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 2nd article in my AutoCAD 101 series – to read about the origination for this series, see the first post here: Intro.  The last post was about what blocks are and are not and why you should use them – <link>, this post will be about how easy it is to make blocks.

Here’s how:

In the previous post, I gave multiple examples of items that could be blocks, in this post I will make one of those blocks to show you just how easy it is.  The following is a image of some basic blocks you would commonly use in your drawings.  The lines are dotted because i have them all selected in order to show the insertion point.  The color is controlled by the layer the block is on (we will discuss this in a future post) and the blue square shows the location of the insertion point of the block (we will get in to the importance of that in a future post as well).  For this post, I will show how to make the basic 2×4 light fixture shown on the left.

Figure 1

There basically three commands in AutoCAD to make blocks, “Block”, “Wblock” and “Paste as Block”.  Since this is a basic level post, I will not cover every option, but rather the ones you really need.

The BLOCK and WBLOCK commands are very similar, with the difference being where your block ends up.  If you want to make a block that you only plan on utilizing in the current drawing, you would just use the BLOCK command.  If you want to save the block out to your hard drive or server for use in other drawings/projects, you would use the WBLOCK command.  Now, don’t worry if you’re not sure, because you can always save an existing block out of your drawing at anytime in the future using the WBLOCK command which will let you export an existing block just as if you had used WBLOCK from the beginning.

The paste as block option is “ok” if you just need to make a down and dirty temp block that you will not likely use again.  PLEASE – don’t make this your go to option, because if you want re-use your blocks, the “Paste as Block option will require you to do more work later to rename the blocks and fix insertion points.

To see the results of a bunch of ‘Paste as Block’ work done, see the image below that shows the Block names – do you know what the block ‘A$C0BDB529F’ is? …Me either…

Figure 2

To show the differences between BLOCK and WBLOCK, I will show the most common options you should typically be using to create blocks.

BLOCK:

Draw the objects you want to make in to a block.  For this fixture I will use the RECTANGLE, OFFSET, and  LINE commands.

• Create the fixture perimeter by typing RECTANGLE
• Pick a point on the screen
• For the other point, type @24,48
• Type OFFSET and choose 2″
• Offset the outer line inward
• Draw a line from the lower left internal “intersection” to the upper right intersection using your OSNAPS – “Don’t eye-ball it!”

You now have your light fixture symbol, you just need to make it a block.

• Type BLOCK
  • The Block dialogue will pop up. See Figure 3 for most important items. The red ones you will do for each block, while the Blue items should be your defaults.
• After hitting ok, select the lower left outside intersection of the light fixture. this will be your insertion point when you insert blocks.
• BAM! your done!

Figure 3

To use this block, just type insert, choose your insert button or ribbon and select the “2×4-Light” block to insert and choose an intersection for your grid to insert the light and rotate as needed.

WBLOCK:

Draw the objects you want to make in to a block.  Repeat drawing steps from above.

• Type WBLOCK
  • The WBlock or ‘Write Block’ dialogue will pop up. See Figure 4 for most important items. The red ones you will do for each block.
  • Note that the Wblock option requires a few in and outs where you need to select the Insertion point, (this can be required in the BLOCK dialogue also, if you do not have ‘Specify on-screen’ chosen), the objects, and the Destination (‘File name and path’).
  • After selecting the Destination, insertion and objects, you would choose ‘Ok’
• If you avoid any of the steps, it will prompt you to make your selections before finalizing the block.
• BAM! your done!

Figure 4

To use this block, just type insert, choose your insert button or ribbon and select the “2×4-Light” block to insert and choose an intersection for your grid to insert the light and rotate as needed.

BLOCK VS WBLOCK:

You probably noticed a few differences in the process as well as some similarities.  There are some options in each that are not available in the other.  These difference come from how the commands are intended to be used most often.  BLOCK is meant to create blocks within your current drawing, where as WBLOCK is meant to write blocks out to an external storage location, typically your server.  Because WBLOCK allows you to do either, you may default to that.  But, keep in mind that the Block command gives you a few key options that the WBLOCK command does not:

• Annotative
• Allow Exploding
• Open in Block editor

Annotative
Annotative allows you to make Annotative or ‘autoscaling’ objects that will autoscale by the current ‘Annotation scale’ setting.  This is great for symbolic objects that require scaling each time they are inserted.  Items that are useful as Annotative objects include: Column bubbles, Key notes, graphic symbols of objects like electrical outlets, room names, north arrows, plan titles, etc..  This is a whole other topic I will touch on in a future post.

Allow exploding
Allow exploding is something that most savvy block creators will uncheck.  How many times have you created a block only to find it exploded in a drawing?  Ughh – Why?  The user did not know how to adjust something in the block or as I have seen in some cases, clueless (non-educated) users think that exploding blocks will minimize drawing issues or is the only way to change a color or linetype. (See how to rectify this with the block editor in the next post).

Block Editor
Block editor is a very handy tool that has taken away a lot of the issues that happened in the past from users not knowing how to redefine blocks.  If you have been around long enough, you have seen doors and toilets that are rotated at the wrong angle or scaled way out of proportion throughout and entire drawing because someone screwed up the block definition. In the next post we will get in to this powerful and easy tool.

WBLOCK has one key feature that BLOCK cannot do – Write your blocks out of the drawing. Typically you make your blocks using the BLOCK command and then Write Block them out to you companies Standards folder(s).  Once you have created the 2×4-Light fixture using the BLOCK command, the following steps/graphic shows how you write it out to an external folder.

• Type WBLOCK
• Choose the ‘Block:’ option under ‘Source’
• Type in or browse to the folder that you want to save the block to
• Select ‘OK’
• BAM! your done!

