ProjectWise Admin module offers a setting for reducing the amount of records you keep in your Dms-audt  table (Audit Trail records). If you are truncating millions of rows in your dms-audt  for the first time, you should enable the checkbox for “Move truncated records into a secondary table” on Off Hours (perhaps on the weekend.) Otherwise, the ProjectWise Integration Server may not be able to function well and authenticate Users, etc. The setting is in the Properties of the Datasource > Audit Trail tab. The truncation process will start within the hour, and proceed until the specified number of records to be kept is reached. This could take days if this is truncating millions of records, and depending on the number of records specified to keep.  After the specified number of records to keep is reached, the Integration Server will be truncating only on an hourly basis, a much more modest number of records.

You can stop the ProjectWise Integration Server “Services”, and then uncheck the “Move truncated records into a secondary table”, then Restart the “Services” in you have to operate more efficiently before the truncation  process has completed.    

ProjectWise TSG can advise on more specific recommendations depending on what type of database you have, and if you have to truncate in a ProjectWise Integration Server Load-balanced configuration.

PS V8i (SS5) – DWT Creation - Best Practices for AutoCAD

  Chapter One  

Before beginning to generate a model in ProStructures, many of the underlying settings should be in place. There are quite a few settings to consider but fortunately, most of these can be saved to a Drawing Template (DWT) and loaded each time a new model is to be created. It is the understanding throughout this post that you already know how to create and save an AutoCAD .DWT file.

Throughout this document we will look at some of the more relevant features and settings that can be added to the DWT. This is not meant as a feature by feature guide to all the settings available, nor is it meant as an absolute requirement to generating your models and drawings. What we will be looking at is settings that represent key features in generating good models.

Additionally this document has been divided into two areas due to the fact that the DWT used for generating 3D models and the one used for generating 2D drawings should be set up differently.

Now let’s begin by looking at some of the settings for the 3D modeling environment.

  Section 1.1 – 3D – The Global Options  

The ‘Global Options’ have many settings that handle all kinds of functions throughout the ProStructures program. It is not my intent here to cover each and every setting but simply to point out some of the key settings that you may wish to take note of.

First of all let’s look at how we access the Global Options. With ProStructures loaded there are two ways to open up the Global Options dialog window, first you can go from the dropdown menu that is available in AutoCAD (Though not always enabled) by going to “ProStructures à ProSteel Options”.

The second method is to have nothing selected and right click in the model space area and from the menu that appears select “ProSteel à Options”.

 Both methods will open up the Global Options dialog window. From this dialog we have access to many of the global features available in ProStructures and we will be focusing on a couple of key features for this document.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

First let’s begin with the ‘Options’ area.

The first settings we should look at are the “Remove” settings. Note that there are three settings that begin with the word remove. Each of these settings attaches to the purge command when enabled and allows the user to purge out not only the standard
AutoCAD entities but also the ProStructures specific entities.

Immediately following these options is the Check DWG during load. This is an important setting as it will check the drawing for errors whenever it is loaded. For this function properly however the “Proxygraphics” must be disabled (Set to ‘0’).
Proxy graphics is an AutoCAD command so you can simply type this into the command line to change the setting. Another bonus to having the Proxygraphics disabled (Set to ‘0’) is that the file sizes can be up to ten times smaller.
This also gets saved with the DWT (Drawing Template).

Lastly, turn on the ‘Convert Boolean’ and ‘Execute Boolean First’. The simple explanation for this is that it will allow you to open and manipulate much larger files if these settings are enabled.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The next setting I’d like to mention is the “Length always largest value” setting under the ‘Straight Plates --> Plate Description’ area. Please ensure that this option is not enabled as, depending on how a plate is drawn, it may cause the values of your BOM to be displayed incorrectly.

Leave this setting ‘Unchecked’.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Another important setting is the Actual Geometry’ setting found in the ‘Straight Plates --> Calculation Method’ area.

