Importing Microstation 7/8 to Archicad 11

[Anonymous]

Has anyone ever experienced and resolved importing Microstation 7 (and/or v8) 3D files into Archicad 11. I keep getting the message show below (Unsupported DGN file version).
Note: the file is completely intact when opened in Microstation.
Thanks
emerich
Toronto

[Thomas Holm]

emerich wrote:
Has anyone ever experienced and resolved importing Microstation 7 (and/or v8) 3D files into Archicad 11. I keep getting the message show below (Unsupported DGN file version).
Note: the file is completely intact when opened in Microstation.

The way to import Microstation files is to export to DWG in MS, then import the DWG into Archicad.

Forget the DGN importer. Even when it works. it's just barely usable to see if you have content in the file. But both programs' DWG communication is good.

[Anonymous]

Thanks but unfortunately I've already tried this too. the result is a working DWG model file. But when I export the DWG to Archicad, it too is a corrupt model (several 3D entities are incomplete, i.e. missing planes). I am still messing around with Microstations/Autocad export parameters but have not had any success. Any further suggestions are much appreciated.
Thanks again.
e

[Thomas Holm]

I stopped using Microstation at version SE (1998), so my experience isn't very recent. (But I don't think the DGN importer has improved much since then - one guess could be if it chokes on more layers than the DGN format's original 63 layer limit)

I still maintain that going through DWG is much better, although you shouldn't need to use Autocad on the way. Already in version 7, Bentley bragged about Microstation's "native" DWG handling. That was - and is - obviously a lie, but Microstation's DWG export gives you good control. If Autocad can open it without problems, it should work in Archicad too. Take care with level-layer mapping, especially of Microstation's level 0 which doesn't exist anywhere else.

For importing into Archicad, you should consult the Help menu, it's quite good. Check that you have all layers visible if you impprt 2D.

But since you mention 3D I guess you've opened the DWG as a library object. Unfortunately Archicad doesn't have layers in library objects. If the file is very complex it might be better to break the file up into simpler parts and import them separately.

There have been a lot of posts on the import of DWGs. Do a search. I can't see any issue that would make a DWG from Microstation any worse than one from Autocad, but level and pen mapping are of course always special.

Edited:
If some entities still don't come through, you could experiment with other formats. The simpler DXF format should triangulate everything and might work. The more advanced 3DS format might be better (I don't know but I guess Microstation supports it these days). For 3DS import to Archicad you need to download an Addon (Help menu > Goodies)

Oh and I forgot - I think Microstation supports the IFC format too now. I don't know much about it but Archicad promotes it, and if properly tagged it should allow you to import the file as building parts which is Archicad's home territory. This way you can get layer mapping in 3D too, I think.

Please report back if you succeed, and how you did it!

[Erika Epstein]

FILE> EXTERNAL CONTENT>PLACE EXTERNAL DRAWING. Careful though, this way will bring in layers and other attributes. It can be handy when matching old microstation office standards like linetypes to new archicad ones.


You can also place these in worksheets and on layouts for reference.

[Anonymous]

Erika wrote:
FILE> EXTERNAL CONTENT>PLACE EXTERNAL DRAWING. Careful though, this way will bring in layers and other attributes....

No it doesn't. The attribute pollution only occurs if you explode the drawing. Placing drawings is a great way to reference them without getting all the junk.

[Erika Epstein]

Yes it does.
It shouldn't, but with the dgns it has been doing this.

[Thomas Holm]

Erika wrote:
Yes it does.
It shouldn't, but with the dgns it has been doing this.

As I said, the DGN importer is no good. In my opinion, Graphisoft should scrap it. Since Microstation exports DWGs nicely, it's better to concentrate the resources on making the DWG importer top-notch. For example, it would be nice to be able to import DWGs with layers in 3D. Or "Place External Drawing" in 3D without the open as object workaround.

[TomWaltz]

Thomas wrote:

Erika wrote:
Yes it does.
It shouldn't, but with the dgns it has been doing this.

As I said, the DGN importer is no good. In my opinion, Graphisoft should scrap it. Since Microstation exports DWGs nicely, it's better to concentrate the resources on making the DWG importer top-notch. For example, it would be nice to be able to import DWGs with layers in 3D. Or "Place External Drawing" in 3D without the open as object workaround.

I disagree.

If you have a consultant or a joint venture partner using Microstation, it's way too time consuming to translate to a third party software every time you update your files. You want to be able to read/write to them directly.

We have so many such relationships that losing the ability to read/write DGN could have us rethinking using Archicad.

[Thomas Holm]

TomWaltz wrote:
We have so many such relationships that losing the ability to read/write DGN could have us rethinking using Archicad.

So you mean someone is actually using it?
Well, I'm sorry.

I was an active user of Microstation (I even had a Microstation tip site http://www.arkitur.com/maf ) from 1989 until 1998 when I stopped upgrading as Bentley abandoned the Mac platform. I was also actively using Archicad, and as I was collaborating with Autocad users too I was brutally forced to learn how to handle conversions all around. Already in MS95 (v5.5) the DWG conversion options were flexible and very customizable, although convoluted an complicated. But they got better all the time.

Archicad's DGN converter was a pile of crap when it came. It had none of the customizing options of the DWG importer, in a situation where in fact more options were needed since Microstation differs more (in file organisation) than Autocad, from Archicad. The solution then was to use DWG as the mean format. And I thought everybody else who is depending on this drew the same conclusion.

Since then, I've tested ACs DGN converter now and then without noting any significant improvements. Obviously that must be wrong too?

My conclusion came from the fact that Bentley from the late nineties, from MSv7 on, actively advertised it as having "native" support for DWG. With that, you could anytime save as dwg, and supposedly even work using dwg all the time. I realize of course that an expert Microstation user wouldn't want that, because the enhancements brought to the DGN format when they introduced Extended Precision and removed the 63-layer limit made it better than DWG. But still, with Microstation's ease of opening and saving DWG, and Archicad's much better DWG handling (than DGN), I thought no one was using the DGN converter seriously anymore

If you will, I'd appreciate some hands-on advice on how to use it nowadays.