Contour labels are not visible when XREF'd

[rkmin]

I have a topo drawing containing contours which are labeled with elevation.

I Xref'd this drawing into another drawing and the contour labels do not show up, so i have to re-create the contour labels.  

Is there a way for the labels to show up automatically when XREF'd?

[troma]

They should.

Have you checked all layers on and thawed?

[rkmin]

All layers are thawed.

I have a drawing called "topo.dwg" that contains topo features and a surface (data shortcut).

I labeled the contours in "topo.dwg" and it shows up.

I Xref (overlay) "topo.dwg" into another drawing called "civil.dwg". Everything in "topo.dwg" shows up except for the contour labels.

[witzel]

You may have an issue with units.  The contour labels may be there, just very, very small.  If that is the case in Toolspace | Settings right click the drawing and got to Drawing Settings.  Make sure that both drawings are set to feet (or meters).

Hope that helps,

Conan Witzel

[rkmin]

They are both the same units.

Both drawings was created using the same drawing template.

[witzel]

The only other thing I can think of is the layer the contour label object resides on.  That can be different than where the surface resides.

You said that in Topo.dwg, the surface is a Data Reference.  Antoher issue I have seen is labeling xrefs.  If I remember correctly, labels on xrefs don't travel.  ie. if topo.dwg contained an xref to a surface and you labeled it there, if you then xrefed topo.dwg, the labels would not show up.  A little like overrlay vs attach.

Thanks,

Conan Witzel

[rkmin]

So, am I correct to understand that contour labels are not contained as a part of a Data Shortcut?

[witzel]

No, they are not part of the surface.  The are used to annotate the surface in a drawing.  Our workflow looks like this:

We create the proposed surface in grading drawing.  We create a reference to the surface.

We reference the surface into a grading and drainage drawing.  This is where the annotation occurs.

We XREF the grading and drainage drawing into the plot sheet drawings that need it.  We will never see any labeling in the drawing where the surface is created and edited, but we can see the annotations that are placed in the grading and drainage drawing.

Does this make more sense?

Thanks,

Conan Witzel

[rkmin]

I think I understand your example. For my situation, I just wanted to eliminate having to recreate contour labels for any subsequent drawings that are Xrefing the original drawing containing the surface.

Now, I'm having a problem where I labeled the contours from "topo.dwg" which is then Xref'd into "civil.dwg". Now, in "civil.dwg" I get a message at 0,0 saying that Label Contains a Broken Reference ever since I created the contour label. What did I do wrong?

[witzel]

It may be an issue with the project folder.  I would AUDIT both drawings.

In the topo.dwg drawing in the tools space make sure that the surface is referenced correctly.

in other words no yellow warnings.

Just to be clear, you should only have to label the surface once.  XREFing the drawing should show the annotation.  Data referencing the surface will NOT bring the annotation.

It may be that you have an issue with the original surface and once that is fixed you will get the result you want.

[rkmin]

I ran an audit on all my drawings that are referencing that data shortcut folder and there were no errors.  I also do not see any yellow error warnings in the prospector. I'm not sure why all of a sudden this popped up after I simply labeled a contour.  If it isn't one problem, there comes another.

[Jeff_M]

Is the Xref inserted at 0,0 with 0d rotation?

[Jay_B]

Is the text height set to zero in the "text style" used in the "text component editor" format tab of the contour label style in use (source file) that wont display when xrefd to other file?
Verify the "text style" default height is set to zero in each file on the text style dialog.

[bnesja]

I see this post is older and has not been answered yet. I too am having this issue but have noticed that the labels end up on the same layer as the surface when referenced. I assume you are doing what I am and turning off the layer for the refenced surface so you can modify the display of the Shortcutted surface. When you turn off that surface layer the lables are going with it. This won't be noticed untill a Regen/ RegenAll.

[juanmagmen]

If you can see it on model space and not on the viewport, try detached the xref, and attached again. it should show the text, also try Annotation Visibility turn it On on the icons or ANNOALLVISIBLE to 1

[Joe-Bouza]

I see this is an old one. I just experience it today. There was an issue way back with LDT files, and sure enough I ran into one todY. Not so much a LDT project but the user copied an old job to make this one And my theory is the junk came along for the ride. Correlation: I xref into a clean dwt created file and the labels . show coinsidenc? Doubt it. I hate when user drag old crap into a file

[annw2]

We have a similar problem with surfaces in 2014.

The surfaces are shortcutted into the layout drawing.  If we don't manually synchranize the surfaces, they often don't show up.

[rkmin]

I have never found a solution to this problem. The workaround for me is that I don't use Civil 3D anymore. I went back to using Land Desktop 2009 companion since that software is much more Surveyor friendly. Not the answer to this problem but I had no other choice for me. I'm hanging onto Land Desktop until something forces me away from it.

[jmayo-EE]

Wow. Going back to LDD would be absolute torture for me. Everything I did would be slower from field topo, to design to stakeout.

[Joe-Bouza]

Going to LDT that's a bit harsh. I'll bet a cup of coffee if they are refed into a clean c3d.dwt file they show load and proud.