Is there a way to stop ProStructures inserting any layers automatically?
I now know how to change them, but not to stop them coming in at all.
Hi Mini696,
If you don't want those layers you can create a DWT/DGN template/seed file which only got the layers that you want.
So when you create a new model you would load the template/seed file which only got the layers that you want.
Those layers appear whenever I open any drawing.
It's as if ProStructures "needs" them to operate properly.
It is needed in case you would need to make use the default settings of ProSteel.
Can you please let us know what you want to do?
How are you using ProSteel to assign your layers? Have you created a DWT template?
If yes can you send this to us?
We use our own DWT templates, they contain all client standard layers and linetypes.
ProSteel has its own list of layers:
ProSteel options>Configuration/Isometric Views>Layer
Those are the ones that get inserted into every drawing, and that we want to stop. We don't use them, or need them and they create too many problems affecting our clients standards.
ProSteel inserts its own layer set automatically into every drawing that is opened which also inserts its own linetypes which are not to our clients standards, they need to be purged out every time. They also create problems when cutting 2D sections, often taking over the part families with their own linetypes.
We can not simply change those ProSteel layers because every client we use is different.
Hi Mini,
Can I please know your procedure when assigning layers?
The layers are there but it won't be assigned automatically unless you have not selected a layer when you are inserting the elements.
I did some test and I can see that this cannot be deleted however you can change the layers under the ProSteel Options with the layers that you want.
Layers are assigned using standard AutoCAD commands such as the layer manager. The problem isn't assigning layers. It's that ProSteel automatically creates the layersas a drawing is opened.
I can change those layers in ProSteel, but is is impractical because each client has different standards. It is not viable to change them every time I open a drawing for a different client, hence why we want to stop ProSteel inserting its own layers in the first place.Simply put I want to remove all the Layers under ProSteel options, so they never exist in any form.
I don't think this is possible. I will ask for other colleagues opinion as well .
My suggestion is to make use of the ProSteel commands to assign the layers instead of using the AutoCAD layers. ProSteel is just using AutoCAD as a platform in order to maximize it's capability I would suggest to slowly move to using the ProSteel commands for layers.
I'm in agreement with mini696 on this one. Layers should not be hardcoded into the software. There should a configurable option to either allow the user to determine layer name/properties, or alternatively to simply place the objects on the current layer.
We are constantly having to go back and delete these before submitting drawings to the client. No reason those layers should be required. I think this should be filed as an enhancement request to prosteel.
The ProSteel commands to assign layers is clunky and not user friendly, there are too many hidden settings which are very difficult or impossible to change.
It is also not possible to use without incorporating AutoCAD layers.
are you guys using ProSteel for editing 2D drawings?
I have a somewhat simple solution for this - you can create a template for the settings in the ProSteel Options, which includes the layer names/colors/linetypes. You could easily create a template for each client using layers that are acceptable to them. So each time you work on a client you just load the template file and change the default layers to the client standards. I've done this for our major clients, although I admit it's a lot of work if you have hundreds of clients to set up.
Additionally, I think there's a linetype definition file in the "data" folder of your localization. you can remove the non-standard ones (there's always those german definitions in there, which can be annoying).
Are you using Descriptions when creating shapes? I can't imagine wanting to manually create and assign layers - you can do that using the free description file (also in the localized/data folder) and have ProSteel assign your client layers automatically.
We have the same basic issue with many clients, however I've differentiated the ProSteel layers by adding "3D" to the names (we only use them for 3D modeling), and also created a template for each client. Some clients aren't too picky about layers but others are strict, and some of our less savvy users have a difficult time discerning between 3D model layers and client standard layers. Our final stage before sending DWGs back to the pickier clients is to run a lisp routine that translates the 3D layers to the client standards.
I've also discovered a lot of power by using the "language" localizations to create different environments for each client - instead of being English or Australia for example, your localized folders are client names. Basically you just change the flag.bmp and setup.txt in the "resources" folder of each client, and you can either change clients manually by clicking on the Change Language icon, or if you are using some sort of initialization routine to load autocad you can have it configure language.cfg to change the "client" automatically when you load ProSteel. Another benefit of this is things like layers, templates, and detail styles can be contained within each client.
One thing I agree on is there should be an option to only create the standard PS layers on demand - sort of like how they are created when you use the description file - rather than automatically as soon as you load PS. I'm probably not alone in using the PS layers (some things like position flags, workframe views, and objects are hard-coded to specific slots), but there are a handful that I've never used once.
Thank you hassmaschine, I will look into that, it seems it will be our best option.
We don't use ProSteel for editing 2D drawings, we use it to mostly to insert the smart members so we can cut 2D sections for our drawings.
The issue is it doesn't fit within our company wide workflow very easily.