The first command in the menu list is the ‘XREF Management’ command. Clicking it will display the following dialog box:
Most XREF-related functions can be completed in this dialog box. Options are detailed in the next few paragraphs.
ArchiCAD 6.5 DXF/DWG Conversion Guide
View Mode Buttons
There ar e two buttons in the upper-left corner of the dialog box that contr ol how the list of attached XREF files is displayed. The one on the left will display all attached in the or der they were attached.
If you click the second button, it will display attached XREFs in a hierar chical tr ee structure. Since DWG files used as external references can also contain additional exter nal r eferences, nesting can occur . This simply means that certain files ar e nested into other files that ar e referenced from the ArchiCAD project file. This nesting can be quite complicated, r eaching down several levels.
Viewing external r eference files as a hierar chical file structur e lets you see which files refer to other externtal files, indicating what should load into the project when attaching an exter nal r eference file. If an attached file r efers to other files, a + sign will appear on
its left. Clicking the + sign r eveals the names of files refered to from this file. In the above example, you can see that the external reference file named ‘3D STUFF’ has one file r efered to from it named ‘MISC’. Knowing this, you will expect the content of MISC to also appear on your Floor Plan.
The next part of the dialog box is the list that contains the infor mation about the attached files. If you ar e in list mode you will see data about each file, including:
- Reference name: The name of the reference, usually the same as the name of the attached file.
- Status: The exact status of the file after each operation that affects it, such as ‘Loaded’, ‘Detached’, ‘Reloaded’, ‘Unloaded’ or ‘Bound.’
- Type: The type of external r eferencing, either ‘Attach’ or ‘Overlay.’
- Date: The date at which the first instance of the exter nal reference was attached.
- Insts (Instances): The number of instances of a certain external reference file attached to the Project. As with library objects, you can attach an external reference several times to a Project file and in various locations (layers, different floors etc.).
Attach
The command buttons r elated to XREF operations are located on the right side of the dialog box next to the list field. The first of these is the Attach button. Clicking it will display the Attach XREF dialog box.
ArchiCAD 6.5 DXF/DWG Conversion Guide
In the XREF Name ar ea, you can specify the name of the file to be attached:
- If you click the Browse button, a file selection dialog box will appear where you can select the DWG or DXF file to be attached as an exter nal r eference.
- Alternatively, you can select fr om the pop-up list of already attached files if you want to place another instance of the file in the Pr oject.
The Path field will always show the exact path to the selected file.
In the Reference Type section, you can choose between the
Attach and Overlay XREF attachment methods. The dif ference
between the two methods is how nested XREFs are handled.
Nesting occurs when you load an external r eference to a file that has exter nal r eferences loaded to other files. When you attach an exter nal r eference, all levels of nesting can be displayed in the Pr oject file. When you ‘overlay’ an external reference, nested XREFs from the referenced file will not be visible in the Project.
The following tables what happens when you attach/overlay DWG files that contain attached/overlaid XREFs.
XREF visible Nested XREF visible
(yes/no) (yes/no)
XREF attached,
nested XREF within YES YES
originally attached XREF attached,
nested XREF within YES N O
originally overlaid XREF overlaid,
nested XREF within YES YES
originally attached XREF overlaid,
nested XREF within YES N O
originally overlaid
Examples:
1. A DWG file named BASE.DWG that has an attached XREF named COMMON.DWG is attached to the ArchiCAD Pr oject. Both files will be visible on the Floor Plan.
2. A DWG file named BASE.DWG that has an overlaid XREF named COMMON.DWG is attached to the ArchiCAD Pr oject.
BASE.DWG will be visible on the Floor Plan but
COMMON.DWG will not be visible.
3. A DWG file named BASE.DWG that has an attached XREF named COMMON.DWG is overlaid to the ArchiCAD Pr oject. Both files will be visible on the Floor Plan.
4. A DWG file named BASE.DWG that has an overlaid XREF named COMMON.DWG is overlaid to the ArchiCAD Pr oject.
BASE.DWG will be visible on the Floor Plan but
COMMON.DWG will not be visible.
In the Parameters portion of the dialog box you can define
where and how you want the XREF to be placed on the ArchiCAD floor plan. You can specify coordinate and r otation values and scale factors.
ArchiCAD 6.5 DXF/DWG Conversion Guide
- Insertion point: In the X and Y field, you can enter the exact coordinates of the location of the lower left corner of the enclosing rectangle. Alternatively, you can check the ‘Specify On-Screen’ checkbox, in which case you enter these
coordinates by clicking on the floor plan.
