In this post I am going to create a cell in Microstation that will mask out background elements. For this I am going to use a tree cell that we commonly use in our drawings. I started by placing the cell in a new drawing and dropping it to geometry.

Now we need to use the create region tool. Set the tool to use an opaque fill type and set the fill colour to BG (Background) also turn on locate interior shapes and keep original so that it retains an outline. As we set the fill colour to be BG this will mask out elements behind the cell when it is placed down.

You might notice that the lines around the edge of the tree appear faint, to fix this select the lines and then go to the Edit menu and select Bring to Front. This brings the lines over the top of the background fill.

Now create the cell by attaching an existing or creating a new cell library, defining a cell origin and selecting the elements and then click the create button.

Now when this cell is placed down in a drawing background elements will be masked out.

For a good explanation of Ambient occlusion refer to this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_occlusion

Start by creating a new Microstation dgn using the 3D seed file, and drawing a slab solid in Isometric view. Below I have drawn a slab solid 50m x 50m with a depth of 250mm.

Now using the draw on solid tool draw a rectangle in the middle of the slab solid, this can be any size you wish just draw it near the middle.

Now use the Solid by Extrusion tool to extrude the rectangle upwards by any height you prefer.

Use the draw on solid tool to draw a line across the top of the rectangle.

Then use the Modify Solid Entity tool to drag the line upwards creating a pitched roof.

Now go to Utilities > Render > Luxology and from the Render Setup tool select Ambient Occlusion and hit the render button.

You can add more buildings to you model and change various render settings to get different results as shown below. I will go into more detail in another post.

I have added the description column to the Level manager. Once you are happy with the columns you have chosen right click again and select Save Layout. Up to four different layouts can be saved.

A black dot in the reference manager indicates that the reference file has been activated. once you have finished making your changes right click on the reference file again and select deactivate. This saves you time by not having to exchange into reference files.