CAD/BIM Tips & Tricks
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MicroStation vs AutoCAD: The Square-Off
20 July 2023
The minute you get into a comparison, you run the risk of it sounding like a playground squabble. “My brother could kick your brother’s a**.” “My skateboard’s faster than yours.” “My Barbie is prettier than yours.” But that’s a loser’s game and we’d like to keep it classy, so this comparison is not about which platform is better, but about the valued features of each. And if we say something controversial with which you happen to disagree, just know that our controversy is way bigger than yours!
Pitting MicroStation® vs AutoCAD® is like looking at water and wine and declaring one better than the other. You wouldn’t wash your car or clothes in wine, and if you’d cook a fancy French meal such as Boeuf Bourguignon or Coq au Vin in water, you deserve to have your culinary privileges permanently revoked.
MicroStation and AutoCAD each have their strengths and weaknesses, and choosing the right one for your project depends on a variety of factors. We did, however, find an AutoCAD user who was willing to square off with MicroStation, but more on that later.
If we say something controversial with which you happen to disagree, just know that our controversy is way bigger than yours!
MicroStation is the only CAD software that was purpose-built for infrastructure design, so it’s great for helping architects and engineers bring their visions to life. This software is also used by many Departments of Transportation engineers, civil engineers, GIS (Geographic Information Systems) professionals, the mining industry, the oil and gas industry, and others for whom infrastructure-based software is a must.
MicroStation vs AutoCAD? Let's go!
When it comes to AutoCAD, you’d be hard-pressed to find an industry that doesn’t use it to one degree or another. Since AutoCAD wasn’t specifically purpose-built for infrastructure design but was designed primarily as a drafting and design tool, it is possibly a more broad-spectrum CAD platform.
Yes, as with MicroStation, architects and engineers also use AutoCAD, but so does the dental industry, mapping, fashion, furniture design, industrial and interior design, the automotive industry, 3D printing companies and more.
Other than your industry, your specific needs and preferences should be taken into consideration when comparing the two. What features are important to you? Let’s zoom in to shed a little light.
How Do MicroStation and AutoCAD Compare?
High-quality output
MicroStation produces high-quality 2D and 3D models. It has advanced rendering capabilities that can create realistic images and animations. This is what makes it a great choice for architects and engineers who need to create visualizations of their designs.
AutoCAD’s rendering capabilities are not quite as advanced as those of MicroStation. While some users find that AutoCAD’s 3D modeling capabilities may be limited compared to other software options, AutoCAD is great for 2D drafting.
Learning curve
MicroStation can be difficult to learn, especially for those who are new to CAD software. The interface can be overwhelming at first, and the program’s many features and tools can take time to master.
AutoCAD may present a similar learning curve, but even so, it is generally considered easier to learn than MicroStation, particularly for first-time CAD users.
User interface
Once you’ve mastered the intricacies of the interface, MicroStation makes it relatively easy for users to customize it to suit their needs. Users can create custom toolbars and menus, and even write their own macros to automate tasks.
Even with two different menu systems (Toolbar menus and Ribbon menus), AutoCAD is still considered more intuitive and easier to navigate than MicroStation.
Although AutoCAD can be customized to a certain extent, it’s not quite as flexible as MicroStation, and users could have difficulty creating custom toolbars and menus or writing their own macros.
User community
While not as large as AutoCAD’s, MicroStation still has a sizeable user community that enables users to access help or learn more about the platform.
By contrast, AutoCAD has an enormous global user community, which means there’s an abundance of resources available for users who need help or want to learn more about the software.
Interoperability
MicroStation can read and write a wide variety of file formats, making it easy to exchange data with other CAD programs, such as Excel and ProjectWise, for example. This can be especially useful when collaborating with other designers or engineers who may be using different software.
AutoCAD is designed primarily for use with other AutoCAD files. While it can import and export other file formats, there can be issues with compatibility when working with files created in other CAD programs. (See the “Purpose-Built Tools” section below.)
For example, MicroStation can open a DWG file in its native format with zero translation needed. That DWG can then be closed and reopened with AutoCAD with nothing untoward occurring.
AutoCAD, however, can’t truly open a DGN. It requires that you run a DGN import command, which changes the DGN from its native format to a DWG file.
Third-party support
AutoCAD has a massive ecosystem of third-party add-ons and plugins that can enhance its functionality. This makes it easy to customize the software to suit your needs.
MicroStation doesn’t have the same level of third-party support as AutoCAD. This means that there are fewer add-ons and plugins available for MicroStation. (Again, see the “Purpose-Built Tools” section below.)