The ‘Calculation Method’ setting from the dropdown box will affect the weights listed in you BOMs. For actual weights set this to ‘Actual Geometry’. If you are doing fabrication and want to include the weight of the wasted material you may want
to change this to ‘Extents’.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

In the Bolts Section You may want to ensure that the “Enable Back to Back Bolting” is enabled.

 
If you are connecting beams using clip angles as an example and these beams go to either side of a supporting members web then this will recognize that the holes line up and handle the bolts used in this situation correctly.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 In the ‘Values’ section of the ‘Global Options’ you will find two settings, one for ‘Front Distance’ and the other for ‘Back Distance’.

These settings will control your default clipping plane distances which in turn will also affect all of your viewtools that cause clipping planes to be enabled.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Passive and Active Logical Links should be enabled (Checked).
These settings allow your model to dynamically react to changes once things like coping or connections have been put into place. Set the Update dropdown boxes to Automatically.

You may also wish to enable the ‘Allow Additional Data’ option if you intend to call out Connection details. This will enable and additional tab when connections are being placed that allows the user to add in a description and identifier. If
these fields have values then you will be able to call the connection in as a detail during the 2D drawing production phase.

-=-=-=-=-=-=- 

Three important settings in the 'Display Area'.

First the paperspace viewport options should be set to ‘Without Support’ while modeling and only enabled once the model is done and the 2D drawing generation begins.

Also you may wish to ensure that the ‘Shape and Plate Clipping’ options are enabled. This will allow the program to display the cross section of shapes when looked at from the center area where the clipping depth does not reach the end of the member.

Lastly ‘Do not display Part Labels’ should be disabled (Unchecked) or else all labels everywhere will be hidden regardless of any other setting.

-=-=-=-=-=-=- 

The settings for the 'Dialog settings' area are usually set as follows:

“Use CAD System settings” in all three instances as enabled (Checked). This then retrieves the values used from AutoCAD that were set up when ‘UNITS’ is typed at the command line. Units should always be set regardless and here the user has the ability
to call those settings in.

“Expert Mode” is typically set to “Beginner”. Changing this setting, especially to Expert mode may provide additional settings in different areas but the user then loses the ability to use the graphical reference at the right side of the dialog windows while working.  If the extra features are needed it is recommended that the user come into the Global Options, switch to ‘Expert’ mode to use these features and when done change back to ‘Beginner’ mode. For the sake of the DWT, leave this setting to ‘Beginner’.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 At this point you may wish to generate a template for your settings so that if they are ever lost for whatever reason calling them back will be easy with the template in place.

Again, please note that this is not an exhaustive list of features and settings but rather some of the highlighted ones that may prove useful. A good suggestion is to start with the provided drawing templates that come with ProStructures. For North America this is typically the “PS-S#-US-CDN_Imp” or “PS-S#-US-CDN_Met” as these drawing templates have many of the best settings already in place.

  Section 1.2 – 3D – Additional Items to Consider  

In addition to the settings mentioned in the first part you may also want to consider setting up and including the following items. 

• ‘Proxygraphics’ should be off (Set to ‘0’). You can type this command at the command line.
• ‘Units’ should be set properly. You can type this command at the command line.
• Your AutoCAD dimension styles
• Your AutoCAD text styles
• Display and Area Classes from within ProStructures (Optional)
• Part Families from within ProStructures (Optional)
• Global Options (above) set properly.

  Chapter Two  

  Section 2.1 – 2D – Drawing Template for 2D Detailing  

When it comes to developing a ‘Drawing Template’ for 2D drawing creation, this should be a separate file from the 3D drawing template. In the case of setting up a 2D environment you do not want to include anything except what is absolutely necessary. For example, you may have a border/’title block’ included in the file but then only the text styles used with this border should be included and nothing else. 

The reason for using a clean file for the 2D drawing is that when 2D drawings are generated through ProStructures, all of the necessary files are brought over from the models environment. To avoid conflicts or errors it is best to leave the 2D drawing template as empty as possible so that it is ready to receive everything from the models environment.

