Are you new to AutoCAD? Have you been using AutoCAD for years but only use the blocks, styles, layers and tools that others have created?  Do you want to learn more or step up your game on features you’re not very strong in and pick up some practical examples of best practices?  If so, this series is for you.  Over the course of 12 months and maybe more I will cover the basics of a lot of AutoCAD tools and features that many may want or need to learn more about.

This is the 8th article in my AutoCAD 101 series – to read about the origination for this series, see the first post here: <Intro>  The last post in this series was about diving in to “Dynamic Blocks” <link>, this post will be diving in to the ‘Point’ and ‘Alignment’ Parameters and the ‘Move’ and ‘Stretch’ Actions.

Up until now, I have been using a 2×4 Light fixture for the how-tos, for this post, I am going to switch to a new block.  For the various parameters and actions being discussed, I am going to introduce the ‘Phone_Board’.

Typical phone board blocks are a 4′ wide by 1″ or so thick rectangle that sometimes includes a hatch.  When other sizes are needed, it is often exploded and stretched.  In this post I will cover adding the ability to re-size the block, align it with a wall surface and toggle through various insertion points, as well as combine it with the previous discussed Visibility state option to make this a super phone board!

Below is the final product highlighted to show the various points on the Block with which Parameter/Action each one is associated with.

Figure A

Before we get in to adding the parameters, lets make a quick phone board block.  The most common phone board sizes are 4’x4′ and 4’x8′ vertical or horizontal.  So I will start by making a rectangle on layer ‘0’ (zero) that is 48″ wide by 1″ thick with the insertion point on the lower left side of the rectangle, which will be the ‘back’ side, then save this block as ‘Phone_Board’.

As stated previously, a common issue with phone board blocks is their size – 4ft does not work in all conditions.  What I have seen some companies do in the past is to create multiple blocks for the various sizes – which works pretty well until you get the requirement to wrap a room with phone boards that is not in 4ft increments – so off to explode they go.  We don’t believe in exploding blocks here – Right?  Right!!??!?  So the Phone_Block I am creating will be resizeable.  For this we need the point parameter.

Point:

The point is the first parameter on the Parameters menu and can be use with various ‘Actions’.  For this post I am going to use it for two actions – ‘Stretch’ and ‘Move’.  I will address the resize dilemma by adding a ‘Point’ parameter to the end of the block and assign the ‘Stretch’ action to it.

Sequence to add Stretch functionality:

• Right click on block and select ‘Block Editor’
• Pick the ‘Point’ parameter and place on the far right side of the rectangle in the mid-point of the vertical line.
• Pull the cursor to right to place the label
• Switch to the ‘Actions’ tab of the ‘Block Authoring Palette’
  • Note: If you are following along, on the remaining steps, watch the command prompt to see what is being asked for.
• Select the ‘Stretch’ Action and then select the label of the Point parameter just inserted
• Create a stretch frame around the end of the right side of the rectangle, crossing the ‘Point’ parameter.
• Select the objects that need to stretch – which in this case is the right end of the rectangle.  Do this with the crossing selection, and get the parameter as part of the selection.
• Done
• Test the block to make sure it is doing what is expected – pick on the right end of the block and drag the point left or right.  If all is well, close test window and go to next step.

Once the block can be resized, the next challenge is getting it inserted on the right wall surface.  By adding an ‘Alignment’ parameter to the block, it will automatically align to the wall surface chosen – no matter what weird angle it is at.

Alignment:

In AutoCAD there is an ‘Align’ command for align objects.  Within dynamic blocks, you can use an ‘Alignment’ parameter.  Like the ‘Visibility’ parameter, this has no associated Action menu item. With the alignment parameter on a block, when you move your block near a surface, it will automatically align with that surface.  This can be a bit tricky to do and you have to understand how it works to get your ‘Alignment’ parameter placed properly.  The important thing is to have the pointed end of the symbol facing in the direction of the object that you want the block to align with.

Figure B

Sequence to add Alignment functionality:

• Right click on block and select ‘Block Editor’
• Pick the ‘Alignment’ parameter and place at the insertion point of the rectangle (lower left).
• Pull the cursor to the left to have the alignment parameter point down (this is the direction of the wall that the board will be mounted to).
• Done
• Test the block to make sure it is doing what is expected – when sliding towards a wall, the block should automatically align with the wall.  This can be a touchy process, which is why for small items I avoid using this parameter.  If all is well, close the test window and go to the next step.

