MicroStation CONNECT Edition Help

Dynamic Views

Dynamic Views is a general name that encompasses several related technologies which share a common goal of making model analysis and documentation more interactive and intuitive. Gone are the days when designs were just static views, they are replaced by the ability to create live, intelligent views of a design that update automatically as the design evolves.

Typically, when a team of users works on a project, it is divided into several files to allow multiple people to work concurrently. Members of the team work on different aspects of the project and references are used to communicate graphic content across the team.

Before you can fully understand the concept of Dynamic Views, it is important to understand the terminology:

Term Definition
Design A collection of elements in a Design model that are drawn at actual size. This design is not intended for publication. A design encapsulates part of the project for the purpose of active editing. It uses references for backgrounds only. Example: a 3D model of a bridge, an electrical layout for a shopping mall, site contours for a ground surface.
Design Composition A collection of references at full scale (1:1) that is intended to be used in several designs, design compositions, and/or sheet compositions. A design composition differs from a design in that it is predominately references. The references are composed using different level on/off states, level attributes, reference clipping, locations, and orientations. Example: a master 3D model, an architectural background, existing site conditions for a drainage study.
Drawing A collection of elements and references in a Drawing model to create 2D documentation. A drawing should take output print scale into account, while a design should not.
Sheet Composition A collection of references and elements in a Sheet model that define a finished drawing sheet ready for publication. Typically, this is where references are scaled to fit the sheet, and a print output scale is always considered.
Drawing Boundary A predefined area on a sheet model which may contain a drawing. This can be thought of as a target location for a drawing on a sheet model.
Annotation Detailing, such as text, symbols, dimensions, and flags, added to a model for emphasis and to provide explanation.
Design Annotation While drawing annotation and sheet annotation are recommended to fully annotate a project, some annotations may be placed as design annotation in the Design model.
Drawing Annotation Annotation placed in the drawing model because it needs to be shown in multiple sheets, potentially at different scales. For example, room labels.
Sheet Annotation Sheet specific annotation. How much annotation is placed between the drawing model and sheet model varies greatly among users.
Marker A transient icon that stands out of the normal geometry in a model and is easy to recognize. A marker represents the presence of a saved view, link or markup. When you hold the pointer over a marker, the Mini toolbar for the marker displays.
Mini toolbar A type of context menu that is automatically shown when you pause the pointer over a marker or a callout. The Mini toolbar provides easy access to most used tools without requiring to right-click the data pointer.
Hypermodels A combination of dynamic views, markers and Mini toolbar features used such that all of your project documentation is contextualized in 3D, at your control, automatically so that both the drawings in the sheet or drawing models and the 3D design model are easy to understand, interpret and update.


Multiple design models referenced in a 3D design composition model and section callout placed in the design composition model



Section view referenced in the drawing model and annotations applied to it



Drawing model referenced in the sheet model with suitable scale

There are six general stages of Drawing Composition:

  1. Project Standards — In this stage you set up WorkSpace / WorkSet wide seed files and seed models and configure the DGN library files.

    Project Standards

  2. Design Composition — In this stage you create a collection of references at full scale (1:1) that is intended to be used in several designs, design compositions and/or sheet compositions.

    Design Composition

  3. View Composition — In this stage you compose all the desired views (section or plan views) in the project. These views should have linked callouts and placeholder fields so when the views are added to a sheet, they are automatically updated as work goes on in the project.
  4. Sheet Composition — In this stage you create sheets that represent finished work ready for publication. Typically, this is where print scale is taken into consideration.
  5. Schedules and Reports - In this stage you create an index sheet and place it as a table. You can also create a report from index sheet and export it to Excel or .csv.
  6. Printing, Publishing, and Export - In this stage you print or publish the sheet as well as export the models to other file formats. The sheet is either plotted on a printer, converted to pdf, or published as an i-model.
    Tip: To save multiple files that contain your drawing composition to .dwg quickly, you can use the Batch Converter.
In the Drawing Composition, after completing the Design Composition stage, you can create saved views, drawings and sheets automatically, or you can complete the View Composition and Sheet Composition tasks manually.

Using Create Drawing dialog to automate dynamic views

Using dynamic views manually

The drawing boundary and named boundary tools can be used to enhance the dynamic view automation. The following diagram explains the same.

Using drawing boundaries and named boundaries to automate dynamic views

The ability to view sheet graphics in a 3D design model, in place, makes Drawing Composition a much easier task.