Automatically replaces sets of entities, matching a selected parametric block or a set of parametrized entities in a model, by parametric block references.
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Description
Searches the drawing for identical sets of entities (2D or 3D) and replaces them with block references.
Method
There are four methods to use the BLOCKIFY command:
Detect matches with selected entities
Detect matches with existing blocks
Detect equal 3D solids
Detect collections (of 3D solids/block references and 2D block references)
Dependent on the selected mode, different follow-up questions and advanced options are presented.
Note: To replace block patterns by arrays of entities, use the ARRAYDETECT command. See the ARRAYDETECT command related article.
Select the desired method, source entities and search space. Set the options and tolerance as needed. The options displayed are relevant for the selected method and entities and reflect the BLOCKIFYMODE and BLOCKIFYTOLERANCE system variables settings (see the related articles).
Detect matches with selected entities
Searches the drawing (or the selection) for recurring 2D/3D geometry and converts them to block references.
Source entities
Click Select in drawing button. Select entities or an existing block (2D/3D) in the drawing to compare other entities to.
Search space
Define how the entities to be compared with the source entities are selected.
Select entities in the drawing
Allows you to manually select entities by displaying the selection pick box. Click the Select arrow () to create a new selection set.
Entire drawing
Uses the entire drawing as search space.
Options
Options that modify the current value of the BLOCKIFYMODE system variable:
Compare geometry only
Ignores color, layer, line type, scale, weight and thickness, transparency, plot style and material properties when comparing entities.
Use parameters and constraints
Try to find matching geometry by varying parameter values.
Note:
When the option is active, a selection set containing constraints between possible matches (external constraints) is not considered valid. In this case, the Command line displays a warning prompt to remove these constraints before using the command.
Potentially slower on large files.
Prevent loss of parametrics
If set, no constraints or parametric operations will be removed. Parameters and constraints are preserved and remapped to the subentities of the replacing blocks.
Options that modify the current value of the BLOCKIFYTOLERANCE system variable (specifies the relative tolerance for determining whether two entities are equal):
Tolerance
Defines the tolerance as percentage for entity comparisons, specifying the allowable variation in sizes or positions.
For example, two lines with lengths of 10 and 9 would be considered equal with a tolerance of 10%.
Use auto tolerance
Check this radio button to use an automatically set value.
The algorithm will automatically select the best tolerance (0.0001% for 2D and 0.03% for 3D).
This option is highly recommended for most cases.
Use custom
Check this radio button to activate the input field.
The custom tolerance should be between 0 and 100 percentage.
Note: The tolerance value is relative. Unexpected behavior might happen for values more than 5%.
Block insertion point
Define the insertion point of the new block definition.
Default
Accept the default insertion point marked by a red X in the model space.
Pick point
Allows you to define a new insertion point. Press the icon next to the option and select a point in the model space.
Matches
Displays a list of detected matches and allows you to select the ones to replace with block references:
Tick the group check-boxes in the panel.
Click the individual check marks / x signs in the drawing.
Note:
To visually identify matches/sets from the list in the model space, click their name in the list. To add or remove matches/sets to the preview, use the Shift and Ctrl keys and the Select all and Clear selection options.
To zoom in the view to a set/match, click the magnifying glass symbol next to its name.
Detect matches with existing blocks
Searches the drawing (or the selection) for matches to existing blocks from a specified location and converts them to block references.
Source blocks
Allows you to specify the source blocks search location.
Search this drawing
Search for source blocks in the current drawing.
Search blocks library
Search for source blocks in the blocks library.
Search custom file/folder
Check this radio button to activate the input field. Click the menu button to open the Select Folder dialog box and indicate the custom file/folder.
Search space
Define how the entities to be compared with the source entities are selected.
Select entities in the drawing
Allows you to manually select entities by displaying the selection pick box. Click the Select arrow () to create a new selection set.
Entire drawing
Uses the entire drawing as search space.
Options
Options that modify the current value of the BLOCKIFYMODE system variable:
Compare geometry only
Ignores color, layer, line type, scale, weight and thickness, transparency, plot style and material properties when comparing entities.
Use parameters and constraints
Try to find matching geometry by varying parameter values.
Note:
When the option is active, a selection set containing constraints between possible matches (external constraints) is not considered valid. In this case, the Command line displays a warning prompt to remove these constraints before using the command.
Potentially slower on large files.
Prevent loss of parametrics
If set, no constraints or parametric operations will be removed. Parameters and constraints are preserved and remapped to the subentities of the replacing blocks.
Options that modify the current value of the BLOCKIFYTOLERANCE system variable (specifies the relative tolerance for determining whether two entities are equal):
Tolerance
Defines the tolerance as percentage for entity comparisons, specifying the allowable variation in sizes or positions.
For example, two lines with lengths of 10 and 9 would be considered equal with a tolerance of 10%.
Use auto tolerance
Check this radio button to use an automatically set value.
The algorithm will automatically select the best tolerance (0.0001% for 2D and 0.03% for 3D).
This option is highly recommended for most cases.
Use custom
Check this radio button to activate the input field.
The custom tolerance should be between 0 and 100 percentage.
Note: The tolerance value is relative. Unexpected behavior might happen for values more than 5%.
Matches
Displays a list of detected matches and allows you to select the ones to replace with block references:
Tick the group check-boxes in the panel.
Click the individual check marks / x signs in the drawing.
