MicroStation CONNECT Edition -- It's not only about...

MicroStation CONNECT Edition -- It's not only about the UX pg. 1

©2018 ConnectPress, Ltd.

MicroStation CONNECT Edition --

It's not only about the UX

Don’t judge the new release by its cover. There is so much

more to CONNECT Edition than a pretty face.

By Dan Raker, ConnectPress

A common misconception about MicroStation CONNECT Edition is that the

update since V8i is all about moving to a Windows/Office style user interface.

Most users’ first impression has something to do with CONNECT Edition’s ribbon

menu system across the top of the screen. For some, this is immediately

comfortable – ‘why did it take so long to bring MicroStation’s UX to come into

the modern era?’

For others, mostly folks who have been using MicroStation for years, the

reaction is more along the lines of, ‘oh my! Where do I start?’

But regardless of what end of the first impression spectrum you lean towards,

CONNECT Edition has less to do with a new UX and more to do with oodles of

new functionality.

Sometimes I think it was a mistake for Bentley to combine both the new

interface and all the new CONNECT productivity tools into one release.

Might it have been better to first bring the UX into the modern era and let users

get comfortable with that before unleashing the torrent of new tools at also

show up in CONNECT Edition?

Moot point – water under the proverbial Bentleymulti-discipline bridge design

and analysis solution at this juncture. So, take some time to broaden your

understanding of the array of tools that show up in the latest version of

MicroStation.



The obvious: ribbon-style UX

Even before you get to the MicroStation workset area, a number of orientation

screens allow you to select work environments appropriate for your

MicroStation session.

The Welcome screen, fully customizable, gives you access to things like news,

project lists, libraries, RSS news feeds and more.

One of the first Welcome screens in MicroStation CONNECT Edition draws you into various work

environments.

In the Work Page, you can select from a list of projects on the left. In this example “Training” is

highlighting giving a half-dozen training related options. Note the Browse and New File options

center screen.



Getting to the core of the MicroStation working area, CONNECT Edition presents a

Windows/Office-style ribbon menu across the top of the screen. The default setup is well thought

through, but you can customize as you choose.

Overview of MicroStation CONNECT Edition user interface changes.

Under the hood

Moving on from simple look and feel, CONNECT Edition has several behind-the-

scenes functionalities as well as in-your-face productivity tools.

The behind-the-scenes ‘under the hood’ functionality takes care of a host

platform tools like:



Backstage handling like file lists, access to libraries and naming

conventions

Semi-automatic ProjectWise enablement for connected project and file

sharing

Cloud enablement – if your enterprise has set up CONNECTED cloud

services (and you should…) the linkage between your desktop and (local

server and) cloud access is transparent

64-bit processing for vastly improved computing performance allowing

faster handling of large design files

RSS reader functionality built into almost any screen, so you can bring

external resources directly into your design environment

Automatic every-three-week updating.

You don’t have to think about it, but behind the scenes MicroStation CONNECT Edition has a new,

strong underlying platform.

Functionality!

There are literally hundreds of new tools, updated easier-to-use tools, and

linkages between MicroStation CONNECT Edition and your projects and other

Bentley and external tools.

Here are a noteworthy few highlights of what’s new:

Item Types – if you want, add a database of properties behind any item

or element in the design file. Later use these properties for intelligent



design, reporting, and documentation. Example: this line is a fence, a

fence has materials, length, width, cost, etc. Show me all Aluminum

fences. Or tell me how many feet of fence I’ve drawn and how much it

will cost.

“Visual pen types” allow you to control what is highlighted or displayed.

In the example below a wireframe design file is currently set to show only

areas where you must mow the grass.

Automatic sheet indexing automatically renumbers sheets and elements

within sheets based on intelligent re-ordering.

Many, many more. If you want to get a feel for other new functionality I

suggest you read the article “8 Things you could not do with V8i that you

can do with CONNECT Edition” in this CONNECT Edition series. You may

also want to spend an hour with the view-on-demand webinar, “Why you

should start using MicroStation CONNECT Edition” at

http://microstationconnections.com/feature_full.php?cpfeatureid=1185

08

The more your team uses Item Type properties, the more you can take advantage of CONNECT

Edition property-driven smart tools.





Using the Display Styles dialog box, the visual of the current file is limited to showing only areas

where the grass needs to be mowed.

A few more What’s New items in MicroStation CONNECT Edition.

CONNECTivity

While you don’t have to be connected to the cloud to use MicroStation

CONNECT Edition, you will likely want to be once you take some time to set up

and get used to the benefits of all the CONNECT Edition’s connectivity.



Using the nearly setup-free cloud services, you are automatically connected to

follow project users. You can connect users, projects and enterprises including

permissioned external players.

The CONNECT Edition resources available through cloud connections are vast.

A Project Portal is setup as a dashboard to manage your role and interaction with other facets of

the project.



With CONNECT Edition connectivity you can use things like a Project Portal as a

dashboard to manage interaction between you and other facets of a project

including:

Viewing project details

Get news and notifications of project developments

Manage team members and permissions

Securely share files with project participants the way you would with

Drop Box or G-drive, but securely in your environment

Access additional cloud services like virtual servers for rendering and

optioneering

The Enterprise Portal is like the Project Portal but at the next meta-level up. Use

the connected enterprise portal to

View project activity

Manage software and service requests including user management,

permissions, roles, licenses and usage reports

Manage master catalogs and reality meshes

An Enterprise Portal allows meta-level management of an array of resources.

While not a direct function of MicroStation CONNECT Edition itself, using

CONNECT Edition seamlessly meshes with other Bentley connected tools

including ProjectWise CONNECTION Services.



With the CONNECTed version of these suite of Bentley tools, visual, cloud-

enabled work flow management comes to life.

Here’s an overview of ProjectWise CONNECTION Services that seamlessly integrate with

MicroStation CONNECT Edition.

“Cloud” as a buzzword can mean a lot of things. Many older software programs

have had cloud links stitched onto them. But programs that have been written

freshly to take advantage cloud functionality are different in their orientation to

everything from file and data sharing to ‘built for the cloud’ reach of

functionality.

Bentley has made its CONNECT cloud services nearly invisible within its

CONNECT Edition – it is extremely easy to turn on and use. CONNECT Edition is a

handsome integration of older MicroStation functionality, completely re-

engineered to take advantage of cloud connectivity.

Parametric Design Modeling

And the list goes on! I’ll close this discussion with one more set of functionalities

that you should know comes built into MicroStation CONNECT Edition.

For this release, Bentley has completely re-written the underlying solids-modeler

that makes MicroStation so powerful. You will notice virtually no changes to the

design modeling functionality that you’ve know from earlier editions.



However, the rewrite enables the addition of powerful parametric functionality

that can supercharge user’s ability to create and reuse designs. Check out some

of these concepts:

Smart geometry and reuse are some of the features of CONNECT Edition’s new parametric

modeling technology.

So MicroStation CONNECT Edition is not just another pretty face. Getting past

the new UX opens a whole host of new tools.

Dan Raker has been writing about CAD and MicroStation software for over 35

years.

This article originally appeared in MicroStationConnections.com and is copyright

©2018 by ConnectPress, Ltd. Some of the material in this article originated in

the live webinar “Why you should start using MicroStation CONNECT Edition” on

October 25, 2017. You can watch the view on demand version of this webinar at

http://microstationconnections.com/feature_full.php?cpfeatureid=118508.

ConnectPress’ MicroStationConnections.com also runs a resource page for

CONNECT Edition learning and migration at

http://microstationconnections.com/spotlight.php?spotid=805.


http://microstationconnections.com/spotlight.php?spotid=805

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