Create a block in AutoCAD

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Now it's time to create our new block.

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You should already be in the home tab of the ribbon

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within the block panel. Click on the icon labeled, create.

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If you prefer to use the keyboard, you can also just type in block.

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The block definition dialogue will be displayed.

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You'll see the cursor blinking in the name field.

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This is where you would type in your unique name for the block

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but notice it's also a pull down.

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If you choose an existing block name,

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you'll be redefining its definition,

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but we're creating a new block. So let's type in high back chair into the name field.

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There are five separate sections to the block definition dialogue.

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We'll go through them here.

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The first is basepoint,

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its default is 000.

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Sometimes during the creation of block libraries,

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the designer finds it easier to draw its elements around 00.

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Using that as its base point,

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we just drew the new chair within the drawing somewhere. So we won't use that.

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The other choices are to specify on screen or pick point, specify on screen.

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But wait until you dismiss the dialogue to prompt you to pick the base point,

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pick point will prompt you the same way

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will temporarily close the dialogue to allow you to pick the point.

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Let's click the pick point option

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and

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using a midpoint object snap,

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select the midpoint of the front edge of the chair that we just added

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the block definition dialogue will reappear

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this time with the selected coordinates in the XY and Z fields.

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Let's move on to the next group over where

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you'll define what objects will make up your block.

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The first two items are similar to the basepoint options.

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You can wait until you've clicked, OK,

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to select them or use select objects to do them.

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Now,

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there is another icon there too.

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It calls up the quick select dialogue.

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I'll dismiss it here as we're going to use, select objects,

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click on the select objects icon and again, the dialogue goes away,

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use a crossing or inclusive window to select all

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of the objects that make up our chair,

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including the attribute definition.

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Once selected press enter on your keyboard,

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the dialogue will reappear

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and at the bottom of the object selection,

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you'll see that you have selected 40 objects.

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There are three other options in the section.

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Once completed, you can retain the arcs and lines as they are,

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convert them to your newly defined block or delete them.

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We'll keep the default of converting them into a block.

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Next is the behavior section

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here. You can make a new block annotative.

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You can force it to be scaled uniformly and specify whether it can be exploded or not

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by default. Only allow exploding is checked.

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Let's also select annotative.

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When you do its subtopic lights up, clicking,

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it will ensure that the inserted block matches the orientation of the layout.

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It's within.

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We'll leave that off here

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in the lower left. There is a setting section

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here. You can set the insertion units to use for your block.

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You can choose from the really small like inches or millimeters

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or from the really large like light years or parsecs.

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We'll leave this at inches

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below. That is a button to add a hyperlink.

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This can be really handy if you have

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an equipment cut sheet within your project folder

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or maybe a vendor's website will have the specs regarding your block.

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This is where you can define a hyperlink to take someone to that information.

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Finally,

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you can add a description to your block. This is purely optional, very handy.

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If your block library has cryptic names or something again,

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I'll just leave it blank.

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There's one more option in the lower left corner. It's called open and block editor.

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If you check that box, once you click, OK.

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Instead of returning

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to the drawing editor, your new block will open in the block editor,

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perhaps you have other things to add to it

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or you want to use it as a starting point to create a dynamic block.

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You'd want to have that option checked. But we don't,

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we are all done with our block settings though.

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So let's click. OK? To have Autocad created for us,

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the definition dialogue will dismiss and the edit attributes,

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dialogue will appear.

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We only have the one attribute

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and we gave it a default value. This chair is black. So let's click. OK.

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When you do,

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you'll now have the newly created block as you specified.