Topic Title

I seem to be losing the actual display of some entities in a xref with a clip cube with the clip turned on. If I have the clip turned off they show up. The entites in question are there but for some reason (bug?) they disappear when the CC is on??? There is no consistency in this though... Different entites at different times... File size seems not to matter...

It almost appears to me as though it is a display issue because of when you select the xref to put the new cube in, it dashed up all of the xref entities, and then when you add the clipping box and hit an ok, it appears that the dashed xref entites don't quite refresh themselves properly... Regen does nothing to fix it.

Anyone have any ideas???

Kent

You might want to check the Z - settings (min. & max.) of the clip cube.

Clip Cubes have a top and bottom and if your entities have a Z-Height or Base that is below the bottom of the cube or above the top then they won't be seen.

I typically set the Z-Min & Max of the clip cube to -100 & 100 for this reason.

OK... so what you are saying is that the original file and the entities need to be set at a z height and z base of 0?

Or I need to set the z min and max of the cube to something to encompass the highs and lows?

Did that makes sense?

I agree with Tony that it is probably a Z thing. Check the Z height and Z base of the xref - it will have one value for the whole xref. You also need to check the Z height and Z base of the entities in the source file - if they're out of range (defined by the clip cube - or xclip - in the target file) they won't show up in the target file.

Just for grins and giggles I set the z min in the cubbe to -1000 and presto!

I also changed the z height and base in the source file to 0,0 on every entity and that DIDN'T fix it...

What is it that I am missing here?

Hello Kent:

Just for grins and giggles I set the z min in the cubbe to -1000 and presto!

I also changed the z height and base in the source file to 0,0 on every entity and that DIDN'T fix it...

What is it that I am missing here?

If you saved the source file after you changed the Z values to 0, and then if you refreshed the XRef after that -- then this would have also worked.

Just for grins and giggles I set the z min in the cubbe to -1000 and presto!

I also changed the z height and base in the source file to 0,0 on every entity and that DIDN'T fix it...

What is it that I am missing here?

Another reason you may be getting this behavior is that the x-ref was inserted at a value other than z-base = 0. If your z-base was set at -1 when you inserted the x-ref, the entities at 0 in the original file will now register at -1. So if you set the clip cube to a base of 0 you will loose anything with a base and height below 1 in the original file.

Jon C. Hubart

The zb and zh in the original drawing may be in range, but when you place it in another drawing as an xref, your insertion point also has a height which may place portions of it out of range. Also if the original drawing has any symbols or 3d entities that are out of range or placed out of range, then you can't just change their zb and zh with the change command. They have to be moved in the z direction or if the symbols have entities in them that are out of range, they may have to be exploded fixed and redefined.

OK... so what you are saying is that the original file and the entities need to be set at a z height and z base of 0?

Or I need to set the z min and max of the cube to something to encompass the highs and lows?

Did that makes sense?

I would set the z min & max of the clipe cube so that it will encompass a larger area. I typically make the clip cube min -100 and the max 100. This gives me 200 feet of height.

Hope this helps.

Thank you all for your help. Not having the time to figure out exactly what is not at zero, and I guess it doesn't really matter, it is fixed and working so all is well!

Thanks again!

Hello:

This thread reminded me of a wish list item: the "By Center" option for placing an XRef should be the "X-Y" center! Currently, it is the X-Y-Z center point, which is very counter-intuitive, or at least unclear.

The By Center option should have a choice for X-Y center, and X-Y-Z center!

Also, on a related point, the 2D Change/Z should affect XRef's and/or the 2D Move and 3D Move need to be "combined" so that one can correct the Z position of an XRef that ended up in a place that you had not expected or intended!

Hello:

This thread reminded me of a wish list item: the "By Center" option for placing an XRef should be the "X-Y" center! Currently, it is the X-Y-Z center point, which is very counter-intuitive, or at least unclear.

The By Center option should have a choice for X-Y center, and X-Y-Z center!

Also, on a related point, the 2D Change/Z should affect XRef's and/or the 2D Move and 3D Move need to be "combined" so that one can correct the Z position of an XRef that ended up in a place that you had not expected or intended!

I never use the By Center option for this very reason.
Also we are still getting symbols placed at impossible z elevations with no way to chage the location. All you can do is delete the symbol and replace it at the proper z height. This is a real PIA especially if you have dozens of symbols and you hsve to go through and find which ones are in the stratosphere and need replacing.

This really does need to be addressed, and possibly the logic behind it adjusted. I like Neil's idea (as always) and maybe there could be a display of the Xrefs current extents (XYZ) and the clips boundries (XYZ) displayed in the attention bar. This way we can at least see the changes we are making and how the clip relates to the xref itself.

Okay, okay, okay! Uncle!!!

I am adding the CenterXY option as I type this. However, you can adjust the Z position of an XRef (or symbol) by either of the following methods:

1. From an Ortho (plan) view, select Move (2D), Move Z, enter the distance to move, select the XRef or Symbol.
   
2. From an Elevation view, select Move (3D), indicate the distance to move (up or down), select the XRef or Symbol.

But here's a question for you:

If CenterXY is selected, should the current Z-Base have any effect or should it always be inserted at its original Z elevation?

Cheers,
Dave

Hello Dave:

But here's a question for you:

If CenterXY is selected, should the current Z-Base have any effect or should it always be inserted at its original Z elevation?

I think that the Z-Base of the XRef should be set at the Z-Base of the current layer in the "master" file. But, it also would work for me, if the Absolute Z was maintained -- that the Z values of the source file be kept. Either way is a big improvement on the way it works now. And either could be made to work for the way I typically use XRef's -- which always "2D" drawings.

If I was XRefing 3D models, then I would probably want the Z-base of the XRef to be kept.