How to Trim a Block in AutoCAD?

How to Trim a Block in AutoCAD?

You can trim objects inside block only by editing it in Block Editor or by editing it "In-place". But keep in mind that all block instances in the current drawing will be changed. Alternatively you have to EXPLODE the block.

AutoCAD block is a whole, if you need to cut the block, here are three ways I suggest. 

The first way: with the command is possible, xc, enter xc, but the premise of cutting the block, selected after n. In the selection of rectangular on the line, with the rectangle you want to box, on the line

Method 2: directly draw a rectangle, think you want to use the rectangle box. Then tr, left-click the rectangle drawn, and then right-click, and then drag the selected lines do not want, you can! Do not select the rectangle inside.

Method three. Select the one you want, ctrl + c and then the blank place ctrl + v. Or co selected the one you want, and then the blank place, click on it.

More methods, if you are intercepted to another map, then select the graphics you need, use the copy under the editor, and then click to paste to the drawing you use; if you have to use cass, it is more simple, use the closed polyline to outline the required graphics, and then use the local storage under the feature editing command, directly export graphics

You can first blow up the graphics, copy the part you want and then paste it. Select the block you need ctrl+x, and then ctrl+v to the drawing you need on top of it.

How to Explode All Blocks in AutoCAD?

How to Explode All Blocks in AutoCAD drawing?

Right-click the quick selection command in the shortcut menu (or qselecf command) to select all the blocks in the window, and then execute "x + enter" can!

Just quickly select the blocks you want to be familiar with!

Type QSELECT, Object Type = Block, Operator = Select All. Then, EXPLODE.

Command input qselect

Explanation of the Quick Select dialog box.

Apply to

Applies the filter to the entire graph or to the current selection set (if it exists). To select the set of objects in which the filter will be applied, use the Select Objects button. When you have finished selecting objects, press ENTER to redisplay the dialog. "Apply to" will be set to "Current Selection".

If "Append to current selection set" is selected, the filter will be applied to the entire drawing.

Selecting objects

Temporarily closes the Quick Select dialog box, allowing the user to select the object to which the filter will be applied. Press ENTER to return to the Quick Select dialog box. Change the Apply To box to display the Current Selection. The Select Objects button is only available if Include in New Selection Set is selected and the Append to Current Selection Set option is cleared.

Object Type

Specify the type of objects to be included in the filter criteria. If the filter criteria is being applied to the entire drawing, the Object Types list contains all object types, including custom ones. Otherwise, the list contains only the object types of the selected objects.

Besides using a LISP routine, I use the FILTER tool and have a selection set saved. Just make sure the only filter is "Block" and you can drag+select the entire drawing to grab only blocks. Usually I have to do this a few times due to nested blocks.

Keep AutoCAD Styles, Layers & Blocks at The Top of The List

How to Keep AutoCAD Styles, Layers & Blocks at The Top of The List?

You're always creating styles — text, dimension, etc. — layers, and blocks. But when you open the AutoCAD Layer Properties Manager or any other list with these items, they are alphabetized. Especially if you’re sharing drawings with others who add their own styles, layers, and blocks, what can you do to make it easier to find “your own stuff?”

Thanks anonymous user for this tip! He says:

I like to have my own little creations, such as my dimension or text style, my layers, and my blocks,  always easily accessible. I took the habit of starting their name with the underscore _ character, because  then they are are always at the beginning of the lists and not down somewhere in the middle.

He cutely adds, “Please do not use this trick or I will have to use two underscores to stay at the top!”

What naming conventions do you use to help you find your styles, layers and blocks more easily?

CAD Tutorial: How to Use AutoCAD Hatch Command?

CAD Tutorial: How to Use AutoCAD Hatch Command?

First, let’s find out how to specify the patterns, colors and layers of your hatches in the Hatch dialogue box.

Steps:

1. Input [Hatch] and press Enter to invoke the Hatch dialogue box.
2. Click the icon  at the bottom right of the dialogue box to expand it.
3. Select a hatch pattern, color and layer.
4. Select the to-be-hatched entity by clicking it.
5. Click “OK”.

Now you can easily check and manage your hatches in the Properties panel.

