Chapter Eight Groups PLAY VIDEO INTRODUCTION There will be times when you need to perform the same operation on several elements. Although this can be done by repeating the operation for each individual element a more efficient method is to temporarily group the elements and perform the operation once. This chapter covers two different methods for temporary groups of elements in MicroStation V8i. FENCES One way that you can group elements in your design file is to place a fence around them. Once a fence has been placed, you can move, copy, scale, rotate, delete, or change the attributes of elements that are in the fence. There are three important things that you need to remember about fences: A fence is a temporary structure you use to group select elements. Place a fence by selecting the Fence tool. To turn a fence off, data point on the same tool. Only one fence can exist at a time in your design file. Fences can be any shape from a simple rectangle to a multisided polygon, even a circle. MicroStation V8i fences can be set to one of six modes. These modes determine which elements are considered to be fenced. You can set the fence mode when you create the fence, when you perform any operation that uses the fence, or at any time from the Locks settings box. The three most common fence modes are: o Inside - When this mode is selected, only elements that lie entirely inside the fence will be affected. o Overlap - With this mode, elements that lie inside or elements that overlap any portion of the fence will be affected. Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Groups 1
THE FENCE TOOLBOX o Clip - This mode is similar to the Overlap mode, it too will affect elements that lie inside the fence or ones that overlap any portion of the fence. The difference is that Clip mode will actually break overlapping elements at the points where they touch the fence. So only the portions of the broken elements that lie inside the fence will be affected. The Fence toolbox is part of the Main toolbox of the Tasks section. You can open the toolbox by clicking and holding the data point on the Place Fence icon and selecting the Open Fence as Toolbox option. You can use the tools on the Fence toolbox to place, modify, or move a fence. There is also a tool that allows you to delete the elements in the fence. The Three Most Common Tools: Place Fence - You can use this tool to place a rectangular fence. When you activate this tool, by default, you are prompted to supply two data points. These data points will be the diagonal vertices of your fence. Delete Fence Contents - Unlike the other tools in this toolbox, this tool will affect the elements within the fence. When you select this tool, you will be prompted to confirm the deletion with a data point. A data point anywhere in an open view will confirm this action and delete the contents of the fence. Remember that the current fence mode will determine which elements will be deleted. Manipulate Fence Contents - Essentially, any modification that can be done to elements can also be done to fenced groups. A Typical Fence Operation One example of using a fence is to change the color of a number of elements at once. 1. You select the Place Fence tool (21) from the Fence toolbox, place two data points to define the fence to include the elements, a series of circles for instance. 2. Next select the Change Element Attributes tool (51). 3. In the Change Element Attributes Tool Settings, turn on the Use Fence option. 4. Turn on the Color option. Click on the color box. Select a bright color and data point. Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Groups 2
5. Place a data point in the view to accept the change. All of the circles change color. This same approach can be used to change level, line style or any other element attribute. Other common operations performed using a fence include moving, copying and deleting elements. The Fence toolbox also includes its own set of fence operations, in the form of the Manipulate Fence Contents tool (23), many of which mirror the same tools found in the Manipulate toolbox. ELEMENT SELECTION TOOL Another way to temporarily group elements is to use the Element Selection tool (1) located on the Main task bar. This tool allows you to select a single element, a group of elements, or all elements that lie within a specified area. When an element or group of elements has been selected with this tool, handles display around the element(s) at keypoints. The element(s) can now be changed or manipulated the same way you would change or manipulate any single element. To select a single element: 1. Select the Element Selection tool from the Main task bar. The Element Selection Tool Settings appear. 2. Identify the desired element. The element will now display highlighted with handles indicating that it is selected. Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Groups 3
To select multiple elements: There are several ways. First way is similar to most Windows programs: 1. Select the Element Selection tool from the Main task bar. 2. Press and hold the <Ctrl> key on the keyboard and identify the desired element. Continue this process until all the desired elements are selected. Note: In the Element Selection tool, the sequence <Ctrl> key - data point is a toggle. If you issue this sequence on an element that has already been selected, you will be un-selecting it. 3. In the Element Selection toolbox (shown above), select the Add option. Then you can select multiple elements and each will continue to add to the selection. To select all the elements within a specified area: 1. Select the Element Selection tool from the Main task bar. 2. Position the cursor at one corner of the area that you want to select and press and hold data point button. Drag the dynamic fence to the opposite corner surrounding the elements of interest and release the data point button. All elements that lie completely inside this area are highlighted indicating that they are now selected. Note that if you drag from right to left, any element you touch will be selected. If you drag from left to right, only those items totally inside the area will be selected. 3. There are many other methods of selection included with this tool which won t be discussed here for the sake of brevity. You can read about them in MicroStation s online Help by searching on the term Element Selection. Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Groups 4