Now the Phone board can be resized and will align to a wall – the next step is to add some additional functionality to it by combining two Parameters – ‘Point’ and ‘Visibility’.

Visibility:

In many situations the phone board is in a building that is served by conduits from the outside or has conduits that lead to other spaces – like bldg tenants.  I added (6) conduits to my block and made each combo of (0) to (6) it’s own visibility state.  Now when inserting the phone board, I can choose a number from the the visibility states menu of 0-Conduits to 6-Conduits.  See Figure below.

NOTE:
The sequence in ‘Figure C’ shows the order to be 2-Conduits first, then 1, then 0; this is because the 2-Conduit version is what is used most often, so that will be the default inserted view. 

Figure C

Sequence to add conduits:

Now that we have the ability to show conduits, there may be a situation that these conduits come up in the middle of the board or at the other end of where they are shown by default.  For the other end, I could mirror the block, but that will not work in the middle – Do I Explode and Move?  NO!  I’ll just add a move parameter to the conduits.

Move:

This process uses the ‘Point’ parameter again combined with the ‘Move’ Action.

Sequence to add Move functionality:

Figure D

Since I used the ‘Alignment’ parameter in this post,  I will do a short post follow-up showing a multi-point insertion option and then follow that up with the ‘Flip’ and ‘Rotate’ Parameters and Actions.

If you run into a snag with any of this, email me at walt@functionsense.com

WES

Are you new to AutoCAD? Have you been using AutoCAD for years but only use the blocks, styles, layers and tools that others have created?  Do you want to learn more or step up your game on features you’re not very strong in and pick up some practical examples of best practices?  If so, this series is for you.  Over the course of 12 months and maybe more I will cover the basics of a lot of AutoCAD tools and features that many may want or need to learn more about.

This is the 7th article in my AutoCAD 101 series – to read about the origination for this series, see the first post here: <Intro>  The last post in this series was about diving in to “Dynamic Blocks” <link>, this post will be diving in to Visibility States.

Let’s start with an example of something that affects both architects and electrical engineers – Lighting.  Since we have been using the 2X4-Light fixture as an example in our previous posts, I’ll continue with it for this topic.  Architects use Lighting to enhance the visual appeal of spaces while electrical engineers use them to provide required illuminance.  In order to show the different types of lighting in a building, you could put letters and numbers next to a light symbol to indicate what it is, then, a schedule could be referenced to describe the fixture in more detail.  But if you actually gave each block a unique look, you could tell just by looking at it what it is.  This also helps the project owner or client visually see what the light is by just looking at the floor plan.  One commonly used light fixture is the 2×4 recessed fixtures that are found on almost every commercial project.  Although these fixtures are one size, they can be a variety of lighting types (Prismatic, Parabolic, LED, Direct/Indirect as well as Emergency versions of each).

See ‘Figure A’ below that shows a small variety of light fixture types. All of these light fixtures are actually in one block and use the dynamic Visibility option to change the views that represent each individual look.  With this one block, you could place 2×4 fixtures throughout your project, then in rooms that needed specialty fixtures like parabolic or direct-indirect, you would highlight the fixtures in the room or rooms, right click and select quick properties and choose the parabolic version from the drop-down menu. You could repeat the same process for the lights required to be emergency or night lights as well.  The variety of lighting types used on a project that are similar in nature but have some unique characteristics could easily be shown in a single block and quickly changed using the dynamic visibility state option.

Figure A

How to:

The steps outlined here will work for any trade or block – you just need to determine which feature will benefit you in your work and use that when defining or modifying your blocks.  I use dynamic blocks for two primary reasons – minimize the number of blocks required to represent items in a drawing and make changes quicker.

You may want to start using dynamic blocks by creating new blocks from scratch or since you probably already have an extensive block library a better approach may be to modify an existing block that you currently use by adding dynamic features to it.

Like any customization process there are a series of steps that you would typically go through to implement your ideas.

Dynamic block creation Steps:

1. Start out by planning on what you want your block to do.  Often this comes from experience with blocks that you keep replacing, rotating, flipping or changing out.
2. Draw your block geometry or edit an existing block to add dynamic features.
3. Choose a ‘Parameter’; there are various Parameters to choose, see ‘Figure B’ for a screen shot of the dynamic options pallet.
4. Match an ‘Action’ with your parameter – see ‘Figure C’.
5. Test your option.
6. Repeat 1 – 5 for each dynamic option.

Figure B	Figure C

The items in red in ‘Figures B and C’ are what will be covered over the next few posts on dynamic blocks.  For this post I will just cover the Visibility Parameter.