 As stated in the training manual for this product, “ For 2D drawing generation, ProStructures takes all required text and dimension styles specified in the Detailstyle from the model and brings them over to the 2D drawing.”

   Chapter Three  

  Section 3.1 – Additional Information  

The document can be found online here:

http://communities.bentley.com/products/structural/drafting___detailing/m/drafting_and_detailing_gallery/249464.aspx

The supported methods to bulk configure product activation is either utilize Microsoft’s Group Policy, GPO or the utility, Licensetoolcmd.exe.  Sometimes it is tempting to configure systems with a scrip or to push a registry settings to a accomplish this. Do to the complexity of the registry, and where we store settings based on the users rights (admin or not) and the user access control level, UAC and  what operating system your running on and whether or not that OS is 32 bit or 64 bit makes this impractical to support. Group policies are the industry standard for this type of thing, mass deployments is the reason why Microsoft created them and is why we chose to implement support for them.  Delivered with SELECTServer is a Group Policy template ADM called BentleyLicensing.adm. This will give administrators the ability to apply the SELECTServer settings to the desired objects.  Attached to this article are the BentleyLicensing.adm and BentleyLicensing.admx GPO templates.

The following is a video on how to use GPO to configure your applications for Activation against a SELECTserver.

Using Active Directory GPO To Configure Licensing For Users Centrally

For those that can take advantage of Microsoft’s group policies, we developed the LicenseToolCmd.exe which is a command line executable that allows for the scripting of the SELECTserver settings.  The script can either be a part of the user’s login script that is executed every time they login or run once when the machine is configured.

To populate the server name and activation key for the SELECTserver license, you can run a script to set this. After the installation, there will be a file called Licensetoolcmd.exe in the program's installation folder. Your script should use the following syntax:

...\Licensetoolcmd.exe configure /setting:selectserver /value:selectserver.bentley.com

…\Licensetoolcmd.exe configure /setting:activationkey /value:ABCDEFGHIJKL1234567890

I want to share with you my experience with delivering our first ProConcrete onsite training. It was delivered last week in Hopkins, MN (Suburb of Minneapolis/St. Paul).

The standard ProConcrete training is 2½ days (20 hours). It could be 2 days (16 hours) if the people being trained already have ProSteel experience since some tools are common to ProSteel & ProConcrete. In this case it was a new user that had never used either software.

We had scheduled 4½ days at the client's offices using 2½ days for training and 2 days for coaching.

The training went fine from Monday to Wednesday a little after mid-day. The client has some very specific type of structures they build and needed a more personal approach on how to model the structures they normally build. Because of this, we took a bit of time out of the coaching part to accommodate the training.

The coaching part was intended so that the users could use their knowledge during training to build something that resembles more of what they really do and have the instructor around to help and answer any questions. The reason for this is that the training was to be delivered using the exercises prepared in our manual which did not necessarily reflect what the client produces in real life. The manual is intended to show how to use the commands in a general way so the users have the knowledge of what the software can do, not necessarily showing what they do in a day to day basis.

Since this was the 1st training delivered for ProConcrete in North America, using a new manual and dataset, some comments and propositions from the users that attended this training will be looked at in order to make the training material better.

The general feedback from the users present was positive. There is a return trip to be schedule with this client in order to pursue the coaching and possibly revise some of the topics covered in the training later this fall.

On another note, I'd like to thank the Air Canada crew for their superb job handling the uncontrollable circumstances that occurred during my return trip on Friday after the class was over. As you might have heard, there was a major thunder storm in the North East area which closed my connecting airport (Toronto's Pearson International, a.k.a YYZ) for a few hours and also closed my home town airport (Montreal's Pierre-Elliot-Trudeau International, a.k.a YUL).

