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MicroStation has become an essential tool for teaching interior design to students, offering a practical approach with real-world context. …
Starting at $250 Per User Per Month
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What is MicroStation?
Bentley Systems offers the MicroStation application and product family as a 3D and 2D modeling and computer-aided design (CAD) solution for engineers and designers.
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Pricing
Microstation
$250.00
On Premise
Per User Per Month
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.virtuosity.com/product/micr…
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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What is MicroStation?
MicroStation is a 3D computer-aided design and visualization software for the architecture, engineering, construction, and operation of all infrastructure types. It is used by architects, engineers, design professionals, and draftsmen. The vendor states that from individual professionals to multinational design firms, project teams rely on MicroStation to confidently deliver projects, no matter the scale and complexity.
MicroStation provides a range of capabilities: CAD drawing and design, 3D modeling, visualization, component management and mark up, and collaboration across disciplines. It is designed so users can do everything that they need without flipping back and forth through many different applications. While users don’t need to use the cloud services available within MicroStation, they can use them to advance productivity and competitiveness.
MicroStation Features
- Supported: Create project deliverables (drawings, models, reports)
- Supported: Design with true 3D parametric modeling
- Supported: Enforce project and design standards
- Supported: Lay out and annotate drawings
- Supported: Design within the context of 2D and 3D imagery
- Supported: Produce animations and renderings
- Supported: Visualize and analyze designs
- Supported: Work collaboratively on designs with geographically distributed teams
MicroStation Screenshots
MicroStation Integrations
MicroStation Competitors
MicroStation Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows |
| Mobile Application | No |
| Supported Languages | Czech, German, English, Finnish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Chinese (Simplified) |
MicroStation Downloadables
Frequently Asked Questions
Bentley Systems offers the MicroStation application and product family as a 3D and 2D modeling and computer-aided design (CAD) solution for engineers and designers.
The most common users of MicroStation are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
MicroStation Customer Size Distribution
| Consumers | 5% |
|---|---|
| Small Businesses (1-50 employees) | 25% |
| Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees) | 35% |
| Enterprises (more than 500 employees) | 35% |
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(23)
Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
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MicroStation has become an essential tool for teaching interior design to students, offering a practical approach with real-world context. Many organizations, including the majority of the US DOT, rely on MicroStation as their main CAD package for design work. Its excellent 2D capability enables quick production of engineering project drawings, while its easy 3D object modeling allows for high-quality engineering drawings. With the inroads add-in, users can efficiently model storm sewer networks and draw basin maps, while leveraging core features for cutting sheets, annotation, and running corridors. MicroStation is particularly favored in transportation design, especially roadway design, by many DOTs and municipalities. It plays a vital role in opening and converting transmitted drawings to ensure readability and usability for team members. Commonly used by transportation design teams, MicroStation serves as the required CAD program for DOT use and is also applied in civil applications like transportation, site, drainage, and structural bridge drawings. While it may not directly solve specific business problems, MicroStation is chosen by departments and offices that require compatibility with their local DOT's use of the software.
Wide range of design alternatives: Users have praised MicroStation for offering a wide range of design alternatives, allowing for a diverse set of options throughout the entire design process. Multiple reviewers have noted this aspect positively.
Comprehensive parametric mesh and surface modeling: Reviewers have commended MicroStation for its detailed approach towards parametric mesh and surface modeling. This comprehensive toolset provided by the software has been appreciated by multiple users.
Streamlined design workflows: The well-integrated modeling workflows in MicroStation have been highly appreciated by reviewers, as they streamline the design process and enhance productivity. Several users have highlighted this aspect as one of the strengths of the software.
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Unintuitive workset configuration and design file settings: Users have frequently mentioned that the workset configuration and design file settings in MicroStation are unintuitive and difficult to understand. This has been a common frustration for many users, making it challenging to efficiently set up their projects.
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Lack of modern and intuitive design: Several reviewers have expressed disappointment with MicroStation's outdated and non-intuitive design. This can be particularly problematic for beginners who struggle to navigate through the software easily. The lack of a modern interface adds complexity to the learning curve and hampers productivity.
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Difficulty managing multiple versions: Many users, especially those working in large organizations, have found it challenging to keep up with multiple versions of MicroStation. This issue becomes more pronounced when different teams or departments within an organization use different versions, leading to compatibility issues and potential inefficiencies in project collaboration.
Users have made several recommendations based on their experiences with MicroStation:
- Many users recommend using MicroStation for handling different file formats without data loss. They also suggest using it to create CAD and BIM services, as well as providing plan sets to clients.
- Users find MicroStation to be a valuable tool in the design industry, particularly in the transportation sector. They recommend it for drafting, modeling, and designing purposes. Some users even mention its usefulness in the restaurant industry.