For the dynamic block demonstration here I am going to start with our ‘2×4-Light’ fixture that I have been using in previous posts and add the visibility parameter to make it more flexible.  You can follow along with any type of block that you already have and want the ability to change it’s look of on the fly (Visibility State).

Like many blocks, our light fixture is composed of basic lines and hatches.  From experience of working with lighting plans, I know that the basic 2×4 fixture often gets changed out for a more decorative one like direct-indirect or parabolic fixtures in some offices or conference rooms.  Throughout the building emergency ballasts may be used to make the light an emergency light, which is typically indicated by a hatch or fill.  To make my job easier, I do not want to erase the old block and insert a new one for each change I need to make.   So for this issue I use ‘Visibility States’, using the Visibility Parameter.   Visibility states allow you to change the look of a block by selecting a pull-down menu and choosing the new look or ‘state’.  Note that ‘Visibility’ is the one parameter that does not require an Action item associated with it.

I open the existing block called ‘2×4-light’ in AutoCAD, and type Bedit to open the block editor.  See ‘Figure D’ that shows the block editor toolbar.  If you are not a ribbon rebel like me, see ‘Figure E’ for the ribbon version of the block editor.

Figure D

Figure E

When entering the block editor you will get the dynamic options pallet shown above in ‘Figures B and C’, and the block editor toolbar or Pallet shown in ‘Figures D and E’.

I select the Visibility parameter option and place it next to my block.  When doing this think about how your final block look will change so that your parameter does not end up under some of your line work.  I now see a new toolbar on the screen, the visibility toolbar, see Figure F.  I select the button that opens up the Visibility states option and rename the default menu item to ‘Standard’.  I then select ‘New’, and name the new state ‘Emergency’.  You may be asked if you want to “Leave the visibility of the existing objects unchanged in the new state”.   Since I am only going to be adding line work for this particular view, I will choose the option to leave the objects in the new visibility state as it currently is shown; see ‘Figure G’. Note that you can determine the default view or ‘visibility state’ by moving the one you want as default to the top of the Visibility states list.

Figure F

Figure G

Next, with the ‘Emergency’ state checked off in the list I’ll then draw an angled line between the top right and lower left of my internal rectangle to create hatch boundary and then choose my hatch command and hatch the space to the right side of the angled line.  Once this is done, on the block editor toolbar/pallet there is a small symbol with a check mark next to it.  This is the symbol to test the new dynamic options.   Once the block is highlighted in the test mode a blue triangle will show up off to the side.  By selecting the triangle I can choose between the ‘Standard’ and ‘Emergency’ display options.  If all is well I can move on to the next fixture type; but if not I can make the necessary corrections and test again.  Make this a habit, as finding and fixing issues later, after you have added a bunch of dynamic features can be a nightmare. Once testing is complete I can move on.

Now I want to expand this block to also represent all the other fixture types shown in Figure A.

Highlight the ‘Standard’ Visibility State each time you start a new fixture type, and when you are adding the emergency option, select the standard option of the that fixture type first.  See below a bulleted list of steps to use for each fixture type.

Warning:
When adding new parameters and actions and you have multiple visibility states, make sure you are on the state that you wish to perform the new action.  This is not a deal-breaker, as it can be corrected with a few extra steps – but keep it in mind.

Parabolic:

• Open visibility states menu
• Select ‘Standard Fixture’
• Select ‘New’
• Type ‘Parabolic’ (Choose: ‘Leave visibility of existing object…’)
• Ok
• OK
• Draw the Parabolic grid line work
• Leave the Parabolic State highlighted and select ‘New’
• Type ‘Parabolic Emergency’
• Ok
• Ok

Note:
For this step, I am going to use the same hatching I used for the ‘Standard Emergency’ fixture.  On the Visibility states toolbar there are some shaded and non-shaded boxes next to the Visibility Pull-down.  (See ‘Figure F’ above)

• Choose the combo ‘Shaded/Open’ box symbol. (This will show all other entities in a grey faded color as they are not part of this Visibility state).
• Choose the larger solid shaded box and pick the hatch that was created for the previous ‘Standard’ fixture. (This hatch will now show up in both emergency versions (Standard and Parabolic) of the light fixture).

Note:
You could have redrawn the hatch, but that adds additional size to the block, and you want to keep your blocks as lean as possible.

The block now has (4) visibility states, representing Standard and Emergency versions of two fixture types.  Try the final two states for direct/in-direct on your own.

