2010

Table Of Contents
MAN File Reader
The file reader supports MAN files from Informatix's MicroGDS
version 6.0 or later. MicroGDS
projects are
not supported. The workaround is to export the desired project window with a .man extension.
In Autodesk Navisworks, MicroGDS renderer materials are shown in their flat-shaded colors in shaded mode. In
full render mode, or with Presenter rendering, the full shaders are used. Only the standard LightWorks shaders
are available. The shaders which are unique to MicroGDS are not available inside Autodesk Navisworks, and are
converted as follows:
Height band color shader is treated as plain grey
Wrapped random color shader is treated as a plain color using the flat-shaded color from MicroGDS
Wrapped stencil transparency is ignored
Undulate, wrapped brick, wrapped grid and wrapped ripple displacement shaders are ignored
Object axis texture space is equivalent to the Autodesk Navisworks box texture space
Auto axis and object XY axis texture spaces are treated as the Autodesk Navisworks box texture space
Grid background is treated as a plain background using the background color, that is grid lines are not shown
Foreground and environment shaders are ignored
NOTE All other shaders, as of MicroGDS 7.2, are correctly imported into Autodesk Navisworks.
MicroGDS materials are specified in millimeters, and are converted into metres to make Autodesk Navisworks
materials, dividing distance parameters by 1000.
Windows with Perspective Views are converted as viewpoints.
Supported Entities
Clump primitives
Line primitives.
NOTE The color of line primitives is determined by the first phase in which they appear in the Principal window
of the MAN file. If they are not included in the Principal window, the color is determined by their style.
Light styles.
NOTE Projector lights are treated as a spot light without the transparent image.
Material styles, both plain and most LightWorks Renderer materials.
NOTE For materials using wrapped images, you must specify the texture paths.
Layers.
NOTE All layers are read, and made visible according to their status in the Principal window of the MAN file.
Instances
Object data structure
Unsupported Entities
Text primitives
Photo primitives
See also:
MAN File Reader Options on page 396
102 | Chapter 5 Work with Files