Color

There is no explicit colour information in the Isodraft DXF file. The AVEVA E3D Design colour information is implicit. This is because of a convention used, which associates a layer name with a colour. This means that layer name GT_n in the DXF file means AVEVA E3D Design colour n. Thus all objects with the same colour are on the same DXF layer.

In MicroStation an incoming DXF file turns on a default colour table that appears to be the default colour table used by AutoCAD:

• Individual objects have the default colour value 6 (on a scale starting at 0) which translates to the AutoCAD default 7 (on a scale starting at 1).

• The colour value is white so everything is white and there can never be any discrimination between colours.

• Symbology is not set for any object, so when it is turned on everything changes to red (0), which is 1 on the AutoCAD default table.

The AVEVA E3D Design colour information in the DXF file delivered as ‘GT_’ layer names may be translated to MicroStation level values by use of the layer/level mapping file used in the import process.

The default file for this is: dwglevel.tbl (in ..\Bentley\Workspace\system\tables\dwg). Thus AVEVA E3D Design colours 1 ‑ 12 (Layers GT_1 to GT_2) may be made manifest in the DGN file as levels 1 - 12 by additional entries to this file:

In order to produce true AVEVA E3D Design colours in MicroStation DGN files, it will be necessary to provide a ‘key-in’ command as a mdl (MicroStation Development Language) function that will map the DGN levels to AVEVA E3D Design colors.