XREF blocking a drawing

[douglas.shortCM2W5]

I'd never had this happen to me and I've spent 3 hours trying to figure it out:

The XREF I attached came into my drawing and covered the drawing.

Who knew there were layers--like layer properties, and layouts, and now some kind of Adobe Photoshop kind of layers where an xref can actually appear in front of a drawing.

But unlike Photoshop, you can just shift things around easily.  Nope.  this is autodesk and you have to search for the hidden menus.  I'm convinced these programmers played far too much Zelda as kids--they love to hide things!

Anyway, if you find your xref is blocking your drawing, don't despair, don't try and answer (you won't find it--tried for hours!)  Just do this:

Highlight the bounding box around the xref.

Right click.

This will bring up a secret menu of options about your xref.

Highlight the Draw Order name on the list and you will get another menu:  Bring to Front, Send to Back, Bring Above Objects, Send Under Objects.

Click on SEND TO BACK.

This SHOULD send your xref to the "back" and make your drawing appear.

[ennujozlagam]

@douglas.shortCM2W5 hello, you can also adjust the transparency of your xref dwg by adjusting the value of XDWGFADECTL. Thanks

[serkancavuslar]

XDWGFADECTL

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>>Highlight the bounding box around the xref.

>> Right click.

>> This will bring up a secret menu

Selecting an object, then right-click to get information's about the selected object as well as functionality what you can do now with the object is not a secret, that is working with almost every software which is using a mouse with more than one button.

E.g. start Windows Explorer and right-click a file ==> was that context menu a secret?

- alfred -

PS: sorry for my sarcasm, but I read now some of your posts from the last days ..., I could not resist.

[3wood]

You just need to member the command name "DRAWORDER" and type in the command line.

[Anonymous]

Right-click menus haven't been a secret for well over a decade, maybe two.

[douglas.shortCM2W5]

I wish this worked.  

I followed your suggested steps, and still, the lines are "behind the xref.   I have to mark the corner with a line, move the ref to see what I've drawn.  OR, when I pass the cursor over the lines I've drawn, they "appear" then when I move my cursor, they disappear again.

Isn't there any incentive for AutoCAD to do better?

[Kent1Cooper]

---

@douglas.shortCM2W5 wrote:

....  I followed your suggested steps, and still, the lines are "behind the xref.   ....

---

Since this is in reply to yourself [and after more than 3 years], whose suggested steps do you mean?  Is it the XDWGFADECTL approach?  [The DRAWORDER approach was just the formal command name that gets what you suggested yourself via right-click menu, so I assume it's not about that.]

Can you post a drawing and the Xref'd drawing that goes into it, with this problem?

[douglas.shortCM2W5]

I tried to drag pdf to the window to illustrate the issue, but I get ERROR CODE:  INVALID FILE TYPE.

You can't even take pdf files?

This is why AutoCAD is awful.  The SIMPLEST things are always a problem.  Always.

[douglas.shortCM2W5]

 

The first drawing shows the lines hidden by the xref.  Some lines are showing, some are not.  The second drawing reveals all the lines drawn.  

There is no rhyme or reason as to why some lines hide behind the xref.  I've drawn the lines in the same sitting.  Sometimes, some lines just disappear from the work space.

As you can imagine, it's highly frustrating and waste of time.

[Kent1Cooper]

You posted some images, but didn't either answer my questions or post any drawing files.

[tboehler]

"You can't even take pdf files?"   What do you mean?

Can you post your files? 

[cadffm]

@douglas.shortCM2W5 

1. You wrote about XRefs and all helpers thought your talk about DWG files.

    XREF = DWG (only DWG)

    PDF = PDF UNDERLAY (same for DWF or DGN, DWF-underlay, DGN-underlay)

    IMAGE = Raster Image

    Yes, all types are listed in your External Reference Palette and you can open the palette with command XREF,

    but a good wording about these different things - see the my 1.)

2. The only fitting answer for PDF is the hint about about DRAWORDER,

    but this command can't help if new lines are covered by your PDF,

    also, DRAWORDERCTL and SORTENTS is not the point for your case.

3. I guess you have a problem with the graphic part.

   Please check you settings and try another one.

   Command: GRAPHICSCONFIG

   Is Hardware acceleration set to ON ? Test the issue with ON and OFF.

    Test it only in MODEL tab please (easier, for the first step)

4. Make sure your product is up to date, what is your Productname and Productversion?

    Command: ABOUT

[3wood]

If your task is to trace over a pdf file in AutoCAD, my suggestion is:

1. Use "Snipping Tool" in Windows to take a screenshot and save it as a jpg file.

2. Import the jpg file in AutoCAD and use DRAWORDER command to send it to back as the background.

3. Scale it to proper size.

3. Use command IMAGEADJUST to change its "Fade" to around 70.

4. Then trace over it.

The reason to use image file instead of pdf file as the trace-over background is that you can adjust the "Fade" so it becomes dark and you can see clearly when you trace over it.

I hope AutoCAD can provide same options for pdf files so people can adjust the "fade" of it as well in the future version.