Leveraging blocks - AutoCAD Tutorial

Now that we understand how to create and insert Blocks let's explore some concepts that make blocks even more powerful. In this lesson we'll look at some black best practices. On my screen i have a drawing that represents some handicap stalls. Over here to the right i've constructed some geometry that i'd like to convert into blocks. We'll start by zooming in on this symbol. If i select these entities, you can see they were all drawn on layer 0. This is actually a great idea. Whenever you create a block, it's important that your entities be drawn on layer 0. We'll see why in just a minute. I'm going to deselect these entities, and we'll convert them into a block. To do that, i'll move up to the block panel and launch the Create Cmd. I'm going to call this block handisymbol. I will then click Pick point, and i will select a centrally located insertion point. I'm going to choose the endpoint right here. I will then choose Select objects. And i will select the entities that make up the block. I'll press Enter when finished. I would like to Delete these entities after the block is created. When i'm finished, i'll come down and click OK. Now that i've defined the block, let's insert one into this drawing. If i hover over this geometry, you can see it was created on Layer striping. I'd like to place my block on this same layer. To set that layer current, i'll choose the Make Object's Layer Current button, and i will select an object on that layer. I will then Insert the block. We'll do that by clicking the Insert icon. I will select the block that i just made. And when i place this in the drawing, i'll make sure that AutoCAD asks me for an Insertion point and a Rotation angle. I'll click Ok. And take a look at the symbol. If you create a block from entities that were drawn on layer 0, that block will assume the properties of the layer it's inserted on. This symbol looks yellow because it's being inserted on a yellow layer. Now, i'd like to place this in the middle of the stall, so i'm going to Shift+right-click, and choose mid between two points, and i will select the opposite end points of the stall. I will then define the rotation angle by the midpoint of the right side. Let's insert another symbol. This time i'm going to change the layer so we can see the difference. I'll click Insert. I'll use the same settings as before, and choose OK. Notice the difference. As you can see, by creating your blocks from entities that were drawn on layer 0, your blocks can have a variety of appearances. It's also a great way to identify when you're inserting blocks on the wrong layer. Lets finish this up. I'd like to place it in the middle of the stall. So i'll choose Mid Between 2 Points. I will select opposite end points, and i'll rotate it to the mid point of the right side. When i'm finished, i'll select the block and i'll place this on the striping layer. Finally i'm going to use the copy Cmd. I'll select my last block and i'm going to copy it from the lower left corner of the stall to the remaining stall. Let's pan the drawing back over to the right, and we'll look at another example. In this case, i'd like to add some parking bumpers. As you can see, i've drawn a parking bumper right here. These entities were created on layer 0. I have also constructed a typical parking stall around this geometry. What i'd like to show you here is the importance of the insertion point. When i insert parking bumpers i typically like to place them a half a foot from the front of the stall. Since i've constructed this geometry, i can easily find that point by grabbing the mid point of this line. By not having the insertion point on the object itself, i can easily place these bumpers exactly where i need them when they're inserted into the drawing. Let's convert this geometry into a block. I'll call it bumper. I'll select Pick point. And my insertion point will be the midpoint of the front of the stall. I will then choose Select objects, and i'll select the parking bumper geometry, and press Enter. I would like to Delete this geometry after the block is created. When i'm finished, i'll click OK. Now i don't need this extra line work anymore, so i'll select it and click erase. Let's pan the drawing over and we'll insert a bumper. I'll start by setting the parking bumper layer current. I will then choose Inserts, (SOUND) i'll select my block. When i insert this, i'd like AutoCAD to ask me for the Insertion point and Rotation angle. And i'd like this to be placed in the middle of the end of the stall. So i'm going to Shift+right+click. I'll choose Mid Between 2 Points. And i'll select the end points on either side of the front of the stall, and then i will identify the rotation angle by this endpoint in the upper right corner. As you can see, using a little foresight with my insertion point, i can easily place these bumpers exactly where they need to be. Let's place one more. I'll use the same settings. We'll insert this to the Mid Between 2 Points. I will select both endpoints, and we'll rotate it to the upper right corner. Finally, i'll finish the remaining stall using the copy Cmd (SOUND). We'll copy this bumper all the way over to the right (SOUND). So the next time you're creating a blog spend some time pre-planning its creation, with a little foresight your blogs will be easier to insert and assume the properties of the layer on which they'e placed.