Questions regarding X-Refs

[JohanS]

Hi Guys,

 

I have been using AutoCAD for some time now. I have always been trying to stay away from X-Refs as I do not understand them fully. But in the current project im running I have to upload a .dwg into a program, but the catch is, the drawing MUST NOT have any X-refs. Now, in the folder structure I have of this drawing consists of about +-10 different .dwg files.

 

Is there any way I can use the root .dwg to remove the x-ref values, but still have the drawing, to allow me to have the same drawing so I can upload it into my program?

 

Size does not matter in this scenario.

 

Ill be hovering the forums for some time and would appreciate any response.

 

CAD Version : AutoCAD 2013

 

Thank you!

[Tiger]

Uhm. I do not fully understand your problem I think.

 

In your drawing where you have the list of x-refs you can right-click on the name and select BIND - this will create a block of the xref and save that in your drawing. As you hinted, it will make the file bigger but at least you won't have any xrefs.

 

Hi and welcome to the forum btw

[JohanS]

Yes something like that, but I still want to have the full drawing.. If that makes sense..

 

Its a drawing of a huge shopping mall, so all the X-Refs are certain parts of the mall.

 

I want to upload the whole mall into the drawing but it must be one non-dependable drawing.

[JohanS]

Uhm. I do not fully understand your problem I think.

 

In your drawing where you have the list of x-refs you can right-click on the name and select BIND - this will create a block of the xref and save that in your drawing. As you hinted, it will make the file bigger but at least you won't have any xrefs.

 

Hi and welcome to the forum btw

 

Thanx alot

 

I can see im going to spend alot of time on this forum in the coming weeks,

 

Thank you for the reply, ill try it now and come back to you.

 

Edit:

 

It worked! I clicked on any one of the X-refs in the drawing, opened the X-ref options menu, Right clicked all of the listed X-refs one by one and selected "Bind", another menu pops up then with the options for "Bind" or "Insert", the Bind option did not work for me, instead I went with insert, worked perfectly, now I can start uploading my 15.1MB drawing lol

 

Thanks for the quick response guys!

Edited August 27, 2013 by JohanS
Update:

[Tiger]

We'll be here for you!

 

You can ofcourse highlight the whole list of x-ref and run BIND on all of them - if you're lucky it works

[JohanS]

I have managed it to pull all the X-Ref's into the root drawing, but now I'm still sitting with the X-Ref layers, I tried uploading my .dwg into the program but it gives an error "Unable to open drawing"..

 

What is the process to completely get rid of X-Refs in all aspects...?

 

Thanks for helping!

[Tiger]

That is the difference between Bind and Insert in the Bind-dialogue box that you saw. Bind brings in the file but keeps the layer structure with every layername starting with the x-ref-name. If you choose Insert, you won't see any difference in the layers - if you have layers that match those of the x-ref, they will be used.

 

So if you did choose Insert, you shouldn't see any XREF in the names of the layers.

 

Have you run a PURGE, -PURGE > Regapps (note the hyphen at the start) and an AUDIT before trying to import the drawing in your other program?

[JohanS]

That is the difference between Bind and Insert in the Bind-dialogue box that you saw. Bind brings in the file but keeps the layer structure with every layername starting with the x-ref-name. If you choose Insert, you won't see any difference in the layers - if you have layers that match those of the x-ref, they will be used.

 

So if you did choose Insert, you shouldn't see any XREF in the names of the layers.

 

Have you run a PURGE, -PURGE > Regapps (note the hyphen at the start) and an AUDIT before trying to import the drawing in your other program?

 

Nope have not tried that yet, will try quickly and let you know

[JohanS]

Awesome, it worked.! Finally my drawing is on the stupid program.. Thank you so much for the tips, learned quite a lot with this process. Now I'm not afraid of X-ref's any more

[Tiger]

Glad you got it sorted! Just keep 'em on a short leash and they will behave

[mikekmx]

same as you, i hate xrefs.

i load them, bind them, then explode them if necessary.

 

in 10years, no-one's ever compalined and if they did i would say it happened by accident and they would have to sort it out themselves.

[Tiger]

Depending on what kind of work you do ofcourse Mike, but with what I did earlier, x-refs was such an essential part of the process. Not to say that it didn't take a bit of forward thinking and disciplin in handling them so that every file could be opened correctly. But that is just routine.

 

Each to his own though, if I could live without 'em, I would!

[RobDraw]

XREFs are SOP here. We use them even when it's not necessary.