My trip started a 1:00pm at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International (a.k.a. MSP), once in the air, about 45mins before scheduled time to arrival at YYZ, the captain came on air to announce that YYZ was shut down, we were to be redirected to North Bay (not an international airport...meaning no customs). So we landed there, and because there is no customs at that airport, we had to stay on the tarmac, inside the plane, for 4 hours, until Pearson re-opened. During this time we had no food, and no more water bottles were available on the plane since this flight was schedule to be only 2¼ hours long.

The captain was about to take it upon himself to allow us to de-board the plane (this is a procedure normally used in private planes, but can be applied in special circumstances) when the air traffic controller came on to let us know we were cleared to take off and head back to YYZ. We landed there at 10:45pm

Needless to say, by the time we reached YYZ, my connecting flight to YUL should have been gone. Well no it wasn't. It was also delayed because of the closure of both airports I had to fly to (YYZ & YUL). This flight was supposed to leave YYZ at 8:30pm, but was delayed and only departed at midnight. Giving me time to clear customs and find my gate.

I finally arrived home 13 hours after I arrived to MSP airport. But the trip was pleasant thanks to a superb crew who did all they could to make us comfortable.

There has been a few conversations on custom linestyles so I thought I'd post up a good basic example of setting up stroke line styles and then combining several of them into compound styles. These are just road line markings, but are a good example of how easy it can be.

Just rename the attached file to road.rsc.

More soon.

Visitors to the LEARNserver can now find learning paths and training courses for Bentley software more easily. The Product Line choices that greet users on the Find Training tab now align with the products’ names rather than the previous product category.

To browse the available learning opportunities, simply choose a product line to view the recommended learning paths for all the products in that line or hover over the product line name to see all of the products in that line. Select an individual product to view its specific learning paths.

To help prioritize learning efforts, all training courses are organized in learning paths. Learning paths provide a recommended sequence of courses filtered by product and version, language, then live or on-demand delivery. Use the learning paths to make a plan for professional development that improves your skills, enhances your productivity, and increases the quality of your project work.

At our July 11th meeting Dave Mayer walked us through the basics of VBA and how to write a program to create a grid based on the number of rows and the number of columns entered into a dialog box and entering two opposite corners of where the grid would be placed.

Asked Dave for a copy of the file we created, but instead Dave went "above & beyond" with a PDF explaining how the file is created and what each portion of the programing does.

The PDF has been posted to the "Files" tab of the TMC of St. Louis web page.

Here is what Dave put in the email:

"Greetings All,

The attached PDF file contains the code and commentary for a grid program written in VBA for MicroStation.  A form (FrmGridMaker and its controls), code module (Startup) and class module(ClsDrawGrid) will need to be created and populated with the code if you wish to duplicate the applet. The code appears in its entirety at the end of the document and may be cut from the PDF and pasted into the aforementioned modules through MicroStation’s  IDE code editor. 

Let me know if you have any questions.

Best Regards,

Dave Mayer

Bentley Systems, Inc."

If you geve it a try and it worked well, please comment and let us know.

If you had problems, please let us know.  Sometimes carriage returns or other ascii characters can cause problems with syntax when copied from a text file or PDF.

Our next meeting is scheduled for October 3rd.

Keep in Touch.

Mike

Hello,

We are using Microstation V8i SS3 and Power inRoads SS2.  Have been trying-out gINTCivilTools inside Microstation, started from the key-in dialog.  After attaching cel library file and fill-out civil tools dialog such as project, setings, etc. and want to show boreholes in plan or profile, we get error "Error attaching cell library, cannot plot boreholes" 

Any ideas on how to get the Civil Tools to connect with the cel library?

This is a first version of a MVBA application to generate X Y Z coordinates reports from elements like Cells, Text and Text Nodes.
 
to run this tool, save download, save and extract the .zip contents to your computer;

Run MicroStation/Bentley Map: Utilities -> Macros -> Project Manager, click on Load Project and open the project TextCellXYZReportTool.mvba, run the macro: CellTextReport.RunTextCellReportTool;

Text and Text Node element will be delimited by quotation marks.

