is there a way to turn xrefs into blocks?

[timsea81]

I'm working on trying to shrink the file size on a drawing and I'm curious about something. I have a bunch of different xrefs, and in each case only a few things from the xref are showing up on the plot sheet. Is there a way to automatically convert only the visible layers from an xref into the drawing as a block? That way you could not only purge the file size down but also send files in a 'locked' position (no chance of anyone turning on a layer in the xref that should be left off).

[H-Angus]

I'm working on trying to shrink the file size on a drawing and I'm curious about something. I have a bunch of different xrefs, and in each case only a few things from the xref are showing up on the plot sheet. Is there a way to automatically convert only the visible layers from an xref into the drawing as a block? That way you could not only purge the file size down but also send files in a 'locked' position (no chance of anyone turning on a layer in the xref that should be left off).

Not really, besides you would lose the ability for the xref to automatically update when any changes occur.

One thing you can do is to seperate the xref into more than one file, so for example if your xref was a site plan and in your description above you just wanted the drainage to be shown, you could put the drainage in it's own file and xref it into the site plan and into the file in question above. If that makes sense?

You could also look at using dwf's to send to people if you are concerned about the recipient editing the orginal drawing.

[timsea81]

Not really, besides you would lose the ability for the xref to automatically update when any changes occur.

One thing you can do is to seperate the xref into more than one file, so for example if your xref was a site plan and in your description above you just wanted the drainage to be shown, you could put the drainage in it's own file and xref it into the site plan and into the file in question above. If that makes sense?

You could also look at using dwf's to send to people if you are concerned about the recipient editing the orginal drawing.

Yeah, I thought of that, I could use layer states to set everything up as it is in the plot sheet, then copy just what is shown to a new drawing that I use as a block in place of the xref, but there are a lot of xrefs to do that on and it comes up pretty frequently so I was wondering if there was a quicker way, maybe a LISP. Thanks for the response.

[david_peterson]

You can always copy and paste as block.
Or you can bind as an insert to remove the prefix from the layer names and combine with the layers in said current drawing. Or bind as a bind and you'll be able to have control over the block. If you bind as a bind you will be able to keep anything that's frozen or turned off, frozen and turned off.
However, I don't think you'll really reduce much file size since you haven't gotten rid of much data. I'd just try to run a purge script and remove all the junk.
If you want to keep file size down, you want to use the x-refs so you can work faster when modeling by simply unloading the x-ref.
The way I've seen bigger projects go with AMEP is to split the plumbing, mechanical (HVAC), Mechanical Piping, electrical..... into different files. They also split those in to different files by plan Area. While you end up with a ton of flies, thats the great thing about PN. It organizes it for you. More files with less data equals faster production when you get used to doing things that way.

[RobertB]

I have a bunch of different xrefs, and in each case only a few things from the xref are showing up on the plot sheet. Is there a way to automatically convert only the visible layers from an xref into the drawing as a block?

Isn't this what partial loading does? Loads only the objects on layers specified?

[david_peterson]

Isn't this what partial loading does? Loads only the objects on layers specified?

Yep it does, but I think you have to select them individual every time you partially open don't you? Hence the solution works, but I'm not sure how practical it is if you have set it up every time. Might be quicker to just wait for it to open.
Or is there a way to set it up so that it automatically only loads those layers that are turned on. I'm thinking some type of VBA or something. I don't program so I'm not sure if this is even possible.
Any Ideas?

[timsea81]

'Bind' is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.

[RobertB]

'Bind' is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.

Bind is a terrible idea on a live project. Usually there is a reason XRefs are used. Work done in one drawing will need to update another drawing. Binding the XRef forces you to update the same thing twice, or more.

[timsea81]

Bind is a terrible idea on a live project. Usually there is a reason XRefs are used. Work done in one drawing will need to update another drawing. Binding the XRef forces you to update the same thing twice, or more.

I'm looking for a way to strip down a drawing to send it to an outside party, not an alternative to xreffing in house.

[RobertB]

I'm looking for a way to strip down a drawing to send it to an outside party, not an alternative to xreffing in house.

Whew! (You did not mention this fact in your prior posts.)