accusnap

SSIST

MicroStation V8 AccuSnap

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C A D A S S I S T

MicroStation V8 AccuSnap

? Pamela S. Roberts www.cadassist.com • [email protected]

Phone 816.436.1208

Table of ContentsIntroduction.......................................................................................................................................................... 2

Instructor.......................................................................................................................................................... 2 AccuSnap.............................................................................................................................................................. 3

Topics to be covered.......................................................................................................................................... 3 Working with AccuSnap.................................................................................................................................... 4

AccuSnap Enable............................................................................................................................................. 4 Snapping to Elements using AccuSnap............................................................................................................... 5

Snap Modes....................................................................................................................................................... 6 Key Point Snap................................................................................................................................................ 6 Near Point Snap............................................................................................................................................... 8 Mid Point Snap................................................................................................................................................ 8 Center Snap..................................................................................................................................................... 8 Origin Snap..................................................................................................................................................... 8 Bisector Snap.................................................................................................................................................. 8 Intersect Snap.................................................................................................................................................. 9 Tangent Point Snap.......................................................................................................................................... 9 Perpendicular Snap ........................................................................................................................................ 10

AccuDraw and AccuSnap................................................................................................................................ 11 AccuSnap Settings........................................................................................................................................... 12

General......................................................................................................................................................... 13 Enable AccuSnap....................................................................................................................................... 13 Show Tentative Hint................................................................................................................................... 13 Display Icon.............................................................................................................................................. 13 Fixed Point for Per/Tan. From..................................................................................................................... 13 Update Statusbar Coordinates...................................................................................................................... 13 Play Sound On Snap................................................................................................................................... 14 Hilite active elements................................................................................................................................. 14 Identify Elements Automatically.................................................................................................................. 14 Pop-up Info ............................................................................................................................................... 14

Elements....................................................................................................................................................... 15 Curves...................................................................................................................................................... 15 Dimensions............................................................................................................................................... 15 Text.......................................................................................................................................................... 15

Feel.............................................................................................................................................................. 16 Keypoint Sensitivity................................................................................................................................... 16 Stickiness.................................................................................................................................................. 16 Snap Tolerance.......................................................................................................................................... 16

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Introduction About CAD Assist

CAD Assist is sole proprietorship owned by Pam Roberts. CAD Assist provides quality MicroStation Training and Services. All of our training classes our taught onsite at your facility. Each student will receive a CAD Assist training guide and certificate of completion. CAD Assist training material has been time tested. We know what works because we have trained hundreds of students. We have updated our training material based on student feed back over the last ten years. We are able to provide cost efficient training at your site on a per day rate basis instead of per student. This can include as many as 10 students per day.

We offer the following training courses:

?? MicroStation 2D

?? MicroStation 3D

?? Advanced MicroStation

?? Customizing MicroStation

Since we create our own training material any course can be customized for your company.

For more information see our website: www.cadassist.com or call 816-436-1208.

Instructor Pam Roberts has an Associates Degree in Drafting and Design. Her 19 years of

experience includes positions as CAD Operator, Intergraph and Bentley Certified MicroStation Trainer, MicroStation Support and MicroStation Sales. She began her career at Shell Offshore in New Orleans where she gained experience on the Intergraph VAX systems running IGDS. Upon advancing her career she began working for a MicroStation Reseller providing sales, services, support and training for MicroStation version 1.2. As an entrepreneur, she founded, established and eventually sold a MicroStation Reseller business located in Louisiana. She now is an independent consultant sharing her years of MicroStation experience.

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AccuSnap A great new feature to MicroStation V8. This is what we have all been waiting for – AccuSnap!

ccuSnap is a new snapping mode that may be used by itself, or in combination with AccuDraw and the manual tentative snap. The design of AccuSnap is to reduce the number of “button presses” required during a design session. As you move you cursor over elements – AccuSnap will display a Tentative Hint and if that is the snap point you

want – move your cursor closer to the Hint. At this point the cursor will change into an “X”. Now to accept the snap point use the Data Button. The location of the snapping point depends on the Snap Mode setting.

Topics to be covered In this session we will cover the following:

?? Working with AccuSnap

?? Snap Modes

?? AccuDraw and AccuSnap together

?? AccuDraw Settings

A

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Working with AccuSnap

AccuSnap is design to be easy for the user to use standalone or with AccuDraw. We will first cover the AccuSnap by it self.

