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Block vs. wblock


Memnon

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ok, thank guys, i was able to compare my dxf files to autocad's dxf output in respect to WBlock.

at first glance i noticed $INSBASE is where the difference is.

so now i know what changes i need to make.

thanks for your help

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  • 2 weeks later...
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How I would say it…..

The WBLOCK command creates a new drawing. Since you can insert drawing into a drawing it is a way to move blocks you have created in your drawing to a place so that you can use them in other drawing. For instance, when I am making a drawing of a process that includes equipment and it has piping connecting the equipment I use my pipe fitting drawing stored in a folder labeled “Pipe Fittings” If I need a 12” Schedule 80 Butt Weld Long Radius Ell, I pick INSERT block and then I pick Browse which lets me get to my Pipe Fittings folder.

However I am not aware of any way to modify a drawing and have it automatically modify another drawing. I am not sure you would want that to happen. You can however modify the drawing you created using the WBLOCK command and save it and close it. Then you can open any drawing that has the block in it and go to the INSERT command and use the browse button to select the modified drawing and it will tell you that the block already exist in your drawing and will ask you if you want to update it. If you say yes then all of the blocks with that name in your drawing will be updated.

Another reason to use blocks that I did not see mention in this thread is drawing size. If you create a complicated set of objects with many faces then you will increase the size of the drawing every time you copy them by the same amount of memory as the original. However, if you make a block of the complicated set of objects you only increase the memory by a very small amount. What I am trying to say is that I recently reduced a 7 meg file to 3 megs using this method. There were 270 uses of two objects before and then just the two objects and that were included in 30 blocks with 9 of each of the blocks created from the two objects.

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Block is a command and an object name. Block will create a block from selected entities and will "live" in the current drawing.

Wblock is a command and writes objects to a drawing file, to a location of your choosing.

 

I have never heard of the term "world block" and I have been using AutoCAD since R8 (v2.6).

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I have never heard of the term "world block" and I have been using AutoCAD since R8 (v2.6).
I've been using AutoCAD for the same time, and have often heard the term "world block". I prefer to think of it as write block though.
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I have always called them write blocks as that is what the dialogue box was called.

 

Nowadays I create a library of blocks in one file then use the tool palette to insert them. Before that I used to use design centre to copy blocks ever since IT changed my computer without warning and lost three years worth of wblocks!

 

The other important thing to remember as well as getting the correct insert point is to draw your block either on the right layers or as we do layer 0, so as not to import extra layers into drawings as people use slightly different layer names e.g. electrics, elec, electrical. I also set most of the colours to ByBlock so I can if necessary change the colour of individual blocks if I need the pens thicker. Of course this is how I work and may not be as others do!

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WBLOCK is the command for Write Block. I previously used WBLOCK quite often, but with design center and block editor so convenient, I mostly use it to clean up drawings. It is a good way to maintain parameters for dynamic blocks you wish to rename and modify.

 

Curiosity got the best of me, so I googled "World Block AutoCAD" I got a few hits, seems mostly a term used in the United Kingdom for WBLOCK.

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  • 2 weeks later...

StykFacE wrote earlier:

"If you XREF one drawing into ten drawings, when you make changes to the XREF it updates in all ten drawings. If you use the INSERT command to import the same BLOCK into ten drawings, you can only make changes to the BLOCK in each individual ten drawings, and the changes that are made are specific to each drawing only - they are not referenced in any way. So, making changes to the original BLOCK does nothing unless you re-import it into each of the ten drawings. "

 

So is there a way to bring in a block from another drawing and have it over-write and existing block of the same name? Would I just have to purge that block and then re-insert it? That would be ok except if the block is in use and I want it to be redefined as the new block.

I've come across this before where I update a block in one drawing and then have to go through all the steps of updating it again in another drawing.

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So is there a way to bring in a block from another drawing and have it over-write and existing block of the same name? Would I just have to purge that block and then re-insert it? That would be ok except if the block is in use and I want it to be redefined as the new block.

I've come across this before where I update a block in one drawing and then have to go through all the steps of updating it again in another drawing.

 

Yes. If you INSERT

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  • 2 months later...

I use wblock to clean dwg files sometimes and sometimes it can decrease filesize from 35 to 5 MB just by doing so. Can someone explain is there any danger in doing so to ,say, loose important objects by this kind of cleaning?

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you will lose all unused items. This will include text styles, dim styles, layers & blocks. It is in effect a purge. The danger is if you have created several text styles, dim styles, layers & blocks for future use they will all disappear. You will not lose anything actually in use in the drawing.

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Just make sure you do not have anything on off or frozen layers that you would like to keep. It is pretty much WYSIWYG when SELECTING items to be WBLOCK, that is the advantage of using it, you will not be dragging a ton of unwanted extras.

Edited by SLW210
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Just make sure you do not have anything on off or frozen layers that you would like to keep. It is pretty much WYSIWYG when selecting items to be WBLOCK, that is the advantage of using it, you will not be dragging a ton of unwanted extras.
mmmmmm

 

I just WBLOCKed my current drawing. In the past I have always used -WBLOCK and used * for my selection. I have just tried this and it takes a frozen locked layer with it. More worryingly it doesn't lose a layer called WIRES either. It could be that this is a default layer that electrical hangs on to but it can be purged so I am confused.

 

Confused is a very usual condition for me though. And never mind, I am off soon as we have an extra bank (public) holiday tomorrow. I think possible future kings should marry every year. :D

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Just make sure you do not have anything on off or frozen layers that you would like to keep. It is pretty much WYSIWYG when selecting items to be WBLOCK, that is the advantage of using it, you will not be dragging a ton of unwanted extras.

 

mmmmmm

 

I just WBLOCKed my current drawing. In the past I have always used -WBLOCK and used * for my selection. I have just tried this and it takes a frozen locked layer with it. More worryingly it doesn't lose a layer called WIRES either. It could be that this is a default layer that electrical hangs on to but it can be purged so I am confused.

 

Confused is a very usual condition for me though. And never mind, I am off soon as we have an extra bank (public) holiday tomorrow. I think possible future kings should marry every year. :D

 

I just use WBLOCK and physically select all visible objects, I should have highlighted the SELECT in my original statement. Using * will bring everything in the drawing.

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I just use WBLOCK and physically select all visible objects, I should have highlighted the SELECT in my original statement. Using * will bring everything in the drawing.

 

On further examination the WIRES layer must be considered a default layer for ACADE as I have just WBLOCKed my template and all other layers except WIRES has been purged. SO, you can either use * or the Dialogue box's Entire Drawing option to keep frozen layers or just select the objects for a WYSIWYG method.

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I use wblock to clean dwg files sometimes and sometimes it can decrease filesize from 35 to 5 MB just by doing so. Can someone explain is there any danger in doing so to ,say, loose important objects by this kind of cleaning?

 

wblock-ing the drawing in order to clean, loses the information on frozen and turned-off layers. Use purge instead.

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wblock-ing the drawing in order to clean, loses the information on frozen and turned-off layers. Use purge instead.

 

This is not true.

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Are you sure? It is true.

 

Perhaps you were responding to a different aspect of the method than I thought you were. Dave is correct - it depends on how you do it for purposes of cleaning out a drawing. The most efficient method is to respond with an * (asterisk) at "block name" prompt.

 

This will write all objects including those on frozen and off layers to the new drawing. You will lose all unused layers, linetypes etc. when doing this. If the current layer is set to one that has no objects however, that layer will be writtn.

 

It is a method that is often used in batch processing.

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