importing dwg from autocad to vectorworks

[Guest]

I having problems with x-refs in the autocad generated dwg files I recieve-as far as I can tell the x-ref is similar to a layer link-how can I instruct the people using autocad to send me files with x-refs eliminated or rather bundled into the drawing so they are not linked elsewhere.

Shouldn't there be a standart procedure for dealing with x-refs given that they are a standard part of autocad files. Help.

[jfmarch]

X-Ref's in Autocad are actually similar to Vectorworks "Work Group References", not layer links. Back in my AC day, I recal that the AC user can "bind" the X-refs to the file that is being sent. You might pursue this with your consultants. Or you can ask them to eliminate the x-refs, but you'd probably be missing lots of plan info. We've had pretty good luck importing DWG files with x-refs, but the binding should help you out.

[Martin]

Ask the person supplying the ACAD drawings to eliminate all external xref's, or bind them, as Jim mentioned.

[Bart Rammeloo]

This has nothing to do with Vectorworks, but everything with ACAD. If that DWG or DXF were sent to another ACAD user, he would also be missing the referenced files, and thus having an imcomplete file. Binding, as has been said, will help.

Cheers,

BaRa

[jan15]

Yes, it's just common courtesy to bind any xref's before sending an AutoCad file to even another AutoCad user, and it only takes two seconds.

And yet, I often find AutoCad users who've never heard of it and don't know how to do it. In case you run into that:

It's done using the Bind (B) subcommand of the Xref (XR) command. The Xref command opens the "Xref Manager" window, and then you select which externally referenced file you want to bind, and then type B or click on "Bind". That makes the externally referenced file into a block in the current file.