MicroStation in Ireland

P&L

With V8i recently released I was wondering had anyone considered moving?

Mellor

The two of the largest offices use it. it wouldn't be a good time to switch for any company though.

P&L

What offices are those Mellor?
Do you mean because of the 'current economic climate' for upgrading? I would assume most MicroStation offices are on subscriptions anyway...

BFassassin

I use Microstation in college but I never heard of it being used anywhere in industry.
Tbh id rather learn autocad or solidworks because of this.

P&L

BFassassin wrote: »

I use Microstation in college but I never heard of it being used anywhere in industry.

ESB, Eircom, Dublin City Council, Iarnród Eireannn, Ordnance Survey... would be the ones I've encountered most, but there are plenty of Architectural Practices too.

To be fair, the question I ask is of anyone who is already using MicroStation, where they stand with upgrades. AutoCAD, Solidworks... only for small fish

Mellor

P&L wrote: »

What offices are those Mellor?
Do you mean because of the 'current economic climate' for upgrading? I would assume most MicroStation offices are on subscriptions anyway...

Microstation generally lends its self better to bigger organisations. Due to the costs and subscriptions.
The two largest practices in ireland are HKR and MoLA. Both use microstation.

As for my comments regarding the current climate. If a company was to switch, there are alot of costs involved, such as software cost, but more importantly, you would have to train staff up to use it. And even once they all know it, productivity isn't going to be 100% for a few months.

The two programs are fundamentaly different.

P&L

Mellor wrote: »

As for my comments regarding the current climate. If a company was to switch, there are alot of costs involved, such as software cost, but more importantly, you would have to train staff up to use it. And even once they all know it, productivity isn't going to be 100% for a few months.

I guess you are talking about ACAD > uStation again? Sorry, I forget most people live in a ACAD frame of mind by default.

I really meant upgrading from 2004 > V8i, or XM > V8i

The two programs are fundamentaly different.

Not really, most average users can do the transition in a week and be faster after two. That depends on a lot of factors like the quality of support, and most importantly how busy / under pressure they are. I've seen badly trained and half-heated efforts at changing take years too...

But I'd reserve the 'fundamentally different' terminology for something like Z-Brush.

Anyway, I shouldn't get into a ACAD discussion, maybe I should have asked if there are any uStation or Generative Components users reading these boards. Any involved in BCUKI?

Nate--IRL--

I recently moved from V8 to XM to V8i (powerdraft) in the space of about 2 months. I have to say its quite a good improvement, its getting more and more like Autocad with each release (or at least borrowing the best bits from Autocad)

The only thing I never got working was the batch print, why they changed this I'll never know.

However now that I'm out of work i'm gonna have to reprogram my brain for AutoCad again. Pity, I was just beginning to really like Microstation (after 2 years of bashing my head off the desk trying to get it to work like I wanted it to.)

Nate

Mellor

P&L wrote: »

Not really, most average users can do the transition in a week and be faster after two. That depends on a lot of factors like the quality of support, and most importantly how busy / under pressure they are. I've seen badly trained and half-heated efforts at changing take years too...

To be honest, I say it comes down to what each of us consider a proper standard. I know both programs very well. It took me less than a week to learn Microstation. But I wouldn't consider that to be 100%. After a month you will know it well, after a year you will know it inside out. This applies to both programs. Switching either way is going to slow you down for some time.

As for being fundamentally different, I was refering to the command structure and user inputs.

Gumbo

im just after making the switch from using autocad in the private sector for the last 8 years to microstation in the public sector.

first thoughts are microstation is similat to autocad but does things in a round about manner.

going on a microstation course soon, so im preying that i get to grips with is sooner rather than later!

Nate--IRL--

The easiest way to learn and get to grips with Microstation coming from an Autocad background is to let Microstation break your will. You can fight how it does things, but you will end up very frustrated and annoyed only to find that months later you will conform.

