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It is easy to repath using RefManager, but it is still a pain. If relative path or no path is used it is not much problem to relocate folders on the network, but AutoCAD has Full Path set as the default, so guess what is used most of the time.

 

Perhaps my friend Irneb's comments will be helpful?

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Biggest problem has been outside contractors not sending attachments, some of the drawings are from awhile back, I just hope the companies are around to get the files from.

 

Saw that happen lots of times when I worked for the dinosaur. One in particular stands out in memory. GC sent in a set of paper architecturals for a quote on the curtain wall, which he recieved and accepted, but sent back that this was a public works project and to hold off starting it till the funding was actually approved. That process took over a year, and in the mean time much revision had been done. To speed the process of requoting and all that, and to get it started more quickly, I had the project manager to get the drawings electronically. We quoted off what we recieved, sent it in, and got started. PM had a set of drawing printed for a meeting with the GC about 2 weeks into it all, and he pages through, gets this funny look on his face and says, "where's the rest of the building?" As far as we knew, there was no "rest of the building". Many phone calls, emails and one expensive round trip to the coast later, we discovered the problem. Or rather, problems...the intern that sent us the drawings did not know how to deal with all the xrefs, so he simply detached them. Further conversation with him revealed that the person above him had given him erroneous information and he had sent the wrong revision (about 3 revs ago, in fact) so little of what we had done so far was correct anyway. The PM from our company finally worked his way up to someone with half a brain, and got the drawings copied on to a CD. Well, most of them. I made a list of the missing xrefs, some of which I had to wait nearly 2 weeks for because the drafter that drew them didn't have sense enough to put them on the company network. They were on his laptop and he was on vacation. The stupid way they had done it all made it all the more maddening. Drawing "a" was the actual building. "B" was an enlarged elevation, which was an xref from "a", along with some section views that may or may not be xrefs from yet another drawing. "C" would be a collection of these enlarged elevations, all xrefd from wherever. And if that's not wierd enough for ya, drawing "D", which was the one included in the drawings that would get printed, was a sheet that had nothing but a titleblock, and drawing "C" in its entirety, xrefd into it. If one of the enlarged views was missing at say, the level of drawing "b", I would never know without going to each and every drawing to see what Autocad would tell me was missing. It was absolutely nuts.

 

Working on crap like this all the time, you guys wonder why I'm crazy?

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Perhaps my friend Irneb's comments will be helpful?

 

I would agree on why doesn't AutoCAD reset paths on Save As. Currently I feel Xrefs are lacking in this respect, that is why I feel that Binding them before sending or final save on the Network is the best option to prevent the loss of connectivity. I use Xrefs the same as Underlay, for referencing a drawing in the background to prevent switching back and forth between drawings, those I Detach when I am through. If I feel it needs to remain in the drawing I Bind.

 

So, back to the subject at hand, I feel it is bad form to Xref Titleblocks. Why not just Insert them as Blocks to begin with, it is simple enough to have them on Tool Palette or Design Center.

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Why not just Insert them as Blocks to begin with, it is simple enough to have them on Tool Palette or Design Center.

 

Why? Because years ago before I started xrefing them in the PM or the client would change their mind and want something changed or something else in the TB. I would rather open one file and be done than have to open a 100. My company has changed names a few times in 10 years and with one change 1000s of drawings are up to date. So it isn't bad form, just another way of doing things.

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Why? Because years ago before I started xrefing them in the PM or the client would change their mind and want something changed or something else in the TB. I would rather open one file and be done than have to open a 100. My company has changed names a few times in 10 years and with one change 1000s of drawings are up to date. So it isn't bad form, just another way of doing things.

 

You can update blocks just as quickly.

 

Why would you need to update the old title blocks? I have worked for companies, that have changed names several times, the SOP is to only use a new Titleblock if that project is restarted/updated, then new numbers, etc. are issued as if a new company has taken over the job/project.

 

I should rephrase that.. feel it is bad form in General to Xref Titleblocks. In companies where there is more control over paths and fewer hands on the DWG, I would agree Xref is a good way to go. Just too many companies with multiple employees sending out Xreffed Drawings without the associated files.

 

Not arguing with you, as stated, I love Xrefs, just the current way AutoCAD handles them is lacking. In the hands of amateurs (refer to Jack's post) they can create havoc. Hopefully I can get caught up on designing and drafting and get the libraries and network of drawings sorted, so that xrefs can be more useable here. :D

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You can update blocks just as quickly.

