Bentley IRAS B

Efficient Document Conversion

Used in thousands of organizations around the world for more than a decade, Bentley I/RAS B is the proven leader in document editing and conversion. Bentley I/RAS B is a workflow-oriented application, wherein conversion tools quickly convert linework, symbology, and text to vector entities.

Work completely in raster, convert to vectors, or work with hybrid raster/vector files. Using Bentley I/RAS B conversion and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) features, you can edit the raster images using a range of flexible and intuitive tools that operate as easily as vector design tools.  

Offering a complete document conversion toolset, I/RAS B tools allow you to streamline the conversion process for maximum efficiency.

Complementary Engineering Toolset

The Bentley I/RAS B Engineer tools provide for conversion of a variety of types of line, arc, shape, and text conversion and other digitizing features, such as easy replacement of raster symbols with MicroStation cells. You have the flexibility to configure parameters for automatic zoom, raster separation, raster snap and move or shift center to maximize end user productivity. Raster separation offers a variety of options for moving, copying, and deleting raster data to choosing a color, layer, line style, and line width with which to display the separated raster data.

The Engineer Tools provide two methods for replacing text: Interactive Text Replacement (ITR) and in a batch process called Queued Text Replacement (QTR).

• The Interactive Text Replacement tool provides the ability to manually digitize and separate raster text. This tool is useful when the text in your data touches the line work and interferes with line tracing. 
• Queued Text Replacement (QTR) is a dual process that locates pixel groupings that are potential text and presents the groupings in a queued environment for you to overlay with vector text elements and make appropriate decisions to place vector text. QTR allows configuration of dictionaries, training sets, patterns, and other recognition tools to ensure the most productive environment possible in conversion.

Precision Registration

Our unique WYSIWYG image warping is more intuitive than other approaches that require distinct windows for vector and image data and that rely heavily upon transformational statistics. Warp provides a simple interface to quickly assemble drawing portions together.

Document Restoration and Maintenance

Even in today’s digital world, critical information is often still found on paper records and maps or in mass scanned drawings that were never effectively cleaned up. I/RAS B enables you to preserve and even maintain this information if desired. One of the primary functions of Bentley I/RAS B is the restoration and cleanup of scanned documents, as particularly with older documents, unwanted data can be created during the scanning process.

I/RAS B provides tools to remove unwanted marks, speckles or smudges and restore broken lines or restore holes in otherwise solid areas or thick lines. It also provides a full complement of raster editing tools. The editing tools work on individual layers or on all layers. You make the choice in the tool settings window. Restored documents can be printed or plotted to Windows-compatible devices.

Wide Range of Flexible Touch-up Tools

Touch-up tools are handy for use in restoring and maintaining documents or in preparing them for conversion. A wide range of tools is provided including Copy, Move, Rotate, Scale, Mirror Horizontal and Vertical, Smooth, Replicate, and Delete. Smoothing works by adding or deleting foreground pixels to eliminate jagged line work.

Flexible Image Manipulation

Manipulate even very large raster images in MicroStation quickly with a handy set of image manipulation tools including Rotate, Crop, Scale, Invert, and others. These interactive tools provide dynamic feedback, making image manipulation intuitive and efficient. Use these capabilities to automate production of montages, corridor and plan sheet alignments, or to lay out plots or documents.

High Performance Display

In addition, Bentley I/RAS B handles binary files as compressed data in memory, letting you open, edit, and warp large scanned drawings virtually instantaneously. You can also see binary data at any zoom level, letting you work productively down to the pixel level. Users can move seamlessly between raster and vector editing in MicroStation. You have full control over display order of raster and vector data, ensuring an optimal display and plot every time. Color aerial photos or a PDF descriptive document can be displayed as the legacy cadastre map is being warped or edited. In some cases, the amount of editing required on the drawing is high. To maximize productivity, layers can be created for each editing task and all layers display with virtually no loss in performance.

Optimized for Monochromatic Image Files

The I/RAS B imaging engine is built and optimized for 1-bit imagery. The algorithms and techniques it employs to read, write and store raster data in memory is unique, providing optimal performance in display and editing.

MicroStation Integration

You can take advantage of existing MicroStation skills, because I/RAS B is built entirely upon MicroStation design tools. Work within a familiar environment and manipulate raster just as you do design elements. 

The integration also allows you to easily design or maintain drawings in a hybrid raster-vector environment. I/RAS B provides full support for MicroStation models. Drawings in I/RAS B can coexist and be displayed with other types of rasters displayed by MicroStation Raster Manager or PDFs. I/RAS B is also ProjectWise-compliant and is fully integrated with MicroStation PowerDraft.