MicroStation V8 XM Edition General Overview

The MicroStation V8 XM Edition is the most powerful and most accessible MicroStation release ever.

3 reasons why its so accessible

An intuitive new interface places powerful new features within easy reach of the user The DGN file format remains unchanged V8 XM supports all existing V8 standards

There are many more reasons why V8 XM is so powerful!

3D PDF, Accudraw Enhancements, Annotation Tools, Place Cloud tool, AutoCAD Interoperability Enhancements, AutoCAD 2006 DWG support, 3D Studio file Support, 3D Studio Material Palettes Support, Annotation Cells, Bentley Universal Database Connection, Consolidated Element Selection Tool, Cursor Menus, Design History Enhancements, Design History Plot Differences, Detailing Symbols, Fields, Dimensioning enhancements, Place Arc Tools and Settings, Edit Handles, Multiple Edit Handle Manipulation, Reference clip Boundary Manipulation, Element Information Enhancements, Element Templates, Element Templates plug-in for the Standards Checker, Export Visible Edges Preview, Export Visible Edges Tiling, Named Fences, Fields, Graphics Subsystem, Element Transparency, Dialog Transparency, Display Priority, Color Books, True Color Support, Gradient Fills, MSI Installer, Silent install via SMS, Multiple version installation Keyboard Position Mapping, New Preferences, Level Enhancements, Line Style Enhancements, Material Attachments, Materials Stored in DGN, Mesh Elements, Mesh Modeling Tools, Model-based line style scale, History navigation, Place Note Text Frames, Multiple leaders, Rasterize Printing Enhancements, Non-orthogonal Plot Rotation, Plot mirroring, Pen Tables Transparency and Element Priority, Batch Print Enhancements, Project Explorer, Link Sets, Link Navigation, Sheet Numbering, Raster Display Priority, Raster Display planes, Raster Transform tool, Raster placed on level, Reference PDF with multi-page support, Additional Raster File Format Support, Reference Display Transparency and Display Priority, Reference Attachment Settings, References Dialog Enhancements, User Interface Redesign, User Interface Customization, Task-based tool boxes, Tools stored in DGNLibs, Nested Tool Boxes, Dockable Tool Settings and Dialog Boxes, Enhanced Mouse Button Mapping, Small, Medium, and Large Tool Icon Sizes, View Rotation with Accudraw, Navigate View Control, RPC Enhancements, Time-Based Animations, Render By Fence, Export Global Lighting Solutions to DGN, Animation Producer, Animation Preview Scrub Control, Velocity Graphs for Animations

References with Levels Transparency 3D Content in PDF Files Support for clip volumes, clip masks, and reference clip boundaries Support for raster references Mesh tolerance Engineering Links support Publish global lighting solutions Publish reference and level structure to Acrobat v7.07 model tree AccuDraw Configurable compass fill color Configurable window size Display coordinates with pointer Polar mode enhancements Expanded shortcut key-ins Annotation Tools — Revision Clouds Cloud By Points Cloud By Element AutoCAD Interoperability AutoCAD 2006 DWG support Default units when opening DWG files now "Design Center Units" Expanded DWG workmode unit format options Save As DWG/DXF — changes to General Options Cells Enhancements Annotation cells Attach directory of cell libraries Attach V7 DGN, 3D Studio, and DXF files as cells Color Enhancements Expanded element color options Color books Standard PANTONE® and RAL color books Database Interface Enhancements Bentley Universal Database Connection Design History Enhancements File-specific revision number format Delete design history Combine revisions Retire revisions Tag revisions Audit trail Review element change history Modify revision descriptions Print revision markup Integration with ProjectWise for support of distributed work files Detailing Symbols Dimensioning Enhancements Match dimension including annotation scale Re-organized Dimension Styles dialog box Compare two dimension styles Drawing Tools Place Line/Place Arc/Place Circle enhancements Place Arc enhancements Place Multi-line Style Scale Element Info (Properties) dialog box Quick Info dialog box Element Templates Create element templates stored in DGNLib Import Settings Manager files Import/export element templates from/to XML format Plug-in for the Standards Checker utility Example Files Updated industry specific examples Feature illustrations Links to online help Export Visible Edges Enhancements Enhanced dialog box Preview window Additional settings Fences Multiple, named fences Fence manipulation tool enhancements Stretch Element tool Fields Insert Element, Model, or File property values in text during or after placement File Protection Enhancements Enhanced security Support for 2048-bit public/private keys Create protected files compatible with previous editions Identify trusted .NET assemblies Google Earth Tools Define Placemark Monument Export 2D and 3D .kml files Levels References with Levels Transparency Synchronize MicroStation and Google Earth Views

