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---Lesson 7--- 

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  • Working with Reference Files

The use of Reference Files is a great way to improve CADVANCE performance and allows you, and your design team, easier access to specific data in your drawings. Referenced files are multiple drawing files (.VWF's) stacked one on top of another in the background of the active file. As these files are being referenced, they cannot be edited in any way, but you can SNAP to the entities in them.

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In the File/Reference/Setup command, there are 2 radio buttons: one to add/delete up to 8 specific reference FILES, and the other to specify LAYER information for the reference files. On the layer setup, you can make layers visible or not and SNAPpable or not. Remember, you cannot edit referenced files, but you can SNAP to the elements in them if the layer they are on has the SNAP turned on. To edit a file, it must be loaded as the active drawing.

When using the File/Reference command, you also have the ability to REGEN or regenerate from the disk.  This means that the "last saved" version of the .VWF will be refreshed to your screen. In a workgroup environment, this allows multiple users working on various aspects of a project to view updates instantly. Note that in a networked office, two users cannot open the same file as an active drawing simultaneously. However, others can open an active file as a reference file. This also holds true if a file has a password attached to it.

There are several ways to load reference files into your drawing. One was mentioned above - simply add filenames to the Setup/Files screen. The other two ways have different advantages as follows:

Saved reference drawings (.REF) files can be placed into other drawings with File/Open (.REF) type. (.REF) files store reference file geometry. Therefore (.REF) files act like snapshots of the original drawings.  Changes to the original drawings have no effect on (.REF) files. To create a (.REF) file, load one or more reference files into a drawing. Then use File/Save As (ALT, F, A) with the file type set to Reference (.REF). To place a (.REF) file into the current drawing, use File/Open (ALT, F, O) with the file type set to Reference (.REF). You can manually update reference files by using File/Reference/Regen (ALT, F, R, R) to read changes to the reference drawings and then re-saving the reference file with File/Save As (ALT, F, A).

(.RFS) files act as a pointer to the original drawings. At your option, changes to the original drawings are reflected in reference files loaded via (.RFS) files. To create a (.RFS) file, load one or more reference files into a drawing. Then use File/Save As (ALT, F, A) with the file type set to Reference Setup (.RFS). To place a (.RFS) file into the current drawing, use File/Open (ALT, F, O) with file type set to Reference Setup (.RFS).

The use of referenced drawings is highly recommended for large or multi-story buildings. Not only will elements be easier to locate, file size will be greatly reduced and speed will increase. For those who do facilities management, reference file use is ideally suited for a variety of remodeling scenarios.

 

 

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