Groups entities into a block (symbol), which can be reused in drawings.
Accessing the Command
command bar: block
alias: b
Menu bar: Tools | Create Block
toolbar: Tools |
ribbon: Insert | Blocks | Create Block
: block
Displays a dialog box:
Command Options
Option |
Description |
Name |
Specifies the name of the block. |
Description |
(optional) Describes the block. |
Base Point Options |
Description |
Specify On-Screen |
Specifies the block's base point, the point at which it will be inserted into drawings with the Insert command. Choose how you want to specify the base point's coordinates:
|
|
Pick a point in the drawing for the block's base point:
Insertion point for new block or [Annotative] - (pick a point, or else enter x,y,z coordinates, and then press Enter.) |
X, Y, Z |
Enter x, y, z coordinates for the base point in the X, Y, and Z fields. The z coordinate is usually optional. |
Entities Options |
Description |
Specify On-screen |
The Entities section selects the entities that make up the block. Choose how you want to select the entities:
|
|
Select one or more entities in the drawing:
Select entities for block - (select one or more entities using a selection method) Once entities are selected, decide what happens to them once they are turned into a block. Choose an option:
The Convert to Block option is the most efficient one. |
Behavior Options |
Description |
Annotative |
Sets the annotative property of the block. This kind of block should be created when the annotation scale in model or paper space is 1:1. By being annotative, the block automatically scales itself according to the current annotation scale factor. Choose whether you want block to follow annotative scaling:
|
Match block orientation to layout |
Determines if annotative blocks match the orientation of the layout:
|
Scale Uniformly |
Determines if blocks can be scales non-uniformly. This option is not available to annotatively-scaled blocks. Choose one:
|
Allow Exploding |
Determines if users can explode the block after it is inserted. When a block is exploded, it loses its block status, and the individual entities can be edited. (To edit the entities of an unexploded block, use the BEdit command.) Choose one: |
Settings Option |
Description |
Block Unit |
Scales the block correctly when the block definition is inserted in a drawing whose units are different from the drawing in which the block was created. More specifically, in which the INSUNITS variable differs.
|
OK |
Closes the dialog box, and if necessary prompts you at the command line for the base point and the entities to include in the block, then saves the block definition in the drawing. |
Cancel |
Exits the dialog box without saving the block definition; no block is created. |
Procedures
- General procedure to create a block
- To create a block in a drawing
- To create a block using the Blocks Explorer
- To save a block to a separate file
Related Commands
BEdit - edits blocks
Blockify - Automatically detects equally shaped solids in a model and replaces them by block references.
Searches the drawing for an identical set of entities (2D and 3D) and replaces them by block references.
Optionally replaces block patterns by arrays.
CopyBase - copies entities to the Clipboard with a base point.
ExpBlocks - opens the Blocks section of the Drawing Explorer dialog
Insert - inserts blocks and prompts for attribute values through a dialog box.
-Insert - insert blocks and prompts for attribute values through the command bar.
InsertAligned - inserts blocks repeatedly, and inserts mirrored blocks.
Properties - edits attribute values and properties.
WBlock - writes blocks and other drawing parts to files on disk through a dialog box
-WBlock - writes blocks and other drawing parts to files on disk through a dialog box