AutoCAD Lesson 13-1
Reference Files - and their Use Pt 1
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Reference files were originally developed to allow AutoCAD to be used more efficiently in an office environment. With some careful thought however their use can beneficial to the stand alone single user also. This tutorial will indicate some of the benefits of both approaches, and will culminate in a small collaborative design process.
So far you have only worked on one file at a time, although you did not know it, this file was described as the Active File. In other words all of the data you added into a model was added in this file, and until now it was the only file displayed on screen.
Advantages
The Reference Files command allows you to view other files at the same time as you work on the active file. A common example of this would be to create a structural grid that would be used by all of the floor plans of a multi storey building. The columns of any building will normally sit on top of another, and be identified by a labelled grid. This grid and column layout could be created separately for each floor plan, the more elegant solution would be to create a separate drawing (perhaps called GRID) containing all of the information common to every floor, and Attatch the file GRID as a reference file to all of the separate floor plans. This has a number of advantages over adding the data to each plan.
- Saving the data only once keeps all of the file sizes small (read fast)
- Creating the data only once reduces the risk of error
- If the grid needs to be revised, changing the one file (GRID) will update the information on ALL of the plans.
One persons active file, is another's reference file
AutoCAD allows a user to attach any file as a reference file "behind" their current active file. It is therefore quite possible for one users reference file to be someone else's active file. This gives the possibility of more than one person working on the same "drawing" at the same time. If, for example, a drawing had to be completed in a rush (of course not a situation common for students (lame attempt at humour)), it would be possible to have one person creating the cladding, one person creating the windows, one person creating the landscaping, and one person creating the animation, title block and text. Each person would be working in a separate file and would attach their colleagues work as a reference files to their own. The resulting composite would be plotted as a complete image.
This tutorial is the copyright of J. Attree
South Bank University, London UK