Severe SSM/PUBLISH problems in C3D?

[Sinc]

Anyone else having issues with the SSM and PUBLISH in C3D? We've been using the SSM in Land Desktop for some time, and we've noticed a lot more problems with it in Land Desktop 2007 than before, but nothing that compares with the level of frustration we've been experiencing with the SSM in C3D 2007.

Sometimes through lots of futzing around, we can get it working, by doing AUDITS, and by deleting and recreating DST files, or by creating new DWG and moving everything into them (basically recreating the DWG files from scratch). But that can be an awful lot of work, just to get the things to plot.

Like right now. I have a drawing with 2 layouts, and created a Sheet Set, adding the layouts as two pages in the SSM. Fields in both pages are updating correctly. But when I try to publish from the SSM, the PUBLISH operation fails, with the following message in the plot log: "ERROR: Layout not found".

This makes no sense. The SSM is correctly updating fields. I can close all drawings, and open the layouts from the SSM. But when I try to PUBLISH, I get "ERROR: Layout not found". I can PUBLISH Page 2 only, and I can PLOT both pages, but I can't publish Page 1, and I can't publish the entire Sheet Set from the SSM.

I also notice that when I type PUBLISH from the command line, only Page 2 shows up in the dialog. It's as if Page 1 doesn't exist. BUT IT DOES! And the SSM is correctly updating fields on page 1. So why can't the PUBLISH command see it?

Attempting to remove the layouts from the Sheet Set may not be working. I do that, and then try to re-add them, and I get the old "Layout may be part of a sheet set" warning, even though I just removed the layouts from the sheet set. This seems to be a standard 2007 problem, because we see similar stuff with Land Desktop, although it doesn't seem as bad. Somehow, the SSM and the drawings do not seem to be staying in synch with each other, and it seems to be worse in C3D than in Land Desktop.

There seems to be a TERRIBLE amount of confusion somewhere behind the scenes here. It's making it virtually impossible to use the SSM in Civil-3D, at least for PUBLISHing drawings.

Is anyone else having similar issues?

[Anonymous]

Although I'd be the first to BASH C3D and its many issues, we are not
having any problems with SSM. I can successfully plot and publish with
default page setups and using overrides. All of our fields and callouts
are updating properly. I have never tried to use SSM in Land Desktop
because of the single drawing interface thingy (although I know in 2007
you can have multiple drawings open), and honestly I do 98% of my work
in C3D and have always worked with our sheets and sheet sets in C3D
since R2006.

The only thing we do differently from your method is we only have 1
layout per drawing (ever since there was layouts), with all base
drawings, details, etc. Xref'd in and using views setup in SSM. I do
maintain working drawings sometimes with multiple layouts for plotting
and can publish those without problems, but that is not working though
SSM, just the publish command.

I know this was no help, but SSM does work.

CJ
C3D R2007 sp3

sinc wrote:
> Anyone else having issues with the SSM and PUBLISH in C3D? We've been using the SSM in Land Desktop for some time, and we've noticed a lot more problems with it in Land Desktop 2007 than before, but nothing that compares with the level of frustration we've been experiencing with the SSM in C3D 2007.
>
> Sometimes through lots of futzing around, we can get it working, by doing AUDITS, and by deleting and recreating DST files, or by creating new DWG and moving everything into them (basically recreating the DWG files from scratch). But that can be an awful lot of work, just to get the things to plot.
>
> Like right now. I have a drawing with 2 layouts, and created a Sheet Set, adding the layouts as two pages in the SSM. Fields in both pages are updating correctly. But when I try to publish from the SSM, the PUBLISH operation fails, with the following message in the plot log: "ERROR: Layout not found".
>
> This makes no sense. The SSM is correctly updating fields. I can close all drawings, and open the layouts from the SSM. But when I try to PUBLISH, I get "ERROR: Layout not found". I can PUBLISH Page 2 only, and I can PLOT both pages, but I can't publish Page 1, and I can't publish the entire Sheet Set from the SSM.
>
> I also notice that when I type PUBLISH from the command line, only Page 2 shows up in the dialog. It's as if Page 1 doesn't exist. BUT IT DOES! And the SSM is correctly updating fields on page 1. So why can't the PUBLISH command see it?
>
> Attempting to remove the layouts from the Sheet Set may not be working. I do that, and then try to re-add them, and I get the old "Layout may be part of a sheet set" warning, even though I just removed the layouts from the sheet set. This seems to be a standard 2007 problem, because we see similar stuff with Land Desktop, although it doesn't seem as bad. Somehow, the SSM and the drawings do not seem to be staying in synch with each other, and it seems to be worse in C3D than in Land Desktop.
>
> There seems to be a TERRIBLE amount of confusion somewhere behind the scenes here. It's making it virtually impossible to use the SSM in Civil-3D, at least for PUBLISHing drawings.
>
> Is anyone else having similar issues?

[Anonymous]

It appears to me to be either a user issue or an installation issue. You
seem to know anough about the SSM so I'll assume it's probably an
installation issue. Have you tried repairing it, or even a remove and
reinstall?

SSM works great with me too.

Matt

[Sinc]

Yes, I can get working sometimes, so I know it is possible. But I seem to be having an awful lot of problems with it, and it seems to go back to something being corrupted in the connection between the DWG and the DST. The corruption doesn't always happen, but when it does, it's a real PITA to fix.

I pretty sure there's some issue involved with using existing Sheet Sets (e.g., sheet sets that have active sheets in them) as templates to create new ones. That seems to cause problems in every case. But it doesn't seem to be the only cause.

[Sinc]

My QLEADER command stopped working correctly in Land Desktop a while back (the second segment does not appear until I select its endpoint), so maybe there is some sort of corruption issue going on.

I suppose I can try repairing all my Autodesk products and see if that fixes anything. I've been having problems with the SSM in Land Desktop, too. It may be a coincidence that it seems worse in C3D than LDD.

[Sinc]

FWIW, we have identical problems on other machines.

I really don't think this is a problem with the installation. And I've been using the SSM for quite some time, so I know my way around the thing pretty well. I think the thing has problems.

[Sinc]

I finally fixed this problem.

I tried making a copy of my page 1 layout, and deleting the original. No luck.

So I completely redid my Page 1 layout by creating a brand new layout tab, copying all data from my original layout tab to the new layout tab, then deleting the original layout tab. This fixed the problem.

This seems to fall in line with what I've seen when this problem crops up in other drawings, including Land Desktop drawings. Somehow, Autocad writes some sort of information to the layout that links it with the DST file, and this is the thing that's getting corrupted. In the past, I've fixed it by creating new DWG files, but it seems that all that is really necessary is to create new layout tabs.

Now as to what is corrupting it, why, and how, well I have no idea.

[Anonymous]

You are correct in your assumption that data is written to a layout when it
is added to a sheet set. It appears that this "object" is being copied with
your layout. It should not in my opinion. This is why CJ doesn't have the
problem. He has only 1 layout per dwg.

Matt

[Sinc]

I've had the same problem in sheet sets where I've done 1 layout per DWG, so I don't think it has anything to do with multiple layouts in the same DWG.

But I freely admit that I'm still mystified as to why/how this happens, so I can't say anything for certain, except that there's a problem.