Microstation Tutorial on Tool frame

MicroStation uses the terms drawing tool frames, tool boxes and tools to distinguish among these elements, but the Help file, which you should use frequently, is not always consistent in its naming. The Photogrammetry Mapping Basic Microstation Tutorial is a general description of the elements.

Photogrammetry Mapping Basic Microstation Tutorial on Tool frame (or tool bar)

Four major tool frames are identified in the TOOLS section of the menu line. The tool frames are

1) Standard - contains the Windows operations such as file open, print, and spell check

2) Attributes - settings for line styles and width, and color

3) Primary - this tool frame provides quick access to major drawing features such as levels, model and reference cells, element information, and the accudraw drawing system

4) Main 2d or Main 3d - for 2-dimensional or 3- dimensional drawing tools, dependent on your drawing type

These tool frames are usually turned on (from Tools on the menu line in the above screen display, Figure 2). The first three are docked on the top of the page, but the Main tool frame may be docked on any side or left floating on the screen as the user chooses. Movement around the screen is accomplished with the familiar click and drag operation of Windows.

Photogrammetry Mapping Basic Microstation Tutorial on Tool Boxes

The second layer of Tools is the Tool boxes that contain many individual drawing tools. Figure 4 below is a screen display obtained from

Tools>Main >

In the “blank drawing.dgn” file of the tutorial, the Main tool bar is already available to the user on the screen because it was docked earlier. In the figure within the tutorial the Main toolbar appears as the vertical, floating bar with icons on the left. The Tool boxes within the Main tool bar are displayed on the right side. What is the image on your computer screen?

To see the screen when the Main tool bar has not already been opened, click on the Main check box. Reset the previous view by going to Tools, place the cursor over MAIN to bring up the right side list, and slide the cursor over to click on Main

Since the Main tool frame in Microstaion V8 is the most used for drawing activities, the elements will be identified here before proceeding. In Figure below, starting on the upper left and proceeding down of Microstaion V8 main tool frame, the tool boxes are:

 -Element selection tools, used to select elements to be worked upon.

 -Point tools, used for placing points in the drawing.

Tool frames, tool boxes and Main drawing tools of Microstaion V8

-Hatching tools.
-Arc tools, used to place various types of arcs in the drawing.
-Tag tools, for tagging elements in a drawing.
-Group modifying tools, used to group or ungroup elements.
-Measuring tools, used to measure distances, angles, areas, and volumes.
-Attribute tools, for modifying the attributes of elements in Microstaion V8.
-The Delete element button.

Beginning at the top right we have the following:
-Fence tools, for fencing elements and modifying fence contents. Fences are used to select multiple drawing elements as subjects for one or more common operations in Microstaion V8.
-Line tools, for placing lines of various types within the drawing.
-Shape tools, for placing various 2-d shapes in the drawing.
-Circle tools, for placing circles and ellipses in the drawing.
-Text tools, for placing and modifying text.
-Cell tools, for placing cells in the drawing.
-Dimensioning tools
-Element modification tools, for copying, moving, and rotating elements.
-Line modification tools, for doing the same to lines.

What happens if you click on one of the Tool boxes of Microstaion V8 under Main?
Try the “Measure” button. Within the “Measure” tool box, separate tools are available to measure distances, angles, areas, and volumes. Now click on the button and move the cursor to the right while holding down the left mouse button. If you go far enough to the right you will detach the tool box and leave it opened on your screen. Close it by clicking on the red “X”.

This Microstaion V8 tutorial only shows a small fraction of the tools available. As you use MicroStation, the Help section can be your friend. Even if the terminology is not always consistent, the assistance is valuable.