After attaching a drawing as an external
reference, you can define a clipping boundary by entering the xclip command.
Defining a clipping boundary enables you to display only a portion of an
external reference and suppressing the display of geometry outside the boundary.
Clipping applies to an individual instance of an external reference, not the
external reference definition itself. The portion of the external reference
within the clipped boundary remains visible, and the remainder of the external
reference becomes invisible. The referenced geometry is not altered, only the
display of the external reference is edited.
You can use xclip to create a new
clipping boundary, delete an existing boundary, or generate a polyline object
coincident with vertices of the clipping boundary. Xref clipping can be turned
on or off. When a clipping boundary is turned off, the boundary is not displayed
and the entire external reference is visible, provided that the geometry is on a
layer that is on and thawed. When a clipping boundary is turned off, it still
exists and can be turned on. However, deleting a clipping boundary is permanent.
After an external reference has been clipped, it can be edited, moved, or copied just like an unclipped external reference. The boundary moves with the reference. If an external reference contains nested clipped external references, they appear clipped in the drawing. If the parent external reference is clipped, the nested external references are also clipped.
TIP You can also partially hide blocks using the xclip tool.
TIP Alternatively you can first select all blocks and/or external references, then right click and select Xref Clip from the context menu.
Option | Effect |
On | Activates all clipping boundaries in the drawing. |
Off | Switches off all clipping boundaries. |
ClipDepth | (3D only) Defines the clipping depth. |
Delete | Deletes the clipping boundary for the selected objects. |
Generate Polyline | Creates a polyline from the current clipping boundaries. |
New Boundary | Defines a new boundary. If a boundary already exists for the selected objects you are prompted to delete the current boundary. |
If you want to see the clipping boundaries, you can turn on the xclipframe system variable. xclipframe determines whether the clipping boundary frame is displayed. When the clipping frame is on (set to 1), it can be selected as part of the object and plotted. To control the display of the clipping boundaries: type xclipframe and press Enter; choose On or Off from the context menu to toggle the display of the clipping boundaries. Clipping boundaries are moved, rotated and scaled along with the object
Clipping boundaries are moved, rotated and scaled along with the object
Example of an external reference clipped by a clipping boundary. The clipping boundary is the rectangle in the top view.
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Changing the path for external references