Attach Reference

Opens the Attach Reference dialog, which is used to attach one or more models to the active model.

You can access this tool from the following:

Ribbon: Drawing > Attach > Reference
Toolbox: Reference

Except where noted below, the controls of the Attach Reference dialog are analogous to those in the Open dialog .

Setting	Description
Save Relative Path	If on, the path for the reference is saved with the file name.
Selected Files (list box)	Opens/closes when you click the down/up arrowhead at lower left of the dialog. Displays a list of files that have been selected for referencing.
Add	(Selected Files list box open only) Adds highlighted files in the file selection list to the Selected Files list.
Remove	(Selected Files list box open only) Removes highlighted files from the Selected Files list.
Attachment Method	Attaches the reference by the method selected. The most common method is Coincident, which means that the coordinates of the referenced model's design plane are aligned with those of the active model without any rotation, scaling or offset. When the active model has a geographic coordinate system (GCS) attached, you also have the methods Geographic — Reprojected and Geographic — AEC Transform. To attach a reference with Geographic – Reprojected or Geographic – AEC Transform, the reference that you are attaching should also have a GCS assigned. If the reference doesn’t have a GCS, the reference is attached using the Coincident World attachment method.

Key-in: REFERENCE ATTACH [


[configuration_variable:]<filename> [,model_name] [,logical_name] [,description] [,view_name] [,scale] [,nesting] [,ON|OFF]

]

Key-in: RF= [


[configuration_variable:]<filename> [,model_name] [,logical_name] [,description] [,view_name] [,scale] [,nesting] [,ON|OFF]

]

Note: In the REFERENCE ATTACH (RF=) key-in:

The variable configuration_variable can be an operating system variable, or one created in MicroStation.
The default view_name is * — Coincident attachment. # specifies Coincident World. Otherwise, this parameter specifies the name of the saved view by which the reference is to be attached.
The default scale factor is 1:1. If you specify a scale factor, it is treated as True Scale. You can enter scale factors as x:y — x master units to y reference units or just x — x master units to 1 reference unit.
Nesting is disabled by default. Otherwise, this parameter specifies the nesting depth. Live nesting is used unless you append the letter c — for example 3c — in which case copy nesting is used.
You can omit parameters using consecutive commas — for example, RF=test,,,,top. You must specify parameters that contain spaces within quotation marks.

OFF at the end of the parameter indicates attach raster references will not display in the master model. On by default, indicates they will display.
You can use a period (.) with the RF= key-in to make an intrafile or self-attachment — for example RF=.

Note: Reference attachments can be created from saved views with the camera on. This creates an attachment with its own camera so the attachment will appear identical to the saved view. This can be valuable when creating detail sections on sheets. However, since these attachments are 3D projections to 2D images, they are only allowed in 2D master files and sheet models.