Note: This macro are supplied as is. This application do not come with support. Bentley Systems Inc., and the author of this programs assume no liability for damages direct, indirect, or consequential, which may result from the use of this programs. Use this application at your own risk.

Detox diets are usually carried regarding seven days. This particular works with the intake of large amount of vegatables and fruits. You are not supposed to take any other type of foodstuff other than uncooked fruits and vegetables. This helps you to clean your body through unwanted waste materials. And also gives you to the durability for the course of action due to the presence of adequate vitamins and minerals in the meals.

Fruits and vegetables would be the vital elements to be consumed while following this diet. You can rely on fresh fruits as well as raw veggies during the diet regime period. It is more beneficial to look at vegetables expanded organically within the farms rather than using people who is cultivated by blending some chemicals. Dried fruits also variety an important element for the diet.

Studies have said that you are taking in many chemical substances including various heavy metals together with your regular meal. This is offering way for poor food. More fresh vegetables help you in increasing the immunity power by battling with all the build in Seven day detox supplement poisons. This will also help in digestion by helping the metabolic rate.

Your present-day lifestyle will be driving you by way of all probabilities. This is increasing lot of tension and also unearths you to a lot of unhealthy situations. This is one good reason for the accessibility of toxins into your body. Detox diet through regular time periods of time can help you to overcome these troubles existing within you along with help you to overcome any problem that can arise as a result of unhealthy conditions.

This diet will be carried limited to seven days. Many times continuous seven days so that you can entirely spare for that detox diet plan in order to keep you fit. Actually a great change will be occurring during this eating habits process. You'll be consuming natural elements instead of going for your own usual cheesy and greasy food. This could be the only situation which you have ever come across in your own life to style the real all-natural food.

You can also continue the diet plan for longer stretch of time rather than firmly sticking for 7 days. This also allows you to lose one's body weight together with flushing associated with unwanted supplies. It will be truly beneficial for your body if you keep on the diet for extended period of time.

Visit this page to read more information.

Dear All,

I want to get this information that whether the STAAD Pro V8i checks for the shear of plate elements. if i am designing the plate elements through the command, does STAAD Pro designs it while considering the shear check for the plate elements. The example for this is basement wall of a building. 

Thank you. 

When using RAM Elements for concrete structures, did you know that there are multiple ways to have the program perform design and detailing functions?  Method #1 uses design options from directly within your 2D/3D model.  Method #2 uses design and detailing options located in the Modules.

Let’s take a look at a sample concrete structure and review the design and detailing options available.

Our model is a two story structure with lateral concrete frames at the upper story and concrete shear walls at the lower story.  The walls have integrated concrete pilasters that continue down from the columns above.  I’ve modeled a two-way concrete slab to distribute the surface dead and live loads.  For lateral loads, I’ve modeled equivalent wind point loads in the X direction as well as pressure component loads on the walls in the X direction.  For scale, the bays are 20 ft x 30 ft, and the stories are 12’-6” floor to floor.  The model has been analyzed and designed.

Method #1 – Slab, Wall, Beam, and Column Design within the 2D / 3D model

Slabs / Walls:  Select the View tab and the Stresses button.  For a concrete shell element, you may select AS1 or AS3 from the drop down menu to see a color-coded output of required area of flexural reinforcement in each of the principal directions, both top and bottom.  This will NOT choose the bars, only provide an area of steel.  Be sure to set your mechanical cover in your shells dialogue for correct output.

Beams / Columns:   Select the beams and columns for which you wish to obtain design results.  Then go to Output -> Design -> Reinforced Concrete.  Make your selections in the dialog box and click OK.  You will get a design report for each member’s required area of longitudinal steel and tie size and spacing.  This will NOT choose the bars, only provide an area of steel.For beams, axial forces and weak axis shear and moments are not considered.  For columns, torsion is ignored.

