DWG ref files (backgrounds)


feuerstein
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Most AutoCAD operators use a black background and draw with white lines. Most Chiefers use a white background and draw with black lines. When you export to DWG, make sure you check the box Other Options>Export AutoCAD Index Colors. If you don't check the box, then whatever is black in Chief will stay black, and in AutoCAD with a black background the black items won't be visible.This can trick the careless AutoCAD operator into thinking the information is missing, though it's there - it's just black on black.

 

Here's a Chief plan, in AutoCAD, without Index Colors:

noindex.thumb.PNG.f7aa10860ff08eb76e7a5bd0a6bd1977.PNG

 

Here's the same Chief Plan, in AutoCAD, with Index Colors:

withindex.thumb.PNG.45679d9ffd4b7b4748b5dc1d65323f02.PNG

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Lew,

 

Here's a typical use of X-refs in AutoCAD:

1. Draw the floor plan and save it as a separate file.

2. Start a new file and reference the floor plan file by "attaching" it as an X-ref. The X-ref is now the "background" over which you can draw additional line work or annotations.

 

This paradigm allows you to use a single floor plan file to create multiple "plan drawings" with unique annotations, notes, details, etc. If the X-ref changes it is updated in all the other files that reference it. Chief can also create multiple "plan drawings" using a single file as the base, but in Chief's case we are always working in the same plan file and using annosets and layersets to flip back and forth between "plan drawings".

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