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Comparing Standards Checking in MicroStation® and AutoCAD®
MicroStation XM and AutoCAD 2008 both provide a series of "CAD standards" commands. Although neither offers an interactive solution to correcting bad data, they can be useful in a controlled environment. They both operate in a similar fashion, using a template-drawing
to define the allowed features. For AutoCAD, the standard is defined by
the settings of an empty drawing, the DWS file. For MicroStation it is
a DGNLIB drawing containing an example of each desired feature, called
an "Element-Template".
The AutoCAD checker does not check individual elements, only settings like which layers are defined. Hence there is no way to define allowable combinations, e.g. this element-type and that layer etc. But the checker is memory-resident and will immediately highlight (by drawing a cloud around) anything drawn on an unknown layer, or any object using an excluded font or style not in the template. The MicroStation checker, on the other hand, does not slow down proceedings by being memory-resident; it must be activated by a command. But bizarrely, it will check only the "good" elements - those which have been associated with an element-template. All other elements, including bad data or objects without an element-template, are ignored. This is therefore not useful for any work involving legacy data prior to MicroStation XM, nor for work already done in XM if not using the same element-templates.
When incorrect elements are encountered, neither package has an easy way to fix them. The AutoCAD checker is restricted to pointing out a bad element without offering any correction. The MicroStation checker skips bad elements without checking them. The only correction offered is on "good" elements, those already linked to an element-template and subsequently changed. In this case the response is just to reload the default symbology from the DGNLIB template. This is performed without showing or identifying the changed element(s), nor is there any opportunity to change to, say, a different feature type or to delete the bad elements.
Setting up menus or toolbars to draft using the "standard", for either MicroStation or AutoCAD, is time-consuming and laborious. For AutoCAD it is a case of setting up custom icons which match whatever is in the standard. Anytime the standard is changed, the customization must be updated. For MicroStation, a custom toolbar can be set up with lists of the features defined in element-templates. But only the last-used icon of each list is shown on the toolbar, which may be confusing. Also, after such a tool is used the last-used element-template stays in effect, inappropriately applying itself to any new elements drawn using the normal toolbar.
The permissible size(s) of text, cells or blocks is normally part of any CAD standard. AutoCAD's checker does not check individual elements and their scales. The MicroStation element-template allows a cell-scale to be specified but this does not form part of the check; if the cell is later scaled up to a wrong scale it will still pass undetected.
The inbuilt standards-checkers do offer clear reports of their own settings, listing the features which have been defined. More important for users, however, is a report on standards-compliance of the elements in a drawing, or in a batch of drawings. AutoCAD does not check elements and therefore can not report on them. MicroStation does offer a listing of elements by symbology. There is no easy way, however, to identify an element in the listing and correct it on the drawing. Batch reporting on compliance is not mentioned in either package.
Neither of the inbuilt standards-checkers offers a tamper-proof seal of standards-compliance.
Using the inbuilt standards-checkers may be helpful in a controlled environment, offering a way to draw "good" elements. Neither system, however, offers plausible recovery from bad drafting, nor any way to convert legacy data.
Corporate Montage Pty Ltd is a leading international
software development company that specialises in CAD standards for MicroStation
and AutoCAD. The company has offices in Wiesbaden, Germany; Houston, Texas;
and Sydney and Perth, Australia.
www.cadconform.com
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