Figure 5

Pretty easy huh?  A way to quickly have the Write Block dialogue choose ‘Block:’ and choose the correct block to write out automatically is to highlight the actual block prior to typing Wblock.

Old School

The steps above are based on command line typing, but you can access the BLOCK and WBLOCK commands through your ribbon and Toolbars as well – do whatever makes you feel more comfortable and start making your work go quicker with Blocks.

WES

This is the 1st article in my AutoCAD 101 series – to read about the origination for this series, see the first post here: <Intro>

This month is all about Blocks (4 weeks – Define, Create, Edit, and Important Stuff)

• What are and are not blocks (What and why)
• Blocks are easy!!  Here is how….
• Blockeditor (BE, BLOCKEDITOR)
• Layer usage and flexibility in blocks (Layers, linetypes, colors, annotation scaling and Tips and Tricks) (redefining others blocks, macro and script usage)

What are Blocks?

AutoCAD defines Blocks as:  A collection of objects that are combined into a single named object. These objects can be symbols or details that are used to create representations of real world objects.  Typically, each of these blocks is an individual drawing file, perhaps saved in a folder with similar drawing files. When you need to insert one into your current drawing file, you use the INSERT command (or enter ‘I’ in the command window).

Examples of items that would be great as Blocks:

Furniture/Appliances/Equipment:

• Desks
• Bathtubs
• Desks
• Chairs
• Electrical Panels
• Air Handlers
• Etc…

Drawing Symbols:

• Section Cuts
• North Arrows
• Arrow heads
• Column Bubbles
• Light fixtures
• Outlets
• Etc…

Details:

• Fire Proofing
• Control Diagrams
• Wall Sections
• Equipment Connections
• Structural footings
• Etc…

What are NOT Blocks?

Basic line work that is drawn using standard drawing tools like line, rectangle, circle, etc. that are drawn and/or grouped together to represent one of the above items and copied around the drawing.  The issue is that these are just linework – not “Named objects” and therefore not Blocks.  They look pretty, but their also pretty useless.

• Rectangles are NOT desks, bathtubs, light fixtures, etc…
• Rectangles are NOT BLOCKS, but BLOCKS can be rectangles
• Circles are NOT down lights, bollards, columns, sinks, manholes, etc…
• Circles are NOT BLOCKS, but BLOCKS can be circles
• Polygons are NOT Revision triangles, Section symbols, note tags, etc…
• Polygons are NOT BLOCKS, but BLOCKS can be polygons
• A bunch of lines drawn in to the shape of a chair is NOT a BLOCK, but a BLOCK can be made up of a bunch of lines drawn in to the shape of a chair

The above are all examples of linework that is drawn to look like something, then is inefficiently copied around to make a bunch of useless “copies”.  BUT, Hey – they look pretty!  Yes they do, but lets look at why this is a bad idea and why blocks are sooo much better.

Why use Blocks?

• Let’s say you use a rectangle to represent a 2×4 light fixture and copy this around the drawing 60 times to represent your lighting plan.   No lets say the plan is reviewed and someones requires that you change the look of the rectangle – like add an offset line, change its color, add a hatch, add some detail to it – whatever…  To change the look, you would modify one of the rectangles and re-copy it to the other 59 locations – effectively starting over.  If this Light fixture (rectangle) was a block, you would just redefine it and as soon as you save it, all 60 get updated!  Yea!  And to add to it, you can then use this symbol over and over again in other projects!   What’s not to love?  Some of you are going Duh!!  Yea… well I see rectangles used as $#%&$ light fixtures waaayyy too often.  This same concept can be applied to nearly any item you create with linework.  Anytime you draw something that you intend to use again or “possibly” use again – make it a block.  I do this even for ‘one-off’ items.  I am sure you have drawn something on a job, then later,  wish you had that same thing on another job.  You typically go back and copy it and then paste it into the new job.  Depending on how you do it, you will end up with copies of linework again or an anonymous block if you “paste as block”.
• Blocks reduce storage requirements  – In AutoCAD, each line, arc, ellipse, text, etc. uses up memory, both for storage and RAM memory usage.  If a chair is composed of 50 lines, arcs, etc and is copied around the drawing, multiple the number of lines by each copy – 6 times = 300 lines.  A BLOCK having the same amount of lines will be counted once and then a pointer will be used to reference all the other locations.
• Objects (BLOCKS) are easier to move than linework – Try selecting all the copies of chairs or lights composed of basic linework vs selecting individual blocks. Even using the SELECTSIMILAR command, which depending on how you have it set will take possibly one selection vs many.  With linework you typically would use a window or crossing to select your items, which means you have a high probability of selecting other items as well.  Blocks can be grabbed with a single pick selection for each item or in multiples by using SELECTSIMILAR.

You may be tempted to use the Copy and “paste as block” option (Ctrl-Shift-V) to make temp blocks. that look like:  A$C19F91F38  This is not a BLOCK!

OK – it is a BLOCK, but it is a temporary block made by copying and pasting objects as a block. This is a sad example of a block – Why?

• Does the name “A$C19F91F38” mean anything to you? – Nope – not to anyone else either…
• Can you control the insertion point? – yes but only if you edit it in the Block Editor – it would have just been easier to make it a standard block
• Can you rename it? – Yes, but you will need to list it and try to remember the Number and letter sequence in the RENAME dialogue – do this a lot and this is what you will see:

Now, if you are in to making dumb drawings and wasting time, then you are good to go, but if not, then you should know that Blocks are way easy to create!

And in the next post I’ll show you how…

WES