Copy Layer Sets

[Anonymous]

If I make a layer combination set in one drawing that has what I need turned on and off locked and unlocked.....how can I copy that layer set into another drawing??? Not a new drawing, and existing drawing.

[Ignacio Azpiazu]

I use Attribute Manager for this all the time. In order to 'copy' a layer combination from some other file you will need to have the required layers in first, otherwise the Layer Combination will have nothing to combine. Names and index numbers must correspond, and for this reason it makes sense to create new layers in a template or attribute-depository file and then transfer them via Attribute Manager to any file needing them, so that your template/depository file has all the layers each with its unique index number.

So check out that you are not missing some layer in Attribute Manager first, overwrite (not append, so that it keeps the same index number) as necessary, and after that do the same for the layer combos. Done! The template/attribute depository file is also nice for restoring layer combinations that got messed up for whatever reason.

[In some other post I'll tell the story of an index number screwup with complex profiles --canopies were getting multistory wall profiles, etc., the model suddenly changed beyond recognition.]

[Anonymous]

Definitely tell that story so I can keep that from happening to me.
Thanks for the tips, I think it will work. If not, she will just have to make due, haha

[Ignacio Azpiazu]

JLKilgore wrote:
Definitely tell that story so I can keep that from happening to me.

Just a regular attribute screwup, but very visible. I had some fancy profiles in some file, and started copypasting stuff to some other file in the project. When the profiles get transferred with the paste they don't bring in their index number, or maybe they try but will change it when there is a conflict with an existing index number, or maybe both, not sure. After a couple of copypastes, some uncoordinated complex profile creation in each file, and a link or two, your project is a total mess (your cool balcony railings in some file show up as steel beams when hotlinked into some other file, etc.) and you need to unify your complex profiles attribute list, which is an absolute pain. So now I have a file where I create all the profiles for a given project, and again transfer via Attribute Manager.

[Anonymous]

OHHH YES....My guru gave us a tip when we 1st started about doing that, keeping it all separate to help with confusion and that same issue you brought up.

I think someone early on didn't follow that route and it bit them in the rear. Only way you can learn to fly is fall out of that nest flat on your face, lol

As I always say when I lose work..."well at least I can do it 2x as fast since I am redoing it." Maybe that was my boss that pushed that....hmmm

[TomWaltz]

Chazz wrote:

TomWaltz wrote:
Attribute Manager DOES do that, actually.

A.M. brings in the names of the layers and the names of the layer sets but does not bring in the crucial relationships betwixt the two. To my mind a stunning shortcoming. If attributes like this could be moved easily from project to project it would make template maintenance much easier.

It does as long as you get all the attribute ID numbers right. We do it 10 times a day and it works fine.