Then, here’s how to specify the angle and scale of your hatches.

Steps:

1. Input [Hatch] and press Enter to invoke the Hatch dialogue box.
2. Select a hatch pattern.
3. Customize the angle the hatch pattern is going to rotate, and the scale it is going to scale.
4. Repeat the above steps 4-6.

See? I can create the standard section of part models in this way.

Tip

You can view the hatch result vividly while picking the to-be-hatched entities if you tick off the Dynamic Preview option in the Hatch dialogue box. After previewing, press Enter and you can go back to the Hatch Dialogue box. Click “OK” to confirm it.

AutoCAD Attribute Blocks Tutorial: How to create Attribute Blocks

When learning the CAD commands beginning with B, I encountered a foreign concept, attribute blocks. What are they? How are they different from regular blocks? With these questions in mind, I did my homework. This article is to share what I’ve learned. If you happen to be unfamiliar with them, keep on reading!

What is an attribute block?

Simply put, an attribute block is a block with dynamic content that can be easily modified, so that you can create several blocks with different texts conveniently. It is very helpful when you need to make annotations. Commonly used in AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) and mechanical design, they are especially suitable for designing doors and windows as well as customizing roughness symbols, title blocks, BOM, etc.

Take the architectural drawing below as an example, the same block can be used for multiple grid labels, with their attributes being different letters and numbers.

By modifying the attributes, you can adjust the display of an attribute block. But how? Continue reading and you’ll see!

How to create attribute blocks?

To create an attribute block is to simply add text attributes to geometric objects and then turn them into a block.

After drawing your geometric object, you can define its attributes with the “Define Attributes” dialog box. There are 2 ways to invoke it:

1. Click Insert→Attribute→Define Attributes in the menu.
2. Input [ATT] and press Enter.

As you can see, the main parameters of an attribute are name, prompt, and default text.

The name is a tag for your attribute block. For example, if an attribute is to represent the height, you can input “height”.

The prompt appears in the command line when you insert the attribute block. In this case, you can input “input the height”.

The default text is the default value of this attribute. The icon on its right helps you input different fields, for example, a date.

After defining these three main parameters, you can just adjust the rest of the parameters, such as its style and visibility (There’s another way to do this, remember?) according to your needs. Most often, you can just ignore them and click Define and Exit. Then specify the point where you would like to insert the attribute.

With the object and its attributes ready, just select them all and create a block as you normally would. (If you have no idea how to do that, this can help!) Now, an attribute block was born, and you can modify its attributes with ease. In this example, you can easily change one of the height attributes from 0.000 to 3.230.

BTW, there can be multiple attributes for one block. For example, both length and width can be the attributes of a rectangle.

What is the difference between text attributes and regular texts?

The biggest difference between them is that the text attributes of blocks are dynamic and can be changed easily to be various. To modify them, just double-click the attribute block, and the Enhanced Attribute Editor dialog box will pop up, allowing you to edit the attributes.

See how the dynamic text attributes in one block differ from each other? That’s how we can tell them from static texts.

There will be a different result if you insert a block with regular texts. The heights will all be 0.000 because static texts of a block are like other geometric components. Since they can’t adjust themselves dynamically, you will have to spend more time creating different blocks.

That’s what I’ve learned about attribute blocks. Knowing how to use them really improves my drawing efficiency! If you find this article helpful, leave a comment!

Hybrid Modeling in ZW3D: A Highly Flexible Modeling Technology

If you are working on product design with a 3D CAD system, you must know the technology of hybrid modeling, which combines surface modeling and solid modeling methods in one CAD system, and is usually applied to product prototype design or structural design. However, it’s more than a simple combination. What’s the meaning of “hybrid”? Have you ever probed into this concept? Are the current solutions of hybrid modeling “hybrid” enough? To answer these questions, today, I would like to discuss this technology with you.

Figure 1. Apply solid-surface hybrid modeling to product design

Solid Modeling VS Surface Modeling

To help you clearly and completely understand hybrid modeling, I would first introduce solid modeling and surface modeling, which are two mainstream geometric modeling methods composing hybrid modeling.

