LAYERS ARE FROZEN

[Anonymous]

HI!

I AM HAVING A ISSUE WHERE I START A NEW FILE WITH OUR STANDARD TEMPLATE AND WHEN I REFERENCE, INSERT A BLOCK THE LAYERS THOSE REFERENCES AND BLOCKS ARE ON COME INTO THE DRAWING FROZEN, FROZEN IN THE VIEWPORT, ETC. I HAVE TROUBLE SHOOTED EVERYTHING I COULD THINK OF TO FIX IT, BUT NO LUCK.

ANY ADVICE WOULD EXTREMELY HELPFUL.

THANKS,

MIKE

[pendean]

VISRETAIN command in the top file handles what happens to XREF layers.
Your viewports can also have their own layer settings separate from modelspace layer settings and that could be why viewport layers you want are frozen: whomever designed your template file set it up as such.

[Anonymous]

Its not VISRETAIN.

Michael Stewart | Engineering Technician
________________________________
AHBL, Inc. TACOMA * SEATTLE * SPOKANE * TRI-CITIES
253.383.2422 TEL | 253.383.2572 FAX | www.ahbl.comWEB
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[gccdaemon]

If you're using layer states, in the layer state manager try unchecking the box that says "Turn off layers not found in layer state".

[Anonymous]

I use a layer state only when I receive a TOPO drawing. would this effect other files that that do not have that specific layer state? I would think not. But I will try that.

Thanks,

Michael Stewart | Engineering Technician
________________________________
AHBL, Inc. TACOMA * SEATTLE * SPOKANE * TRI-CITIES
253.383.2422 TEL | 253.383.2572 FAX | www.ahbl.comWEB
Civil Engineers * Structural Engineers * Landscape Architects * Community Planners * Land Surveyors * Neighbors
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: The information contained in this email and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential or privileged information intended only for the use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient, please permanently delete the original message and all attachments and notify the sender immediately.
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[doni49]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

HI!

I AM HAVING A ISSUE WHERE I START A NEW FILE WITH OUR STANDARD TEMPLATE AND WHEN I REFERENCE, INSERT A BLOCK THE LAYERS THOSE REFERENCES AND BLOCKS ARE ON COME INTO THE DRAWING FROZEN, FROZEN IN THE VIEWPORT, ETC. I HAVE TROUBLE SHOOTED EVERYTHING I COULD THINK OF TO FIX IT, BUT NO LUCK.

ANY ADVICE WOULD EXTREMELY HELPFUL.

THANKS,

MIKE

---

There seems to be a little bit of confusion here. 

1. When you insert a block or attach a reference (aka XREF), the block/xref instance is placed on the ACTIVE/CURRENT LAYER.  They're not on a layer that "comes in" with the block/xref.
2. The only layers that get added are layers that are defined within the block but not currently in the active drawing file.
3. If there are layers already defined in the file that the block also happens to be using, the layer(s) will not change -- those elements within the block that are on those layers will appear based on the existing layer definition.
1. If "Layer1" already exists in the file and is set to GREEN/Continuous and you insert a block that has elements on "Layer1" but the block definition says Layer1 is Red/Hidden, those elements (if they're set to bylayer) will appear as Green/Continuous in this file.
4. When you attach an XREF, it doesn't actually "add" layers to the active drawing (although it will LOOK like it has). The layers that are in the xref will show up in the layer list as "XREFNAME|Layername".  You will not be able to put anything on any of these layers.
5. VISRETAIN is a system variable that effects how XREF layers are processed the next time you open the dwg file.  If VISRETAIN is on, then any changes you made to the XREF layers (freezing/colors etc) during your last session will still be reflected now.  But if VISRETAIN is OFF, then the XREF layers will be shown the same as they are within the actual XREF'd file.

[Anonymous]

YES, I understand the fundamentals of layers in BLOCKS and XREFS. This is a strange problem with no easy solution. I never seen this before in my 15 years of experience. Say I want to steal a detail from a previous project and use it on a completely different project. If I copy the detail using a COPY WITH BASE POINT and insert the data I copied into a file that has NO LAYERS with the same names they will be turned off. This is recently that this has become a issue. I can fix it by turn on, thawing, etc. But I feel that should be the case. I should be able to copy and paste without worrying about thawing or turning on layers. I failed to mention that this happens in PAPERSPACE ONLY.

Thanks,

Michael Stewart | Engineering Technician
________________________________
AHBL, Inc. TACOMA * SEATTLE * SPOKANE * TRI-CITIES
253.383.2422 TEL | 253.383.2572 FAX | www.ahbl.comWEB
Civil Engineers * Structural Engineers * Landscape Architects * Community Planners * Land Surveyors * Neighbors
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE: The information contained in this email and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential or privileged information intended only for the use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient, please permanently delete the original message and all attachments and notify the sender immediately.
> Please consider the environment before printing this email.

[Hidden_Brain]

This sure sounds strange, the way I understood it is:

1. copy-pasting from another drawing makes the layers turn off

2. xref-fing the drawing brings the layers in turned off

3. inserting the drawing (as a block) brings the layers in turned off

If you have already tried a purge-audit, maybe give dgnpurge a shot (http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/downloads/caas/downloads/content/autocad-C2-AE-dgn-hot... Not saying that will fix it, but I have experienced strange behavior with my drawings in the recent past that were fixed by dgnpurge.