Resistance is futile



Nate

Edit: the attached may be of help

Mellor

kceire wrote: »

im just after making the switch from using autocad in the private sector for the last 8 years to microstation in the public sector.

first thoughts are microstation is similat to autocad but does things in a round about manner.

going on a microstation course soon, so im preying that i get to grips with is sooner rather than later!

Are you having trouble with the trim command

Wallacebiy

Pretty Sure I'm going to Upgrade soon .

Been using the Athens Beta for some months now for specific reasons ( converting Co-ordinate systems to export dgns to Google earth )

Like it , although it does look clunky on the pallettes so it'll take a while to organise that when I switch to using it everyday


Hi All

P&L

kceire wrote: »

going on a microstation course soon, so im preying that i get to grips with is sooner rather than later!

Pay loads of attention when you do the bit on Accudraw, and getting the most out of it.

Been using the Athens Beta for some months now for specific reasons ( converting Co-ordinate systems to export dgns to Google earth )

Yeah, I could really do with that new clever coordinate system as well. We're having terrible trouble with 3 working grids at the moment. But I dont expect to see V8i for at least a year

Have you looked at the Project Explorer yet, or do you use PWise?

Wallacebiy

P&L wrote: »

Pay loads of attention when you do the bit on Accudraw, and getting the most out of it.



Yeah, I could really do with that new clever coordinate system as well. We're having terrible trouble with 3 working grids at the moment. But I dont expect to see V8i for at least a year

Have you looked at the Project Explorer yet, or do you use PWise?

I don't use either , sorry I'm a standalone kind of guy when it comes to my Microstation projects.

You could surreptitiously download the Beta ( or full one ) , to trial it ( 15mins and then out it goes )
It might help you just to fix co-ordinate systems , There's been no awkward change of file format or anything so files should be completely compatible ( unless you're still using version 7 )

P&L

Wallacebiy wrote: »

I don't use either , sorry I'm a standalone kind of guy when it comes to my Microstation projects.

By the looks of it (Project Explorer), then it would really suit you, being standalone. I was at the last BCUKI conference in RIBA and one of the guys demod it, I think he put the presentation online somewhere - I'll see if I can find it... (edit, sorry not having any luck with that)

You could surreptitiously download the Beta ( or full one ) , to trial it ( 15mins and then out it goes )
It might help you just to fix co-ordinate systems , There's been no awkward change of file format or anything so files should be completely compatible ( unless you're still using version 7 )

I do have full access to all versions (select subscription), the problem it has to be rolled-out across the company before I can start to take advantage of it.

Wallacebiy

P&L wrote: »

By the looks of it (Project Explorer), then it would really suit you, being standalone. I was at the last BCUKI conference in RIBA and one of the guys demod it, I think he put the presentation online somewhere - I'll see if I can find it... (edit, sorry not having any luck with that)



I do have full access to all versions (select subscription), the problem it has to be rolled-out across the company before I can start to take advantage of it.

Same here , all I'm saying is you could install it on it's own , just to fix the co-ordinate systems without having to wait for the company wide roll out . files are completely usable back in V8 Xm .


I'll have a look into PE and see is it of any addition. Microstation is my swiss army knife though , I pick at everything I can with it.

P&L

Wallacebiy wrote: »

I'll have a look into PE and see is it of any addition. Microstation is my swiss army knife though , I pick at everything I can with it.

Yeah, that's what I like about it, there's a lot more to it than meets the eye...

P&L

EYC have just posted an artcle on the Project Explorer (tegistration reqd)
http://www.eatyourcad.com/article.php?incat_id=2131

jozi

I used Microstation while working for the summer.
Had a week of messing around and asking colleagues around me how to do this or that before a week of training. The guy doing the training commented on the pace we were learning, even showed him a trick after he gave a big round about way of doing something

I actually quite like using it compared to cad. Obviously im much more comfortable with cad since i've used it for so long. MS has a few things which I missed coming from cad, but the same can be said about cad having some things MS has.

It's been awhile since I used ms and can't quite remember what I liked or disliked about it, there was no bad taste left in my mouth after using it thou!