Modifying External Reference Names Help With Layer Control
Comments(2) Recently we adopted new layer names similar to the NCS layers already built in to Civil 3D templates. We had to make a few modifications of course, one of those being XREF layer names. We decided it was best to have XREF layers start with “X-” and end with a standard four-letter abbreviation. This enabled us to more easily sort XREF layers. To really make this successful, we also had to make it a standard practice to rename external reference names. Let me show you why.
I will use a base map XREF as an example. The layer we put our base map XREFs on is called “X-BASE”. This is great, but all the XREF layers are still hard to read and sort:
To change the XREF layer names so they sort properly, the external reference needs to be renamed.
In the External References (XREF) palette you can edit the “Reference Name” (in the “Details” section of the palette) for each XREF.
Now the XREF layer names look much better.
This is a pretty slick tip that I’ve only seen one other time several years ago. Seriously one of the best ways to help organize XREF layers…and easy, too.
our company names any file to be Xref’ed with an X as the first character. For Example a floor plan might be XFP-####.deg, where #### is the Job number.
WE then create a layer called XFLPN to Xref in this drawing, so in the layer manager is shows up as XFP-####:A-WALL-PROP
This accomplishes the same thing, without having to rename the Reference Name.