Issue regarding block insertion

[Jef!]

Greetings everyone. Nice forum you have here!

 

I copy some blocks from a DWG to another using copy with base point command.

Here are all the details:

 

My SOURCE drawing is in mm (DDUNITS)

My destination dwg is in inches (DDUNITS)

 

In the source drawing:

The block unit, in the source drawing is inches. As my AutoCAD is very intelligent, he knows all about that, so he decides to have the block at scale: 1 (not 25.4), and instead it is the unit factor that is at 25.4.

 

For now, everything is ok, and I'm happy () with that.

 

My happyness brutally comes to an end () when i paste multiple blocks (I should say many instance of that same block) that I copied with base point. Why? because when I paste, even though the destination drawing has DDUNITS set to inches, and even though the block unit also is inches, the blocks are inserted at a 25.4 scale.

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Since I paste many instances at the same time from a base point that cannot be the same as the blocks insertion point, I cannot change their scale via properties palette, every time I need to reselect all the blocks pasted, to rescale them at a .03937 factor to get the inches blocks to be at scale 1 in an inches drawing, all that, of course, from the same base point I used for the insertion. It is more annoying than time consuming, but still, I would be glad to get rid of that little problem. I cannot figure that one out... maybe someone can?

 

Make me happy () again! Any help would be appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Jef!

[RobDraw]

Because of the way that AutoCAD handles units, you need to scale at some point. You can scale each insertion as you paste by typing "S" while in the paste command. Another option would be to set up a macro or a lisp to automagically scale your insertions for you.

[Patrick Hughes]

If this is a frequent operation you might want to reconsider your method (AutoCAD offers many options).

 

Instead of copy/pasting (with basepoint) consider wblocking the geometry to an external file, open the file and perform your scaling, and insert the file multiple times. The side benefit of this is you begin to build up a library and you can name your blocks to something meaningful - you won't have those funky $____ names anymore.

[NBC]

Look into the system variables INSUNITS, INSUNITSDEFTARGET, and INSUNITSDEFSOURCE

[Jef!]

Hey!

Thank you all for your answers!

Because of the way that AutoCAD handles units, you need to scale at some point. You can scale each insertion as you paste by typing "S" while in the paste command. Another option would be to set up a macro or a lisp to automagically scale your insertions for you.

Mmm. I don't quite agree with your first sentence Rob. If I make a block within a drawing which has DDUNITS set to inches, I set my block units set also to inches, when I put the block into a drawing that has DDUNITS to mm, AutoCAD knows. The proof is that when the block is at scale 1.000, the size is correct... BUT even if the source block is scale at 1, when I paste it is pasted at scale 25.4! The unit factor should compensate for the unit change, so a block made in inches will remain at scale 1 into a mm drawing.

I have to insert it (not paste) for it to work properly though. I just tried and it worked fine.

If I would always be taking from one unit to another, like you suggest, we would defenitly make a lisp to do it. Unfortunately, since we are world wide, and send construction drawings world wide, every project is different. One day I make a drawing to build a project in europe, but to fit with an existing equipment that has been made in America, or we can build with both metric and imperial hardware. Some supplyers work in inches, some in mm, some in m, some in foot... I like showbusiness

 

If this is a frequent operation you might want to reconsider your method (AutoCAD offers many options).

 

Instead of copy/pasting (with basepoint) consider wblocking the geometry to an external file, open the file and perform your scaling, and insert the file multiple times. The side benefit of this is you begin to build up a library and you can name your blocks to something meaningful - you won't have those funky $____ names anymore.

Thank you for pointing me the way! I realizes that it worked fine when i inserted blocks (like ttleblocks, ar something that is in our library). I don't have any $ish names though, I dont use paste-as-block. If i want to achieve that, i do the block first, then paste my newly made block. Great idea to wblock to a library!

 

Look into the system variables INSUNITS, INSUNITSDEFTARGET, and INSUNITSDEFSOURCE

some sysvar that i didn't know yet. As it may help adepts of copy/paste, I will take a deeper look at them!

 

I'm glad that i found this forum

Jef!