Expert: J. B. Borge - 10/6/2004

Question
Hi, I am trying to implement the use of British Standard Layers within a 10 man office.

The version of cad im using is LT.

The problem is, is that no one at all wants o learn anything, they want to keep walls as walls rather than i.e. A210G500, i've tried saying about the use of filters and the use of these layers, and the use of Xrefs with BS layers and filters, but to them it all sounds like to much work.

I would appreciate a list or whatnot of the pros compared with the cons of not using filters xrefs and BS layers.

Ow yes, i also tried to set up drawings so the plans are lyers up (-00,01,02,03, etc) so its easy to line things up, they want to have all of the plans next to each other which to me shows a lack of a basic knowlege of autocad, but i cant exactly come out with that to my boss.

So I would appreciate a list of what i stated above please.

Cheers big ears.

Chris

Answer
Chris-

This all depends on how you look at it. My discipline has always been in mechanical & using Autocad Mechanical's layering system has alleviated many these layer issues for us. The way it works -> a part number typically becomes the base layer & it adds suffixes there after. For ex. XYZ-AM_1 (object layer for XYZ part), XYZ-AM_3 (hidden layer), XYZ-AM_7 (center line layer), XYZ-AM_3 (dim layer). This is very helpful when you are modifying geometries with in an assembly where all layers are congested, overlapping, or sometimes on top of one another. I can easily identify which layer(s) to turn off, freeze, or lock. Another way of using layers is when for example you have a full schematic of your car. It'll probably take several minutes to open this file. If done correctly w/ layers, it can be broken down to components & sub-components. That way, if i want to open just a particular section of this drawing, i.e. transmission, i can just tell autocad to 'Partial Open' the layers referenced to Transmission. That way, all layers doesn't have to be loaded.
Xref is another powerful command. With xrefs, you can use them like blocks except if the main file in the library is modified, it is propagated thru out the the assy's. FYI, this also works the other way around & can be a bad thing. This can be turned on/off in the XEDIT system variable. The only caveat, If you copy a drawing that contains xrefs and paste into another drawing(s), the xref will not show because it becomes a nested xref and is converted to standard block. Also, typically the xref drawing appends the name in front of the layer, thereby increasing the layer name length. This can possibly generate invalid errors bec. theres a character limit. Not sure if autodesk already addressed this. Otherwise, I don't see why not use xrefs.
If maj. of your associates refuse to know the tools offered in Autocad then you're definitely gonna hava a hard time implementing these ideas. As a managers standpoint, It is best to get these people up to speed by having them go to an Autocad fundamentals class. Ofcourse this involves $$$ but the ramifications will definitely be a plus on productivity. I could write several more pages about this topic but i think i'll leave the rest for you to research.
Hope this helps & let me know how it goes.

-JB