AutoCAD 2007/2008/2009 DWG Format

[#1]

I thought I had xrefs figured out here, this is regarding layer colors/properties in referenced dwgs.
I have a dwg 'A' that has a layer named Layer1 with color red, dwg 'B' has 'A' attached/overlaid as an xref. Open dwg 'A' and change Layer1 color to blue, save and close dwg 'A'. Go back to dwg 'B' reload dwg 'A' xref, and the Layer1 in 'A' is still red. Shouldn't it reflect the changed color of Layer1 and be blue? Confused!!

[#2]

If Visretain is set to 1, it retains the layer visibility states (on, frozen, color, linetype, etc) when you save that drawing. (that drawing being dwg B). Meaning, you have already saved the settings once, it will retain those settings.

[#3]

You can control the xref layer colors in the host drawing (dwg "B"). In layer manager under your listed xref should be all the layers in that xref. This is where you can change the color. Layer properties in host dwg and xref dwg are independent of one another.

[#4]

It works correctly if I set 'VISRETAIN' to 0 in dwg 'B'. Seems like that should be the default behavior?

[#5]

If you want the xref to control the drawings, then I believe this is what you want.

(We use it a different way)

[#6]

That's what I noticed. Yeah, that's what I've been having to do change the layer color in 'A' and then goto 'B' and make the same change. Double work seems like! Seems like they should be dependent. If you make a change to layer property in 'A' the change should be reflected on reload in dwg 'B'.

[#7]

You shouldn't have to change the color in the xref (dwg "A") at all. That's what I mean by being independent of one another. The color properties in the xref drawing can be whatever you what them to be without affecting your host drawing. Change the colors in dwg "B" only...that's it.

[#8]

I see what your saying, makes sense. The problem is, if you use 'A' as a reference in multiple dwg's, then you need to make that same change in each dwg that references 'A'. If you could make the change in 'A' one time then you wouldn't have to make the change multiple times, in every dwg that references dwg 'A'. Seems like that's the whole point to xref's.

[#9]

VISRETAIN
Controls the properties of xref-dependent layers. Controls visibility, color, linetype, lineweight, and plot styles.

0
The layer table, as stored in the reference drawing (xref), takes precedence. Changes made to xref-dependent layers in the current drawing are valid in the current session only and are not saved with the drawing. When the current drawing is reopened, the layer table is reloaded from the reference drawing and the current drawing reflects those settings. The layer settings affected are On, Off, Freeze, Thaw, Color, Ltype, LWeight, and PStyle (available only in named-plot style drawings).

1
Xref-dependent layer changes made in the current drawing take precedence. Layer settings are saved with the current drawing's layer table and persist from session to session.

[#10]

If you want your XREFs to control your drawings, then yes
VISRETAIN of 0 would be alright to use.  But, it is sometimes handy to have
to drawings which use the same reference, and have them show the reference in
different ways (ie. one shows the object as proposed work for stage one of a
project, and in stage two you want to show it as existing).  Also with
VISREATIN set to 1, you can set specific overrides for individual viewports in
the same drawing (so that you could have an overall view that freezes small
details, which are left thawed in another blowup viewport).

All of the layer properties can be set this way, not just
color or freeze/thaw.  You can make some pretty complicated reference
setting for various stage/presentations of the same reference
file.