 

:D

Unfortunately it isn't as quick if you have 1000's of drawings that have to be up to date always. Eg an intranet with these drawings on them. If you only have a logo change 1 drawing changes thousands through the xref method. The thing that is hard is if the attribute changes, a lisp routine needs to be written to change the affected individual text in the .dwg. This means running it over hours possibly days. I have had a routine running for 2 days. Lots of drawings. Glad I could write the macro or it would have taken months and there would have been mistakes.

 

You are right that the xref method HAS to be well maintained but once you get it there it can work very well for you.

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You are right that the xref method HAS to be well maintained but once you get it there it can work very well for you.

 

I will get these drawings here under control, as well as any new drawings sent in by outside contractors, before being accepted. Then and only then will I have Xreffed titleblocks here.

 

I may have exaggerated the quickness of updating blocks, but it is still doable. Maybe I am just old school, but I still fail to see the reason for updated already issued drawings, they are to be revised going forward only, according to ISO standards for document control. Maybe I am just missing the reason for the need of updating 1000s of Xrefs or Blocks.

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This depends on where the files are viewed. Where I work any file can be viewed through the intranet and this can also be to customers. Looks more professional if the files are up to date and if it is possible to do easily, which now it is, why not.

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Unfortunately it isn't as quick if you have 1000's of drawings that have to be up to date always. Eg an intranet with these drawings on them. If you only have a logo change 1 drawing changes thousands through the xref method. The thing that is hard is if the attribute changes, a lisp routine needs to be written to change the affected individual text in the .dwg. This means running it over hours possibly days. I have had a routine running for 2 days. Lots of drawings. Glad I could write the macro or it would have taken months and there would have been mistakes.

 

You are right that the xref method HAS to be well maintained but once you get it there it can work very well for you.

 

If you have thousands of old drawings, why not just update them when you access them? Surely not ever single drawing in a library of thousands is accessed every day. You could just as easily have a script poised on a button to update the logo's and what have you when you need them. If nothing changes but the logo, seems to me that you are doing an awful lot of work for no reason.

 

If your boss said do it, then by all means do so, but there is nothing to be gained by it until they are needed, unless you need busy work for interns and trainees.

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If you have thousands of old drawings' date=' why not just update them when you access them? Surely not ever single drawing in a library of thousands is accessed every day. You could just as easily have a script poised on a button to update the logo's and what have you when you need them. If nothing changes but the logo, seems to me that you are doing an awful lot of work for no reason.

 

If your boss said do it, then by all means do so, but there is nothing to be gained by it until they are needed, unless you need busy work for interns and trainees.[/quote']

As all the drawings are on the intranet and I don't know which ones are going to be looked at effectively it is better to do all of them. 10's to 100's of the drawings would be looked at everyday by lots of people.

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As all the drawings are on the intranet and I don't know which ones are going to be looked at effectively it is better to do all of them. 10's to 100's of the drawings would be looked at everyday by lots of people.

 

I assume then you are using these as production documents on a shop floor or something similar? Simply having the old company logo would not invalidate the information contained in them. If your workers are using monitors to look at them instead of paper copies, they are most likely going to be zoomed up on the information they need, not the company logo. Everybody does it different, but it just seems like a tremendous amount of work for virtually no return. In a library that large, you probably have a surprisingly large number of drawings that haven't been used in years, and may never be. Updating those would be, for lack of a better term...pointless. I'm not trying to be insulting, please don't take it that way, but most of the places I've worked for would vapor lock over a project like this. Spending hours upon hours to make old files aesthetically pleasing? Never happen.

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Not if it is xref'd - easy and remember customers can see their drawings

Also doing lisp routines can make the change over easier, but it depends on what you are doing. As you say you are not worried so why change what you don't need to.

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Not if it is xref'd - easy and remember customers can see their drawings

Also doing lisp routines can make the change over easier, but it depends on what you are doing. As you say you are not worried so why change what you don't need to.

 

True enough. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and fix something to change over to a different way of doing it too.

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Sheet Set Manager, when used properly, can be even better than utilizing titleblocks in a XREF fashion. Especially the extras, like Callouts and other referenced details that stay perfectly maintained. But that's for much bigger projects.

 

If you can have all your titleblocks in one file using only multiple PSPACE Layouts, then use an actual Block and put it on a locked layer. Use the 'CTAB' Field for for your Layout names to automate things. Leave certain sheet specific information left out of the block, like a Revision Block, Drawn By, and Sheet Name, things of that nature. That way when something in the titleblock changes, such as the address or something, once you edit the block it updates across all layout tabs.

 

Just all depends on your own use of AutoCAD is.

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