xRefs in a Mixed Environment

[chriswade]

We have mostly Windows computers, with a few Macs. Yes, we can run AutoCAD through Parallels and will as needed, but of course the Mac version of AutoCAD can never find the xRefs.

I know I must be missing this, as it is so simple it must be there, but how to I tell AutoCAD for Mac that when it see H:\, it should really look at /Volumes/H Drive and repleace all \ with /

And also tell it to do the opposite when saving?

Again, this is something so simple, it must be implemented in such aq powerful program, I just can't find where to do it at.

[gregory]

At my firm we started migrating by buying Macs and using bootcamp in 2008.  Today we are all Mac's but the original 2008 Mac Pro, which is still a work horse is still running bootcamp and thus working in a Windows Environment.

We too work in a  Mixed OS environment but I we're not having the same issue as you.  Although our CAD standard setups might be quite different... We work by placing all our .dwg's in one folder categorized by stage.  There is minimal confusion with large amounts of .dwg files in the directory due to using standard naming conventions such as:

A-PLAN-FLOR

A-BLDG-ELEV

X-XREF-CIVIL...  and so on.  

We devloped our CAD standard for storing files in this maner because of similar issues back in 2000 when we were working with zip drives, not having servers, and other old school inconsistancies.  We find that this is a great way of working...  and might help you in if you modify your workflow!

-G

[chriswade]

Unfortunately, that method doesn't work, as we recieve the Architectural files from others 99.99% of the time and many times we are asked not to rename them.

In addition, we do Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Civil, Telecom, Fire Sprinkler, Fire Alarm and Structural, so you can imagine that if we have even 3-4 of those disciplines on one project how hard it would be to filter through all of the files if all files were in one folder.

There should be a simple substition routine in AutoCAD for Mac where we can tell it if you see H:\, then read it as /Volumes/H Drive/ and replace any \ with /

This is simple and would be very easy for AutoDesk to do.

[gregory]

Well if the architects your working with don't follow the National Standards file naming conventiosn then, i can see that as a big issue!

We too work with other cosultants such as Landscape, Civil, Structural, Interior, Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing...  I don't really worry about it their naming conventions since once I XREF their files I never have to locate their file in the folder again.   And since my files are neatly catagorized in the folder, i can still easilly navegate and locate our files.

Sorry, I've not done the default directory path for XREF's in a long time...

-G

[vknudsen]

When working in a mixed environment you must:

- All xrefs must have "relative path" (relative path means in same directory as parent dwg or sub-folder of current folder)

- Only attach or overlay using relative path

- You can easily change the path of a specific xref to relative by removeing the non-relative portion and replaceing with "./"

We have a mixed environemnt (60/40 split) and have no problems opening files in windows or mac...

cheers

[gregory]

yeah the relative path!  that's what i meant by default directory, it's been a while...  we used that format back in the day and it work great because if you moved the file to diferent drives your XREF files always worked!

[chriswade]

There is no actual national standard (someone has tried to claim that they made one, but charges a ridiculous amount for it, so it's use is very limited), but believe me, no architect we work with follow any sort of standard for naming (as nice as it would be if they did).

I think you misunderstood slightly, I am saying that we work on all of those disciplines, which means that we always have to have and find all of thos files easily.

So, our Basic  Project Folder Structure looks like this:

Arch

Civil

Mechanical

Electrical

Plumbing

Structural

And add or remove disciplines that we are not working on for that particular project, but if we don't do this, it can get quite cluttered on some of the larger projects where each discipline can have 50+ sheets.

Yes, going forward we are using relative paths, but we have a lot of older projects that don't use relative paths, so there needs to be an easy way to accomodate this.

[gregory]

of course there is a national standard!

http://www.cadalyst.com/aec/ncs-common-language-cad-users-14470

Yes i understood that you firm provide all those different discipline services, i was just saying that we have their files in our folder too.  but instead of sorting thru folders we sort with the discipline prefix conventions such as:

A-

C-

E-

G-

I-

L-

M-

P-

S-

The relative path is a great way of doing it but if i recall correctly one of the issues we had was when we did go back to reference older projects then we spent alot of time trying to correct the path for one reason or another.   So we just concluded to drop all the files in one folder, which works everytime!

-G

[chriswade]

We actually used to do that; however, the problem comes when the architect doesn't do that (which is very often, unfortunately) and they have 200+ files (also happens a lot), then you have 50+ for each discipline, that can now end up over 400 files in one folder. In addition, there is a limit to how many files you can have in a folder on Windows Server before it starts causing performance issues and a hard limit that it won't allow any more than (I forget what that number is, but we have hit it on several occasions when we put all of the files in one folder) The relative paths shouldn't be an issue, as we never need to reference old projects, it's just getting our old projects in a format that will work with AutoCAD for Mac. [cid:ec130b97bedb6c46b03b7e4895665bee] Chris Wade CAD Manager [http://breeneng.com/emaillogo.jpg] 1983 West 190th Street, Suite 200 Torrance, CA 90504 Office: 310-464-8404 x 247 Fax: 310-464-8408 www.breeneng.com