Clips externally-referenced drawings with polygons to hide parts of them, and adjusts the front and rear clipping planes (short for "xref clip").
Shown below is a clipped xref (left) and an inverted clipping (right):
Accessing the Command
command bar: xclip
alias: clip
menu bar: Modify | XRef Clip
: XClip
Prompts you in the command bar:
Select entities: (Choose one or more xrefs)
Entities in set: 1
Select entities: (Choose more xrefs, or press Enter to continue)
[ON/OFF/Clipdepth/Invert/Delete/generate Polyline/New boundary] <New boundary>: (Enter an option, or else press Enter to create a new clipping boundary)
[Select polyline/Polygonal/Rectangular] <Rectangular>: (Enter an option, or press Enter to create a rectangular clipping boundary)
In the figure below, the hidden portion of the xref is shown in light gray for illustrative purposes only; it is normally not seen when clipping is turned on.
Command Options
Option |
Description |
Select entities |
Chooses the xrefs to be clipped:
|
ON |
Turns on clipping boundaries that were turned off by the OFF option. |
OFF |
Turns off clipping so that all of the xref is again visible. The clipping is saved, and is turned on again with the ON option. |
Clipdepth |
Sets 3D clipping to the front and rear, to hide parts of 3D models that might obscure the front and confuse the back; prompts you:
This option does not operate until you create at least one clipping boundary. It is no useful for 2D xrefs.
|
Invert |
Inverts the clipping mode so that the interior of the clipping boundary is hidden from view (the the outer area is visible); repeat this option to invert again, making the inner portion visible. It is much easier to toggle the Invert status through the Properties panel. |
Delete |
Erases all clipping boundaries; does not prompt or warn you. |
generate Polyline |
Draws a polyline over a selected clipping boundary: this allows you to edit the clipping boundary, but in an indirect fashion. Follow these steps:
|
New boundary |
Draws a new clipping boundary:
Delete old boundary(s)? [Yes/No] - (type Y or N.) Caution! This option replaces all existing clipping boundaries with the new one. The command continues only when all previous boundaries are deleted: typing No at this prompt cancels the XClip command.
[Select polyline/Polygonal/Rectangular] - (type S, P, or R)
|
Tutorial: Clipping x-refs and blocks
- Click here to watch
Related Commands
pdfclip - clips a PDF underlay.
XRef - attaches and controls externally referenced drawings through the Drawing Explorer.
-XRef- attaches and controls externally referenced drawings through the command bar.
VpClip - clips viewports.
ImageClip - clips images.