Analyze quantities of blocks in a drawing

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Counting objects in a project manually can be tedious and error prone.

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The count feature can greatly simplify and accelerate this task.

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After completing this video, you will be able to

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count and report block instances.

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Open the villa project drawing provided in the data set on the ribbons view tab,

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click the count tool in the pallets panel.

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The count pallet displays a list of all the blocks found in models,

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space and their quantities.

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Any potential count related issues are indicated with an alert icon.

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Let's investigate the issues found with the chair block.

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Select the name of the block in the pallet,

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the drawing canvas updates to highlight the references of the selected block.

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We notice a couple of things right away. First,

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there are four chairs highlighted on the plan

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but the count in the pallet shows seven.

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Also one of the chairs is highlighted in red. Click the alert icon in the pallet.

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The pallet updates to provide additional details about the errors

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in this case

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count found an instance of an exploded block and an instance of overlapping blocks.

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Click on the exploded block entry

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autocad

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zooms to the geometry it thinks is an exploded block.

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Windowing the objects reveals that what looks like a

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chair block is actually a collection of individual objects.

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Press the delete key to delete the loose geometry.

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Notice that the count pallet has removed that error report from the list.

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Let's copy an existing chair block to replace the one that was exploded

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after copying the chair block,

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the pallet and the toolbar update with a new quantity.

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Now click on the overlapping object entry

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to help us understand the overlap. Press control w to toggle selection.

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Cycling on, click on the chair.

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The selection cycling dialog box appears showing that

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there are two blocks occupying the same location.

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Click on the first block and press delete

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the count issue disappears from the pallet.

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Click the X on the toolbar to close the active count.

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The count feature can also reveal other factors about blocks that may go unnoticed.

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Right? Click on the chair block,

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select scale from the list.

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The pallet now gives a breakdown of the scales found within the counted blocks.

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We see that one of the blocks is scaled different than the others.

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Selecting that scale in the pallet highlights the instance of that block.

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The incorrectly skied

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chair could be erased and replaced with a nearby

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chair or scaled appropriately with the property's pallet.

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For now, we'll just close the toolbar to dismiss the issue. Right?

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Click on the chair block again

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note that the expand by feature can

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also identify blocks that are on different layers

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as well as blocks that may have been mirrored.

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The counts that we've performed so far have been

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on all the objects that are in model space.

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If we zoom extents in the drawing,

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we can see that model space contains multiple plans

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and multiple elevations,

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we can also perform counts on limited areas in the count palette.

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Click on the count in a specified area, icon

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and window. The ground floor plan

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note that our chair quantity now shows four

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chairs only because in the specified area,

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there are only four chair blocks found.

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Let's look at another issue found by count on the window.

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The error report states that three blocks appear to be renamed. What this means

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is that count found blocks that are graphically the same

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but have different names.

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It appears that there are two versions of the three ft wide window block.

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This is yet another example of how the count feature can

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reveal other factors about blocks that might otherwise go unnoticed.

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Click X to dismiss the count.

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In addition to simply reporting block quantities on the pallet,

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the count pallet can also capture block quantities in

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a table to create a report of the windows.

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Click the create table button at the bottom of the pallet.

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Select the window blocks to include

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in the count,

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select insert

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and then pick a location for the table.

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The quantities shown in the table automatically update as

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windows are added or removed from the plan.

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A count can also be initiated by selecting an object,

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even non block objects and choosing count selection from the right click menu.

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For example, if you select a rectangular poly line that represents a side table,

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right click

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and pick count selection

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count will find the geometry in the selection area that matches

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even though what you've selected isn't a block.

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It appears that there are 12 side tables that

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are used throughout various plans in the drawing.

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The count feature in

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a can quickly and easily obtain accurate counts

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of various types of objects in your drawings,

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helping you avoid errors, streamline your work flow

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and saving time and effort.