Some Issues with Block

Hi everybody,

I have some problem with blocks that I will like to discuss with you. I do have a collection of car blocks along with many others. I can easily import those to the drawing. However, I have to bring in two notable modifications: scale it up and there is a transparency problem (that it if the car is in front of the building, part of the building behind the car which should be hidden from view is now).

I. I do understand the basics regarding scaling a drawing up using a local x-axis or y-axis on the block as reference and I insert the actual measurement. This automatically scale up the drawing and most of the time it is just great.

However, the problem has when I have for example a 900x900 bath block that I want to resize into or fit into a space of say 1200x1000. There is no direct proportion and scale of course does not work.

II. Transparency problem. As stated above, lines behind the block is visible through the drawing. I have to explode the block, trim the lines and regrouped the block. This is problematic when there are too much lines and this is prone to mistake and seemed to be harsh.

III. A third problem is to change the linetype directly. The color does not change even through the properties of the object says so.

Thank you in advance.

Sincerely Yours,

Nicolas

Re: Scaling of block from 900x900 to 1200x1000 can be done when the block is inserted as AutoCAD gives the user the ability to scale it differently in the X, Y and Z axis. So, do the math. 1200/900=1.3333 and 1000/900=1.1111. Plug those numbers in the correct locations and you should be fine.

If I follow you, I scale it first in the X-axis in the first place say by 1.333 and then in the y-axis by 1.111. However, as I can recall, I do fear that as I enlarge the block by 1.333 in the x-direction it do increase as a whole in the y-direction as well. The same is true if I enlarge the block by 1.111 in the y-direction. Well this can be a memory defect on my part but I will check and I hope I am erring along this logic.

You followed incorrectly.

Please take a look at the dialog window that comes up on your screen when you use the Insert command. Specifically, look at the center of the window where it says Scale. Scale can be Specified On-screen or individually for X, Y, and Z (as I previously mentioned). Disable Uniform scale if it is checked off. Can you hear me now?

Hi ReMark, this one is it for sure. Thank you. I have not notice the "uniform scale" checkbox. Will you please have a check at the other two items if you don't mind, thank you.

Re: Lines behind block are visible. Not sure this will work. Have you tried the command Draworder. From your AutoCAD Help file:

Draworder

"Changes the draw order of images and other objects."

Re: Change in linetype. You changed a linetype's color in a block but it wasn't updated in all instances of the block?

I will check the draw order but if you mean "send to front" or "send to back" thing i am not sure this will work. I will have to check back home. As to linetype color, I can change the color when I explode the object and I have to regroup the object back, sometimes this is quite problematic wrt to the complexity of the object itself and the amount of lines involved. If I select the object, change the linetype color directly nothing happens. When I right click on the object, select properties, I can see the new linetype color listed. However there has been no change in the actual object.

Re: Lines behind block are visible. Not sure this will work. Have you tried the command Draworder. From your AutoCAD Help file:

 

Draworder

 

"Changes the draw order of images and other objects."

I think the OP is referring more to WIPEOUT s, although there is also a command that automatically uses the block to trim the lines (this was discussed recently in a thread... BRB).

AHA... It was you who suggested it ReMark!!!

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?t=41030&highlight=wipeout

"AHA... It was you who suggested it ReMark!!!"

The old brain ain't what it used to be.

Thank you very much. I will try to get the maximum on those commands and will return to you shortly.

"AHA... It was you who suggested it ReMark!!!"

 

The old brain ain't what it used to be.

Hehehe you are a true machine you just post without even batting an eyelid... :wink:

Hi everybody,

I have tried with success the import and resizing of a block (in this case, it was a shower). My error was that I have copy and paste the block into the drawing and then using the scale command. I should have use the insert>block menu and left the box for uniform scale unchecked. I can now resize along the x-axis and/or along the y-axis at the same time with different figures. The equation for the ration is simple be it extending or shortening along any axis: namely the forcast length DIVIDED by the actual length of the block. For example I want the 900x900 mm shower block to fit a 1200 (x) x 1000 (y)space. The ration for the x axis is 1200/900 and the ration for the y-axis is 1000/900. I have input the ratio up to 10 decimal place and it fits perfectly into the space.

As to render the lines behind any object invisible, I have tried the WIPEOUT command and it offer the user the possibility to create a polyline and everything within that polylines is rendered invisible. That's great but I need to have a centre line crossing over that invisible zone and the centre line to be visible. So far ... this is quite a difficulty.

Thank you for your assistance and should anyone of you have some solutions, please do not hesitate to provide them.

Regards,

Nicolas.

You can add a centre line to your block- then use draworder to get the centre line above the wipeout (make sure frames are on so you can select the wipeout- WIPEOUT, FRAMES, ON).

Thank you for the information, I will try this tonight and let you knowthe result.

Glad to hear you got a handle on your block scaling problem. Thanks for the update.