the sentence? Email the screenshot to info@cad-notes.com.

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Arash T Tabrizi
Arash T Tabrizi
13 years ago

I liked it but i'm trying to find more about attachments and references.thanks

0
Reply
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