Civil 3D Layers off but plot anyway

[TPaul_T]

Hello, I am in my companies IT group and work with the AutoCAD techs.

First, here is a little background:

I have a user which we just installed Autocad Civil 3D 2014 on his computer that is running on a Windows 7 64-bit OS. However, he has had the same problem with Civil 3D 2011, 2012, and 2013 ever since we took him to 2011 in September 2011. So, it is not something new. It may have been around before then but my companys common practice back then was to freeze layers with a script file before plotting. While attending a class back in 2010 or 2011, he and his group were told to “do not use FREEZE on layers in Civil 3D” since things frozen did not get updated like they would if they were just turned off. So, they have been using the “ON/OFF” commands on all Civil 3D files since then.

Here is the problem:

A drawing, typical of this and other jobs he does, has a title block which is an xref in paper space and the site plan xref in model space. He can turn "OFF" certain layers from the site plan as viewed from paper space to remove clutter and then go to make a plot. After getting it set up to print and going to the preview the layers he has turned off appear in the preview and if he goes ahead and makes the plot or PDF those layers that were turned off will plot out.

The work-a-round they have been using ever since has been to go back into the file(s) and “FREEZE” the layers that were turned off, make the plots and then go back and “THAW” the layers before ending the drawing. Or just quit the drawing without thawing the layers.

I know there are other ways like using “No plot” on those particular layers.  What do other Civil 3D users do?  Surely we are not the only ones with this question.

Any suggestion is appreciated! Thanks!

[Jeff_M]

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@paul.thomas wrote:

.....were told to “do not use FREEZE on layers in Civil 3D” since things frozen did not get updated like they would if they were just turned off. So, they have been using the “ON/OFF” commands on all Civil 3D files since then.

What do other Civil 3D users do?  

Any suggestion is appreciated! Thanks!

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I've been using C3D steadily since C3D2008 and have never heard "do not freeze layers in C3D". I have ALWAYS used Freeze/Thaw and rarely, if ever, use ON/OFF (except when utilizing the LayerIsolate commands). The only issues I've run into is PDF underlays seem to want to plot if only VP frozen, completely freezing the layer solves that issue.

[jmayo-EE]

I agree with Jeff 100%. You should look into the VPFreeze command (this is not the global freeze) for setting up what to print and not to print. You should be able to have all layers on and globally thawed in MS and still see what prints and what does not in paperspace/layouts.

[AllenJessup]

Same here. Never heard of a Do Not Freeze rule. I use Freeze and VP Freeze extensively.

One thing to remember about Civil 3D objects is that they behave very similar to Blocks. The layer the object resides on and the layers of the entities that make up that object are often not the same.

Allen Jessup