Improve the performance of Civil 3D cloud-based files by unloading and detaching references.
Transcript
00:03
In this session, we'll learn a couple of ways to improve the performance of files containing references.
00:08
I'm starting out here in Windows Explorer.
00:10
As you can see, I've navigated into Autodesk Docs to this cloud project called Laurel Rd.
00:16
In the Models folder under Civil are a few drawings.
00:19
This Roadway Corridor file happens to externally reference these four other drawings.
00:24
Note the status icons showing me that none of these files is currently cached to my local machine.
00:30
I mention this because when you open a cloud-based file in Civil 3D, that file is downloaded and cached locally.
00:37
In addition to the parent file, many of the reference files will be downloaded and cached as well.
00:42
This can impact the speed at which cloud based files open on your system,
00:46
especially when you're working with large files containing many references.
00:50
Fortunately, there are some things we can do to prevent unnecessary downloading and caching.
00:55
I'm going to jump over to Civil 3D and we'll open this corridor drawing.
01:01
As soon as the file comes up, I'm going to go back to Windows Explorer and you can see that I have ownership of the corridor drawing.
01:09
The status icons show that the parent file has been cached locally as well as all but one of the references, this one called Fiber.
01:17
Let's go back to Civil 3D and find out why.
01:19
I'll type XREF to open the External References Manager and in the palette, we can see that the Fiber external reference is currently unloaded.
01:27
Unloaded references are not downloaded and cached when the parent file is open.
01:32
So one way to improve performance if you have referenced files that are not being used is to unload them.
01:38
You can unload a reference by right clicking on it and choosing Unload.
01:42
In a future editing session if this reference is needed again,
01:45
you can simply right click on the reference and choose Reload to display and cache the referenced content.
01:51
Now, unloading is not a perfect solution.
01:54
Even when a reference is unloaded, your drawing will still carry the residual weight of the unloaded referenced layer settings,
02:01
so it's not 100% gone.
02:03
An even better solution for unused references is to detach them.
02:07
This will remove them completely from the parent drawing and eliminate any possible impact they may have on performance.
02:13
You can detach a reference by right clicking on it and choosing detach.
02:18
In the future, if that reference is needed again, you can simply reattach it to the parent file.
02:23
When working on Civil 3D projects in the cloud, especially ones having large file sizes,
02:28
we should strive to be as frugal as possible with bandwidth.
02:32
By unloading or better yet detaching unnecessary references
02:36
you can greatly improve the speed at which you access cloud-based files.
00:03
In this session, we'll learn a couple of ways to improve the performance of files containing references.
00:08
I'm starting out here in Windows Explorer.
00:10
As you can see, I've navigated into Autodesk Docs to this cloud project called Laurel Rd.
00:16
In the Models folder under Civil are a few drawings.
00:19
This Roadway Corridor file happens to externally reference these four other drawings.
00:24
Note the status icons showing me that none of these files is currently cached to my local machine.
00:30
I mention this because when you open a cloud-based file in Civil 3D, that file is downloaded and cached locally.
00:37
In addition to the parent file, many of the reference files will be downloaded and cached as well.
00:42
This can impact the speed at which cloud based files open on your system,
00:46
especially when you're working with large files containing many references.
00:50
Fortunately, there are some things we can do to prevent unnecessary downloading and caching.
00:55
I'm going to jump over to Civil 3D and we'll open this corridor drawing.
01:01
As soon as the file comes up, I'm going to go back to Windows Explorer and you can see that I have ownership of the corridor drawing.
01:09
The status icons show that the parent file has been cached locally as well as all but one of the references, this one called Fiber.
01:17
Let's go back to Civil 3D and find out why.
01:19
I'll type XREF to open the External References Manager and in the palette, we can see that the Fiber external reference is currently unloaded.
01:27
Unloaded references are not downloaded and cached when the parent file is open.
01:32
So one way to improve performance if you have referenced files that are not being used is to unload them.
01:38
You can unload a reference by right clicking on it and choosing Unload.
01:42
In a future editing session if this reference is needed again,
01:45
you can simply right click on the reference and choose Reload to display and cache the referenced content.
01:51
Now, unloading is not a perfect solution.
01:54
Even when a reference is unloaded, your drawing will still carry the residual weight of the unloaded referenced layer settings,
02:01
so it's not 100% gone.
02:03
An even better solution for unused references is to detach them.
02:07
This will remove them completely from the parent drawing and eliminate any possible impact they may have on performance.
02:13
You can detach a reference by right clicking on it and choosing detach.
02:18
In the future, if that reference is needed again, you can simply reattach it to the parent file.
02:23
When working on Civil 3D projects in the cloud, especially ones having large file sizes,
02:28
we should strive to be as frugal as possible with bandwidth.
02:32
By unloading or better yet detaching unnecessary references
02:36
you can greatly improve the speed at which you access cloud-based files.
