ApTech59XrefTitleBlocks

AnXrefisanAutoCADdrawingfilethatisstoredoutsideofyourcurrenthostdrawingthatis
loadedeachtimeyouopenyourhostdrawing.Thesehostdrawingsareoftentheactual
plottingsheets,buttheycanbefilesthataretheninturnattachedintoanotherfile.Youcan
havexrefswithinxrefswithinxrefs.TherearetwoprimarywaystoincludeanXrefintoahost
file.
Overlayswillonlyshowupintheimmediatehostfile.IfthatfileisthenXreffedintoanother
file,theoriginaloverlayxrefwillnotdisplayorload.
Attachmentswillshowupintheimmediatehostfileandwillalsotelescopethroughto
subsequenthostfiles.
TherearemanyadvantagestousingXrefsinsteadofjustplacingallyourgeometryanddatain
onesinglefileandthencontrollingthatdatadisplay/plottingwithlayers.
Byusingmultiplefiles,youenablethesourcefilestobeworkedonbyseparateusers
simultaneously.Ifallyourdatawasinonefilefora165floorskyscraperonlyONEperson
couldworkonthatfileatatime.But,ifeachlevelorfloorwasaseparateXreffile,then
165peoplecouldperformchangestotheirassignedfloorlevelsatthesametime.
ByusingXrefs,thesamedatacanbedisplayeddifferentlybecauseXrefs,onceattached
intoahostfile,canberenamed.Oncerenamed,eachxrefwillhaveseparatexref
dependentlayernames.ThelayernameswillhavetherenamedXrefnamefollowedbythe
|symbolandthenthelayernamethatisfoundwithinthesourcefile.Thisgivesyouthe
abilitytohavetheexactsamefloorplandisplayorplotdifferentlyeventhoughitsthe
exactsamesourcefile.
Oncechangecanoccurinmanyplaces.Forinstance,inadrawingsetyoumayhave100or
moreplottingsheets.IfthenameoftheprojectchangesfromQuailHollowSubdivision
toFoxRunSubdivisionyouonlyneedtoeditONEfileifthatXreftitleblockexistsineach
oftheplottingsheets.
TitleBlocks
Titleblocksareaperfect
opportunitytouseXrefs.By
havingasinglefilethat
containsthesameinformation
foreachpage,youcancontrol
thatinformationfromonefile
insteadofhavingtodoitfrom
multipleplottingsheetfiles.
Theinformationthatisunique
toeachsheet,likethesheet
numberandtitle,iseasierto
maintainonasheetbysheet
basissothatinformationis
typicallyhandledseparately
fromthetitleblockitself.

Startanewdrawingfromscratchanddrawthetitle
block,andpaperedgeattruesize.AnArchDsizesheetis
36x24.AnANSIDsizesheetis34x22.Forourclass
usetheANSIDsize.Drawthepaperedgeusingthe
RECTANGcommandonthedefpointslayerwiththelower
leftcornerat0,0andtheupperrightcornerat34,22.If
yourdrawingtemplatedoesnotcontainadefpoints
layer,simplydrawalineardimensionanderaseit.That
willcreatethedefpoints(nonplotting)layerforyou.
UsingdrawingcommandslikeOFFSETandLINE,TRIM,
MTEXT,etc.,createthegraphicalandconsistenttext
componentsforyourtitleblockonthefollowinglayers:
ATTLBFINE,ATTLBMEDM,ATTLBBOLD,ATTLB
ANNO.Forboldlinessetthelayerlineweightto0.035,
formediumlinesuse0.020andforfineuse0.007.For
theannotationlayeruse0.014.
ThisfileCANbexreffeddirectlyintoaplottingsheetwith
theXREFcommandandtheReferenceManagerpalette.
Youwouldplaceitinpaperspaceatthe0,0insertion
location.Forthetitleblockuniqueinfo,likethesheettitle
andsheetnumber,youcancreateablockthatusesAttributesandinsertittoalignwiththe
titleblock.Placethisinsertedblock(notasanxref!)oneachplottingsheetandusethe
commandATEtoedittheattributeswithintheblock.
Youcanalsotakethisprocessonelevelfurtherandcreateattributedefinitionswithinyour
originaltitleblockfileandthenINSERTthatfileintoanemptydrawingfile(inmodelspace).
ThenusetheATEcommandtoedittheattributeswithinyourtitleblockfileandthenTHATfile
getsxreffedintoaplottingsheetspaperspaceenvironment.Agoodlayertouseforthatmight
beATTLBATTRfortheattributedefinitions.
BenefitsofusingAttributes:Byusingattributesinablock,itmakesitpossibletoextractthat
dataintoaspreadsheetandtoeditthecontentsoftheblockeasilywithouthavingtorisk
messingupthepositionofthetextorselectingtheactualtextitself.YoucanissuetheATE
commandandeditANYattributewithintheblockwithineasilyeditableforms.

SothereareessentiallytwomethodsofcreatingthetitleblockoneusesjustMtexttheother
usedAttributes.Heresthesimplifiedversionofeach:

CreateTitleBlockFilewithMtextonly>saveasXTTLB.dwg>XrefXTTLB.dwginto
Paperspaceonplottingsheets>Insertblockwithattributesforsheettilesandnumbers
andeditwithATE.
CreateTitleBlockfilewithAttributeDefinitions>saveasTTLB.dwg>INSERTTTLB.dwg
intoanewfileat0,0andsaveasXTTLB.dwgXrefXTTLB.dwgintoPaperspaceonplotting
sheets>InsertblockwithattributesforsheettilesandnumbersandeditwithATE.