Viewport layers freezing upon opening drawing created with Sheet Set Manager

[brentcole3410]

Need a solution.  And before anyone jumps to conclusions, VISRETAIN is set to 1.  We are having a problem and I think we may have isolated the issue but I cannot completely resolve it.  When we open drawings containing views and viewports created with Sheet Set Manager, it freezes layers within the viewport.  Some freezes layer 0, drawing layers and xref layers of the viewport layer state.

I've seen multiple hits on the internet with this problem but no solutions.  Below is one reference:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-2010-2011-2012/sheet-set-views-freezes-viewport-layers-on-inse...

We are running an xref layer name and lock all xrefs lisp routine in our AutoCAD startup.  I have found that if I disable this lisp and open these problem drawings the layers do not get frozen within the viewports.  I am curious if others that have had this problem were running a similar lisp.

Our work flow for creating these drawings containing this issue are as follows:

1. Create a new Sheet Set.
2. Link DWT template for drawing creation.
3. Map models folders, etc.
4. Start new sheet.
5. Drag and drop model views from xrefs into new sheet.
6. Save & close.
7. Open new drawing through sheet set manager or through AutoCAD open command.
8. Once drawing opens the border, viewport and objects within viewport appear for a second then dissappear.
9. If we manually thaw and correct all layer states within the viewport then save, close and reopen everything works fine there after.

Manually creating drawings without sheet set manager by choosing a new template, manually creating viewports, manually attaching xref's, manually setting viewport properties, saving & reopening works fine.

Another difference I noticed was that sheet set manager work flow seems to create numerous layer states.  Manual work flow does not create these.

Also, in the layer state manager dialog box there are two check box settings for "Restore Options"; "Turn off layers not found in layer state" and "Apply properties as viewport overrides".

• Viewports are locked
• Running AutoCAD Mechanical 2016 SP1

[john.vellek]

Hi brentcole88,

This is a perplexing issue. I have not tried this scenario before but I was wondering if the problem still happens if your sheet set does not reference a template file (just comes up empty)? My thought is that the views are breaking the layer conditions in some manner and if there are no-predefined ones it would be interesting to see if it still breaks.

Another question I have in my head is whether this is specific to AutoCAD Mechanical. I am happy to try and work through this with you but would like you to attach some files to work from. If you prefer, we can move your post now to the Mechanical forum in case that might get better responses.

Let me know how you would like to proceed. My process will be to strip everything down and rebuild it piece by piece until we can determine where something fails.

[brentcole3410]

We are not actually running Mechanical, just running customized Vanilla AutoCAD profiles.  We purchased Mechanical over Vanilla AutoCAD a long time ago because for some reason it was cheaper.  "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2016\acad.exe" /nologo /p Levingston /t "L:\Autocad\2016\Templates\acad.dwt"

The current models we are working with are huge.  I will strip something down, reproduce problem and try to upload today or ASAP.

Thank you

[john.vellek]

Thanks brentcole88!

I look forward to working to resolve your problem.

[dbroad]

@brentcole3410

If you are using the sheet set features, you should definitely NOT use that LISP program.  The sheet set manager manipulates the layers for the views and needs to be able to vpfreeze and vpthaw layers when multiple model views are added from different drawings.  By messing with the layers, you are conflicting with that process.  Working from memory here, but the sheet set manager already puts each xref on its own xref specfic layer so that layer 0 objects can be managed properly.

[brentcole3410]

I recreated a smaller sample model.  I tried what you recommended with a blank acad.dwt template and it seemed to work properly.  I do not quite understand why because our templates were originally generated from a slightly customized acad.dwt.  The only physical difference I see is our template has objects and layers.

I zipped and attached a sample sheet set with sheets, views and models.

[brentcole3410]

We kind of need to run this lisp routine.  In the past we have had issues with users accidentally moving xref's and affecting our end product.

[john.vellek · Accepted solution]

HI @brentcole3410,

Without opening your files, I suggest the next step is to continue with the empty template and start adding properties one at a time and verify that everything works properly at each increment.

I agree with @dbroad that this LSP file can not be helping things. It really does hijack the process away from the sheet set which is not good.

There is no easy solution to preventing users from moving things around. Instruction, policies, and procedures are usually the best in my opinion.

Please post your results as you build up your template so other users can benefit.

I will take a look at your files but I think regardless of my findings, that you will need to proceed with the above process as well.

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if my post fully solves your issue or answers your question.

[dbroad]

Consider the parts of the lisp file that help and discard the rest.  Layer manipulation with the sheetsetmanager is a non starter.  Path manipulation is unnecessary and dangerous as well.  The sheet set manager is managing this.

[JustOpie]

I'm trying to figure out what layer manipulation the SSM is actually doing after the view is placed. Once the view is placed on the layout, the view is not updated if changed in the source drawing. Moving the XREF object to a different layer, should not affect anything the SSM would do with the layers from the XREF. However, I can see how renaming the XREF's reference name may affect the system.

[dbroad]

Unless you are very skilled at the intracacies of AutoCAD, you wouldn't even know where to look.  SSM viewport freezes all the layers that are not part of the placed view.  Each viewport has unique layer settings.  When you change the layer the xref is on, you are effectively moving the xref to a vpfrozen layer.  Just take my word for it.  Can the LISP.  You already understand that the problem doesn't occur without your lisp running.