How can I copy a clipped portion of my dwg

[Tadah]

MicroStation allows "fences" to be used as clipping masks or as selection windows. This way you can either copy objects within the fence or you can "clip" the objects to the fences edges. I would like to know if I can accomplish this in Autocad witout having to copy everything and then trim to the edges of the outline I want.

[rkmcswain]

MicroStation allows "fences" to be used as clipping masks or as selection windows. This way you can either copy objects within the fence or you can "clip" the objects to the fences edges. I would like to know if I can accomplish this in Autocad witout having to copy everything and then trim to the edges of the outline I want.

Nothing in vanilla AutoCAD to do that. A crossing window is about as close as it gets.

Another option would be to make a BLOCK, then XCLIP the block, which you can then copy.

So what does microstation do with objects that can't be "clipped" in traditional ways, like TEXT, BLOCKS, etc.?

[aledtaylor]

There is a 'fence' option on the trim command.

Is this what you're looking for?

[Tadah]

Blocks (which are called cells in Microstation) are treated just like any other object but text is not clipped. The microstation fence gives various options as to how it works, among them "clip" and "inside". I have been doing things the way you described (copy a block and trim). Was just curious as to whether there was another way.

No, the fence in AutoCad works differently than what I describe. This feature would be more like a windows polygon, but one that actually clips the objects inside it for modification