DWG XREF Follow Up

 A year ago I wrote about XREF DWG files showing up in Revit even when they are assigned to Overlay vs Attached. It hasn't been resolved, meaning Revit is still doing it, no change...

Shortly after writing the post we arrived at our "solution", to assign all Xrefs (in AutoCAD/Civil 3D) to a unique layer(s) and turn that layer(s) off in Revit (via View Templates usually). This way the extra layers of the xrefs do not show up even though Revit is technically ready and willing to show them.

Linked DWG Xref Overlay vs Attached Bug - Part Two

Two options exists to work around this situation (last post). One is easy and Revit focused but depends on the AutoCAD user a little and the second is impractical and depends on the AutoCAD user entirely.

• Xrefs on their own layer
• Xrefs always unloaded

If we can count on the AutoCAD user being consistent to assign all of the file's xrefs to a unique layer not shared by any other elements then we can still turn off the overlay xref when it shows up. This shouldn't be too difficult to achieve and many firms already have that standard for xrefs.

If the xref's are always unloaded before closing a file then they won't show up in a Revit project. That's pretty unlikely. It's inconvenient for AutoCAD users and forgetting just once and the system fails.

Stacking Views on Sheets

Why the hate I wonder? It seems like anytime I read about or suggest stacking views on a sheet to get a specific result people respond with "Oh that's yucky!" or "Ew, an awful workaround". Maybe they are too young to remember pin bar mylar drafting techniques where a series of mylar sheets would be stacked to produce a final. Lot's of things are built by adding layers of information, tee-shirts and silk screening for example.

Views are "cheap", easy to make and alter. When one view looks down and another looks up I can combine them on a sheet to get a bit of both worlds and tell a better story. Having to see more views in the project browser might be annoying but I find using drafting detail lines to show a feature above more annoying. Even using the Linework tool for that purpose is view specific and more labor to replicate when necessary.

If we think about it a bit, it's not all that different than using external references and showing them under our own work. In this case we are able to "xref" our own views by putting them on a sheet. We just need to have a special viewport type that doesn't show a view title. This way we don't have to worry about competing graphics and information on the sheet. Combined with the new bossy view templates it get be pretty efficient too.

Don't be too hasty to rule out stacking views.