Include a read-only copy of a project object in a drawing by creating a reference to it.
All the available project objects in a project are listed in the project’s object collections, including Surfaces, Alignments, and Pipe Networks, in the Prospector tree.
You access a project object’s data in a drawing by creating a reference to it. A reference is a read-only copy of an object. When you create a reference to an object, you cannot modify the object’s geometry, but you can access its properties and data, apply styles and annotation, and perform some types of analysis.
Creating a reference creates a local copy of the object’s source drawing in your working folder. If you already have a local copy of the object’s source drawing, it is updated to the latest version, if necessary.
Tutorial Exercise: Creating a Reference to a Project Object
To create a reference to a project object
- Open the drawing to which you want to add the reference, and make it the active drawing.
- In Toolspace, on the Prospector tab, expand the Projects collection.
- Expand the project and object collections that contain the project object.
- Right-click the project object.
- Click Create Reference.
- In the Create Reference dialog box for the object, specify how the object’s geometry will be displayed in the drawing.
- Click OK.
