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Block-Creation Tips for Future Property Control
Tip# 4373 By Levi Connolly On 29-Sep-2014
5
 Rated By 2 users
Categories : Standard Blocks
Software type : AutoCAD 2015
Rename File To : No Files to download.
Here are some rules to help you maintain better control over your blocks in the future.

Here are some rules I use to help me better control my blocks. The first rule is that all objects inside the block be placed onto layer 0. The next rule is to have the objects by block (for color, line weight, and linetype) rather than by layer. By using zero layer, the block will inherit the properties of the layer it resides on as long as it is by layer in all three categories. By using by block in combination with the zero layer, the block will not only inherit its parent layer, by block lets you change the color, line weight, and linetype of each block individually. This allows me to do several things with these simple blocks, including

  • use separate colors for blocks in separate areas for phasing
  • count blocks by separate colored areas, which becomes easy with the Selectsimilar command with filters set up correctly
  • shade back and lower line weight of existing blocks and bold out the new blocks for better contrast

Notes from Cadalyst tip reviewer R.K. McSwain: These are all good suggestions. Understanding the effect these settings have during block creation can save you time when it comes time to change the appearance of these block insertions later on. See also, tip #4107 and tip #2016.
 
 

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User comments
Comment by Tulis,Ralph
Posted on 2014-09-29 14:17:37
This has been my policy as well, ever since the ability to control entity properties in a block came to be. Another advantage of defining a block in this fashion is that, should one need to Explode a block, Burst is a much better option. By Bursting the block all of the entities that comprise the block will remain on the layer that the block was originally inserted on. Saves having to re-associate those entities to the desired layer.
Comment by Tulis,Ralph
Posted on 2014-09-29 14:18:00
This has been my policy as well, ever since the ability to control entity properties in a block came to be. Another advantage of defining a block in this fashion is that, should one need to Explode a block, Burst is a much better option. By Bursting the block all of the entities that comprise the block will remain on the layer that the block was originally inserted on. Saves having to re-associate those entities to the desired layer.
Comment by Tulis,Ralph
Posted on 2014-09-29 14:18:08
This has been my policy as well, ever since the ability to control entity properties in a block came to be. Another advantage of defining a block in this fashion is that, should one need to Explode a block, Burst is a much better option. By Bursting the block all of the entities that comprise the block will remain on the layer that the block was originally inserted on. Saves having to re-associate those entities to the desired layer.
Comment by Tulis,Ralph
Posted on 2014-09-29 14:18:17
This has been my policy as well, ever since the ability to control entity properties in a block came to be. Another advantage of defining a block in this fashion is that, should one need to Explode a block, Burst is a much better option. By Bursting the block all of the entities that comprise the block will remain on the layer that the block was originally inserted on. Saves having to re-associate those entities to the desired layer.
Comment by Tulis,Ralph
Posted on 2014-09-29 14:18:18
This has been my policy as well, ever since the ability to control entity properties in a block came to be. Another advantage of defining a block in this fashion is that, should one need to Explode a block, Burst is a much better option. By Bursting the block all of the entities that comprise the block will remain on the layer that the block was originally inserted on. Saves having to re-associate those entities to the desired layer.