• Solid modeling emphasizes on physical fidelity, which represents an object precisely by describing its surface boundary and topological orientation so that we can completely tell the geometric and topological information of the object, including its vertex, edge, face, volume, etc. Solid models are parametric, offering accurate geometric data for editing, engineering analysis and production.

Figure 2. A model created by solid modeling method

• In contrast, surface modeling describes an object’s exterior by surfaces, which have no thickness and allow overlaps and gaps. With this method, you can create external shapes of an object by stretching infinitesimally thin surfaces over it with 3D curves. Surface modeling is often applied to creating complex or streamlined products. Sports car design is the typical case.

Figure 3. A surface created by surface modeling method

To summarize, solid modeling describes shapes precisely, but it’s a bit time-consuming. Surface modeling creates shapes freely, helping to present products in the short term. However, its results lack the dataset needed for engineering.

Most Hybrid Modeling Methods are Not Hybrid Enough

The choices between solid modeling and surface modeling have plagued designers since the dawn of 3D CAD software. Now, most mainstream 3D CAD solutions have enabled hybrid modeling for engineers to utilize these two methods at the same time. They put solid modeling and surface modeling into one CAD environment, saving your time from switching software.

However, is it hybrid enough to just put these two methods in one CAD system? Think about this question when you need to sew or add thickness to the surfaces every time before turning them into solid, which is probably the most common situation you meet. Or recall those days when you buried in fixing your models before doing mold parting and splitting. If a hybrid modeling technology cannot support doing Boolean operations between solid and surface, it can not truly satisfy users‘needs on product design.

Reading this far, you may wonder can these two modeling methods get truly integrated, achieving more flexible hybrid modeling? In ZW3D, it’s not a daydream.

ZW3D Offers More Flexible Hybrid Modeling

Over the years, the ZW3D team has been working on deeply integrating surface and solid modeling to take full advantage of the strengths of both the two modeling technologies. With its OverdriveTM kernel, the Solid-Surface Hybrid Modeling technology is realized, enabling you to design really flexibly with solids and surfaces simultaneously. What are the unique benefits of hybrid modeling in ZW3D? Let’s see!

• Doing Boolean Operations with solid and surface simultaneously, which means that you can cut surface with solid and cut solid with surface at the same time. For most 3D CAD software, designers can cut solids with surfaces. Is it possible to also cut surfaces with solids? Using Solid-surface Hybrid Modeling in ZW3D, this can happen. You can freely do Boolean operations, so that shapes or solids can be added to, removed from or intersected into surfaces to get the results you want.

Figure 4. Cut surface with solid

• Most commands can be applied to both solids and surfaces. Normally, the commands of solid modeling and surface modeling are separated, which means that you have to learn all the commands and distinguish the differences between them, making your 3D modeling learning curve long. With Solid Surface Hybrid Modeling, this is no longer a burden. It eliminates the barrier between solid modeling and surface modeling, enabling you to use the same set of commands for both solids and surfaces. More convenient, right?

Figure 5. Abundant tools can be applied to both solids and surfaces

Figure 6. Apply Fillet command to a surface

• Tiny imperfections won’t restrain your design. It’s common to get imperfect models after importing third-party data or when designing models with complicated structures. Normally, designers have to spend lots of time to make the models watertight before moving to next steps, which would be sometimes wearisome and time-consuming. We must admit that creating a perfect model is a good habit during design. But you don’t have to be a perfectionist all the time when the flaws are not key factors in specific design tasks. When the design flaws are within tolerance, we offer a chance to breathe in case you are trapped in healing models, leaving you more time for more important work. For example, you can do a quick mold parting in ZW3D even though the model is not completely watertight, winning time for quotation and increasing competitiveness.

