To place custom substructures

To place either functional components (parametric cells) or regular MicroStation cells onto supportlines, use the following procedure.

You must have one or more existing supportlines in your model.

Functional Components give you a degree of flexibility which is not possible with conventional 3D tools. Parametric modeling allows complex elements to be edited easily without the need to be manually rebuilt.

The Functional Components enablement in MicroStation allows for you to experience true 3-D parametric design for advanced design modeling, leveraging both 2D and 3D constraints to accurately capture and model design intent.

The CONNECT Edition introduces a new smart and comprehensive workflow that is comprised of Parametric Cells and Item Types for creating intelligent and reusable content, ultimately minimizing the need for re-modeling.

Users can now create smart parametric models that can be driven by variables and placed as parametric cells, whose variation can be selected at placement or changed afterwards.

You can read more information about Functional Components including how to create these cells in the MicroStation online help.

Limitations of Functional Components for substructure in this release (v10.07.00.xx)

Transfer to Analytics is not yet supported
Automated drawings with automated dimensioning not supported
Earthwork excavation tools not supported
Stepped cap option for bearing seats not supported

Select the tool according to the type of custom substructure element you want to place:

To place a…	Do this…
custom pier	On the Home tab, select the Place Custom Pier tool in the Substructure group, or key in `bmgeom` `pier` `placecustompierbypierline`
custom abutment	On the Home tab, select the Place Custom Abutment tool in the Substructure group, or key in `bmgeom` `pier` `placecustomabutbysupportline`

In the Place Custom Substructure or Place Custom Abutment tool settings dialog, select the pier or abutment template to use:
1. Click […] adjacent to the Cell setting. The Cell Selection dialog opens.
  b. The list shows both the standard cells as well as parametric cells (including variables) and a preview.
2. Select the desired cell.
3. Click OK.
(Optional) Specify additional settings such as Cap Length Adjustment flag, and Vertical or horizontal offset.
In the view window, do the following:
1. Select existing supportlines (click individually, window, etc.) to add them to the selection set.
  Tip: You can click a supportline again to remove it from the selection set.
2. Reset (i.e., right-click) to set the selection set
3. Data point again to accept the selection set.
Specify any necessary cap or footing elevation constraints for the piers or abutments and then click Apply.

The custom substructure elements are placed in your project.

Once the pier or abutments are placed in the file, you can review the properties window and adjust any of the variables previously defined to generate the desired pier or abutment parametrically.

You may need to adjust the horizontal and vertical offsets of the custom pier placed to locate it at the desired location. The functional component is tied to the supportline and will move automatically if the supportline itself is moved.

This workflow allows the you much more control over the creation and placement of substructure elements as per project needs, and overcomes the limitations of the standard template based approach in OpenBridge Modeler.