Copying Viewports

[jodi_sherrell]

If you use Design Center to copy layouts from one drawing to another, does it bring the layer settings with it? I thought it did, but I'm trying it and it isn't working. I could've swore I've done it that way in the past.

For instance, we are trying to consolidate the number of sheets that we have in a set. So we are moving the RCPs and combining them with the Finish Plans. But instead of having to go in and manually re-freeze everything (or copy and paste viewports), I thought we could use the design center to bring in the viewports.

Any help would be appreciated.

[irneb]

You mean the VPFreeze for the Viewports? That it does yes, but only for the layer which exactly match those in the "template" file. And by that I mean XReffed layer names as well, e.g.:

Your "template has layers 1 & 2 (2's VPfrozen). But it also has xref A attached (which has its own layers 1 & 2). Thus you have layers A|1 and A|2 in your template as well - say A|2 is also VPFrozen.
In the drawing you have layers 1, 2 & 3. XRef B (with layers 1 & 2) --> gives layers B|1 & B|2. After the import layout - you end up with only layer 2 VPfrozen, because that's the only one matching exactly the template's settings.You could rename the xref inside the current drawing (not the file from which the xref is loaded). Each xref entity is seen as a block, which can be renamed just as any other block can. So you can thus rename the above example B to A, then do the import, and (if needed) rename the xref back to B.

If by consolidating, you mean you're moving layout files into a single file. Then you might be out of luck: the layout file may have those layers frozen or turned off in model space. In which case the only standard ACAD "command" which can help, is Layer States (Export & Import).

[jodi_sherrell]

No, the consolodating is to move an RCP plan to the same sheet as a Finish plan. So we have both plans on one page and save printing one page of paper. I think I understand what you're saying though. We will probably just stick with layer states in the future. Thanks for you help.

[irneb]

OK, in that case I think I know why this might happen: The original file may have used normal Freeze / Off (in model space) instead of VPFreeze for the viewport. Now you've got all the layers turned on for finishes as well as RCP - so both viewports show all the layers.

A trick might be to use Layer States. Create a layer state in both drawings before combining, and export both to a LAS file for later import (this so the state doesn't update as you add layers to the file). After bringing the RCP linework in, delete & re-import those states (one at a time), ensure the Turn off layers not found in Layer State is turned on before you restore the state for finishes.

Now go inside the VP for finishes, open the Layer Manager, sort by the ON column, select all layers turned off (hold down shift to select several at once). Change their VP Freeze to frozen. Do the same after sorting on the Freeze column. Close LayMan.

Exit the VP to Paper Space (type PS). Go to Lay States, restore the RCP state. Go into the VP for RCP and repeat as above. Then turn all layers ON and Thaw outside the viewports.