AutoCAD 2010 :: Using Xref Drawings Across The Network
Jun 15, 2012
We are a small company with two PCs - 1 laptop and a server. We are having problems using xref drawings across the network. The laptop is mapped to the Z drive and the reference file is on the server (D drive). Each time we open a drawing on the laptop (Z drive) the xref files which is saved on the server (D drive) cannot be seen. We reattached the file and it works fine until we closed and reopen the drawing. When the drawing is opened on the laptop the xref is not loaded on the screen. However, the file extension can be seen but no drawing is visible.
In summary how can we tell get the laptop to permanently reference xref files saved on the server without them dropping out?
So, I am working off a site drawing of an 80,000 sq ft production plant that was drawn by some old school drafters using probably AC 14. Most of the departments are drawn in xrefs. However, probably 10+ people worked on this project of mapping the plant so nothing is the same. I cannot describe the frustration of inconsistencies of this drawing. Alas, my question: some of my xrefs are shown in literal dim lines, what is going on? When you go to the original xref, the lines are as bright as they always are. When the xref is in the main drawing, the lines are dimmer than everything else.
When ever i open a dwg file (it contains Xref files) it's take a long time to open... and i tried the same file to open in Autocad 2007, it's opened with in a second.... and also note that the Autocad 2007 installed in a Dual core pc with 4gb RAM.. and the 2012 is installed in Core i7 12gb ram with NVIDIA graphics card.. and it's 64 bit Windows 7 too.. When i try to open a file it's shows "Loading c:/ ....... base.dwg, etc.. ..
i need to send a drawing out to a clent of our's. it has a XREF with it . so here what i do. open drawing, purge it, go to xref manger highlite the referrence, right click, hit bind, Bind Xref/DGN underlay window comes up check bind hit ok it go thur it stuff. the xref disapear from the drawing but it still shows in the xref manger with a coment on the command line that say : Error : at least one of the specified xref failed to bind for an unknown reason.
When I import a drawing using XREF command from one file to the new file the scaling between model space becomes all messed up. making the adjustments between the two?
For new drawings, is there a way to program Autocad to always load Xrefs relative? We pretty much use xrefs everywhere, and it seems like it would save a lot of time if I didn't have to open the External References and change each xref to relative.
Also, if you have an existing drawing and need to change the xref from absolute to relative path, is there a way to have it automatically do that? I'm assuming there isn't, but thought I'd ask.
The program doesn't freeze, the system doesn't hang, I get no "Can't save..." error message; the "Save" command just seems to do nothing. I can save to my Desktop fine, but across the network...?
InDesign and Photoshop will save wherever I tell them to, local or remote, but Illustrator apparently just doesn't want to be cooperative.
I'm running Creative Cloud on OS X (10.8.5) across a MS Server 2008 (I believe) network.
I am trying to come up with a way to track a block or xref in multiple drawings. I have multiple drawings that have the same block in them and I was hoping that there was a way I could find out what drawings have the block without having to open up every single drawing.
In the attached screencast video you will see that I have a drawing set up on the left of the screen to show where all the sections are taken through the building. I have setup a layer called SPC SECTION LINES which is set up to be bylayer and on the colour green.
When I XREF this drawing into the sheet file on the right side of the screencast you will see how the colour turns yellow when reference into the new sheet file?
Why does the colour of the line change when it gets xrefed into a new drawing?
The 2D drawings I am working with were exported from 3D REVIT files to 2D AutoCAD files. There are several XREFed drawings that are both mechanical and architectural from the original REVIT files that for whatever reason, the block's line weights came over with line weights of 70 in those blocks.
When I plot, the objects are a blur with the line weight so high. I tried using the command "setbylayer" but that didn't work since nested blocks still had lineweights of 70. Is there a VBA or LISP routine to run through all the blocks (including nested) that can change the line weights to a given number?
I want to display the network server name automatically (preferably using a diesel expression).
I currently use diesel expressions to show the saved path and drawing name, but since we have a multitude of servers I'd like to show the server name as well. At the minute it just shows the network map name, i.e. N:, but I'd like to prefix that with the actual serve name, i.e. SERV-FILE-1 (or something like that).
I am running AutoCAD MEP 2012. I am unable to open drawings that are stored on a network drive. I continue to get a "Unhandled Access Violation Reading 0X0000 Exception at f5bfaad0h" and AutoCAD closes. If I copy that same file to the computer and make it local, it opens without any problem. All files local open just fine. Also, I am able to open the same drawing on the network from multiple other computers.
I have tried to repair AutoCAD and check all network settings on the computer, but everything appears correct.
