as long as colors are 'bylayer' in the base drawing, you can set colors as you wish in the xref'd drawing.

in the drawing file receiving the xref...you will need to filter out other layers that are not part of the base drawing...to do that:

go into the layers dialog box and on the right window you will see a plus sign next to "all"
expand the tree and you will see "all used layers" and "xref"
expand xref if you have multiple xreffed files and pick the one...otherwise, just pick "xref"

select all the layers of the xref by right clicking and picking select all...

then change color as a batch...

don't know if there's an easier way...

I've been doing this a lot recently, using the method that dammson describes. Does anyone know a good way to get the original colors back though? Short of re-referencing it, which is actually pretty damn easy.

no FOG... impossible!... unless you set a layer state at the beginning... (ah that hindsight, oh so 20/20)...

so yeah... get layerstatin citag

To get the original layer colors back:

1) Set your VISRETAIN to 0

2) Go to your XREF dialogue box and reload the xref (no need to detach and reattch). The xref should come back in at its original colors.

3) Set your VISRETAIN back to 1

i hate drafting

yes of course! VISRETAIN! So obvious....

Thanks for the tip LiG

i used VISRETAIN today and it's awesome...thanks LiG

[takes a bow]

I love drafting.

Haven't you switched professions yet, mdler?

:]

Wait won't VISRETAIN set at 0 cause the grey to return to original colors when the file is closed and opened as well? Also, setting it to 0 will cause the xref layers to match the actual layer state of the referenced file - i.e. if your coworker is working on an RCP and you open a file which references it, you will see their layer state.

Save those layer states!

I love me some VISRETAIN.