Topic: X Ref Pathing options

[jonesy]

Just a general enquiry really

Which method do you select when attaching/overlaying your xrefs, and why do you use that method.

[Chuck Gabriel]

If I know I'm going to be relocating a project, I'll convert to relative paths, but I use full paths by default.

[Rob...]

Full path only because it is company standard.

[dustinthiesse]

I wish I could get through to people that relative paths are the way to go for us, but they just can't seem to get it right.
We have this bad habit of renaming folders throughout a project to correspond with the current submittal (35%, 65%, 99%, etc...).  Which is all well and good if people would use relative path when attaching their xrefs.  It's not too difficult to repath, but sometimes the number of drawings is just huge.  It's gotten so bad that I've written a lisp routine to automatically repath (it assumes certain things based on our folder structure).

My vote is for relative though.  Another good reason is if you're going to be sharing drawings with clients, you won't have to bind the xrefs as long as you send them the whole folder structure.

[jonesy]

We use full paths, but I'm beginning to wonder how wise that choice is.

The past 2 jobs I have worked on have either had their folder moved/changed or their structure amended, and this seems to be causing headaches for us cad people.

[ronjonp]

I use a mix of methods...if the xref is located in the same folder as the parent..then I use no path...if it's outside of the folder I use full.

[MP]

Full path only because it is company standard.

best answer so far

[Lin-Z]

We're trying to use all relative pathing from now on, but there are a whole lot of older projects that we end up creating Porject Search Paths for just because it's easier than updating all of the refs.  The Ref Manager is a wonderful invention, but we still save down to 2004 so it's virtually useless   

[T.Willey]

Now we use no path, as all our drawings are named in such a way that we can, and all our drawings are within one folder.  Before it was relative, which seemed to work for the most part, but our consultants can't get it right either way we go.

[Crank]

I also voted for 'no path'. Our EPD-program creates a random named folder for the document (drawing). If this document has referenced documents a 'copyout' (xref) of that reference document is placed in the same folder as the main document (drawing). This xref is not the real document, but only a copy of it.
When you 'checkin' the document (drawing) the folder with the copy of the xref is deleted again.

[SPDCad]

I use the relative path in conjunction with the 'Projectpath' system variable.
Works great for me.

I have a bug ridden lisp written to make the 'Projectpath' variable easier to setup and change when needed.

PROJECTNAME
 Type: String
Saved in: Drawing
Initial value: ""

Assigns a project name to the current drawing.

Used when an xref, image, or DWF underlay file is not found in its original path. The project name points to a section in the registry that can contain one or more search paths for each project name defined. Project names and their search directories are created from the Files tab of the Options dialog box.

Project names make it easier for users to manage xrefs, images, and DWF underlay when drawings are exchanged between customers, or if users have different drive mappings to the same location on a server.

If the xref, image, or DWF underlay file is not found at the original path, the project paths associated with the project name are searched. If the xref, image, or DWF underlay file is not found there, the AutoCAD search path is searched.

Taken from AutoCaD help file.

A good article on the Projactname variable and how it work can be found at the following link....
http://management.cadalyst.com/cadman/Column:++Learning+Curve/Who-Knew-about-AutoCAD-Projects-Learning-Curve-Aut/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/524895

[wannabe]

Relative. When your I.T dept. decides to rename all your drives you will be glad you did as well.

[Chuck Gabriel]

Relative. When your I.T dept. decides to rename all your drives you will be glad you did as well.

I guess that right there is one of the reasons I don't get so worked up about relative pathing.  I am the IT department, so I can guarantee no drive letters will be changing.  I can remember having to deal with those kinds of headaches, though.