I've installed the LM Tools license manager on a network server to distribute out floating license of AutoCAD 2010. The network license currently has 5 floating licenses for AutoCAD 2010. When I try and install the AutoCAD 2010 software on a client machine and go under "Install Tools and Utilities" I expect to see a choice for the Network License Activation Utility. Unfortunately all I get is the options to install the License Manager (LM Tools), CAD Manager Tools, and SAMreport-Lite. Nothing indicating an Activation Utility.
I may just be very oblivious but I'm not sure how to activate the program with the license server when I can't install the utility to do so. Am I missing a step somewhere? I have a feeling the answer is very obvious but I unfortunately can't see it. The SN and Product Key are entered correctly and should reflect the type of license(s) they are.
I have a couple of floating licenses for an old inventor series 11 product. The license server is down and I need to change these licenses back to standalone licenses. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling as standalone but it will not let me activate the software with the serial numbers on the back of the packaging.
We have all of our job files stored on our network. If you open a sheetset from one of those network folders, it will open normally, you can view and scroll thru it normally, but the second you select / right click anything, it locks up cad (grey screen) and shows us the hourglass for 3-6 minutes, and then allows you to work with it, but with a 10-20 second delay on anything you try to do. If you copy the same job folder to the C Drive, and re-open the sheetset, it operates perfectly. Running a constant ping to our server returns a <0ms return with no lost packets.
Currently, we have 3 stand alone license's and are wanting to reinstall AutoCAD 2012 for a network for various reasons. I uninstalled and installed the tools/utilities for a network license file however I just have our 3 stand alone licenses. Can I not use them in a file to be distributed by the server?
Lets say I have file 1 and files 2,3,4, file 1 contains several layers and is an xref in files 2,3,4.
Can I somehow set a layer to off or frozen in file 1 and it will make sure to be switched off in my files 2,3,4 aswell? I have played around with New VP Freeze but if I add a layer at a later time and files 2,3,4 already have several viewports that doesn't do me very good.
I am not sure if i ever noticed this before, but if I get a dwg file from an architect who has XREF another dwg background and then I enter the command _AECEXPORTTOAUTOCAD2010 on the main dwg will that take all the XREF files and convert them to blocks as part of the exported file? This seems to have been done and wasn't sure why?
I have an xref that I am trying to xclip. Normal xclip works fine, but when I try to invert the clip (which I was I need), a light grey background shows up (in preview mode and on prints) around most of the boundary, and takes up most of the screen.
It also clips objects from other xrefs along the plane of the boundary, even though they're not actually within the boundary (they are visible in the drawing, but clipped in preview mode). I have purged and audited both drawing and xref.
I am trying to reference a drawing in AutoCAD 2012 and whenever I try to atrtach the drawing by XREF it does not come in viewable. none of the layers are seen. this is the second or third drawing that this has happened to me. I have checked to see if it is on a frozen or off layer. or some non-plot layer. I have opened a fresh drawing to reference it in. none of these have produced a result. The only thing different about the layers is that the layer rhombus, which is usually Blue, is now grey
Is there a way for xrefs to stay attached to a drawing file when using Dropbox as a network? All files are saved to the dropbox which is loaded on both computers that need to access the files. If I do work and save an xref in a file that is then opened by someone else on a different computer, the xref is not loaded and has to be re-routed. Is there a way to avoid having to reroute xrefs everytime someone different opens the file?
Any way to control the visibility of any XRef in a drawing using Excel or Text file. For instance, I have 50 Xref placed in there positions and I want AutoCAD to select what should be visible by reading an external file--Excel or Text file.
The line weights in the xref are as they should be - I can change the line weight (plot by layer/color) and it plots correctly; when I attached this file to another drawing, the line weights do not plot. I can change the layer color to modify the weight (.ctb file) and the correct line weight appears on the monitor, but when I plot - the line weight looks like a standard default width.
I checked the lwdefault in the xref and three other drawings, and in every drawing it is set to '25'; the lines are lines (not plines), and have a zero elevation. The units are the same as the other drawings;
I believe it's a setting in the drawing (not the xref) - what setting it might be.
When saving an AutoCAD drawing there is a Thumbnail image saved (if you have the option turn on), but when the command "Edit Xref In-Place" is used there is no Thumbnail image saved. So now when I try to preview any drawing that has been edited through this command there is no longer a thumbnail.
I am using AutoCAD 2012 and the option to save a thumbnail is turned ON.
We have a base drawing that is xreffed into other drawings, it is made up of various building sections (some horizontal some vertical). We have dimmed the grids using linear dimensions. When we bring in the drawing as an xref and rotate it 90 degrees (so the vertical sections are now horizontal) all the dims are now upside down.
Is there a variable/method to stop this from happening.
