- What is Bentley Descartes V8?
- Where can I find documentation for Bentley Descartes V8?
- What's New in Bentley Descartes V8?
- What are the System Requirements for Bentley Descartes V8?
- Will my MicroStation Descartes V7.1 license work in Bentley Descartes v8?
- Is Bentley Descartes V8 SELECTserver Compliant?
- Will my Bentley Descartes V8 SELECTserver license work with MicroStation Descartes V7.1?
- Does Bentley Descartes V8 need to be loaded as a workspace?
- What plotting capability is included with Bentley Descartes V8?
- Does Bentley Descartes V8 support InterPlot?
- Is there an easy way to send a design file and the associated images to another user in my organization who may not have Descartes?
- What types of images can be used in Bentley Descartes V8?
- What image formats does Bentley Descartes V8 support?
- How is the display of images managed with Bentley Descartes V8?
- What tools are provided to prepare images or create mosaics and montages?
- What tools are provided to automatically create mosaics?
- What is the dynamic warping capability of Bentley Descartes V8?
- What raster editing capabilities does Bentley Descartes V8 have?
- Can Bentley Descartes V8 be used for heads-up-digitizing and automated vectorizing of images?
- How do I use World Files in Bentley Descartes V8?
- I would like to drape multiple images on a 3D surface; do I need to create a new material for each image?
- I have an existing prj file and would like to know how to make a smooth transition from prj files to working with (raster manager) type 90 elements in V8?
Question 1: What is Bentley Descartes V8?
Answer: Bentley Descartes V8 adds high performance image, transformation, enhancement, editing, mosaicking, and georeferencing (warping) capabilities to MicroStation V8. Bentley Descartes V8 supports engineering, mapping, and conversion projects that require the use of large images, and may be used to create hybrid maps, plan sheets, and other documents. Image scenes or mosaics created in Bentley Descartes V8 may be distributed to users of MicroStation V8 Generation applications such as, MicroStation V8, Bentley View, Bentley Redline and MicroStation PowerDraft or MicroStation GeoGraphics, where they may be viewed and plotted. Additionally, datasets may be saved to DWG to be opened by AutoCAD users.
Question 2: Where can I find documentation for Bentley Descartes V8?
Answer: Bentley Descartes V8 documentation is now delivered in the …/Bentley/Documentation/ directory and …/descartes/tutorial/ directory.
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Question 3: What's New in Bentley Descartes V8?
Answer: Bentley Descartes V8 includes many new features and optimizations such as Native File Support, new Clipping feature, new Transparency features, new Image Selection Set support, and much more. The Descartes help file (descartes.chm) has a chapter that overviews modifications and new features of Bentley Descartes V8.
Question 4: What are the System Requirements for Bentley Descartes V8?
Answer: See the Bentley Descartes V8 Installation Requirements document.
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Question 5: Will my MicroStation Descartes V7.1 license work with Bentley Descartes V8?
Answer: No. You must obtain a new license for Bentley Descartes V8. Call 1-800-BENTLEY or email licensing@bentley.com to request and obtain a new license.
Question 6: Is Bentley Descartes V8 SELECTserver Compliant?
Answer: Yes. Bentley Descartes V8 can be licensed using SELECTserver technology.
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Question 7: Will my Bentley Descartes V8 SELECTserver license work in MicroStation Descartes V7.1?
Answer: Yes. The Bentley Descartes V8 SELECTserver license is backwards compatible.
Question 8: Does Bentley Descartes V8 need to be loaded as a workspace?
Answer: Bentley Descartes V8 dynamically adds its menu items to the Raster Manager dialog, thus providing an integrated workspace without modifying your existing MicroStation Workspace. Alternatively, using Bentley Descartes V8 keyins, you can complement your MicroStation workspace with any of the Bentley Descartes V8 tools.
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Question 9: What plotting capability is included with Bentley Descartes V8?
Answer: MicroStation's Raster Manager includes all plotting capabilities: Additional plotting capabilities are available from Bentley's InterPlot. For more information see Plotting Solutions.
Question 10: Does Bentley Descartes V8 support InterPlot?
Answer: Yes. For more information, please visit the Plotting Solutions Web Page.
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Question 11: Is there an easy way to send a design file and the associated images to another user in my organization who may not have Bentley Descartes V8?
Answer: MicroStation V8 offers several ways to publish data. First, you can pack complex data sets using MicroStation's Packager tools. Next, send this package to anyone who whishes to view your data. Viewers can easily open the package using the free MicroStation View, or with several other V8 Generation Bentley applications.
Users who whish to publish on an ongoing basis, should seriously consider Bentley Publisher. For more information on Bentley Publisher please see Content Publishing - Bentley Publisher or Digital InterPlot, please see Content Publishing - Digital InterPlot
Question 12: What types of images can be used in Bentley Descartes V8?
Answer: One of the key advantages of Bentley Descartes V8 is its ability to mix image types. You can simultaneously use black and white or two color (1 bit) images with gray scale and color (8-24 bit) images, and the images can have different scales and resolutions. Typical image types are scanned drawings, black and white maps, color maps, aerial photographs, and satellite images.
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Question 13: What image formats does Bentley Descartes V8 support?
