Layer issues and a question about blocks

[ammobake]

So question 1 - is there a command that will give you the full path for an existing block in your drawing?

 

Now on to the main issue...

I have a drawing that I'm working on for a client.  I technically can't share it or I would.
BUT basically I have a 10 page drawing set (AutoCAD 2019).   I am using sheet set manager.

 

To create the sheets I copied cad files from another project that already use the same titleblock.

After working on the drawings and getting everything set up, I now need to purge out any unused layers to remove them per the client specifications.

 

 the titleblock appears to have around 30 layers that I cannot purge and there is no data associated with the layers at all.  There is nothing nested in the titleblock and no other blocks.

everything is on, nothing is frozen, etc..

 

The same titleblock is used for all 10 pages, so basically every drawing in the set has 30 layers that I can't purge.

Even with zero objects in model space, no orphaned data, no frozen/off layers, no xref's or other blocks - those layers will persist somehow from within the titleblock.

 

If I go back to one of the original drawings that I copied from, I can go into the same titleblock in block editor and those layers are somehow not present.

 

Hence, question 1.  I was wanting to see if the paths differed in any way between the 2 titeblocks.

The paths should be identical since I literally took a copy of that same file.  The blocks have the same name in both drawings.  But one has the 30 layers I can't purge, the other one only has the 4 or 5 layers I should be seeing.

 

So I was wondering if anyone else had any ideas.

 

The only thing I can think of would be to wblock out the titleblock from within my drawing.  From there I should be able to open that as a separate DWG in cad and purge out any unused layers.  I could then save the block over the old one.

 

Many of these problem layers are used in an X01 drawing that is XREF'd in to 2 of the 10 drawings.

But they are layers that I manually created in that separate X01 drawing.  So they shouldn't be associated with the titleblock in any way.

 

The X01 drawing is in a separate XREF folder - not associated with the sheet set in any way other than being XREF'd in.

But the layers are on every DWG in the set - not just the ones XREF'ing in the X01.

 

ChriS

 

 

 

[ammobake]

So something I just noticed..

I assumed the layers were associated with the titleblock but it appears if I delete the titleblock those 30 layers persist.

 

If I take a copy of one of these drawings, delete everything (including the titleblock) , purge everything out that I can, the layers remain even though there are no objects in the drawing.

 

Could this be something I'm missing with the sheet set manager?

 

Short of a different solution, I might just need to paste everything into a fresh drawing and overwrite the existing.

The sheet set manager does have a link to the file with the titleblock and I've confirmed it is correct.

I was able to figure out which DWG was being used as the titleblock and it has 2 layers.  So that part is correct.

 

ChriS

 

[SLW210]

How are you purging the drawing? What does qselect show for objects in the drawing?

[ammobake]

qselect in model space results in a window saying "no objects in current drawing"

qselect in paper space is acting like something is there.  But with qselect operator set to "select all" it sais 0 objects selected.

 

I have 2 methods that I use to purge and always do both.

1 - select, enter, all, enter, purge, enter, all, enter.

2 - purge command window to "purge all" multiple times until everything is purged out.

 

In this case the purge command window shows no objects that I can purge from model space or paper space.

But it's acting like something is in paperspace.

 

All layers on, nothing locked or frozen.

 

ChriS

[ammobake]

Also..

If I use purge command in paperspace it sais there are no objects I can purge.

If I go to paperspace and type in select, enter, all, enter...

It is saying there is 1 paperspace viewport.

But there clearly is no viewport there.

 

If I delete the tab completely and create a new one, it will create 1 viewport by default.

But it sais there are 2 viewports present...

 

ChriS

[dtkell]

Usually phantom objects are zero length lines or null text entities.
Use "-purge" command to remove them.

[ammobake]

The entity in paperspace is apparently a phantom viewport that autocad will not allow me to purge or delete.

If I select all through the command line, it sais 1 object selected (paperspace viewport) but you can't delete it or otherwise purge it.

 

I've fixed this for now though.
I basically just created new sheets, pasted everything into model space and paperspace from the existing files.  I then overwrote the old files.

 

Sheet set manager relabeled and renumbered everything for me automatically through the fields.

A few items required me to specify the new field value, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

 

Those 30 layers that kept showing up are no longer there.

The phantom viewport is no longer there either.

 

HOWEVER, I did save a copy of this weird file with all the stuff deleted and/or purged out to the extent possible. (SEE ATTACHED)

those layers still show up.

 

ChriS

TEST.dwg

[SLW210]

Just some type of strange phenomenon for the Viewport. LayDel removed all but 0, I also got rid of a bunch of regapps. The strange un-selectable Viewport remains, though. 

TEST Cleaned.dwg

[Cad64]

My solution for issues like this is to simply WBlock out to a new file. I receive bloated drawings all the time, full of garbage and with enormous file sizes. WBlock cleans the file and removes all the useless garbage that's bloating the drawing.

 

In order to clean the file, you need to make sure you're in model space with your UCS set to World, then run WBlock and choose the "Entire Drawing" option. I just did this on your file and it removed all those unpurgeable layers and reduced the file size down to 110kb.

[ammobake]

Cool!  last week I took the long way around and cleaned up the drawings by creating new ones that didn't have the wierd phantom viewport and layers.  It actually didn't take as long as I thought it would.  Kind of like a manual version of your wblock method I guess.

On a related note though, I've moved from Anchorage back to Fairbanks to work for a different company.  LOL.  So this particular project is officially someone else's problem.

 

I'm writing this from a small laptop (without Autocad) in a conference room while I wait for my new office lol.

but i have brand new computer, monitors, plotter, and host of other stuff on their way.  Next few years gonna be wild and crazy boyz!

 

ChriS