Method #2 –Wall, Beam, and Column Design within the Modules

Walls:  In the 3D model, select walls and columns in a single plane.  From the Modules tab, select the drop down menu to Asssign -> Concrete Wall.  The entire wall element with pilasters will be imported into the Concrete Wall Design Module.  Make your design selections for allowable bar sizes and spacing, and click Optimize.  The program will choose bar layout for the walls and columns, which may be viewed on the Detailing tab.

Beams:  In the 3D model, select beams in a horizontal line.  From the Modules tab, select the drop down menu for Beams -> Concrete.  The entire beam line, including support information, will be imported into the Concrete Beam Design Module.  Make your design selections for allowable bar sizes and spacing, and click Optimize.  The program will choose bar layout for the beams, which may be viewed on the Detailing tab.

Columns:  In the 3D model, select columns in a single vertical line.  From the Modules tab, select the Concrete Columns button.  The entire column line, including supported beam information, will be imported into the Concrete Column Design Module.  Make your design selections for allowable bar sizes and spacing, and click Optimize.  The program will choose bar layout for the columns, which may be viewed on the Detailing tab.

Now that you know about RAM Elements’ concrete design and detailing options, be sure to put them to use with your next concrete structure!

Even with the July 4th holiday in the USA yesterday, attendeance was good. A wonderful group of people turned out to check out some of the information provided in the latest Insider Skills session. This weeks session focused on 2D Detail Center related items and covered things like using the 'Anchor Point' & the use of 'Descriptions' in the 2D drawings as well as a few other topics. As a matter of fact, though three and sometimes four topics are presented, this was an unprecedented five topics which meant that each topic needed to be covered quickly in order to finish on time. The presentation went well however and many satisfied attendees responded with positive feedback. So thank-you all, you should know that your feedback is always appreciated, whether it is positive or otherwise.

For anyone who did not get to attend this session a new session for ProStructures is held on the first Friday of each month at 1PM Eastern. More information can be found here:  >>> Click Here <<<  Additionally if you are interested in AutoPIPE, RAM or STAAD.Pro, the same link provides information on how you can attend the Insider Skills sessions that apply to each of these.

 Let me end by saying, I hope to see you all at the next session and if anyone missed the first 'Insider Skills' session you can find it online here: >>> Click Here <<<

EDIT: July 10, 2013

The second session has just been posted and can be found here:>>> Click Here <<<

With the redaction of Win XP and the partial withdrawel of Win 7 (still supported but not supplied on new computers anymore) you will likely have spotted that any new computers come with a pre-installation of Windows 8.  This new operating system - mostly designed to be used on touch screens - is essentially the same as Windows 7, but with some new graphical twists.

Windows 8 has not been short of controversy with the likes of the Start menu being removed (I understand that this has now been reintroduced with the latest Microsoft update for Windows 8) but one issue that is slightly more pressing was the removal of .Net 3.5.

Windows 8 is provided with .Net 4.5, but not 3.5. This is rather surprising as 4.5 is not a programatical update to 3.5 but contains different functions and doesn't carry all of 3.5 functionality.  To this end you may have difficulty installing software onto your new Windows 8 computer until you have updated it to include .Net framework 3.5.

The processes for applying .Net framwork 3.5 to Windows 8 can be found here

What if we have an integration server in one office that is not on a domain and we have a contractor connecting to it from another office who has a caching\gateway server in their office.

The contractor wants to have his domain user accounts synch with PW.

In SS4 there is a new feature that allows you to install the user synch service on a server at another location and synch users.

If your ProjectWise Integration Server cannot access the local domain controller and authenticate Windows users, you can install ProjectWise User Synchronization Service on a local area network (LAN) to act as an intermediate login provider for ProjectWise users with Windows accounts. In support of this, a new setting has been added to the dmskrnl.cfg file, UserSyncService=, which lets you specify the computer on which ProjectWise User Synchronization Service is installed. See the SS4ru ProjectWise Implementation Guide Chapter Page 128 for more details about setting this up.

