Topic: Would Xclipping an Xref many times affect dwg performance?

[Robb]

I have a file that takes forever to open and/or regen. I noticed the drafter has xclipped his grid xref to display the grid bubbles at all sides of his drawing. He must have clipped the same xref say over 16X.

Would that cause the file to be slow in regenerating or opening?

If I unload the grid.dwg then regen is fine.

Anyone?

TIA,
Rob

[CADaver]

hmmm... I don't usually see that much impact on performance from xclip.  vpclip seems to throw a hitch in it sometimes.

Does the xref have a linetype that is displayed very fine?

[diarmuid]

also check the xref for "tightly" hatched areas.  look for a "blackened in" areas.  but they are not actually blacked in or hatched in sold fill but ansi 31 at a scale of .001 or something really small. ( the latter tends to be a throw back from older versions of AutoCad and subsequently older drafters/techies) (i'm in  political correctness minefield here).

some true type fonts tend to cause problems also.

the usual suspects i suppose?

Just a thought.

[pmvliet]

IIRC, to do a xclip it leaves only what is displayed in your bounded area. So if he has 16 different xclips, he really has 16 copies of that referenced file. This, I don't believe is a good practice to follow and a good viewport would eliminate all of that.

Pieter

[AVCAD]

I just had this problem...

I had 6 differant plans (3 seperate rooms same floor 2 differant plans for both)

I used the Xclip method as I usually do (yes I had 6 seperate copies of the xref).

Usually its not a problem but in this file It was taking forever to open (seriously like 20 minutes).

I narrowed it down to these problems...

1. There were like 20 xrefed drawings referancing Arch files (wall, ext. walls, grid, columns...etc.)

2. these files were about 5+mb a peice so all together the xrefed file loading about 40+mb worth of files.

3. Xclip will not work on this project because it is actually reloading that xref drawing 6 times.

4. The architect is stupid.

5. I hate my Job!

Problem was solved when:

Took the floor plan deleted the Xclip. Moved all the info onto one floor plan. Used View ports to "cut" out the rooms in 6 differant views. Used Layer off current viewport option to control layers.

Drawing opens 100% faster. But you will need to watch your layers so they dont show up in the wrong viewport.

hope that helped..

[CADaver]

So if he has 16 different xclips, he really has 16 copies of that referenced file. This, I don't believe is a good practice to follow...

Which?  The XREFs or the XCLIPs?

[42]

Several copies of the same xref. As pmvliet wrote you can only xclip a single xref once. If you need to show several areas use a non crossing closed pline.
We had the self same problem here, a baby architect copied two or three xrefs into the same file and created a nightmare.

[daron]

Refresher course on blocks and xrefs:

A. A BLOCK is a "container" of entites.
B. An Xref is a BLOCK that has a path to its home with a few enhancements like: personalized layer names.

Now, every object in autocad needs to be regenerated when autocad loads. Xrefs take longer to regenerate, because not only does it have to regenerate, but for each instance, it has to check and make sure it's pulling in the correct graphical and non-graphical data. The more blocks, as stated above, the longer it'll take to open any drawing. Now, you probably don't use images much, if at all, but this is where my company slows to horse to a snails pace. The designers attach images and set them where they belong, then they copy all the images off to one side so they can set a viewport to them. Of course, nobody seems to realize that each viewport increases regen time, since they haven't learned the importance of freezing layers in viewports or freezing at all for that matter. They turn layers off instead of freezing them. Oops, sorry for the vent- Where was I? Images - Every time you pan or zoom an image into view it has to regen. My suggestion would be to learn all you can about the importance of viewports over multiple block instances and images and layer freezing vs. off.

[CADaver]

Several copies of the same xref. As pmvliet wrote you can only xclip a single xref once. If you need to show several areas use a non crossing closed pline.
We had the self same problem here, a baby architect copied two or three xrefs into the same file and created a nightmare.

DVIEW CLIP and save VIEWs

[AVCAD]

ya dont use DVIEW at all. I can't tell you how much I hate getting drawings when the UCS is all screwed up and I have to twist is and crap to get it back to having the normal XYZ coordinates.

DVIEW is for camera views. If you are doing 3D use Accurender for the camera feature to set your ACAD view.

I hate DVIEW. Actually I hate all of ACADs 3D features..they are all horrible, for getting views and rendering. The object creation and editing is good though.

[Robb]

Thanks for the responses! Sorry I havent got'n back sooner. I told the guy to do what he was tryig to do another with using blocks. Long story but thanks for all your help!

[CADaver]

ya dont use DVIEW at all.

Why not, it's a powerful tool.

I can't tell you how much I hate getting drawings when the UCS is all screwed up and I have to twist is and crap to get it back to having the normal XYZ coordinates.

...hmmm... UCS<enter>W<enter>PLAN<enter><enter>
Doesn't seem that difficult to me.

DVIEW is for camera views.

Among other things, yes it can be used for camera views. So can VPOINT and 3DORBIT

If you are doing 3D use Accurender for the camera feature to set your ACAD view.

So you run out buy, install, maintain and learn a whole separate program, just to avoid a very powerful core tool??  Okay.

I hate DVIEW. Actually I hate all of ACADs 3D features..they are all horrible, for getting views and rendering.

Gee, we use them all the time, have been for years, no problem.  What's to hate?

... and rendering.

But then we don't use or need renders.  ACAD is not a "presentation" tool, never has been, was never intended to be.  But for cutting views of a model to place in a drawing, DVIEW works quite well.  It works even better if you "WRITE A CODE FOR IT!!!!" as your sig indicates.

[CADaver]

So if he has 16 different xclips, he really has 16 copies of that referenced file. This, I don't believe is a good practice to follow...

Which?  The XREFs or the XCLIPs?

Several copies of the same xref. ... We had the self same problem here, a baby architect copied two or three xrefs into the same file and created a nightmare.

We frequently use multiple copies of a single XREF without incident, and have been doing so since R11.  We build an assembly, XREF it into a larger assembly several times, then XREF that into yet another assembly (maybe several times) to produce complex mechanical designs.

An XREF is merely a block who's definition is held outside the current drawing.  If using multiple insertions of the same block make sense, why wouldn't multiple insertions of the same XREF?

[sinc]

One thing to beware of when you get drawings from others is custom linetypes.  If the drawing has a lot of lines in a custom linetype that uses a compiled shape, and you don't have the compiled shape (.shx) file, the drawing can take forever to regenerate.

[hyposmurf]

and that annoying dialogue box pops up, asking you for the shx file everytime you open the drawing!