Overview of the Block Editor (Concept)

Create and Modify Objects > Create and Use Blocks (Symbols) > Add Dynamic Behavior to Blocks > Use the Block Editor >

Overview of the Block Editor

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Concept

Procedure

Quick Reference

The Block Editor is a special authoring area for creating block definitions and adding dynamic behavior.

The Block Editor provides a drawing area in which you can draw and edit geometry as you would in the program's main drawing area. You can specify the background color for the Block Editor drawing area in the Display tab of the Options dialog box.

You can use either the Block Editor contextual tab or the Block Editor to edit or add dynamic behavior to block definitions that exist in the current drawing. You can also use it to create new block definitions.

When the ribbon is active, a special ribbon contextual tab is displayed above the drawing area. When the ribbon is not active, a special toolbar is displayed. Both the ribbon contextual tab and toolbar provide tools to do the following:

You can select any parameter, grip, action, or geometric object in either the Block Editor contextual tab or the Block Editor to view its properties in the Properties palette. When you select an object in the Block Editor, the coordinate values shown in the Properties palette reflect the block definition space.

When you work in the Block Editor contextual tab or the Block Editor, the command line should be displayed. The command line displays prompts for nearly all aspects of creating dynamic blocks.

UCS in the Block Editor

A UCS icon is displayed in the drawing area of the Block Editor. The origin of the UCS icon defines the base point for the block. You can change the base point for the block by moving the geometry relative to the origin of the UCS icon, or by adding a base point parameter.

The UCS command is disabled in the Block Editor. You can open an existing 3D block definition in the Block Editor and assign parameters to the block. However, the parameters will ignore any Z coordinate values in the block space. Consequently, the block reference cannot be edited along the Z axis. Furthermore, while you can create a dynamic block that contains solid objects and add actions to it, such as move, rotate, and scale, you can't perform solid editing features within a dynamic block reference (for example, stretch a solid, move a hole within a solid, and so on).