Topic: (Microstation) DWG Mode

[PHX cadie]

has anyone had problems with scaling in dwg mode?
random facts that maybe of use:

open a Acad2004.dwg, everything is ok. Open again 2 minutes, days or weeks later, everything is whacked out of scale.

-title block scaled down 1:12, was and should be 1:1
-bldg sections, self reference from model, scale 1:576, (hmmm 576/12 = 48, the sections were originally ref'd at 1/4" = 1'  (x48)
-all the layout elements look like they have not been scaled down
-the layout text looks fine, but the info tells me the text is .0083 tall, not .1, but the inserted "typical
" block next to text is inserted 1:1
-all references in model are intact (1:1)
-this seems to happen at random and to people on other machines, (but mostly to me, or it seems that way)

ideas? ?

[Keith™]

check the insmode of the DWG as well as any associated blocks. I have had that problem before as well. I had to specify the insmode variable in the DWG file and in each of the blocks before things calmed down.

[PHX cadie]

sorry I did not mention we using XM


I ran "insmode" in the keyin and got a "unkown keyin or command".  (Ahhhh the memories....at least unknown command is common between Acad + MS)

Is that a Acad command? I tried the "/" which should axcept Acad commands but no luck

Advanced "thanks" for replies and "apologies" for lack of specifics, I did not build these things

[Keith™]

Yes, in AutoCAD .. it is a system variable that tells AutoCAD (among other applications) what the drawing scale is based upon. When opened, MS scales the drawings according to the current units setting in MS based upon the insunits setting ...

[PHX cadie]

 

I was afraid of that....

is there a MS keyin?

[Keith™]

not that I am aware of .. you may try setting the units in Microstation to match those of the drawing .. but I don't have access to XM so I can only assume it is similar to V8

[PHX cadie]

Thanks, I've been let go of the project   ,

but you've still got my vote!

[PHX cadie]

an hour later and I'm back on this job, talk about dancin in a minefield!

[Keith™]

Is that a good thing or bad thing? From the icon, you appear to be sad about it ... or are you happy .. hard to tell

[PHX cadie]

Blow to the ego, but it was a relief, if only temp

You may have the key, downloaded one of culprits of before:

insunits 2    (feet? ? ?, someone had to have changed this, the default is 1, inches)

but, from help:

INSUNITS System Variable Concepts Procedures Reference
Type: Integer
Saved in: Drawing
Initial value: 1
Specifies a drawing-units value for blocks or images inserted from AutoCAD® DesignCenter™. INSUNITS applies to blocks and images only, and does not affect other content, including drawings.

0  Unspecified (No units)
1  Inches
2  Feet
3  Miles
4  Millimeters
5  Centimeters
6  Meters
7  Kilometers
8  Microinches
9  Mils
10  Yards
11  Angstroms
12  Nanometers
13  Microns
14  Decimeters
15  Decameters
16  Hectometers
17  Gigameters
18  Astronomical Units
19  Light Years
20  Parsecs

Now 20 sounds like fun, but help claims insunits only effects blocks and images. Do you think it has been scaling our refs?

[Keith™]

if they are xrefs then perhaps it has.

Go to Settings->Design File->Working Units and see what it is set to .. it should match the drawing and all blocks should be according to that setting as well.

[PHX cadie]

working units:

Linear Units, Format - decimal, Master Units - feet, Sub - inches, accuracy to 4 decimal. All but the accuracy are greyed out, unable to change, I would guess from the company seed, but these are dwg's, from years ago, so its not locked from a seed file (?)

Now here is a secret I could not pull any coordinates from the civil base file.....a little bird told me to go to the Advanced setting>Edit and change the resolution from XXXXXX per inch to foot. It worked and was temporary. When reopened the file would revert back to XXXXX per inch.
Thats on the civil base, but on this file, which does not have any Civil references, (bldg section and pipes) the resolution is 3048 per foot

Now I'm confused 

Hope I'm not keeping you awake

[Keith™]

Changing the resolution does change the visual aspects of the drawing. I would never recommend changing the resolution as it can have various different effects on the drawing, most are unintended.

If it has been altered previously in MS, the drawing could very well have had the settings mucked about by another user.

You could try this ...
Open the DWG, set the units so the drawing appears properly, save it as a V8 DGN, close the DGN, reopen the DGN and save it as a DWG, close the DWG, then reopen in DWG mode and see if the problem still exists.

You probably will need to close the drawing between conversions (make sure you keep your original file, just in case something gets screwed up) because MS acts really wierd when doing this. I have opened DWGs saved as DGN, then saved as DWG, and the drawings don't get updated properly. I think the issue is that MS still has difficulty dealing with DWGs. Just to be sure, close the drawing between each conversion.

[PHX cadie]

worked on 7 sheets today and changed the insunits to 1.  I was thinking that would be the safest since it is the default and most of the dwgs crashing insunits was 2 ( a couple at 0). Not a single crash today. Tomorrow I'll talk another cadie to see if they can crash 'em intentionally.
So far, so good.

Thanks Again!

You da man!