I am going to be changing the office software. Probably going with Carlson.
I have been using Microstation with Eagle Point for many many years, so all of my job files are in that format. (1000's and 1000's of them).
My Question is. How well does Carlson convert a microstation file?
It needs to be pretty much spot on so I don't have to monkey with this and that every time I convert an old job.
Thanks for any advice.
Randy
As far as I know, it doesn't. You have to go into the Microstation file and save the .dgn files as a .dwg file. There are a few things in the text that do not convert. The main one that I can think of is the degree symbol. It has different definitions in Microstation than Carlson. In carlson it is %%d. I believe in microstation it is simply a ^. So when you convert and open in Carlson,they will need edited. this is from limited conversion between the two and there may be another way to get around this problem. If so, I would like to know as well.
I use Carlson Survey 2010 and it does indeed import and convert *.dgn files and seems to do so well. The default settings give what is input, same layer names, colors as set in Microstation, etc.
The manipulations are setting everything to your AutoCad standards.....Color by layer, linetype bylayer, etc. There is an import menu where you can preset things as you want, but I just usually do a direct import and run with what I need.
Any version above 2009 that is running the Autocad OEM will import dgn files.
Well, I guess that explains my situation as I am still stuck in 2004.
I haven't had very good results in ANY version of AutoCAD or Microstation that convert well between .DGN and .DWG.
They do well enough, but there are countless details that get lost. It seems to work best using Microstation to create the .DWG files, but even that is fraught with problems, at least when using Civil add-ons like InRoads, GeoPak, or PowerCivil.
LandXML also leaves something to be desired, but can sometimes give better results, at least when it comes to Surfaces. So I often use a combination of DGN/DWG conversion + LandXML. That's more-complicated, but often gives better results.
Our Carlson Survey 2012 doesn't do that. Maybe it's part of the civil module...
The DGN import is actually part of core AutoCAD. Are you using the Intellicad version? If so, which version? I *think* Carlson may have piled DGN conversion on top of recent releases... I don't think it's part of core Intellicad, though... Ladd would know for sure.
Vanilla Acad 2004. Thanks, Sinc 🙂
Have you considered PowerSurvey from Bentley, basically a stand alone package like Carlson, Microsurvey, etc. that comes with the Microstation engine and survey software, I own a copy, BUT never really learned it, if you are already a Microstation user, might be something to consider?
SHG
> I *think* Carlson may have piled DGN conversion on top of recent releases... I don't think it's part of core Intellicad, though... Ladd would know for sure.
Sinc is correct... Carlson has offered a DGN Import/Export routine to the current versions of the IntelliCAD product. In my experience, I've found it best to use the engine to convert the DWG to DGN and then manually insert the converted DWG as an exploded block or XREF into the production DWG.
According to this IntelliCAD press release, look for DGN interoperability starting with core IntelliCAD 7.1.
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Ladd Nelson