Answer: Bentley Descartes V8 directly supports all raster formats provided by Raster Manager. Where applicable, Bentley Descartes V8 edits these formats in their native form, no conversion is required and no hidden background conversion is done.
Raster Formats
- CIT, TG4, RLE, and CALS.
- HMR and ITIFF
- TIFF, COT, IMG, PCX, IMG (24 bits), RGB, TGA, JPEG, RLC, RS, and BMP.
- Mr.SID, ECW, IKONOS.
- And many others…
Compression Algorithms
- Deflate, PackBits, CCITT3, CCITT4, RLE1 and JPEG data compression. You may open, edit, and save directly in any of these compression algorithms. Any of the supported file types will recognize and keep positional information intact.
Question 14: How is the display of images managed with Bentley Descartes V8?
Answer: MicroStation's Raster Manager displays images in all eight views. Since images are not restricted to placement by layer, the number of images that can be loaded into each view is unlimited. Images are added or removed from a view and this information is tracked using the standard MicroStation Raster Reference attachment. You can use MicroStation's Raster Manager interface to turn on or off specific images in a view and to calibrate contrast and brightness. Support is provided for the MicroStation Dynamic Pan and Update View, Zoom In, Zoom Out, Window Area, Window Center, and Fit Active Design view controls. Additional display controls are provided to fit one image or all images to a view, send an image back or bring an image to the front, display an image at its actual resolution, or apply an image to one or to all views.
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Question 15: What tools are provided to prepare images or create mosaics and montages?
Answer: Bentley Descartes V8 includes a full suite of warping, editing, enhancement, and transformation tools to support the preparation of images and the creation of mosaics. Images can be warped to fit a geometric space defined by a DGN file or a list of known points. Images can be moved, scaled, rotated, mirrored, and merged. Areas of an image can be, made transparent, or copy/paste with a choice of output. Gray scale and color images can be enhanced with Tone Balance to create a consistent look across a mosaic.
Question 16: What tools are provided to automatically create mosaics?
Answer: Mosaics tools allow automatic gray scale/color balancing and seam placement. Automatic seaming also features "feathering". Feathering allows the seam (cut-line) to be rendered invisible. Once the automatic mosaic/feathering process completed, images seamlessly blend together to create the perfect image scene.
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Question 17: What is the dynamic warping capability of Bentley Descartes V8?
Answer: Bentley Descartes V8 WYSIWYG warping is a tremendous interface advantage resulting in higher productivity. The dynamic warping superimposes vectors over images to give visual rather than statistical feedback, providing an intuitive interface that relaxes traditional photogrammetric rules. You gather points until you get a general fit and move them to get an exact fit. You can see the results before you resample, eliminating unnecessary iterations.
Question 18: What raster editing capabilities does Bentley Descartes V8 have?
Answer: Bentley Descartes V8 includes a robust feature set for editing raster images. With these tools, images can be cleaned up interactively with color masks. Additional cleanup tools are used to rid a scanned image of unwanted noise, blemishes and speckles. Intuitive options allow for user definable despeckling as well as automatic hole filling and line smoothing. In addition, color image backgrounds can be made transparent or translucent to aid in working with multiple overlain images.
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Question 19: Can Bentley Descartes V8 be used for heads-up-digitizing and automated vectorizing of images?
Answer: Yes. Bentley Descartes V8 supports automated raster-to-vector conversion. Raster lines that match user definable filter sets can be automatically vectorized with minimal input from the user to greatly enhance any conversion project. In addition to these tightly integrated raster-drawing tools, users can snap to individual pixels of an image while using standard MicroStation geometry creation methods. For areas that are difficult to view, one key selection invokes the "Spy Window" which magnifies the area encompassing the cursor to aid in proper alignment and location.
Question 20: How do I use World Files in Bentley Descartes V8?
Answer: When using World Files in Bentley Descartes V8 make sure the World File is located in the same directory as the image file. When an image accompanied by a World File is opened, Bentley Descartes V8 will automatically read the World File and place the image at the proper location in the design file.
In order for the image to be placed accurately, Bentley Descartes V8 needs to know what measurement unit is used in the World file. You can set your own units in the Workspace > Preferences of Raster Manager menu under the "WorldFile Default Unit Label" field. The default unit is set to m for meters
Georeferencing information is now read and stored in World File format for all file formats that do not support an embedded header and/or transformation matrix. The file extension of the world file will be determined as follows:
- tif = tfw
- jpg = jgw
- bmp = bpw
- sid = sdw
- cal = clw
- png = pgw
- rs = rsw
- a = aw
- p = pw
- tga = taw
- pcx = pxw
Be aware that the World File Unit (WFU) setting will be referenced by any batch conversion operations utilizing the World File as a means of storing georeferencing information.
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Question 21: I would like to drape multiple images on a 3D surface; do I need to create a new material for each image?
Answer: No, once the drape material is applied to a surface, any images that lay directly above that surface in a top view will be projected and trimmed to that surface when rendered. Be sure to open the images within the view being rendered for this to work.
Question 22: I have an existing prj file and would like to know how to make a smooth transition from prj files to working with (raster manager) type 90 elements in V8?
Answer: You must first open your design file and then import your .PRJ file using File > Project > Import.
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