Price
The price of MicroStation can make it difficult for some users to justify the investment. By contrast, AutoCAD is often less costly than MicroStation, making it a more accessible option for smaller companies or individual users.
Hardware
The hardware requirements for running MicroStation can be demanding, such as needing high-end graphics cards. AutoCAD does have an option to turn on software graphics acceleration — in other words, to calculate the displayed graphics using the CPU only. However, if you’re working on something complex, a graphics card becomes a necessity in AutoCAD too.
It’s also worth noting that MicroStation only supports Windows®, while AutoCAD supports both Windows and Mac®.
We found someone who was willing to strap in, pull the ripcord, and parachute into foreign territory.
If you’re going to pit two of the biggest CAD platforms in the world against one another, yes, you’re going to ruffle some feathers, step on some toes, or annoy the loyalists. But there’s no way around it.
You’ve got to push against bias-based boundaries in an effort to go head-to-head. We consider ourselves fortunate to have found someone who was willing to strap in, pull the ripcord, and parachute into foreign territory.
AutoCAD User Test-Drives MicroStation: An Experiment
What do all these differences and similarities translate to in real, day-to-day terms? Chris Graham, a CAD draftsman, pitted the two platforms against one another. The results were interesting and somewhat unexpected.
Chris has used AutoCAD for over 15 years and has always been satisfied with it. “I had never so much as heard of MicroStation. It was initially a challenge for me to try to wrap my mind around this competitor program because I have such an ingrained bias towards AutoCAD.”
Nonetheless, as an AutoCAD user, he agreed to dip his toe in the waters of MicroStation. His early observation was that there were so many similarities between AutoCAD and MicroStation, he wasn’t initially sure how successful a comparison exercise would be.
“You can steal a customer’s loyalty by solving some of their biggest frustrations. MicroStation has undoubtedly made such a move!” — Chris Graham
“Then, I realized that MicroStation had made some bold moves to carve out space in the CAD market, despite the impressive presence of the universal CAD giant, AutoCAD. You can steal a customer’s loyalty by solving some of their biggest frustrations. MicroStation has undoubtedly made such a move!”
While Chris believes that MicroStation has some “very cool tools” that solve many common frustrations, it was MicroStation’s USPs (Unique Sales Propositions) that he found “absolutely jaw-dropping.” Here are eight of them, in no particular order.
Scalable Meshes
MicroStation’s Scalable Mesh tool is a cloud-based service that takes any raster image (but preferably a satellite image or an image taken by a drone), analyzes it, and generates a 3D model.
Meshes like this are raw and usually aren’t based on rigid geometry. The software puts together the best representation that can be found in the data it is analyzing in the picture.
Chris expects that “undeveloped plots of land can be scanned and interpreted via satellite or drone imagery, and then said images could be used to create a rough 3D landform.
“Using this rough 3D landform, civil and structural engineers can base their plan for a new building or land development. Another way to use these 3D meshes would be as a rough guide for more accurate 3D geometry.
“For example, you could use scanned images of a city to get an idea of how tall the different buildings are, and then you can draw 3D forms on top of those rough meshes to clean up the geometry. After refining the 3D mesh, you would have a more true-to-life 3D model to make your new development drawings.”
Line Styles Tool
Chris says this tool was like “a breath of fresh air.” He goes on to explain that Line Styles can indicate roadway driving direction, repetitive street lights or road barriers, roadway passing zone symbols, and so on.
“These line styles are usually repeating patterns or objects that follow a path. MicroStation has a tool that allows you to use 2D geometry, 3D geometry, and even raster images to create Line Styles for your drawings.
“I think there must be a way to create custom line styles in AutoCAD, but I have honestly never figured it out. MicroStation, on the other hand, has some incredibly simple tools to create line styles.”
Chris goes on to say that “these tools can be used to create 3D guard rails, 2D road centerline symbols, or can even repeat raster images along a linear path. The repeating features will follow lines, arcs, circles, and even freehanded curved lines. The objects can easily be scaled and modified as necessary. I find this a brilliant addition to a CAD program.”
MicroStation can do things that AutoCAD can’t, but Autodesk offers a multitude of different solutions for a variety of fields.
Text Favorite Manager
This tool allows you to pre-program certain types of labels such as headers, tables of information, and title block information. Chris likes the fact that you can then “quickly pop these kinds of names into MicroStation.” As you add or update the information in one location for reference, all the different text fields will be automatically updated.
“AutoCAD’s ‘text field’ feature is a little bit like the Text Favorite Manager. Still, it lacks specific capabilities that make MicroStation’s Text Favorite Manager a more convenient and simplified solution to updating text information as the project is amended and developed,” Chris says.