Figure 7. Do mold parting when the model has a tiny gap

It’s Time to Design Products with Highly Flexible Hybrid Modeling

If you are bothered by too rigid solid modeling or insufficiently rigorous surface modeling or get frustrated sometimes to deal with tedious healing work in a not hybrid enough CAD space, I believe you could know the benefits of Solid Surface Hybrid Modeling in ZW3D once knowing how it works. Yes, more flexible, powerful, efficient. Fancy words may not be convincing in today’s market. But true solid-surface hybrid modeling can make a huge change to your work once you use it. If you still doubt it, why not have a try? Seeing is believing. Download ZW3D>>

3D CAD Viewer - CADbro 2020: Real-time Collaboration in 3D CAD Space

3D CAD Viewer Free Online, for sales and marketing teams to view 3D CAD model without expensive CAD system. Viewing  STEP, Catia, NX, JT, IGES and many other formats. 

GUANGZHOU, China: December 19th, 2019 – ZWSOFT today unveiled the new CADbro 2020, an easy-to-use 3D CAD viewer designed for everyone who needs to collaborate on engineering data, especially salespeople, technical workers, quality controllers, designers, etc.

Featuring real-time collaboration, extended online viewing functions, optimized workflow in CADbro Cloud, and new 3D BOM, CADbro 2020 delivers smoother-than-ever internal and external collaboration in 3D CAD space.

Real-time collaboration tools

Efficiency and accuracy are critical to collaboration on 3D CAD data. In CADbro 2020, you can collaborate in real time with project members, incluing your teammates, colleagues from other departments, clients, as well as up & downstream suppliers. For example, you can invite them to join an online discussion. The operations done on the model such as rotating, viewing sections, adding dimensions and so on, will be synchronized immediately on their windows. You can also chat with them and play back the meeting afterwards. Now, no matter how complicated the 3D model is, your communication is crystal clear and efficient.

Figure 1. Share model status with project members by real-time collaboration tools

More flexible online viewing

Viewing 3D models anytime and anywhere on the web is the star function of CADbro Cloud. In CADbro 2020, the online viewing functions have been extended and optimized. First, there are more options for link sharing, enabling you to set different permissions for your receivers, like expiry date, passwords, view times or the privileges to view assembly tree, exploded view, PMI, etc.

Figure 2. Set permissions after generating share links for models

Other viewing commands are also more friendly. For example, you can conduct operations such as isolating and hiding by right clicking the model, and choose from the 6 viewing angles by rotating the cube on the upper-right corner. Moreover, the Move and Restore commands can help you quickly and freely drag the components to check or demonstrate the model, and restore them to the original location in a second. The list still goes on, such as exploding according to assembly structure, Perspective View, Unit Switcher, etc., all of which are designed for you to work around the model in any situation.

Figure 3. View models more flexibly on web

Optimized workflow for CADbro Cloud on web

Smooth collaboration cannot be realized without a good project management workflow. In CADbro Cloud of this version, a more reasonable project management workflow on web is ready. You can create teams and projects based on your needs, assign roles to project members, and authorize corresponding permissions to different roles. What’s more, you can separate spaces for team collaboration and for your personal use. With the optimized workflow, your 3D CAD data can be well organized.

Figure 4. Manage team members and projects in CADbro Cloud webpage

New 3D BOM

Documentation is a necessary part of production. Traditionally, BOMs are generated along with 2D drawings. However, it is time-consuming and needless for salesperson, purchasing staff and others who don’t need engineering drawings. In CADbro 2020, 3D BOM eliminates the bottleneck, enabling you to generate BOM directly in 3D space, benefiting your part attributes management. You can select which items to include in the BOM by filters like Parts only and Shape only, calculate, search and edit attributes, export to excel files and reuse the customized templates. With 3D BOM, collaboration gets more efficient.

Figure 5. Manage part attributes in 3D BOM configuration form

CADbro 2020, designed for collaboration

"Helping users collaborate on engineering data smoothly in 3D CAD space is the original intention of the CADbro product team. In CADbro 2020, we have finally realized the collaboration function in the true sense. I am really excited about it." said Terry Deng, the Product Manager of CADbro. Now, CADbro 2020 is available online for you to download and try. Start enjoying real-time collaboration in 3D CAD space!

About CADbro

As one of ZWSOFT's star products, CADbro is a 3D CAD viewer that helps with your collaboration on engineering data. Packed with an intuitive interface, advanced tools to view, annotate, analyze, and cloud service to share, CADbro allows you to communicate 3D CAD data with project members anytime and anywhere.