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Make a New Block From an Old Block
Tip# 3942 By Brian Benton On 23-Jul-2012
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 Rated By 1 users
Categories : Blocks General
Software type : AutoCAD 2013
Rename File To : No Files to download.
You can make new blocks from existing blocks in AutoCAD.

Cadalyst Tip Reviewer Brian Benton shares a tip about making new blocks from existing blocks in AutoCAD.

"Many times we need to create a new block that is similar to a block we already have. You can explode an instance of that block and create a new one from the linework. Or you can select an instance of the old block, right-click, and use the menu shortcut command of Copy Block Definition and Assign. Or you could type CopyBlockDefAndAssign on the Command line. Of these choices, I prefer the right-click method.

"This command will create a new block in the file and replace the selected block with the new block. Make sure that the block you selected to copy needs to be the new block. This gives you a starting point in making a new block. It is especially useful when an existing block is similar to what your new block needs to be."
 

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User comments
Comment by Servary,Bruce
Posted on 2012-07-23 13:11:51
Not entirely clear on how this works. The 2nd paragraph says that the new block will replace the selected block. However, the selected block is the old block from the first paragraph. It seems a few steps are missing here.
Comment by Baker,David
Posted on 2012-07-23 15:44:39
Is this for AutoCAD? 2013? I have tried it and I don't have that option in my right click menu. Also, It doesn't seem to be a command in my installation of AutoCAD 2013. Thanks, David
Comment by Cooper,Kent
Posted on 2012-07-24 15:51:32
If CopyBlockDefAndAssign is part of an overlay program that not everyone has, or just for those like me with older versions, I came up with a way to do that same thing, because it seemed like a very useful thing to be able to do. BlockDupNewName.lsp defines the BDN command. See some comments at the top of the file.
BlockDupNewName.lsp
Comment by Norris,Craig
Posted on 2012-10-25 12:44:32
Lee Mac has a good site. He’s also got a program to handle this: http://www.lee-mac.com/copyblock.html If you just need quick & dirty, open a new dwg, do a Copy/Paste of the block (Ctrl+S/Ctrl+V), rename it in the new dwg, then Copy/Paste back with the new name. That gives two block names for the same definition. Now you can edit either as needed. Note that if you edit the original, it will update all current insertions.