Here is the excerpt from the dmsknrl.cfg

Here is the excerpt from the dmsknrl.cfg
; If ProjectWise Integration Server is installed outside the local network,
; for example on a Cloud virtual machine, it cannot access the local domain
; controller and authenticate Windows users. In that case, User Synchronization
; Service can be installed on a local network (LAN) to provide delegated logins
; and allow synchronized Windows users to access ProjectWise Integration Server.
; To enable User Synchronization Service delegated logins, the UserSyncService
; option below must be set to the name of the local machine on which User
; Synchronization Service is installed. Also, the IP address of the User
; Synchronization Service machine must be added to the [Trusted Servers] list in this file.
;[db0]
;UserSyncService=<User Synchronization Service host name>

So in the dmskrnl.cfg on the integration server, at the top of the file in the Trusted Servers section

[Trusted Servers]
UserSync = 192.168.1.1

And at the bottom of the file where the datasources listings live you would add the line under each datasource that would synch users from another domain

[db0]
Description=MyPWDatasource
Type=Microsoft SQL Server
InterfaceType=ODBC
Name= MyPWDatasource
DBUserName=PWDBA
DBUsrPwdDecrypt=4
DBUserPassword=xxxxxxxxxx
UserSyncService=mysyncserver.bentley.com
 

I am told a "gotchya" to this setup is that the service uses Windows Challenge/Response (NTLM) as the authentication protocol which is turned off on most modern servers in favor of using Kerberos.  So some tweaking of the windows server might need to be done.

For more info on NTLM see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa378749(v=vs.85).aspx

The SKL parameter is a load height factor given in Table 5.6.3(2), it is used for analytical members. For more information please refer to International Design Codes
Australian Codes - Steel Design per AS 4100 - 1998 1B.8 Design Parameters chapter of Help manual.

Make sure you are using Ram Concept 5.0.2. Older 5.0.0 and 5.0.1 commonly had issues importing AutoCAD files.
Also, make sure the CAD file is NOT OPEN when tying to import it into Concept.

 Problem 
  
Internal error importing dwg file
An Internal Error had occurred.
Object reference not set to an instance of an object. (Or similar)
Happens importing certain kinds of DXF/DWG polylines, unset text fonts, etc.

Solution 
   
Workaround: Fixed for v5.0.2.
If you cannot use v5.0.2, then, the same drawings can be imported into v4.1, and then the contents of the drawing import layers can be copied and them pasted into the v5 file (both versions can be installed on the same PC). Saving the drawing as a R12 dxf file and then importing the dxf file might also work.
 
You might try saving the CAD file to an earlier release format (or even a dxf format) and/or purging it of any unnecessary data (delete 3D elements and references, explode and purge the drawing).

With datasources growing and growing, some by 20,000 files a day, the problem of Full Text Indexing keeping all of the documents indexed and keeping them up to date has become an ever increasing problem.  Some users have been stuck over 1 million documents un-indexed for a while now with no help in site.  After some testing we have a solution for this, with the links below users have successfully indexed 1 million un-indexed documents in a weeks time.  The big caveat to this is that this WILL NOT work unless the prerequisites are followed and please note not everyone will see the expected results that some other users may see.  The hardware of the machine is the limiting factor, so like I have said please do not attempt this unless you can meet the prerequisites.  