AccuSnap Enable In MicroStation V8, AccuSnap is enabled bye default. Of course with MicroStation there is always about 3 or more ways to do every command, so AccuSnap is no different.

1. From the Status Bar select a Data point on the snap option on the Status Bar to pop up the menu, then select AccuSnap.

2. Select the pulldown menu = Settings -> Snaps -> AccuSnap

3. Using AccuDraw the key in for enabling AccuSnap is “J”

4. From the Button Bar – the first icon toggles AccuSnap on and off.

Using any of the first two methods will bring up the AccuSnap Settings box. The first option on the General Tab is Enable AccuSnap. Toggle on or off.

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Snapping to Elements using AccuSnap

Move the pointer close to the element for selecting the snapping point.

As you move the pointer near an element, AccuSnap highlights the element and displays a dashed crosshair at the nearest potential snapping point; this depends on the Snap Mode setting. (We will cover all setting later in this session.)

Move the pointer towards the crosshair, until it becomes a heavier line weight “X”, then press the Data button. A data point is entered at the location indicated by the “X”.

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Snap Modes AccuSnap utilizes the same snap modes in which are used with the Tentative point snap. Note: That in each example the gray block denotes the snappable points.

Key Point Snap

Line – The keypoint for a Line is the endpoints and at the divisor point. Note: Is the divisor point is set to 2 – the keypoint snap would be in the middle of the line.

Linestring – Keypoints of a linestring include end points, vertex points and at the divisor points.

Arc – Keypoints of an arc are the endpoints and the snap divisor location(s).

Ellipses – Keypoints of ellipses include each axis and at the snap divisor locations.

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Shapes – The keypoints of shape are the vertex corners and the snap divisor locations.

Curves – The keypoints of a curve are the endpoints and the snap divisor location(s).

Cells – Since there are 2 types of cells, the keypoint of a point cell will be the origin of the cell and the keypoint of graphic cell would be each element of the cell.

Dimensions – The keypoints of a dimension element include the ends of each extension line, dimension line and the snap divisor locations.

Text – The keypoint for a text element is the origin point. In this example the justification for placing the text was Center Center.

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Near Point Snap The Near Point Snap allows the user to snap to the element at any point in which you select. This allows the user to attach elements directly to other elements at random locations. With AccuSnap the user is able to slide the snap location around the

element until he reaches the desired location.

Mid Point Snap The midpoint snap will only locate the mid point of elements.

Center Snap The Center snap will calculate and locate the center of a line (which is the same as the mid point), linestring, circle and shape.

Note: to snap to the center, slide cursor over the edge of the element.

Origin Snap Each element in MicroStation has an origin. For example the origin of a line would be the first point placed to start the line. We also use an origin when we place text and cells. This snap allows you to snap to the origin of the element selected.

Bisector Snap The Bisector snap allows you to snap to bisect of the element. This command works great on curves and linestrings.

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Intersect Snap This is what I have been waiting for!!!!!!!!! Finally – for years I have been amazed at the fact that Bentley could set a Latitude and Longitude, Month, Day, Year and Time – then calculate the Sun’s shadows onto your render. But for us to be able to snap to an intersection we had to snap twice to get there. Now with AcuSnap just select the

Intersection snap mode, slide over the intersection and there it is.

Tangent Point Snap Using AccuSnap the Tangent Point Snap only works with the Place Smartline tool. You may continue using the manual tentative snap with the Place Line, Place MultiLine and Place Arc.

Note: In MicroStation V8 I have discover a bugs in which has been reported – do not try to Place a Ellipse with the Tangent Snap. It will lock MicroStation up.

1. Slide onto the element in which the tangent is to be attached.

2. Accept with a Data Point the element.

3. Notice now that the new line or Smartline will stay tangent to the element as you move your cursor around the element.

Another AccuSnap setting applies to the Tangent Snap Mode, the AccuSnap Settings General – Fixed Point for Perp./Tan. From. When this is ON, at the point where you accept the snap is where the tangent point comes from. This also works with the Perpendicular snap.

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Perpendicular Snap Using AccuSnap the Perpendicular Snap only works with the Place Smartline tool. You may continue using the manual tentative snap with the Place Line, Place MultiLine and Place Arc.

1. Slide onto the element in which the perpendicular is to be attached.

2. Accept with a Data Point the element.

3. Notice now that the new line or Smartline will stay perpendiculr to the element as you move your cursor around the element.

