Copy and paste from other open drawings

Jim Canale
Jim Canale
in 2D Drafting
Ok, this may be a real bone headed question, but I really don't know the answer.    I frequently open more than one drawing and copy and paste objects from one to the other.    Sometimes the paste operation drops the object right where I direct it to with my cursors.  Other times, it drops the object a long distance from my intended target.  I have to ZOOM EXTENTS, spot the object (typically very small), and then  move it where I want.  

Why is this, and what can I do about it?

Comments

  • Terry Dotson
    Terry Dotson
    Check the BASE variable in your drawings.  If they vary (not 0,0,0) this could be the cause.  Also look into the PASTEORIG command.
  • Knut Hohenberg
    Knut Hohenberg
    ...or just use COPYBASE instead of COPYCLIP.
  • Jason Bourhill
    Jason Bourhill
    Jim,

    I would check your INSUNITS in source and target drawings. If you are regularly dealing with old AutoCAD drawings, or drawings exported from another CAD application, then you may also want to consider INSUNITSDEFSOURCE  INSUNITSDEFTARGET.

    BricsCAD respects these variables when copying and pasting between drawings (AutoCAD ignores them).

    Refer to these previous posts

    https://forum.bricsys.com/discussion/23064
    http://forum.bricsys.com/discussion/21763


    Regards,

    Jason Bourhill

    CAD Concepts


  • Jim Canale
    Jim Canale
    Thanks guys.   Really good advice as usual. 

    The BASE variables in source and target drawings were not even close.  They differed by orders of magnitude!   INSUNITS of source and target were 0 and 1.   Not sure what the BASE and INSUNIT variables define, or why they were different.   I'll have to delve into that further when I get free of the rush job I'm doing for the boss. 

    PASTORIG dropped the object much closer to where I want to place it (apparently at the WCS origin).   COPYBASE is the cat's meow!   When I issue that command, the subsequent PASTE drops the object right where I position my cursor.   That is my solution  for now.

    I recall that when I first started working with Autocad R14, (15 years ago?), the program always asked me to assign a drawing size  (corners or limits of model space).   I didn't  know what I was doing.  I just assigned arbitrary values.     I setup some templates with this process, and ever since have started  new drawings from those templates.      I'm wondering if that is the cause of my problem.  
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