Automated Sheets
“Most of the work I do is relatively simple,” Chris claims. “But when you work for a big engineering firm, you have to manage hundreds of pages of information from one or multiple DWG files.” He acknowledges that it can be frustrating to manage highly complex drawings from large projects in AutoCAD and appreciates that MicroStation lets you add Automated Sheets onto the overall set of sheets.
“For example, let’s say you want to add four additional sequential sheets that each zoom in to individual sections of your plan at a particular scale. And let’s say you also wanted to automatically append a title block and page information onto those series of sheets. MicroStation’s Automated Sheets tool does all these things in one operation.
“This feature is similar in many ways to AutoCAD’s Sheet Set Manager, but MicroStation has created this convenient automation feature to add a little edge to their functionality.”
Item Types
This one is purely about convenience. “A line in AutoCAD doesn’t know whether it is a wall, a foundation, a road, etc. MicroStation has several out-the-box object and item types. For example, you can create a foundation footing that has industry-standard information applied to the 3D object. Many of these item types are already programmed into MicroStation and don’t require additional programming.”
Search
Chris reckons that it’s unlikely that a CAD user will know every function and feature of their platform. “There is simply no way to know it all,” he muses.
“If you are having trouble finding a function or tool, you can use the search function. There is a similar feature in AutoCAD, but the search terms need to be spot on to find what you need. MicroStation’s search function is more expansive. Even if you don’t remember the exact name of the tool or service you are looking for, MicroStation is designed to find it pretty effectively.”
Constraint-Based Modeling & Parametric Modeling
If you sometimes need things to fit specific measurements and connect — without the tedious task of changing every little object connected to other objects — Chris can relate.
“For example, let’s say I need all the windows in a house to be 3 feet from the ground and set into the walls. It would be frustrating to have to move every window any time I change the finished floor elevation or the exterior walls that the windows are connected to. Wouldn’t it be great if the windows would reposition themselves every time I needed to change a couple of simple things in the model?”
Functional Components
Functional Components refers to the ability in MicroStation to program BIM-ready cells into your model. A cell can be anything such as a series of I-beams that all conform to the industry standard sizes and profiles of typical I-beams. And it’s not limited to I-beams, of course. Pipes, fasteners, tanks, and so forth all qualify and you can program a small library of the cells you use most often.
As Chris says, “What is the advantage of these BIM-ready cells? 1) You can pop them in quickly to reduce modeling time significantly. 2) You can assign them various data, which will make BIM-type calculations possible. 3) You can quickly modify them as the project continues, and you need to refine measurements.”
MicroStation and AutoCAD: The Benefits
Now that you have a deeper insight, let’s recap with a quick summary of some of the key benefits of each platform.
MicroStation Benefits:
- Ability to handle large datasets and complex designs.
- Purpose-built for infrastructure design.
- Highly suitable for 3D models.
- Excellent interoperability.
AutoCAD Benefits:
- Ease of collaboration.
- User friendly.
- Enhanced functionality through the use of add-ons and plugins.
- Wider adoption than MicroStation.
Chris’ final takeaway from his experimental exercise is that both platforms have their place. MicroStation may be more than AutoCAD, but it is less than the Autodesk library as a whole. Yes, MicroStation can do things that AutoCAD can’t, but Autodesk offers a multitude of different solutions for a variety of fields. It’s very much like the water vs wine scenario.
Purpose-built Tools for MicroStation and AutoCAD
While AutoCAD is more design-oriented and MicroStation is more engineering-oriented, based on Chris’ experiment, users of both platforms could clearly benefit from tools that boost ease of use and productivity. That’s where Axiom enters the picture.
If you’re an AutoCAD user and would like some help to overcome frustrating or repetitive tasks, such as dealing with imports of Word® or Excel® data, see Axiom’s selection of purpose-built AutoCAD tools here.
For MicroStation users, your time-saving, stress-busting tools are here.
And if you find DGN to DWG conversion (or vice versa) frustrating and messy, there’s a tool specifically designed to ease that particular source of annoyance for you! MicroStation users can view Translation Manager here, while AutoCAD users will find it here.
If you have any questions about tools for your specific platform, please call a knowledgeable Service Consultant at 727-442-7774. Don’t forget to ask about the select tools that have free trial versions (no credit card required).
The bottom line is that like water and wine, MicroStation and AutoCAD each undeniably have their place and we look forward to the contributions of both in building our collective future.
Axiom. CAD and BIM made easier.