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CAD Translation Issues

System Differences

 

AutoCAD

MicroStation
Layer/Level Unlimited named layers 63 numbered levels
Colour 255 colours - normally assigned by layer 255 colours - standard and user defined colour palettes - normally assigned by entity
Linestyle Standard supplied and User defined - normally assigned by layer - scales with plot scale or block scale 8 standard and user defined - normally assigned by entity - does not scale with plot scale or cell scale
Lineweight/Width/Weight Actual width - can be assigned to linear entities - scales with plot scale or block scale Relative thickness - can be assigned to all entities - does not scale with plot scale or cell scale.
Text Styles Standard supplied and user defined Standard supplied and user defined
Plotting Colour is normally used for selecting pen width Weight is normally used for selecting pen width
Xref / Reference file Rectangular clipping in paperspace - nested or overlay Irregular clipping with voids - overlay only
Paperspace Support paper view of files with multiple viewports to modelspace Not supported directly. Uses separate sheet file(.s01, etc.) with DGN attached for each viewport.


DWG to DGN Issues

Layer Layers assigned a level number alphabetically or

Provide table for layers to levels
Colour Standard colour (1-8) defaults:
DWG Colour # DGN Colour # Colour Name
1 3 red
2 4 yellow
3 2 green
4 7 cyan
5 1 blue
6 5 magenta
7 0 white
8 8 gray

Provide table for others
Linestyle Standard defaults:
DWG Name DGN # DGN Description
Continuous 0 solid
Dot 1 dotted
Hidden 2 medium dashed
Dashed 3 long dashed
DashDot 4 dashed dot
Divide 5 short dashed
Phantom 6 dash dot dot
Center 7 long dash short dash

Provide table for others
Lineweight A2000+ only, assigned DGN weight or

Provide lineweight to weight table if desired
Width Ignored by default or

Provide width to weight table if desired
Text Style Standard defaults:
DWG Shape file DGN Font #
Txt 0
RomanT 2
Monotxt 3
ItalicC 23
RomanS 1
ScriptS 30
RomanC 2
ScriptC 30
RomanD 2

Provide table for others
Plotting Provide colour to weight if desired
Xref Ignore or

Create reference file attachment
Paperspace Creates separate DGN file with paperspace entities name.s01 with modelspace DGN file attached as reference.


DGN to DWG Issues

Level Level Level number converted to numeric layer (1-63) or

Provide table for level to layer name

Provide layer table giving layername, default colour, default linestyle if desired
Colour Standard colour (0-8) defaults:
DGN Colour # DWG Colour # Colour Name
0 7 white
1 5 blue
2 3 green
3 1 red
4 2 yellow
5 6 violet
6 30 orange
7 4 cyan
8 8 gray

Provide table for others or

Bylayer
Linestyle Standard defaults:
DGN # DWG Name DGN Description
0 Continuous solid
1 Dot dotted
2 Hidden medium dashed
3 Dashed long dashed
4 DashDot dashed dot
5 Divide short dashed
6 Phantom dash dot dot
7 Center long dash short dash

Provide table for others or

Bylayer
Weight To A2000+ lineweight; Ignored for R14 and below by default.

Provide weight to width table or weight to lineweight table if desired
Text Font Standard defaults:
DGN Font # DWG Shape file
0 Txt
1 RomanS
2 RomanC
3 MonoTxt
23 ItalicC
30 ScriptS

Provide table for others

Provide Style table with textstyle name, shape file, default height, widthfactor, and oblique angle if desired
Plotting Provide weight to colour table if desired
Reference files By default reference files are clipped, scaled, rotated, and merged into main DWG or

Clip, scale, rotate each reference into a block and insert into main DWG or

Create Xref attachment for each reference file ( clipping is lost) or

Ignore