Another AccuSnap setting applies to the Perpendicular Mode, the AccuSnap Settings General – Fixed Point for Perp./Tan. From. When this is ON, at the point where you accept the snap is where the perpendicular comes from.

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AccuDraw and AccuSnap When using AccuSnap, in conjunction with AccuDraw, you can use the following AccuDraw shortcuts:

U — suspends AccuSnap for one data point.

J — toggles AccuSnap off/on.

As well as the ability to change your snap more with the following short cut keyins:

K – Keypoint Snap Divisor

C – Center Snap

I – Intersection Snap

N – Nearest Snap

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AccuSnap Settings To access the AccuSnap Settings from the Status Bar -> Right Click the Snap Icon and Select AccuSnap –or- From the Pull Down Menu Select Settings ->Snaps->AccuSnap.

Key-in: DIALOG ACCUSNAP

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General

Key-in: ACCUSNAP TOGGLE

Key-in: ACCUSNAP SUSPEND

Enable AccuSnap The default version of MicroStation delivers AccuSnap Enable.

Hint: You can also toggle AccuSnap on/off from the Toggle AccuSnap icon on the Snap Mode button bar or by using AccuDraw shortcut keyin “J”.

Show Tentative Hint The Show Tentative Hint is also ON by default. This feature shows the user a hint to where the snap location would be on each element. The Hint appears to the user whe the pointer is within the Snap Tolerance of the element, AccuSnap displays a dashed cross mark at the AccuSnap location.

Display Icon The Display Icon is also ON by default, AccuSnap will display the icon of the current snap mode at the snap point. Notice the icon will be the same as the icon on the Snap Bar.

Fixed Point for Per/Tan. From For use with the Place SmartLine tool only.

In previous version of MicroStation the user had to use a separate Snap Mode for the Tangent and Perpendicular snaps. With this toggle ON the user selects the Tangent or Perpendicular Snap Mode and the snap mode will construct the SmartLine either tangent or perpendicular from the exact location in which the snap is accepted.

When OFF the user will be able to slide the tangent or perpendicular to any given point.

Update Statusbar Coordinates When on, the coordinate readout in the status bar updates for each tentative snap point. This is as the same as when we use our manual snap the coordinates appear in the status bar.

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Play Sound On Snap When on, MicroStation will play a sound as you move your cursor over elements, indicating that you found a snap point.

Hilite active elements When on, AccuSnap highlights the element as the pointer is within the range of the Snap Tolerance. This gives the user a visual of which element is being snap to.

Identify Elements Automatically Identify Element Automatically (on by default.) tells the user the reason in which the element cannot be selected. In using Reference File it will also tell you the name of the Reference file.

Another feature to this option is that it automatically identifies the element for you. For example, using the Delete Element command – as you slide your cursor over the element it highlights and when a Data point is issued the element is deleted. Saving the user from accepting the selected element. Eliminating one Data point.

Pop-up Info When the Pop-up Info is on, and the user pauses over the element, a pop-up displays information about the element.

Automatic — Pop-up information appears whenever you pause or hover the pointer over a highlighted element.

Tentative — Pop-up information appears only when you manually snap a tentative point to an element and then hold the pointer over any part of the highlighted element.

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Elements Curves Toggled on, AccuSnap can snap to B-spline curves.

Toggled off, AccuSnap ignores B-spline curves and will display a ? symbol.

Dimensions Toggled on, AccuSnap can snap to dimension elements.

Toggled off, AccuSnap ignores dimension elements and will display a ? symbol.

Text Toggled on, AccuSnap can snap to text.

Toggled off, AccuSnap ignores text elements and will display a ? symbol.

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Feel Keypoint Sensitivity This setting adjusts how close the screen cursor must be to the snap point, before AccuSnap snaps to it. When you move the slider to the right (+) to increase, or to the left (-) to reduce, the allowable distance.

Stickiness This setting adjusts the sensitivity of AccuSnap to the current element. When you are snapped to an element, as long as you move the pointer along that element, the snap system will have a preference for that element over other elements that may have snap points closer to the cursor. The further to the right (+) that you set the Stickiness slider, the further away from the active element you can have the pointer without AccuSnap snapping to another element. Alternatively, the further to the left (-) that you set the Stickiness slider, the closer to the element you must be for AccuSnap to “stick” to the active element.

Snap Tolerance This setting adjusts how close the cursor must be to an element in order to snap a tentative point to it. When you move the slider to the right (+) to increase, or to the left (-) to decrease, the snap tolerance.