Inserting Blocks in AutoCAD Drawings

Inserting Blocks in a Drawing

After you create blocks, you will probably want to place them in your drawing. To do this, you can use either the INSERT, AutoCAD DesignCenter or the Tool Palette.

In this lesson you use multiple techniques to insert a block.

1. From the Object Properties toolbar, in the Layer Control list, select all the On/Off icons required to turn all the layers on, except for the Landscape layer. Leave this layer off.



2. From the Insert menu, choose Block.



3. From the Name list, choose Bed.



4. Choose OK to exit this dialog box. Note that you now have the BED block attached to your cursor. You should also note that it is attached to your cursor by the lower-right corner, which is the corner you selected as a base point when you made the block.
5. Select OSNAP on the status bar, if necessary, to turn this feature off. This will let you place your block without snapping to intersections and endpoints.
6. Select the point shown in the following image to position the bed. The object is placed in the drawing at its original size. Options in the Insert dialog box would have let you change the insertion scale if required.



7. From the Tools menu, choose DesignCenter.
8. Select the Open Drawings tab.
9. Select Blocks from the list of options. Note that you are looking at a list of blocks in the current drawing. You can use DesignCenter to see the list of blocks in any drawing.

10. 

    Select the BED block and drag it into the drawing.

    

11. 
    
12. Release your left mouse button when the bed is correctly positioned. This will place the bed.
13. Use the techniques just demonstrated to create and place a BIG-DESK block in the scene.

    

14. From the File menu choose Save. You must save the drawing before you move on to the next step or you will receive an error message.
15. Right-click in the DesignCenter's block area, then choose Create Tool Palette. This will add all the blocks in the drawing to a new tool palette.

    

16. Drag the BIG-DESK symbol from the Tool Palette into the drawing.

    

    You will find our version of the drawing to this point in 7201c.dwg.

    Tip:
    Once blocks are inserted, you can move, copy, rotate and scale them just like any other AutoCAD identity.

    Tip:
    Use the PROPERTIES command to change the scale of a block after insertion.

    Tip:
    Right-click on blocks displayed in DesignCenter and select Insert to display the standard insertion dialog box. This will let you specify position, scale and rotation by typing values in text boxes if desired.

    

This tutorial continues . . .

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