- Users believe that MicroStation is worth considering for productive and efficient design or manufacturing environments. They suggest using the newest version of MicroStation and comparing it with other CAD software options. Additionally, they recommend being open to rethinking design workflows to take full advantage of MicroStation's capabilities.
Overall, users find MicroStation to be a solid product with good support. They appreciate its easy navigation, user-friendliness, powerful features, and versatility. The integration with ProjectWise is another aspect that users commend.
While acknowledging that MicroStation can be a powerful program that requires time to learn, users highlight its ease of use and advanced 3D features.
Some users compare MicroStation favorably against Autodesk for large complex projects and recommend using it for basic drafting and 2D drawings. They advise taking trainings to overcome any initial difficulties and staying organized to solve smaller issues before they become recurring problems.
While many users feel that MicroStation is a complete CAD software, some suggest considering Solid Works as an alternative due to cost considerations and better training and customer service options.
It is important for users to have a good understanding of the basics before working on more challenging tasks with MicroStation. They also recommend investing time in customizing the software to suit individual needs. Some users prefer the v8i version over the Connect edition, but once users become familiar with it, they find that Connect edition works similarly.
In summary, users recommend MicroStation for its capabilities in handling different file formats, providing plan sets, and supporting efficient design workflows. They also appreciate its ease of use, powerful features, and versatility. However, users suggest considering alternatives like Solid Works and emphasize the importance of training and customization.
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Reviews
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July 07, 2021
Digital Revolution of Computer-Aided Design!
MicroStation is used as an alternative platform apart from AutoCAD to teach students interior design. MicroStation's infrastructure designing with the real-world context helps students to better understand the subject thereby creating a solution which has a practical approach.
- Plethora of design alternatives to choose from right from design to completed models
- Detailed approach towards parametric, mesh and surface modelling
- Well integrated modelling workflows
- Intelligent parametric components with 2D and 3D designs
- Expensive software
- Workset configuration and design file settings should be more intuitive and easy to understand
- Lacks intuitive and modern design
- Real-world context examples
- Ability to photo texture and then creating locations
- Project team collaboration
- It is an easy tool to create workflows and simultaneously work collaboratively
- Costs are little high but the demand associated with the knowledge of this software is quite big
- MicroStation expertise has helped us gain more business as we have a working knowledge of it
MicroStation effectively provides amazing 2D capability for quick Engineering project drawings production, as well as easy on 3D object modeling. The features are easy to manipulate and provide the best quality Engineering drawings.
- Easy view comparison.
- 2D drafting.
- Design modeling.
- 3d rendering functionality.
- Designing of large projects design slows the entire process.
- Deployment on Cloud.
- 2D drawing functionality.
- 3D visualization.
- View comparison functions.
- Being able to provide amazing design analysis.
- Easy drawing generation.
- Annotation was effective.
February 06, 2019
Quick overview of MicroStation
MicroStation is our main CAD package. We, like the majority of US DOT's, use MicroStation and its add-in products for all of our design work.
- MicroStation, as a stand-alone CAD package, is a great plan production tool.
- MicroStation makes a very good base to build other applications on top of.
- It has at least, in my opinion, a very easy to use interface.
- While it has a very usable interface it contains a lot of commands and can be intimidating to a beginner.
- MicroStation uses several interfaces (depending on versions) which can complicate its use in large spread out organizations.
- Multiple versions of the product can be an issue for large organizations to keep up with.
- A very positive one and the main reason for it is that MicroStation never leaves your old data behind regardless of the version of the software you are using. The latest version will always read the data from earlier ones. Civil projects can take years and you need to be sure your software can handle that.
The only general purpose CAD program that you can compare MicroStation with would be AutoCAD. MicroStation, in my opinion, is a superior product in every way but one. That one issue is that there are just more people who have and know how to use AutoCAD than there are ones who know MicroStation. This makes AutoCAD easier to get up and running for most firms.
January 31, 2019
MicroStation Review
MicroStation is being used by the transportation design team when completing projects for clientele.
- Microstation is simply set up with both drop-down lists of tools as well as button arrays.
- Microstation handles large amounts of data decently well.
- Microstation works well even when many files are referenced together.
- MicroStation's graphic interface appears data in comparison to other CAD software.
- MicroStation has a tendency to crash if not managed properly during design.
- MicroStation's transportation design component is separated from the main system which causes occasional complications.
- MicroStation usage is primarily necessitated by our major client who also uses the program.
- Without using MicroStation there would be many times where we would not be able to provide our clients with what they need.
- Therefore, MicroStation has had an incredibly positive impact on the business I work for as its usage has continued to secure contracts.
In my opinion, I would recommend AutoCAD Civil 3D over Microstation V8i unless you/your company benefit from using MicroStation due to your contracts requiring you to submit a digital design in MicroStation file type (.dgn). Otherwise, I feel that AutoCAD Civil 3D is actually a better transportation design software in the majority of cases.