Inconsistent Proxy Objects Behavior

[HikeabikeSwimski]

Some in our firm use AutoCAD Mechanical while others use vanilla AutoCAD. Weld symbols created in Mechanical show up as proxy graphics in AutoCAD. So, if I (an AutoCAD user) open a drawing with weld symbols, they are there. I can see them, they print, etc. But if I insert that drawing into a new drawing, the weld symbols are not there. They are not on a layer that is off or frozen - they are not there. I would like them to be there.

I've looked for settings related to proxy graphics that might solve this, but I haven't been able to find anything. If possible I would like to avoid having to tell everyone to use full Mechanical, for reasons not worth getting into here.

Are there any straightforward solutions to this problem? If not, are any workarounds worth considering?

Thanks.

[pendean]

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@HikeabikeSwimski wrote:

Some in our firm use AutoCAD Mechanical while others use vanilla AutoCAD.

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Why, if I may ask? AutoCADMECH is free for every active subscription license holder/user to use all the time. You all should be on MECH.

What are the settings for PROXYGRAPHICS and PROXYSHOW for everyone at your office regardless of AutoCAD variants? they all need to be the same (and ON) before saving and then sharing.

[HikeabikeSwimski]

I checked with the person who made the weld symbols and I checked my own settings. For both of us both variables are set to 1.

[artc2]

When a drawing is inserted, its contents are cloned into the target drawing. Each object type has a flag that controls whether or not that object type can be cloned when it is a proxy. Based on what you describe as happening, it's likely that your proxies are objects with that flag set to not allow cloning, so they don't come in as part of the insert.

This is not something that you can change in your drawing - it must be changed in the application that implements that object type.

[HikeabikeSwimski]

Thanks, artc2. The person using Mechanical and I are trying to figure out how to allow cloning and not finding any information on this at the moment. Did I misunderstand you? Do you mean that Autodesk would have to make their weld symbols in such a way that cloning would be allowed? If I didn't misunderstand you, would you happen to have any information on how we can make some change that would allow cloning?

[cadffm · Accepted solution]

@artc2 "- it must be changed in the application that implements that object type. "

Yes, and because of this: Hello AutoDESK , do your homework well 😉

@HikeabikeSwimski 

I'm not the super dedicated and knowledgable AutoDESK employee artc2, but I still want to reply too.

>>"I are trying to figure out how to allow cloning and not finding any information on this at the moment."

 

>>"Did I misunderstand you? Do you mean that Autodesk would have to make their weld symbols in such a way that cloning would be allowed?"

 

RIGHT!

>>"If I didn't misunderstand you, would you happen to have any information on how we can make some change that would allow cloning?

You should read artc2 answer two time more:

>>"This is not something that you can change in your drawing - it must be changed in the application that implements that object type. "

Means: AutoDESK is the only one who can change it (in the future)!

Pendeans answer is the best for you: WHY are you mixing AutoCAD & Mechanical?

Mechanical drawing should edit by Mechanical software ONLY.

Or, if you don't want to use the full Mechanical power in the future, you can export

the drawing as simple AutoDESK drawing (by destroying the Mechanical components).

In Mechanical: SAVEAS 2018 DWG instead of Mechanical 2018 DWG.

That should know every mechanical user...

[pendean · Accepted solution]

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@HikeabikeSwimski wrote:

I checked with the person who made the weld symbols and I checked my own settings. For both of us both variables are set to 1.

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You all need to be using MECH, free for all AutoCAD subscribers https://www.autodesk.com/products/autocad/included-toolsets/autocad-mechanical 

Or is that your problem, you are not a subscriber(s)  and therefore hobbled into using only plain and older versions of AutoCAD? Then ask the MECH user to knock the file down to plain AutoCAD for your plain-AutoCAD users.

[HikeabikeSwimski]

Thanks @cadffm and @pendean. We will likely force everyone to use Mechanical, though I appreciate the option of not saving drawings as Mechanical files. I confess the whole thing seems odd to me. After all, I actually am using Mechanical - it says so at the top of my screen - I really thought the difference was just in the interface I interact with. That I can see the weld symbols when I open a drawing but they silently disappear (are gone) when inserting that drawing into another drawing strikes me as poor design.