Blocks Blocks Blocks!

[KadieMills]

In AutoCad what is the deffinition of a block? I see it both for importing things into the drawing, and also in a variety of ways as properties for lines and dimensioning options. What is a block?

I WANT DETAILS!

[iain9876]

hi kadie,

A block can be anything, that can be inserted into a drawing as a seperate entity. for example a tree, chair, car, another building etc..

 

the great thing about blocks is that you can assign attributes to them. The attributes can be as in the above examples, the tree spread or trunk girth sizes. Number of wheels on a car or its colour etc..

 

Still confused???

[yedan]

a block is a drawn component that can be inserted into another drawing, the block can contain pre described text or have a variable attribute that user changes when the block is inserted, or a mixture of both, the block attributes can be used to create parts lists and quantity requirements,

[KadieMills]

I understand that definition of it. But i guess what i want to know is when selecting attributes for my lines i have the option of selecting lines by layer, and by block. What's the difference?

[tzframpton]

I understand that definition of it. But i guess what i want to know is when selecting attributes for my lines i have the option of selecting lines by layer, and by block. What's the difference?

that's just fine tuning layer control. let me give you an example of using a block.

 

i work at a mechanical company that does HVAC, and i have prints that have up to 200+ of the metal grills that the Air Conditioning comes out of for a building. well, they're all the same thing, so it's just a block that is copied 200+ times. well lets say all of those have to be changed to a larger size, well instead of selecting all 200+ and rescaling them, i can open one, edit it, and it changes all of them at once, because a block is referenced throughout a drawing with each other.

 

other way's blocks come in handy is when you have a library of "tools" for repetitive uses of something.... using the Design Center, or Tool Palettes (which i absolutely love, came in AutoCAD 2005) and so forth. a block is probably one of the most valuable thing i use in AutoCAD, besides some express tools. also you can have Attributes to a block that further control text editing, etc. i can go on and on, but you'll get it within time.

[KadieMills]

Thanks for all the help everybody. This is a good forum!

[Ako]

Main advantage of using blocks is that it keeps the filesize down.

 

Dave

[CyberAngel]

Maybe this is more basic than you wanted, but you asked for "details."

 

An "entity" is what AutoDesk calls the things in a drawing. There are simple, single entities, like lines, and there are compound entities, like blocks. You define a block as a group of other entities, and then you can insert it as many times as necessary. You don't see the block itself in the drawing--what you see are copies, or instances, of the original block. That's where it can get confusing, because a block's appearance depends on how you insert it as well as how you define it.

 

There are three basic ways to define an entity in a block, according to the help files. Actually, there are four.

 

One, define its properties explicitly. If you want a line to always appear yellow, set its color to YELLOW. That color will not change, no matter how you insert the block or whether you change its layer.

 

Two, put the entity on layer 0 and set its properties to ByLayer. As the name implies, a line will take the properties of the layer you put the block on. Layer 0 is a special case in blocks, because it lets the current properties "pass through" it; any other layer would override the current layer. If the current layer's color is yellow when you insert the block, the line will be yellow. However, if you move the block to another layer, it will change to the color of that layer.

 

Three, set the properties to ByBlock and then override the current layer's properties. Entities in the block will use the overrides. If you have set the current drawing color to yellow when you insert the block, then the line will be yellow, and it will stay that color even if you move the block to another layer.

 

Four, set the block properties to ByBlock and then set the current layer's properties to ByLayer. Entities in the block appear as if they were drawn on the current layer, and they will change properties if you change layers. This option has the same effect as option two.

 

Note that "properties" can include linetype and lineweight as well as color. Also, you can use different entity definitions in the same block. Finally, you can define a block that includes another block. The best way to learn is to experiment! See what works and what doesn't.

[tzframpton]

very nice explanation!! much better than i... lol

[GettinBetter]

Now this is better peeps. (bows in thx) I've been looking for ages to get this info and in this format (simply explained), I think some of the members forget we're in the beginners section for the obvious reason that we don't understand too much just yet.

Appreciate your efforts, and thx again

[PSAPmapR]

As another noob here at Autocad

(GIS is my bread winner, I'm now learning Autocad as a suplement as there is a point where the two come crashing together)

 

Hope replying to this older thread is the appropriate place as well, I've searched the forums and haven't found exactly what I'm looking for, seemed like my question would benefit this thread so, if I'm in the wrong place, please accept my apologies.

 

With regards to using Design Center, it would appear this gives you a nice tidy access to numerous blocks of different disciplines, which are merely "libraried" within normal "*.dwg" files found in the (*\Program Files\AutoCAD 2005\Sample\DesignCenter) folder.

 

Two questions: (If i may)

 

1) Can I edit these *.dwg's to "add" more blocks to these drawings without causing harm to the program?

 

2) Can I customize the location of the "Design Center" folder? Lets face it, that folder's buried pretty deep, not to mention, If I can "customize/add to" those dwg's, would be nice to have the folder located on a drive which is in my normal data backup routine.

 

I looked under "Tools/Options" "Files" tab, thinking that would be the logical place to change the path to that folder, but don't see it already in there. Is this doable?

 

Many thanks,

David

BTW, I'm running AutoCad 2005, Service Pack 0, Product vN.63.0

[yrnomad]

David,

Did you get an answer to your questions? If not...

(Q2) If '05 is the same as '06-'09 has been, you should be able to pick the folder tab within design center and then browse to a new drive and subfolder where you have created a "custom library" so to speak.

This is what we have done, created our own library structure on a networked location and reference it through "Folders" in Design Center.

For some of our more frequently used blocks, we have made tool pallets out of. You can do this by dragging a folder from your design center view to your tool palette. Once you have done this, you can set the insertion properties for each item on the palette (i.e. scale, rotation, layer & color). If you do this then you can pick it from the Palette list and drop it in the drawing as you typically want it.

(Q1) I would then make a copy of the blocks you think you will want out of the AutoCAD supplied folders and put them in your custom library location and make your modifications in that new location.

Make sense?

[PSAPmapR]

Thanks for the reply, no, I never recieved any answers, no prob though. I do like your idea of creating special tool pallets of freq. used blocks and will probably look into learning how to do that.

 

As for changing the default path to the design center blocks, I haven't found a remedy for that, but did find there may be a way to accomplish this in the Windows Registry... haven't gotten into that deep enough yet to ellaborate on it yet.

 

Thanks again,

Dave

[yrnomad]

You should be able to browse a folder tree on the left side of the Design center dialog box (if you have the folders tab highlighted). If you don't have this tree showing click on the "Tree View Toggle" icon on the top.

 

Attached is a jpg image with red markup to show the areas I'm talking about.

[PSAPmapR]

Yes, I have the tree view in DC. Whenever I opened DC it always opened in the default location (buried deep) in the Programs Files folder.

 

But just now, I opened AC, opened DC, navigated up to the C drive, closed AC and when I reopen Autocad and DC I see that it now opens in C, not drilled down into the program files folder.

 

This may be a viable alternative.

 

Thanks.

 

Addendum:

 

Indeed, I tried several different situations, of closing Design Center, then Autocad (after selecting a new folder in Design Center) and whenever I open Autocad back up, regardless if DC is already open or not, it opens in the last folder I was in.

 

Very convienient, thanks yrnomad!

[rookie37]

Thank you cyberangel

 

I have been using blocks for years but never used or fully understood byblock

 

If I had any pull, I'd get you a job re-writing the autocad help files