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Use the Bridge feature to reference files between Civil 3D cloud projects in Autodesk Construction Cloud.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
5 min.
Transcript
00:03
Earlier in this training, I mentioned that Civil 3D Cloud projects are not allowed to reference files outside the project folder.
00:10
In this session, we'll learn a way to break that rule.
00:13
As you can see, I have my web browser open to the Autodesk Construction Cloud.
00:16
On this first tab is a project called Athens Phase One.
00:20
On the other tab is a project called Athens Phase Two.
00:24
I would like this Phase Two project to be able to reference content from the Phase One project.
00:28
As I've said before, this isn't possible using a file path.
00:32
It is possible, however, if we use the bridge feature.
00:35
Bridging allows us to create synchronized copies of files between projects.
00:41
Generally speaking, if you bridge files from Project A into Project B, the bridged files are copied into Project B's directory structure.
00:49
Once in Project B, those bridged files can be referenced just like any of the other files in Project B.
00:55
Bridge files will also remain synchronized with the host project, meaning if they're modified in Project A,
01:02
those changes will be reflected in Project B.
01:04
Bridging provides an effective way to create dynamic references between projects.
01:09
Let's take a look at how it works.
01:10
I'm going to click to go back to the Phase One project.
01:13
In the Models folder under civil are several models I'd like to make available to the Phase Two project
01:19
for the purpose of creating XREFs or DREFs.
01:22
I'll do this by bridging this civil folder into the other project.
01:26
Before creating the bridge, I'm going to jump over to the Phase Two project and create a folder to hold the bridged content.
01:33
Just to keep things simple, the Phase Two project folders are currently empty.
01:38
Inside the Civil Models folder in this project, I'll right click and add a subfolder called Phase One.
01:46
This will create a nice separation between any models developed in Phase Two and the models coming over from Phase One.
01:53
Next, we'll go back to Phase One and I'll right click on the civil folder and choose Share.
01:59
Note that I can share this folder with another project,
02:02
and by sharing a folder I can ensure the contents of the folder remain synchronized with the target project.
02:09
Note that the automatic sync feature only applies when you bridge a folder.
02:13
In addition to the civil folder I selected, I can choose to include subfolders within the civil folder.
02:18
In this case, I don't have any, but if I did, the contents of those folders would also go along.
02:24
I can then give this transaction a name.
02:26
I'll call it Bridged Phase I Content.
02:29
Next, I'll choose the project to receive the files.
02:32
I'm going to open this up and choose the Athens Phase Two project.
02:36
Opening the menu below, I'll see the directory structure for the Phase Two project.
02:41
I'll open up Project Files, navigate into Models Civil, and choose the Phase 1 folder we made a moment ago.
02:48
I'll click Select when finished.
02:50
Before I share this, I should mention that in order to select the project and folder,
02:55
you'll need to be a member of the target project and have edit rights to the folder receiving the files.
03:01
If necessary, you may need to reach out to a project admin of the target project to get access.
03:06
I'll click Share when finished and we can see that that content is being shared with the other project.
03:13
Just for a second, I'm going to jump over to the Phase Two project and I'll navigate into that Phase 1 folder.
03:19
In here, we'll find the civil folder that was bridged.
03:23
Note the icon in the indicator column.
03:25
This shows us the folder is bridged.
03:27
In fact, if I hover over the icon, it will tell me the project where this folder is coming from.
03:32
If I navigate into the civil folder, we'll see those bridged files have arrived.
03:37
Note that each file includes a similar icon to make it easy to identify files coming from another source.
03:44
Now that these files reside within the Phase Two project,
03:47
I can use them for XREFs or DREFs, and the best part is if these files are modified in the Phase One project,
03:53
those changes will be reflected here.
03:56
Let's test that synchronization.
03:58
I'm going to jump over to Civil 3D and I'll open up one of the drawings from the Phase One project.
04:03
I'll click Open and inside Autodesk Docs I'll find the Phase One project.
04:09
I'll navigate to the civil folder under models and open this drawing called topo.
04:14
I'm going to make a quick change to this file by drawing a circle and I'll come up and click the save button.
04:21
After saving the file, I'll go back to the web browser
04:24
and here in the Phase One project you can see that I have ownership of the topo file and it has been versioned up as a result of the save.
04:32
Note the icon showing us the file is synced to Phase Two.
04:36
Click in the other tab to visit the Phase Two project.
04:39
I can see that the topo file over here remains synchronized to Phase One.
04:43
Had I created an XREF or DREF to the topo file within this project, those references would also have updated as a result of the new file version.
04:52
As you can see, using the bridge feature we can synchronize content between projects.