Graphics Improved interactive performance for camera/view navigation Element, level, and reference transparency Element, level, and reference display priority Gradient fills Handles Enhancements Modify reference clip boundaries and clip masks Modify named fences Depress <ctrl> to enable drag-copy Installer Leverages Windows Installer technology Silent installation Directory structure conforms with Windows standards Levels Enhancements Selectively import levels Selectively import level filters Capability to control Display Priority, Transparency and Materials through level attributes Capability to format the string that is displayed in the level combo boxes Enhanced Level Manager dialog box License Management Enhancements Configure MicroStation with SELECT Server Import a checked out license from a file into the system registry Back up a license by exporting it to a file Line Styles Enhancements Redesigned Modify Line Style Attributes tool Model-based line style scale Mesh Modeling Tools Construct Mesh Mesh Boolean Modify Mesh Enhanced mesh clipping Models Enhancements Associate border attachments with sheet models Sheet Number property for sheet models History navigation Place Note Enhancements Additional types of frames Scale frames Place notes with multiple leaders Printing Enhancements Background color for rendered images Enhanced Print dialog box Optional rasterization Non-orthogonal rotation Mirroring Print preferences dialog box Default usage of plot style tables in DWG files Printer driver file enhancements Pen tables Support for pen table transparency extended to all printer drivers Pen table options dialog box Element symbology comparison mode Apply more than one section to an element Treat cells, shared cells, dimensions, and multi-lines as single units or individual elements Batch Print PLT-defined paper sizes allowed in system printer specification Batch Print preferences dialog box Project Explorer and Link Sets Create links to files, models, saved views, references and elements Create and manage link sets Follow links to target destinations Renumber sheets Raster Manager Enhancements View draped rasters in shaded display modes Enhanced Raster Manager dialog box Raster tool icons Raster attachments list box enhancements Cache Manager Enhance Binary setting Raster placed on level Multi-page PDF support I/RAS B raster formats support JPG 2000 format support ECW format support

Treat Attachment as Element for Manipulation References Enhancements Choose named fence as attachment view Manipulating references Treat Attachment as Element for Manipulation Optionally move boundary with reference Enhanced References dialog box Enhanced Reference Attachment Settings dialog box Attach specific history revision Attach named group Various new reference attachment settings Enhanced Copy/Fold Reference tool Reference Exchange/Edit Exchange to a reference or open the reference in a new session for editing, via the Element Selection tool's right-click menu Enhanced behavior of reference exchange Set default attachment options as user preferences Modify attachment settings with REFERENCE SET key-ins Seed File Selection Utility Separate MicroStation SDK download containing development utilities, APIs, and programming examples User Interface Enhancements Task-based user interface Expanded button assignments More intuitive input focus behavior Positional keyboard navigation Updated default function key assignments Contextual shortcuts for element manipulation Click or press and hold for reset pop-up menu Drag and drop operations with selected elements Hold down the <Ctrl> key while dragging elements to copy Drag and drop elements into the Named Groups dialog box to add to named group Drag and drop an element into the Attributes tool box to set active element attribute(s) Expanded window docking options Windows XP-style tool icons Small, medium, and large tool icon sizes Transparent dialog boxes Press <Enter> to open Key-in window Default Windows file selection dialog boxes Help enhancements Task-oriented topic structure Collapsible/expandable subtopics Element Selection tool incorporates PowerSelector functionality PopSet enhancements Screen menus Attach multiple redlines simultaneously Utility Enhancements Batch Converter Save As V8 Options dialog includes filtering capabilities Saved image size and resolution Image height and width can be specified in pixels, inches, mm, or cm Viewing Enhancements Smooth interpolations for pan, zoom, and rotation View rotation Cube/Sphere setting for Rotate View view control Define the center of rotation graphically Rotate to the AccuDraw drawing plane Navigate View view control Enhanced View Attributes dialog box Visualization Rendering enhancements Support for 3D Studio file formats Render by fence enhanced to include ray tracing, radiosity, and particle trace Export a global lighting solution as a model in a 3D DGN file Materials Materials can be stored in the DGN File Units definition for pattern/bump maps Improved RPC dynamics in rendered views Animation enhancements New Animation Producer dialog box that includes an animation tree view, Timeline or Velocity Graph, and Storyboard panel Animation settings dialog box Animator Preview tool Time based animation Enhanced Define Actor Path tool Target scripting options for defining an "object" as well as a "target"

In short…

Reference Attachments The ability to attach a PDF reference to a design file, dynamically manipulate reference clipping boundaries with handles, and attach multiple instances of the same model at different stages of development using Design History

Element Templates Integrate CAD standards with MicroStation Tasks to align features and tools with design and production workflows, so that teams can create consistent work

CAD Standards checking Check CAD content against standards and Element Templates to guarantee the quality & consistency of all project content

ProjectWise StartPoint Built-in technology providing an entry-level collaboration tool to manage, find, and share CAD and geospatial content using Microsoft Office SharePoint technologies www.bentley.com/ProjectWiseStartPoint

