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Bentley offers Nextlimit source code of exporter (MicroStati

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:30 am
by Louis v a
Hi,

Today I read this message on the forum of Bentley (see http://discussion.bentley.com/cgi-bin/d ... 1701&utag= )

It should be fantastic if Nextlimit should develop this plugin in MicroStation. Are there plans on the side of Nextlimit to do the developement in MicroStation? And, if yes, when can we expect the first results of this?

Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 12:46 am
by KurtS
listen to that sound... it's the famous Next Limit Silence®

Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 1:35 am
by Bubbaloo
It's only a day old. :roll:

Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:00 am
by Louis v a
Haha,

Still nothing...

Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 2:09 pm
by Bubbaloo
If they decide to do it, you'll probably know when they release the plugin and not before. Think about it. If they release a statement saying they are working on it, and then it doesn't work out for some reason, NL would have some angry Microstation users muddling up their forums with "You promised us, Next Limit!" and "You suck!". :roll:

If you are a part of the beta testers team, then that is the part of the forum that it will most likely appear first.

Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 2:20 pm
by pwrdesign
My "feeling" is that nextlimit started to look at this, but decided to put it down....

I've been involved with some developing of exporters from Microstation, I'm not a programmer myself, but it was a very skilled programmer who is used with different 3D formats out there, and he was not happy when he started to look at the DGN file format... is very complicated what I understood from him...

So I doubt that nextlimit will touch the microstation export again..
But I'll be the first one to applause if they do!

Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 2:33 pm
by Louis v a
Well, I understand that Nextlimit could get the source code+ technical support for free. If I read that, I think that the complicated dgn format doesn't have to be a problem.

It looks like what Ray Bentley said, a win-win situation for everyone. Motivated Nextlimit programmers for MicroStation users and extra MicroStation customers for Nextlimit!

Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 2:51 pm
by pwrdesign
You don't just need to develop a plug in, you have to support it, upgrade it, of course NL COULD do that, and of course they have the knowledge to do it.

It's just that sometimes its too much work for the bucks you get from it..
In our case we used the u3d export in microstation instead of the dgn format.

BUT I'm not a programmer, this is just the feelings that I've got after the contact with the dgn format. Though this was PRE-Athens... A lot might have happened with the file format.

Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 1:28 pm
by nicole
Hi everyone,

We can confirm we have had contact with Bentley about this issue (despite what their comments say), and we need to clarify some points before making any decisions. Our understanding is different to that implied by Bentley´s post in their forum. Bentley have offered the current code and some support but there is still significant reliance on private MicroStation libraries being made available to us, and there are conditions attached. It results in a much more complicated position than normal plug-in development through a public SDK, and taking on someone else´s programming work isn´t always the best option.

For the record, Bentley started this development and are now withdrawing it, any complaints about the situation should be directed at them not Next Limit. No decision has been made yet about the future path. Naturally, when we have more information to share publicly, we will do so through our usual channels including this forum.


Thanks,

Nicole

Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:40 pm
by x_site
I should be surprised with all this but in fact I am only left with a feeling of disappointment...

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 9:17 pm
by Alex Martini
Why doesn't NL develop the certified plugin?
a lot of things have been said, in these years from NL and Bentley
unfortunately the result is that who has invested
in this possibility, he now finds again for road,

because I believe really that there won't be any development
this is my impression but I doesn't believe to be wrong

ciao

Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 10:59 pm
by Louis v a
Hi Martini,

Good to see you here (normally I read you're messages in the other forum).

From the side of Nextlimit I haven't hearth anything about this since 24 Oct.

Question to Nextlimit:
Does Nextlimit already make a decision? I hope you will clear this up .


Thanks,

Louis

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 2:06 pm
by Alex Martini
Hi Louis :-)

I don't understand anymore of this endless history
from a side it speaks to a way, from the other, in another

me personally, (but I know a lot of people
what in the same situation are)
I have spent many money and time to use MS and Maxwell,
and I am now afoot...

I hope really that these two marvelous softwares. still succeeds in conversing...

ciao

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 3:05 pm
by KurtS
I'm with you guys all the way here, and I am still optimistic and hope that Next Limit will make the right decision. I really hope my 8 licenses are worth the money in the time to come...

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:53 pm
by x_site
right now the my company is looking for alternatives... it is a shame though.