Michael’s Corner

Michael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

This month…

From the Vault

Originally published October 2012

XCLIP Update

When I encounter the same situation in the course of two weeks, I know it's time to write about it.

XCLIP — though powerful in its own right — can be confusing if you're not familiar with what's going on. The point of the exercise is to essentially isolate an area of a drawing that has an Xref. A similar visual result can be accomplished by creating a viewport on a layout tab (see figure). Clipping the Xref, however, takes place in Model Space.

That said, here's a review of how to set it up, and what to do if you get a drawing that's a bit, shall we say, off the reservation.

How to Clip an Xref with Xclip

1. Begin a new, blank drawing, then save it. Set the necessary layer to be current for the Xref attachment.

2. On the Insert tab, click the small arrow on the Reference panel to open the External References Manager.

3. Attach the DWG named 'db_samp' located in AutoCAD's ..\Sample\Database Connectivity folder.

4. Empty all the check boxes for Specify on-screen, then ZoomExtents to see the attached drawing.

5. To clip the Xref, click on the Xref to display the External Reference contextual tab.

6. On the Clipping panel, click Create Clipping Boundary.

7. You have several options to choose from, but the default is <Rectangular>, so press [Enter].

8. Specify two points to define a rectangle around the area you wish to isolate; i.e., the area to remain visible. Your drawing now displays a rectangular frame around the area selected and highlights the clipped area. Press ESC to end the procedure.

Insights

• To remove the clipping frame, click on the reference to display the External References contextual tab, then click Remove Clipping.

• You can change the shape of the clipping area using the grips.

• Similar to a clipped image file, the blue arrow at the bottom of the image will toggle an inverted display of the Xref.

• To display the Xclip frame after cancelling the command, set XCLIPFRAME to <1>.

• If you Erase the displayed frame, the Xref it is clipping is also erased; curiously, the frame is linked to the Xref.

Scenario

If you encounter a drawing such as that shown in the final figure, you have an Xclip condition gone awry. My customer sent this to me, and when I clicked on a frame, the External References contextual tab did not show up. So here's what I told Amanda…

Solution

1. Set XCLIPFRAME to <1>.

2. Type XCLIP to launch the command, then select several of the displayed frames and press [Enter].

3. You now have several options on the prompt line, enter D for the Delete option. Repeat as necessary.

Sanity returns.

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