EXERCISE: SPRINKLER PROTECTOR In this exercise you will create the Plan and Section view of the sprinkler protector shown below. CREATE THE PLAN VIEW OF THE DESIGN In this part of the exercise you will create the simple square and two circles that represent the top or plan view of the sprinkler protector. Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Groups 5
1. Select File menu > New. Enter the file name SprinklerProtector. 2. Click Save and open the new file. 3. Select Settings menu > Design File > Working Units category. Set master units to inches with the label and subunits to mils. 4. While in the Design File settings dialog, click on the Grid category. Verify grid Lock off. Click OK to close the Design File settings dialog. 5. Turn off display of the grid in the view via the View Attributes dialog (Settings menu >View Attributes). Once open de-select the Grid display icon. 6. Select Place Block (W1) and draw the rectangle 20 x 20 using AccuDraw. 7. Select Place Circle (E1) and place the two concentric circles of the plan view (see drawing for diameter values). Place the circles at the center of the rectangle by changing the Snap to Center method and snapping to an edge of the Rectangle. 8. Use Fit View to see the entire rectangle. CREATE THE LEFT HALF OF THE SECTION VIEW In this part of the exercise you will the left half of the section view using the Place SmartLine tool and lots of AccuDraw. 1. Use the Zoom out tool to provide some view space beneath the rectangle so you can draw your section view. You can also use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out. You will draw only the left half of the Section View starting with the sloped portion of the sprinkler protector. Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Groups 6
2. Select Place SmartLine (Q1). 3. With Input Focus on AccuDraw, move cursor to the lower left corner of the rectangle in the plan view until the yellow x appears on the corner. Type O for origin. 4. Move the cursor straight down a short distance, with AccuDraw indexed to the vertical or Y axis (you see the heavy white line) to make the first point of the section. Enter a data point. 5. Move the cursor to the right (X axis) and type 6, but don t press <enter>. Move the cursor up (Y axis) and type 2 then data point. The sloped portion of the protector is now visible but the AccuDraw compass is set at an angle following this sloped line. 6. Press the letter V to reorient the AccuDraw compass back to the view. 7. Move the cursor down indexed to the Y axis, press 6 and data point. 8. Move the cursor to the left, indexed to the X axis. Press <enter> to lock the line to the X-axis. 9. Move the cursor to the first point of the section you are creating and snap to the end point. Notice how the line you are placing stays locked to the X axis. 10. Enter a data point to accept the location. 11. Close the section by snapping again to upper left point of the section you are creating and enter a data point. 12. Place a few short line segments, point (Place Point tool, Q4) and 3-sided polygons (Place Shape, W2) to represent the concrete in the section detail. Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Groups 7
CREATE THE LEFT HALF OF THE SECTION VIEW The final step to complete the section view is to create a mirrored image on the right side of the center hole. The results of this exercise is highlighted in the following diagram. 1. Select the Place Fence (21) tool. 2. Move the cursor a couple of inches above and to the left of the Section and data point. Now, move the cursor a couple of inches below and to the right and data point. You will see a colored rectangle surrounding your left half section. 3. Select the Mirror tool from the Modify toolbox. In Tool Settings window: Mirror About: Vertical Turn on Make Copy option (otherwise it mirror-images your geometry and you will lose original) Turn on Use Fence option The mirror-image tool is now expecting you to accept the contents of the fence and to simultaneously supply it with the line about which it will mirror. You will use the center point of the plan view circles to establish this vertical axis. 4. In the plan view snap to the center of the circles and data point. The geometry within the fence is copied and mirrored. You will see another copy also as MicroStation V8i assumes you want to continue. 5. Press Reset to complete the Mirror-copy operation. Select the Place Fence tool again to reset the fence. Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Groups 8
The final steps are to add the dashed box representing the sprinkler housing (7 x 7 ) and the lines connecting the two sides of the mirrored details. 6. Use the Place Block (W1) and the Place SmartLine (Q1) tools to complete the design (highlighted in the following illustration). Use the line style Dashed for the sprinkler housing block. 7. (OPTIONAL) Add dimensions using a text height of 1.0 and the dimensioning tools covered in the previous chapter. < RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS GO TO CHAPTER NINE > Copyright 2009 Bentley Systems, Incorporated Groups 9