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Line changing colours when Xref into a different drawings

9 REPLIES 9
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Message 1 of 10
HAMJAM
8801 Views, 9 Replies

Line changing colours when Xref into a different drawings

All,

 

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 screen cast can be found at http://screencast.com/t/l9wamF2vyqjw

 

Thanks in advanced for any advice or support?

 

 

 

9 REPLIES 9
Message 2 of 10
nestly2
in reply to: HAMJAM

The layer has been assigned "Yellow" in the host drawing, so I believe that's the expected behavior.

 

If you prefer to always have the Xref layers displayed according to the xref settings, change VISRETAIN to 0 and re-open the drawing.

Message 3 of 10
HAMJAM
in reply to: nestly2

Sorry to have to come back on this however not sure I have a good understanding of what you mean.

 

Bascially I am trying to get the drawing looking light grey.  The plan is then to XREF in a new plumbing drawing with pipe runs etc that will be in black.

 

As you can see the sheet file on the right is looking reasonable good in grey.  The problem I have is that any line changed in the Xref file not on its bylayer colour stays that colour and does not turn grey?

 

So in answer to your point I want to overide the XREF setting.  In other words as per your note I have it set to VISRETAIN 1  as I do not want to displayed according to the xref settings.  In other words I want to the colour to overide in this drawing only to the overide colour of grey?

 

You will see that I have overidden all the the line colour in the sheet drawing so it is grey however some lines still come out black?

 

Here is the screen cast.and thanks again for all your help.

 

http://screencast.com/t/pVzrn4zH

 

 

 

Message 4 of 10
nestly2
in reply to: HAMJAM

Maybe check your .ctb to see if it's overriding your layer settings? 

Message 5 of 10
HAMJAM
in reply to: nestly2

umm think i am missing something a little more fundamential as you can see I have checked table?  http://screencast.com/t/gl3NOhH9d6

Message 6 of 10
dgorsman
in reply to: HAMJAM

Not perusing videos on work time...

 

Just to clarify, are you saying that objects which have a color NOT ByLayer do not change in XREFs?  Anything that is not ByLayer cannot be changed when XREF'd into another drawing.

 

Are you placing an XREF on layer 0, or do the contents of an XREF exist on layer 0?  Both cases produce unpredictable results.  XREFs should be on a designated layer, as should all entities.

----------------------------------
If you are going to fly by the seat of your pants, expect friction burns.
"I don't know" is the beginning of knowledge, not the end.


Message 7 of 10
nestly2
in reply to: HAMJAM

If you can put the host drawing, the xref, and the ctb in zip and attach here, we'll be happy to have a look.

Message 8 of 10
HAMJAM
in reply to: nestly2

nestly thanks such much for your offer I now know the problem is related to dgorsman comment regarding

 

"are you saying that objects which have a color NOT ByLayer do not change in XREFs?  Anything that is not ByLayer cannot be changed when XREF'd into another drawing."   This is it please expand.!

 

What I do is probably not the best way of setting up the layers.  For example, lets say I have a layer called 'timber handrail'.  I assign the ByLayer colour of "timber handrail" to be green.  If i want to make a certain part of the handrail print heavier (lets say if I cut a section through a supporting coloum) I click on the coloum i just drew and change the colour of the column (via properties) to be yellow.  This part of the column is no longer on its green "ByLayer" colour. It is now on yellow as yellow is a heavier pen in my pen table.  Please remember that it is still on the "timber handrail" layer the only difference is that it is no longer on the Bylayer colour.

 

When I then reference this handrail drawing into a new sheet file and overide all the layers so it can print in grey; however, the parts of the timber handrail that has been over riden to yellow will not change (override) in the new drawings to grey.

 

If this is the norm would you suggest I set up two layers for the timber handrail.  "Timber handrail lite" with ByLayer colour Green and "Timber handrail heavy" with ByLayer colour yellow?

 

PS

 

By the way thanks nestly nestly for the comment regarding VISRETAIN .  I have never used this command - very helpful however this is not the problem.

 

 

Message 9 of 10
dgorsman
in reply to: HAMJAM

You've got it - thats exactly the procedure to follow, and the reason why most of us have the mantra of "BYLAYER BYLAYER BYLAYER" - color, linetype, lineweight (and/or plot style).  If the object property is fixed rather than ByLayer, it can't be overridden in an XREF.  Depending on your needs or system, the layer name should reflect why the object is printing differently instead of indicating how it prints.  For example, we don't have PIPING-HALFTONE layers, but rather PIPING-EXISTING.  That way, if you need to change the plotting (maybe heavier needs to be lighter elsewhere), the layer name doesn't conflict logically with its settings.

 

In some cases, ByBlock is preferred when construction blocks so when the block is inserted the block itself can be set to ByLayer or a fixed color/plot style.

----------------------------------
If you are going to fly by the seat of your pants, expect friction burns.
"I don't know" is the beginning of knowledge, not the end.


Message 10 of 10
HAMJAM
in reply to: dgorsman

Brilliant a very clear - thanks everybody for your help.

 

 

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