Reference

Consists of controls that are used to set preferences related to references.

Use Color Table

If off, MicroStation ignores any color table attached to a reference and displays the elements in it using the active design file's color table. This speeds up loading design files with references attached, but may change the colors in which the elements in the references are displayed. The default is on. A change is not effective until MicroStation is restarted.

To use this setting for a DWG/DXF file attached as a reference, set the MS_DWGREF_ALLOWMASTERCOLORS configuration variable to 1.

Remap Colors on Copy

If on, uses colors with the closest color match from the master file's color table when copying elements.

Cache When Display Off

If off (the default), memory caching of the references that are not displayed is disabled. Disabling caching shortens start-up time when references are attached but not displayed, and it causes a delay in the display of an uncached reference.

The default setting is off. You might want to turn it on if:

• You frequently turn on and off the display of the references

• There are shared cell definitions in a reference that are not displayed in the active design file

Reload When Changing Files

If off, when possible, cached references are kept in memory when one DGN file is closed and another is opened.

Save Settings to Save Changes

If off, the results of reference manipulations are immediately permanent.

If on, the results do not become permanent until Save Settings is chosen from the File menu.

Ignore Update Sequence

If on, the Update Sequence menu item is disabled in the Attachment Settings dialog box's Settings menu.

Allow Editing of Self References

If on, you can modify self-attached reference elements, and the changes will be incrementally displayed.

Copy Levels During Copy

Describes how levels are handled when copying from references. Options are If Not Found (default), If Overrides Exist, and Always:

• If Not Found – Levels are copied from the reference only if they (or a level with the same name) do not exist in the active model.

• If Overrides Exist – Levels are copied from the reference if the level does not exist in the active model, or if the settings for the active model level are different than those of the attachment. Differences include overrides that have been applied to the attachment levels, or differences between the levels as defined in the active model and reference.

• Always – Reference levels are copied even if an identical level exists within the active model.

With the last two options, elements on the reference's default level are copied to the active model's default level. A new level is not created for these elements.

With the last two options, when a level is copied to an active model where a level with that name already exists, the copied level is prefixed with the reference level name. If that name is not unique, the Logical Name is included in the prefix. If a level from a nested reference is not unique, the parent reference may also be added to the prefix.

Set Default Attachment Preferences

Controls default settings for reference attachments. A change in these defaults is not effective until a new design file is opened.

Default reference settings for all users can also be set with the MS_REF_DEFAULTSETTINGS configuration variable. If this variable is set, you cannot modify the default settings on this dialog box.

• Locate When Attached
— When on, lets you identify elements in a reference for construction purposes.

• Snap On When Attached
— When on, lets you snap to elements in a reference.

• True Scale
— When on, aligns the units in the active model one to one with units in the referenced model.

• Scale Line Styles
— When on, scales custom line style components (for example, dashes) by Scale factors.

• Display Raster References
— When on, displays raster references.

• Ignore When Live Nesting
— When on, does not include nested references in the list of attached references.

• Use Lights
— When on, uses source lighting cells located in references in processing for rendering.

• Nesting
— Describes how nesting of references is handled. Options are No Nesting (default), Live nesting, and Copy Attachments:

• No nesting – references are not nested.

• Live nesting – References are continuously updated. For example, file B is attached to file A. Further, file B also has file C attached. If you detach file C from B, file C will no longer appear as attached to file A.

• Copy attachments – With this setting, given these relationships: file A has an attachment, file B which also has an attachment, file C. If file C is detached from B, file C will still appear as attached to A, unless C has been explicitly removed.

• Nest Depth
— Sets the number of levels of nested attachments that are included when attaching a reference. The default is 1.