Note:
To visually identify matches/sets from the list in the model space, click their name in the list. To add or remove matches/sets to the preview, use the Shift and Ctrl keys and the Select all and Clear selection options.
To zoom in the view to a set/match, click the magnifying glass symbol next to its name.
Detect equal 3D solids
Searches the drawing (or the selection) for equally shaped solids and converts them to block references (new block definitions). In case a solid matches an existing block definition, the replacing block reference points to that block definition.
Note: This option is not available in the BricsCAD Lite license level.
Search space
Define how the entities to be compared with the source entities are selected.
Select entities in the drawing
Allows you to manually select entities by displaying the selection pick box. Click the Select arrow () to create a new selection set.
Entire drawing
Uses the entire drawing as search space.
Options
Options that modify the current value of the BLOCKIFYMODE system variable:
Compare geometry only
Ignores color, layer, line type, scale, weight and thickness, transparency, plot style and material properties when comparing entities.
Convert unique solids
Tick the check-box to also convert solids to blocks when they occur only once.
Prevent loss of parametrics
If set, no constraints or parametric operations will be removed. Parameters and constraints are preserved and remapped to the subentities of the replacing blocks.
Block name
Specify a block name or use the default name. If you choose to use the default name, block definitions with names like Block1, Block2 etc. are created.
Note: If BLOCKIFY is used on BIM entities, it checks the BIM Name property of all equal-shaped BIM classified solids and tries to find the longest common substring to use it as the name of the block definitions.
Options that modify the current value of the BLOCKIFYTOLERANCE system variable (specifies the relative tolerance for determining whether two entities are equal):
Tolerance
Defines the tolerance as percentage for entity comparisons, specifying the allowable variation in sizes or positions.
For example, two lines with lengths of 10 and 9 would be considered equal with a tolerance of 10%.
Use auto tolerance
Check this radio button to use an automatically set value.
The algorithm will automatically select the best tolerance (0.0001% for 2D and 0.03% for 3D).
This option is highly recommended for most cases.
Use custom
Check this radio button to activate the input field.
The custom tolerance should be between 0 and 100 percentage.
Note: The tolerance value is relative. Unexpected behavior might happen for values more than 5%.
Matches
Displays a list of detected matches and allows you to select the ones to replace with block references:
Tick the group check-boxes in the panel.
Click the individual check marks / x signs in the drawing.
Note:
To visually identify matches/sets from the list in the model space, click their name in the list. To add or remove matches/sets to the preview, use the Shift and Ctrl keys and the Select all and Clear selection options.
To zoom in the view to a set/match, click the magnifying glass symbol next to its name.
Detect collections
Searches the drawing (or the selection) for sets of identical collections of:
3D solids and/or 3D block references
2D block references
Allows you to select one set at a time from which to create a new block definition. Replaces the collections within the selected set with block references of the new definition.
Recalculates the collection sets taking into account the newly created block reference (some previously found collection sets configurations might no longer be available).
Note: With a large number of input entities, calculating all possible collections can take a long time. Press the Esc key to cancel the calculation at any time, and then select from the collection sets found so far.
Search space
Define how the entities to be compared with the source entities are selected.
Select entities in the drawing
Allows you to manually select entities by displaying the selection pick box. Click the Select arrow () to create a new selection set.
Entire drawing
Uses the entire drawing as search space.
Options
Options that modify the current value of the BLOCKIFYMODE system variable:
Compare geometry only
Ignores color, layer, line type, scale, weight and thickness, transparency, plot style and material properties when comparing entities.
Prevent loss of parametrics
If set, no constraints or parametric operations will be removed. Parameters and constraints are preserved and remapped to the subentities of the replacing blocks.
Options that modify the current value of the BLOCKIFYTOLERANCE system variable (specifies the relative tolerance for determining whether two entities are equal):
Tolerance
Defines the tolerance as percentage for entity comparisons, specifying the allowable variation in sizes or positions.
For example, two lines with lengths of 10 and 9 would be considered equal with a tolerance of 10%.
Use auto tolerance
Check this radio button to use an automatically set value.
The algorithm will automatically select the best tolerance (0.0001% for 2D and 0.03% for 3D).
This option is highly recommended for most cases.
Use custom
Check this radio button to activate the input field.
The custom tolerance should be between 0 and 100 percentage.
Note: The tolerance value is relative. Unexpected behavior might happen for values more than 5%.
Options
Collections
Details
Options
Maximum gap
Increases the allowed gap between entities to find a more complex collection.
For example: If a drawing contains multiple block references of desks and chairs, you can find a collection of both elements by setting the maximum gap between a desk and a chair.
Recalculate
Recalculates the collections based on the new maximum gap.
Collections
Displays the found collection sets. Select the collection set you want to create the block reference from.
Note:
A message is displayed if the selected set contains overlapping collections. Overlapping collections are collections that have at least one entity in common. Select which overlapping collections to remove so you can create the new block definition.
The overlapping collections are highlighted if the Highlight overlapping collections option is ticked.
Details
Show
Tick the check-box to highlight in the Model space one collection at a time within the collection set.
To cycle through the collections, use the left and right arrows next to the Show check-box.
Use the Zoom in button to extend the view to the highlighted collection.
Remove
Removes the current highlighted collection from the collection set.
Reset
Resets to the initially found collections in the collection set by re-adding any collections that were removed.
) to create a new selection set.