- Scale Factors: You can specify a scale factor in both X and Y dir ections. You can also define them on the scr een.
- Rotation: You can define an angle by which the whole placed XREF will be rotated ar ound its insertion point. This too can be defined on the screen.
Note: if you checked any ‘Specify On-Screen’ checkboxes, the input pr ocess will happen the following way: If you specified X and Y coordinates, then the lower left corner is placed. If not, you can click the point on the Floor Plan that will become the insertion point.
If you specified scale factors, the XREF’s enclosing box will be scaled to its appropriate size. If not, you will be able to stretch the enclosing rectangle just as if you wer e stretching an Ar chiCAD object. It is possible to input or specify negative or positive values for scale factors. By specifying negative values you can achieve mirr oring effects.
If you specified a rotation angle, the XREF is r otated and then drawn. If not, you can r otate the enclosing rectangle until you input the value with a mouse click or coordinate input.
If you don’t check any of the above three checkboxes, the XREF will be immediately placed with the values specified in the dialog box. Clicking the Options button displays a simplified input/output dialog box containing options that apply to XREFs:
- Select configuration file: You can select the configuration file that will pr ocess the DXF/DWG file to be saved. For infor mation, please r efer to the ‘Open DXF/DWG document’ section earlier in this chapter . Clicking the Details button will take you to the Configuration File Details dialog box fr om where you can view and modify the content of the Configuration file.
- Translate one DXF/DWG Drawing Unit into: This field specifies the conversion ratio between one drawing unit in AutoCAD and the drawing unit within Ar chiCAD. Please r efer to the Drawing units section in this same chapter for mor e details and examples. The default value depends on your Pr eferences settings.
- Match colors to AutoCAD color table: Instructs the DXF/ DWG Add-On to match the colors of the resulting ArchiCAD file to the colors defined in AutoCAD’s color table. Please refer to the Color matching section later in this chapter for mor e details. By default, this setting is active.
- Use Defaults: Clicking this button will r estore any changed option to its default value.
Note: When you attach an exter nal r eference file to an ArchiCAD Pr oject, a layer will be cr eated for it. The resulting layer names will have the following format:
‘XREF_NAME | LAYER_NAME’.
Layer names of attached XREF files in the Layers list
For example, the PEN_56 layer of a DWG file that was attached to the project with the XREF name 3D_STUFF will become the layer 3D_STUFF|PEN_56.
Detach
The next command button in the XREF Management dialog box is the ‘Detach’ button. Clicking it will detach the XREF fr om the drawing, meaning that after closing the dialog box the detached XREF will be removed from the Project file. If you want to use it again you will have to attach it again. The ‘Status’ column will reflect this ‘detached’ state.
ArchiCAD 6.5 DXF/DWG Conversion Guide
Reload
When the DWG or DXF file used as an external r eference has been modified, and you want to have the latest changes appear in your ArchiCAD Pr oject file, you can do so by clicking the ‘Reload’ button. The program will load the whole file into ArchiCAD again and display this latest state. Also, if you unloaded an exter nal reference from the Project file, you can load it again with the Reload button. The status column of the dialog box will reflect this state.
Note: The reload process does not display an options dialog box to specify the input parameters. They are present in the database: the same data will be used as specified earlier with the Attach command.
Unload
Clicking this button will keep the selected external r eference file attached to the project file, but it will be unloaded fr om memory and its content will not appear on the Floor Plan. As opposed to “detaching,” which r emoves the file from the project and the XREF Management file list, the Unload command keeps it attached. Simply clicking the ‘Reload’ button will make it r eappear. You will see information about this in the ‘Status’ column of the dialog box.
Note: After you unload an XREF , a text will appear at the insertion point of the XREF notifying you of this fact. For example if you unload the XREF file ‘WALLS,’ the message ‘ Unloaded XREF “WALLS” ’ will appear on the Floor Plan in place of the XREF.
Bind
It is possible to take the content of the attached XREF file and make it become part of the project using the ‘Bind’ command. Clicking the Bind button will mer ge the content of the external reference to the Project and delete the external r eference to the file from the list.
Note: Binding will make all instances of the r eference file part of the Project. It is not possible to bind only one instance of the XREF file.
When you bind an XREF , the layer names of the XREF will r eflect the change, taking on following format:
Layer names of bound XREF files in the Layers list
For example, the PEN_5 layer of the XREF file with the name ‘WALLS’ was converted to layer WALLS|PEN_5 while it was attached. When it is bound to the pr oject file, its name is
automatically changed to W ALLS$36$PEN_5, with the number ‘36’ being a number in the list of layers.