04:57
This allows us to create dynamic references to files without a need to path outside of the current project folder.
Video transcript
00:03
Earlier in this training, I mentioned that Civil 3D Cloud projects are not allowed to reference files outside the project folder.
00:10
In this session, we'll learn a way to break that rule.
00:13
As you can see, I have my web browser open to the Autodesk Construction Cloud.
00:16
On this first tab is a project called Athens Phase One.
00:20
On the other tab is a project called Athens Phase Two.
00:24
I would like this Phase Two project to be able to reference content from the Phase One project.
00:28
As I've said before, this isn't possible using a file path.
00:32
It is possible, however, if we use the bridge feature.
00:35
Bridging allows us to create synchronized copies of files between projects.
00:41
Generally speaking, if you bridge files from Project A into Project B, the bridged files are copied into Project B's directory structure.
00:49
Once in Project B, those bridged files can be referenced just like any of the other files in Project B.
00:55
Bridge files will also remain synchronized with the host project, meaning if they're modified in Project A,
01:02
those changes will be reflected in Project B.
01:04
Bridging provides an effective way to create dynamic references between projects.
01:09
Let's take a look at how it works.
01:10
I'm going to click to go back to the Phase One project.
01:13
In the Models folder under civil are several models I'd like to make available to the Phase Two project
01:19
for the purpose of creating XREFs or DREFs.
01:22
I'll do this by bridging this civil folder into the other project.
01:26
Before creating the bridge, I'm going to jump over to the Phase Two project and create a folder to hold the bridged content.
01:33
Just to keep things simple, the Phase Two project folders are currently empty.
01:38
Inside the Civil Models folder in this project, I'll right click and add a subfolder called Phase One.
01:46
This will create a nice separation between any models developed in Phase Two and the models coming over from Phase One.
01:53
Next, we'll go back to Phase One and I'll right click on the civil folder and choose Share.
01:59
Note that I can share this folder with another project,
02:02
and by sharing a folder I can ensure the contents of the folder remain synchronized with the target project.
02:09
Note that the automatic sync feature only applies when you bridge a folder.
02:13
In addition to the civil folder I selected, I can choose to include subfolders within the civil folder.
02:18
In this case, I don't have any, but if I did, the contents of those folders would also go along.
02:24
I can then give this transaction a name.
02:26
I'll call it Bridged Phase I Content.
02:29
Next, I'll choose the project to receive the files.
02:32
I'm going to open this up and choose the Athens Phase Two project.
02:36
Opening the menu below, I'll see the directory structure for the Phase Two project.
02:41
I'll open up Project Files, navigate into Models Civil, and choose the Phase 1 folder we made a moment ago.
02:48
I'll click Select when finished.
02:50
Before I share this, I should mention that in order to select the project and folder,
02:55
you'll need to be a member of the target project and have edit rights to the folder receiving the files.
03:01
If necessary, you may need to reach out to a project admin of the target project to get access.
03:06
I'll click Share when finished and we can see that that content is being shared with the other project.
03:13
Just for a second, I'm going to jump over to the Phase Two project and I'll navigate into that Phase 1 folder.
03:19
In here, we'll find the civil folder that was bridged.
03:23
Note the icon in the indicator column.
03:25
This shows us the folder is bridged.
03:27
In fact, if I hover over the icon, it will tell me the project where this folder is coming from.
03:32
If I navigate into the civil folder, we'll see those bridged files have arrived.
03:37
Note that each file includes a similar icon to make it easy to identify files coming from another source.
03:44
Now that these files reside within the Phase Two project,
03:47
I can use them for XREFs or DREFs, and the best part is if these files are modified in the Phase One project,
03:53
those changes will be reflected here.
03:56
Let's test that synchronization.
03:58
I'm going to jump over to Civil 3D and I'll open up one of the drawings from the Phase One project.
04:03
I'll click Open and inside Autodesk Docs I'll find the Phase One project.
04:09
I'll navigate to the civil folder under models and open this drawing called topo.
04:14
I'm going to make a quick change to this file by drawing a circle and I'll come up and click the save button.
04:21
After saving the file, I'll go back to the web browser
04:24
and here in the Phase One project you can see that I have ownership of the topo file and it has been versioned up as a result of the save.
04:32
Note the icon showing us the file is synced to Phase Two.
04:36
Click in the other tab to visit the Phase Two project.
04:39
I can see that the topo file over here remains synchronized to Phase One.
04:43
Had I created an XREF or DREF to the topo file within this project, those references would also have updated as a result of the new file version.
04:52
As you can see, using the bridge feature we can synchronize content between projects.
04:57
This allows us to create dynamic references to files without a need to path outside of the current project folder.
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