Tip:
Combining Wipe-outs in to your blocks will add even more flexibility to your dynamic blocks.  For instance in our light fixture block, adding a  wipeout behind the fixture keeps anything else on the ceiling plan from bleeding through , I.e. putting fixtures in a gypsum board ceiling that is hatched with a pattern. Other examples would include room name blocks that have wipeouts to mask the background or door blocks that have wipeouts to hide the wall underneath making it appear that wherever you place your door the wall is on that wall is automatically cleaned up.

If you run into a snag with this, email me at walt@functionsense.com

In the next post, I will go over the Point, Alignment and Basepoint Parameters.

WES

Are you new to AutoCAD? Have you been using AutoCAD for years but only use the blocks, styles, layers and tools that others have created?  Do you want to learn more or step up your game on features you’re not very strong in and pick up some practical examples of best practices?  If so, this series is for you.  Over the course of 12 months and maybe more I will cover the basics of a lot of AutoCAD tools and features that many may want or need to learn more about.

This is the 6th article in my AutoCAD 101 series – to read about the origination for this series, see the first post here: <Intro>  The last post in this series was about “important stuff” to consider when making blocks <link>, this post will be about diving in to Dynamic Blocks.

We have wrapped up the basics of blocks in the past few posts, so let’s get in to some more advanced block work and look at Dynamic Blocks.

In the course of a design day or projects timeline blocks are moved, copied, mirrored, rotated and sometimes completely replaced.  An efficient way to reduce your work load and speed up some of these changes is to use dynamic blocks.  Dynamic blocks were introduced in AutoCAD 2006 and can be created and used in AutoCAD LT as we’ll.  Creating blocks that have dynamic properties or adding dynamic properties to an existing block will enhance the block’s usability and can greatly reduce block counts.  In the next few posts I am going to go over some basic features of Dynamic blocks that can make your regular blocks more flexible and save you editing time.

For the first post I’ll just discuss the options I will be covering moving forward and in the next post I will dig in with examples.

Dynamic blocks basically have two parts ‘Parameters’ and ‘Actions’.  Parameters are the defining points or properties of your block and the Actions are what gets done with or to the block.

	The Parameters that I will be covering are: Point Linear Rotation Alignment Flip Visibility Basepoint The coverage will not be in this order; it will be based on a building of features.
	The Associated Actions I will be covering are: Move Stretch Rotate Flip

Obviously there are more Parameters and Actions available, but I believe that the ones discussed here are the most commonly used for a variety of situations.  Plus, I need to leave a few for you to learn on your own!  In the next post I’ll dive in to the easiest and most impactful – Visibility States .

WES

Are you new to AutoCAD? Have you been using AutoCAD for years but only use the blocks, styles, layers and tools that others have created?  Do you want to learn more or step up your game on features you’re not very strong in and pick up some practical examples of best practices?  If so, this series is for you.  Over the course of 12 months and maybe more I will cover the basics of a lot of AutoCAD tools and features that many may want or need to learn more about.

This is the 5th article in my AutoCAD 101 series – to read about the origination for this series, see the first post here: <Intro>  The last post in this series was about how to use AutoCAD’s Block editor <link>, this post will be about some important “stuff” when creating or fixing existing blocks.

There are some key things that you can do when creating blocks that will make your work easier and will make your blocks less likely to be exploded by other users later.  Two items that I believe are foundationally the most important are Insertion Points and original creation layer.  We will get into a lot more about layers in some future posts, but for now know that layer “0” (zero) will most commonly be the best block creation origination layer.

Origination Layer

Let’s start with the layer issue.  When creating an object many think or believe that the block should be created on the layer it will be used on – this is not your best option. Let’s look at our 2x4_light block that we have been working with.

If you’re an architect, you may like your lights on a lighting layer like ‘A-Lights’ or maybe you like to put everything on the ceiling on one layer like ‘A-CLG’ (please don’t do this, it’s a nightmare for anyone else using you ceiling plan). So when creating your block you create it on one of these named layers and set the color to Bylayer.  The good aspect of this is that the layer, if it doesn’t exist will get automatically added when you insert this block. That’s pretty much the end of the good points.  Now if the layer did not exist prior to inserting this block, you couldn’t insert it on that layer anyway as it did not exist until you inserted the block.  You will have to move at least the first block after insertion.

Let’s look ahead, a good practice to do when making blocks. If you at some point in the future are going to do an existing lighting layer, a new lighting layer and/or a demo lighting layer, how do you visually differentiate between them with the light fixture block?  You can create these layers and assign them different colors and line types, but since your block was created on say ‘A-Lights’, your block will maintain the properties of the ‘A-Lights’ layer no matter where it is inserted.

