Attaching drawings and preserving ps viewports

[philco]

Hello,

I open my AutoCAD Map 3d 2006, and what comes up is Drawing 1 (the default). Then I do the following:

Go to "Map Express" bar (on the right)
"attach" an existing drawing
Invoke the "current query" folder
Choose the "draw" button
And finally select "execute query"

I get the complete drawing in model space.

However, if the attached drawing has any paper space viewports, they do not come across. I have tried turning on the viewport, but still nothing comes across from the attached drawing.

Are the viewports not there, or is there some setting under the Map Express - attach - current query routine that I need to do?

Thank you.
Phil

[David Bethel]

As far as I know, you still cannot bring in paperspace viewports via an insert or xref. You would need to make and use a template file. -David

[rustysilo]

You can drag ps layouts into your .dwg using Design Center. Open DC (ctrl-2) and in the left pane go to the .dwg that has the layouts you want. Expand it by clicking the plus sign and you'll see Blocks, Dimstyles, Layers, Layouts, Linetypes, Tablestyles, Textstyles, and Xrefs. Click on the desired section and then you'll see a list in the right pane of all items in that section. You can get the item(s) into your .dwg in one of 3 ways; double-click, right-click > add, or simply drop and drag into your .dwg area.

You're welcome in advance.

[philco]

Thank you rustysilo.
Philco

[Alan Cullen]

Why do it that way? Why not just open the drawing? Or am I missing something here?

[philco]

Hello,
Thanks so much for your help on the above topics.

In Autodesk Map 3D 2006:

We work in model space and then plot in paper space.

I have two layout tabs, one for paper and one for mylar. Each has the same border and title block and a viewport fitted inside the border. This is because we have 2 plotters, one for paper copies and then, when all the drafting and editing is done to the drawing, we plot to the mylar plotter on the mylar layout tab. Each tab has been pre-set for the respective plotter (so, all you have to do is run the plot command and press the enter key, and it plots to the desired plotter).

Some objects are drawn in paper space in the paper tab. Is there any way to make those objects automatically update in the mylar tab? The only way I can do it is to copyclip from the paper tab and then paste in the mylar tab.
Any help would be appreciated.
Sincerely, Philco

[rustysilo]

Are you making changes to a border/title block? If so I would recommend saving your border/title block as a separate .dwg file and then xref it into your paperspace layout. After attaching it once you will need to copy it to the second layout, but then when you need to make changes to your border/title block you do it in the other .dwg file and both layouts will update when you reload the xref.

This is how our template file(s) are set up. The border (the part which doesn't change) is its own .dwg file and we attach it to the template file(s) as an xref. You won't want your actual title block (text within your border) to be a part of this file as the text will vary between drawings.

Otherwise, if you don't like using an xref then you are stuck with copy/paste when you make these changes. I guess an alternative would be to create a block out of it and when you make changes to the block it will prompt you to change all instances of the block and you could say 'yes'.

[philco]

Thank you Rustysilo.

I will try the xref routine and see if it helps.

I can also load up the template with objects--in both tabs--that do not change from drawing to drawing.

One other thing I am thinking about: is it possible to draw something in one layout tab (in paper space) and have that object automatically be drawn in the other layout tab (also in paper space)? I tried drawing a simple object (a line) in the first layout, and then went to the other layout and it wasn't drawn there (I had a current layer on in both layouts).

Thanks again.
Sincerely,
Philco

[rustysilo]

No. If you want it to show up in both layouts you will have to draw it in model space and create a viewport in each of the respective layouts.
What exactly are you trying to accomplish?

[philco]

Hello Rustysilo, and thanks for your interest and help.

We are a land surveying company and we collect data points in the field, download them to AutoCAD and draw lines and other objects, all in model space. Everything, that is, except for certain text, title block with text and the border which we draw in paper space.

I have our drawing template set up with 2 layouts, one for paper, one for mylar. Each tab has the same elements that never change for all our drawing projects, and each has a viewport fitted to the inside edge of the border. After we settle on the desired scale of the drawing, we prepare the model for plotting (adding text, symbols, lines, and other objects).

Then we go to the paper layout tab and plot it. When the many edits have been done, the drawing is ready for mylar, so we go to the mylar tab to plot it on that medium (different plotter, all the plot settings are worked out in the template so we can just plot it), with the important point that the mylar tab has to have the exact same stuff as the paper tab.

Problem: how can I automatically update the mylar tab as I work in the paper tab? What we do now is copyclip and paste, but I would like to automate this process a little more.
Thank you.
Phil