	Product(s):	MicroStation
	Version(s):	CONNECT Edition
	Environment:	N\A
	Area:	Sheet Composition
	Subarea:	Drawing Boundaries

How to create a boundary outline that passes through a collection of points.

Background

In the production of planning drawings, it is sometimes necessary to define the site boundary from a collection of survey points in a design. So how do you produce a boundary by joining the outline points.

Steps to Accomplish

Option 1 By placing a SmartLine

Enable AccuSnap
Select the ' Place Smart Line ' tool and simply select the points to form the outline boundary

Option 2 Using Create Complex Chain / Shape

Enable AccuSnap
Select the ' Create Complex Chain ' or 'Create Complex Shape ' tool (Tool setting Method:Manual) and simply select the points in order to form the outline boundary. It may be that you can use the automatic option (Tool setting' Method:Automatic | Maximum Gap:set as appropriate) depending on dataset.

Whilst these two approaches may be OK for a simple boundary with few points it can become tedious and time consuming for larger datasets. Another approach could be to generate a surface / mesh from the points and extract the boundary.

Option 3 Using the Mesh tools

If a 2d File - Use the File > Export > 3D (Mesh tools require a 3D file)
Select all the Point elements using the ' Element Selection ' tool that form the required boundary.
Use the 'Mesh From Points' tool to generate a surface mesh.
If required modify the surface mesh removing unwanted triangles
Extract the outline boundary of the surface mesh using the ' Extract Boundary ' tool. (Tool settings Output As:Line Strings | Extract:Boundary)
Delete the surface mesh if not required leaving the boundary

Other language sources

Original Author:

Carl Myhill