The first link is to add in another set of processors to increase processing production:

http://communities.bentley.com/products/projectwise/content_management/w/wiki/increasing-your-full-text-indexing-processing-power.aspx

The second link is how to properly adjust your processing configuration numbers, this deals with numbers sent to the queue, retry time and time to check for documents.  This process is ever growing that will require you to monitor your system until you find the right numbers for you:

http://communities.bentley.com/products/projectwise/content_management/b/weblog/archive/2012/08/08/optimizing-automated-file-processing.aspx

Also if you need to push your index off on another drive, which i would recommend because the index will not be fighting for IO with the operating system, please follow this:

http://communities.bentley.com/products/projectwise/content_management/b/weblog/archive/2010/12/02/is-the-projectwise-index-taking-up-all-of-your-drive-space.aspx

And last but not least, if you are running in a cluster, this blog needs to be followed so that your users can properly search:

http://communities.bentley.com/products/projectwise/content_management/b/weblog/archive/2012/06/19/how-to-configure-ftr-so-searches-work-in-a-load-balancing-cluster.aspx

If you have any further questions on these links please let us know in TSG by either submitting a service request or reply to this blog and I will answer questions here.

Product Name:          MicroStation V8i

Version Number:       08.11.09.459

Application Group:    SELECT Released Products

Language:                German

Unterstützte Betriebssysteme:

• Windows 8
• Windows 8 (64 Bit)
• Windows 7
• Windows 7 (64 Bit)
• Windows Vista, die Editionen Home Premium, Business, Ultimate und Enterprise
• Windows Vista (64 Bit)
• Windows XP SP2 oder neuer, einschließlich der Editionen Home, Professional und Media Center
• Windows XP
• Tablet PC Edition
• Windows XP Professional (64 Bit)
• Windows Server 2003, SP1 oder höher
• Windows Server 2003 (64 Bit), Windows Server 2008 SP2, einschließlich der Editionen Standard und Enterprise (64 Bit) 
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (einschließlich der Editionen Standard und Enterprise) (64 Bit)

Was ist in MicroStation neu und was hat sich geändert:

• Farberweiterungen
  • Aktualisierte RAL-Farbbücher
• Daten-Interoperabilitätsverbesserungen
  • Autodesk RealDWG 2014-Support
• Erweiterungen/Verbesserungen in Bezug auf Format-Interchange
  • Unterstützung von Rhino V5 .3DM-Dateien
• Erweiterungen geographischer Koordinatensysteme
  • Unterstützung des NAD83 2011 Koordinatensystems
• Verbesserungen der Punktwolken
  • Unterstützung für ProjectWise Point Cloud Streaming
• Erweiterungen/Verbesserungen in Bezug auf Visualisierung
  • Effekte-Manager
  • Glättung der Bestrahlungsstärke
  • Faltenschwellwert

Viel Erfolg damit.

Ronald Zeike
Bentley Systrems

Product Name:          MicroStation PowerDraft V8i

Version Number:       08.11.09.459

Application Group:    SELECT Released Products

Language:                German

Unterstützte Betriebssysteme:

• Windows 8
• Windows 8 (64 Bit)
• Windows 7
• Windows 7 (64 Bit)
• Windows Vista, die Editionen Home Premium, Business, Ultimate und Enterprise
• Windows Vista (64 Bit)
• Windows XP SP2 oder neuer, einschließlich der Editionen Home, Professional und Media Center
• Windows XP
• Tablet PC Edition
• Windows XP Professional (64 Bit)
• Windows Server 2003, SP1 oder höher
• Windows Server 2003 (64 Bit), Windows Server 2008 SP2, einschließlich der Editionen Standard und Enterprise (64 Bit)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (einschließlich der Editionen Standard und Enterprise) (64 Bit)

Was ist neu in MicroStation PowerDraft und was hat sich geändert

• Farberweiterungen
  • Aktualisierte RAL-Farbbücher
• Daten-Interoperabilitätsverbesserungen
  • Autodesk RealDWG 2014-Support
• Erweiterungen/Verbesserungen beim Formataustausch
  • Unterstützung für Rhino V5 .3DM-Dateien
• Erweiterungen geographischer Koordinatensysteme
  • Unterstützung des Koordinatensystems NAD83 2011
• Verbesserungen an Punktwolken
  • Unterstützung für ProjectWise Point Cloud Streaming

Viel Erfolg damit.

Ronald Zeike
Bentley Systrems