Design File Input Settings

Use this dialog box to set options when you import data from Microstation Design. Options differ for importing DGN7 or DGN 8, and the order of the items in the dialog may also change by version.

Group Elements By

Level

Group incoming objects by their DGN level. Only levels that contain elements are imported.

Level Names

Group incoming objects by their DGN level name. Only levels that contain elements are imported. This option is available for DGN 8 only.

Geometry

Group incoming objects by entity type.

Linkage Extraction

Extract MSLinks and FRAMME attribute linkage values from the DGN 7 file.

MSLink

Import up to three links per object for DGN 7. For each link, two fields are added to the object data table: mslinks_n, which specifies the key value, and entity_num_n, which specifies the table.

FRAMME

Add the following fields to the object data table: comp_count, comp_num, dgnfile, feat_num, state_num, and ufid.

Coordinate Units

Master/Sub

Select Master or Sub to specify which of these units in the DGN 7 file matches the default unit in the AutoCAD Map 3D map.

Each DGN 7 file defines a UOR (unit of resolution); in addition, it can define Sub units and Master units. For example, if the default unit in your AutoCAD Map 3D map is meters, and meters are the Sub unit in the imported file, select Sub. If you select Sub or Master, the UORs in the DGN 7 file are converted to Sub or Master units according to the conversion factor in the DGN file header.

When you import the file, one Master or Sub unit (whichever you choose) will become one drawing unit in your AutoCAD Map 3D map.

Unit Ratio

View the ratio between the Master and Sub units. For example, if the ratio is 1:12 (as it would be for Feet/Inches), imported object coordinates will be scaled 12 times bigger if you select Sub.

Element Expansion

Explode Multi Text

Explode multi-text objects into their component parts.

Create Text From Tags

Convert the contents of tags to text.

Explode Complex Chains

Return each component of a complex chain as its own feature (no feature is returned for the complex chain as a whole). Otherwise, all elements of the complex chain merge into a single linear feature, any arcs in the complex chain become linestrings, and any linkages on the component elements themselves are lost.

Cell Expansion

Create blocks From Cells

Expand cells into blocks, maintaining the cell grouping structure. This is the default.

Explode Cells

Expand the contents of the DGN cells into their component parts. The expansion is a single level deep. It does not expand all sublevels.

Create As Points

Expand the contents of the DGN cells into points instead of blocks, maintaining the cell grouping structure.

Reference Files

Ignore

Ignore all external reference files (xrefs) attached to the source data set.

Create DWG

Read all external reference files (xrefs) attached to the source data set. If the reference file has nested references, they are also imported, but circular references are not.

If you select this option, specify a location for the folder for these files. If the folder already exists, you can replace it (overwrite its contents) or cancel and specify a different location. The default folder location is the same as the selected DGN file location.