Let’s go back and create this block on the ‘0’ layer, often referred to as the ‘Chameleon layer’ due to its special properties.  When a block created on layer ‘0’ is inserted in to a drawing, it takes on the properties of the layer it is inserted on. So if your ‘A-Lights’ layer is yellow with a continuous line type your light fixture will be yellow and continuous. If you insert it on an ‘A-lights-Demo’ layer that is Cyan with a hidden linetype, your block will come in as Cyan with a hidden linetype, and so on…

Although you could create this block as a dynamic block with various color and line type definitions you will lose the ability to isolate blocks by their layer location.

There may be instances where specific details in the Block need to be hard coded to certain colors and line types, due to printing standards, but the first best choice is creating it on Layer ‘0’ and set color and line type to ‘Bylayer’.

NOTE: For some additional flexibility, create the block on Layer ‘0’ and set the color and linetype to ‘BYBLOCK’.  When the block is inserted, it will assume the color and linetype of the Layer inserted on, but the ‘BYBLOCK’ option allows it to be over-ridden.  Use this option with caution however, as lazy drafters will insert the block on the wrong layer and then manually change the color and/or linetype to what it should have been had it been inserted on the correct layer.  This will defeat your ability to isolate blocks by layer or select by properties.  Imagine a demo layer being Cyan/Hidden and a light fixture block is inserted on the ‘A-LIGHT’ and manually over-ridden to Cyan and Hidden.  You freeze the ‘A-LIGHT’ and it appears some demos lights go away – just one an example of what could happen.

Another potential issue is future standards changes and client standards requirements.  If you at some point decide to change your layer naming convention, all your blocks utilizing the old layers will have to be redefined.  With blocks created on layer ‘0’ the standards change is a non-issue.

If you’re not the team leader, and work as a sub consultant (electrical engineers, contractors, lighting designers) for a client and they require final drawings to maintain certain layer, color and line type standards, more issues will crop up with hard coded blocks.  The 2x4_light block created on layer ‘0’ is usable by all parties.

Insertion Point

The next big item I often see that is a bad practice is the blocks defined origin or insertion point.  Short of creating a block using the dynamic multipoint option (which in some situations is a great option) you need to choose an insertion point that makes sense. We will cover the multipoint insertion option during our dynamic block track.

For our 2×4 light fixture, it will most likely be inserted in a 2×2 or 2×4 grid.  With this in mind, creating the insertion point on one corner of the block is an excellent option.  You don’t want to make the insertion point off the edge of the block or the middle point of a line, because it will rarely, if ever, match up to a straightforward insertion point on your grid.

Bad insertion points will lead to blocks being ‘eye-balled’ on insert or inserted and moved, creating extra steps.

With blocks, you can’t just use the lower left or midpoint of a block as a standard insertion point, because each block has unique insertion properties. For example tank type toilets, counter sinks and beds are a few items that may be centered on a wall or stall, but are typically shown from 1″ to 3″ off the wall that they are up against.  Wall mounted toilets, sinks, and urinals may also be centered, but will actually be snapped on to the wall.

Janitor’s sinks are usually tucked in to a corner of a janitor’s closet or mechanical space, so it would make sense that their insertion point be on the back corner of the janitors sink.  The proper insertion points for blocks can vary greatly, but how the block is most commonly used is what should dictate the insertion point.  See image below for block examples with their insertion points shown (blue square/grip).

Figure 1

These two items are just a couple important items, to consider when creating blocks, but there are some other items to consider as well as some best practices to follow when making blocks for your master library.

• Unmark ‘allow exploding’
• Set dimension styles, text styles, and table styles to ‘Standard’ and set the line type to ‘Continuous’
• Set the current layer to ‘0’
• Purge the block drawing of any unused line types, styles, dimensions, etc. so that they do not get carried forward like an infection into future drawing files. (This is a common issue for drawing bloat, especially in 2013 and newer drawings without the DGN hot fix installed).
• When creating blocks with attributed text, make sure you check the worst case scenario for text length/size to avoid ‘Ugly’ blocks (see Figure 2).
• Also for attributed text blocks, choose an appropriate text justification (see Figure 2).

Figure 2

Much of the above cleanup could be automated in a script which we will cover in a future customization post.

Follow these steps when making your blocks and you will have cleaner drawings and happier users.

WES