MicroStation

MicroStation is a CAD program developed by Bentley Systems. It was initially released in the 1980s. The program is used for both 2D and 3D designing and drafting. The native file format of this program is DGN. However, it is also capable of reading and writing different standard CAD formats such as DXF and DWG. It also supports various media output formats including BMP and JPEG (for rendered images), AVI (for animations), VRML (for 3D web pages), and the Adobe’s PDF.

The program works as either a software program or a technology platform. As a software program, MicroStation offers comprehensive interaction with 2D designs and 3D models that produces different types of deliverables like 3D plots, precise drawings, 3D PDFs, and more. It also offers data and analytics functions that cover detailed engineering analysis of components, assets, behaviors, systems, and responses to certain conditions. The program provides integration to different programs, file formats, and locations as well. As a technology platform, MicroStation provides broad subsystems for geometry and data integration, as well as improves the experience of users across different design, engineering, and simulation programs.

The program’s functionality can be expanded using extensions. Aside from third party extensions, MicroStation also offers their own extensions including the Bentley Architecture, Bentley InRoads, Bentley MXRoads, and Bentley Map.