Xref drawings are slow... snap trouble.
Kurt Eckstrom
We are having a problem with snaps not working properly in drawings with
xrefs. The symbols for the snaps do not show up, and sometimes the snap
do not function at all. Also, if an xref is moved in the drawing, it is
very slow, and if the base point for the move is selected inside the
area of that xref (w/ snaps on), it is very, very, very, slow.
1) We do not use true type fonts, so that is not an issue.
2) All our computers are at least P-133 w/ 32 meg, and this happens on a
PII-266 w/ 128 meg of RAM.
3) Windows NT network
Any help is greatly appreciated, Kurt Eckstrom
--
A.A.E. Architects
Dallas, Texas
http://www.aae-arch.com/
Christal Elliott
Kurt - Some things to try:
Check to see that demand loading is turned on, in Preferences. There
is a variable called XLOADCTL that sets this feature. The default
setting for XLOADCTL is 1, which enables demand loading. This tells
AutoCAD to keep the original reference file open so it can demand load
geometry from the reference drawing as necessary. The only problem
with this is that >other users can only open that drawing file, but
they cannot save changes.
By setting XLOADCTL to 2, demand loading is turned on with a copy
option, which means that AutoCAD will create a temporary copy of the
reference drawing and demand load the xref objects from the temporary
copy. And because a temporary copy is created when XLOADCTL is set to
2, other users can modify the original file and save changes.
Another thing that can be done to help increase the speed of XREF file
is to open the XREF file and set the INDEXCTL to 3, then save the
file. Then reopen the main file, no need to set this variable in the
main drawing, only in the XREF's.If INDEXCTL is set to 3, both layer
and spatial indexes are created and saved with the drawing. This
setting is best used on drawings that will be used as xrefs in other
drawings where demand loading is enabled.
Also, using DRAWORDER will help with object selection. You can use
the DRAWORDER command to move the Xrefs and blocks to the back of the
drawing order. Doing this will speed up object selection for other
objects in the drawing.
Christal Elliott
//Autodesk Support on the Net//
Cabot Eudaley
We had a similar problem going from r12 to r13. Our sheets have many
details
XREF'd into them. When we move one, it took as long as 5 minutes (Pentium
200
w/48MB) or it took 5 seconds - size didn't matter. It seemed when we started
a job
from scratch (w/o converting the r12 drawings) it mostly went away. We
still
have trouble with sheets with lots of text (in blocks). I haven't had much
trouble
with R14 (yet) in this respect - but I also haven't done a big job yet.
I also immediately disabled the DEMANDLOAD feature (and ISAVEPERCENT,
and now LWPOLYLINE, etc.). Our XREFS are fully visible so I don't think it
will make any difference, and we have worked on the sheet and the xrefs on
the
sheet at the same time (can't w/o the copy demandload). Also - Quick Text
helps
for PaperSpace.
Cabot Eudaley
Kurt Eckstrom wrote:
> We are having a problem with snaps not working properly in drawings with
> xrefs. The symbols for the snaps do not show up, and sometimes the snap
> do not function at all. Also, if an xref is moved in the drawing, it is
> very slow, and if the base point for the move is selected inside the
> area of that xref (w/ snaps on), it is very, very, very, slow.
> 1) We do not use true type fonts, so that is not an issue.
> 2) All our computers are at least P-133 w/ 32 meg, and this happens on a
> PII-266 w/ 128 meg of RAM.
> 3) Windows NT network
>
> Any help is greatly appreciated, Kurt Eckstrom
>