progeCAD Professional manual The low-cost alternative to AutoCAD

Index



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- Working with blocks

Creating blocks

The tools and commands for creating blocks appear on the Draw toolbar and the Draw > Block menu, respectively, when you set the program to the Advanced experience level. You can also use the progeCAD Explorer to create blocks.

You can create blocks in two ways:

By saving a block for use within the current drawing only.

By saving the block as a separate drawing file that you can insert into other drawings.

When you create a block, you specify its name, its insertion point, and the entities that compose the block. The insertion point is the base point for the block and serves as the reference point when you later insert the block into a drawing.

To create a block for use within a current drawing
  1. Advanced experience level
  2. Do one of the following:
  3. Choose Draw > Block > Make.
  4. On the Draw toolbar, click the Create Block tool (
    5. ).
  • Type block and then press Enter.
  • In the displayed dialog specify the base point by executing one of the following procedures:
  • Click on the Pick point button (
    • ).
  • Specify the coordinates in the boxes X, Y, Z.
  • Click on the Select objects button (
    • ).
  1. Select the object that will be part of the block and press Enter.
  2. Choose one of the following options:
  3. Retain Define the block but leave unchanged in the drawing the objects that compose it.
  4. Convert to block Coverts the objects that define it in block.
  5. Delete Create the block and delete the objects that have been used for its definition.
  6. In the list box Name do one of the following:
  7. Select the block to be redefined from the list.
  8. Digit a name for the block to be made.
  9. Click OK button.
    10.  
    1.  
    1. Specify the block name.
    2. Pick or type the base point coordinates.
    1. Number of items selected for the block creation.
    2. Specify if retain, convert or delete the selected entities for the block creation.
    3. Clic to select the entities for the block creation.
  10. ATTENTION If it's specified the name of a block that has been already assigned, it's requested if the intention is to redefine the block. If the answer is positive, the definition of the existing block gets replaced with the new one, updating all the occurrences inserted in the drawing. Otherwise gets back to the mask to specify a new name.
  1. You can create a block as a separate drawing file that you can insert into other drawings.
To save a block as a separate drawing file
  1. Advanced experience level
  2. Do one of the following:
  3. Choose Draw > Block > Save Block To Disk.
  4. Type wblock and then press Enter.
  5. Select the Location File.
  6. Choose one of the following:
  7. Block This option saves one existing block entity to a separate drawing file. Select the name of the block.
  8. Entire Drawing This option immediately saves the entire drawing to a separate drawing file.
  9. Objects This option saves those entities you select to a separate drawing file. Specify the base point for the block and select the entities for the block with pick buttons, and then press Enter. You can choose: Retain, Convert to Block or Delete from Drawing option to mantain, convert or delete the entities selected in the drawing.
  10. If you have select Objects option in the Name field, type the name of the drawing file you want to create.
  11. Confirm with Ok button.
 
 
  1. Pick button for Base Point.
  1. Pick button to select Objects.