Link Sets For managing and navigating relationships of content within files such as drawings and specification documents and across formats including DGN, DWG, PDF, and Office formats

DirectX Graphics System A new display subsystem leveraging Microsoft DirectX technologies – the same high-speed graphics technology that drives the video gaming industry to significantly increase view and navigation speed in 2D and 3D designs

Element Transparency Element Transparency and Display Priority advance MicroStation’s design, drafting, mapping, and visualization capabilities

Pantone & RAL Colors PANTONE® and RAL® Color Systems: 24-bit color support deliver richer, more consistent presentations

Keyboard Position Assignments Patented keyboard position assignment to provide immediate access to any MicroStation command at the stroke of a key, and programmable mouse functionality to increase the performance of view and model navigation

An incredible productivity gain!” User Quote: “Tasks and keyboard position assignments are this generations accudraw... An incredible productivity gain!”

Other Interface Enhancements New file history navigation tools making it easier to use referenced files to manage large amounts of content within a distributed team.

3D Modeling enhancements Creation of parametric 3D geometry, mesh modeling for creating lightweight structures, and new handles for intuitive and interactive editing

Visualization & Animation Improved visualization capabilities for photo-realistic rendering and new animation tools – see more examples in the www.bentley.com/gallery

NEW Bentley Gallery!

Google Earth Tools MicroStation users can publish their DGN and DWG models of infrastructure assets directly to the Google Earth environment. Here, the models can be viewed and navigated in the context of this rich geographic imagery with associated content.

Windows XP Logo compliance New installers now ease the process of implementation and SELECT updates are structured to reduce the overhead of administration

Don’t forget the existing POWER! As MicroStation V8 XM Edition is a part of the V8 Generation, it already features innovations which have dramatically increased the performance and productivity of hundreds of thousands of users.

Native DWG Support Enables MicroStation users to work directly with DWG files, DGN files, or any combination of the two. Only MicroStation users fully participate in and deliver projects in either popular format – a clear competitive advantage for them and their organizations.

Design History Gives users the ability to isolate and view any change or set of changes to a design. Using Design History, users can record, review, and restore a complete history of modifications, including all data and references.

Digital Security Applies electronic signatures to drawings and supports multi-level access privileges for projects.

NEW! Bentley Library Examples & Cells

NEW! Bentley Library Utilities & macros

NEW! Bentley Library Materials

MicroStation PowerDraft Graphics, UI, Project Explorer Google Earth Tools B-spline Curves 3D Capable Development platform Power Products

Operating System Support Continued: Windows 2000 SP3 or higher Windows XP Professional Windows XP Home Edition Retiring: Windows NT 3.x, 4.x Windows 9x Series (95, 98, 93se, ME) New: Windows 2000 Server Windows 2003 Server Windows XP Professional x64 Windows 2003 Server x64

Prerequisites MicroStation V8 XM Software Prerequisite Pack DirectX 9c Performance is optimized with DirectX-compatible card Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 and various .NET service packs and hot fixes MSXML 4 with Service Pack 2 VBA 6.4 Windows Installer 3.1v2

SELECT Server XM Edition All XM Edition applications require SELECT Server XM Trust-based licensing Disconnected usage Simplified administration Deployed or Hosted Most desktop license files replaced by registry entries Licensing, Made Simple; SELECT Server V8 XM Edition This afternoon!

Activation & Disconnected Use XM Edition applications… …require Activation …don’t require a real-time connection for routine use Sometimes the network is just not available When traveling away from the office At a construction site When working from home Activating MicroStation V8 XM Edition introduces an additional mode of failsafe operation, allowing MicroStation to run full-featured - if the connection to SELECT Server is interrupted - for up to thirty days. Connectivity problems are generally unintentional and quickly remedied. For that reason, you should not be penalized by being denied access to your Bentley applications. Thirty days ought to provide enough of a buffer to successfully diagnose and resolve the issue. In the meantime, go ahead and get your work done.

Hardware Minimum Profile Processor Intel® Pentium® or AMD AthlonTM Memory 256MB minimum, 512 MB recommended. More memory will almost always improve performance, particularly when working with larger models. Hard Disk900MB free disk space (which includes the 400MB install footprint for a complete installation) VideoGraphics Card supported by DirectX 9.0. See graphics card manufacturer for latest information on DirectX drivers. If no graphics card supported by DirectX can be found, MicroStation will attempt to use software emulation under Windows XP SP2. At least 128 MB of video RAM is recommended. For optimal performance, graphics display color depth should be set to 24-bit or higher. When using a color depth setting of 16-bit, some inconsistencies will be noted. *To see if your system is optimized to run MicroStation V8 XM Edition, download and run the Bentley Desktop Analyzer.

Want to know more? - MicroStation Web

MicroStation V8 XM Edition General Overview