AutoCAD 2014 For Dummies

17

The ABCs of Blocks

In This Chapter

Introducing blocks

Creating block definitions

Inserting blocks

Adding attributes to blocks

Using PURGE to remove unwanted block definitions

In Chapter 11, you can see how to copy objects within a drawing, or even to another drawing. That’s one way to use AutoCAD to improve drafting efficiency. You can make a copy of a DWG file and then modify it to create a similar drawing, which can be an even better productivity booster as long as you’re in the habit of making similar drawings. But all those are baby steps compared with the techniques we cover in this chapter and Chapter 18: treating drawings, parts of drawings, drawings saved in web format (Design Web Format, or DWF), Autodesk Inventor 3D models, PDFs, MicroStation DGN files, and raster images as modules that can be reused and updated. If you want to make drafting production more efficient with AutoCAD, you should know how to use blocks, xrefs, the alphabet, IPTs, IAMs, PDFs, DWFs, DGNs, and ...