Adding Content to Drawings
The purpose of DesignCenter is to make locating existing AutoCAD objects easy. Consequently, DesignCenter provides several methods for locating and identifying premade source objects. As discussed in previous sections, by using the features available in DesignCenter, you can quickly locate existing sources of AutoCAD objects to copy into the current drawing.
After you have located a desired source object, you must copy it into the current drawing. Once copied into the current drawing, the object becomes a part of the current drawing, and can be used just as if it were originally created in the current drawing. Therefore, objects like blocks and xrefs, layers and layouts, and text styles and dimensions styles can be copied into the current drawing from DesignCenter’s palette.
Typically, after you’ve identified a source object and displayed it in DesignCenter’s palette, you can copy the object to the current drawing by simply dragging it from the palette into the current drawing’s window. Objects you can simply copy by dragging from the palette to the current drawing include the following:
Dimstyles
Layers
Layouts
Linetypes
Textstyles
You can select multiple source objects of the types shown in the list. After they are copied, the object(s) become part of the current drawing. By dragging the desired source object(s) from the palette into the current drawing, you can quickly add content to the current drawing.
Not all individual objects can be simply dragged into the current drawing. Source objects such as drawings, blocks, images, and xrefs can be only copied one at a time. Additionally, you must define their scale, rotation, and insertion point. Therefore, when inserting drawings, blocks, images, and xrefs, you must tell AutoCAD their scale, rotation, and location.
In the following exercise, you use DesignCenter to locate source objects, and insert them into the current drawing.
Note
The following exercise uses drawing files copied to the Find Files folder, as instructed in steps 1 and 2 of the exercise located in the section “Using the Load DesignCenter Palette Feature.”
Exercise 12.3 Loading Content into the Palette
1. |
Start a new drawing in AutoCAD. |
2. |
From the Standard toolbar, select AutoCAD DesignCenter. AutoCAD opens DesignCenter. |
3. |
In Tree View, navigate to the Find Files folder, then click the plus sign to expand the folder. The three drawing files in the Find Files folder appear in the Tree View. Next, you use DesignCenter to attach an xref to the current drawing. |
4. |
In Tree View, click the plus sign next to the 12DWG01.dwg file to display its source objects. |
5. |
In Tree View, select the Xrefs source object. The palette displays the two xrefs that are attached to the 12DWG01.dwg drawing, as shown in Figure 12.13. Figure 12.13. The attached xrefs are displayed in the palette.
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6. |
In the palette, right-click the 12DWG01a xref. |
7. |
From the shortcut menu, select Attach Xref. AutoCAD displays the External Reference dialog box. |
8. |
In the Insertion Point area, clear the Specify On-Screen check box, then click OK. AutoCAD attaches the xref to the current drawing. Caution DesignCenter will not copy an object if an object with an identical name already exists in the current drawing. To copy the object using DesignCenter, you must change the name of the object that already resides in the current drawing. |
9. |
In Tree View, click the minus sign next to the 12DWG01.dwg file to collapse the display of its source objects. |
10. |
In Tree View, click the plus sign next to the 12DWG01a.dwg file to display its source objects. |
11. |
In Tree View, select the Blocks source object. The palette displays the block definitions that are stored in 12DWG01a.dwg drawing, as shown in Figure 12.14. Figure 12.14. The selected drawing’s block definitions are displayed in the palette.
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12. |
In the palette, right-click the Alarm block definition. |
13. |
From the shortcut menu, select Insert Block. AutoCAD displays the Insert dialog box. At this point, you could specify the insertion values to use to insert the block into the current drawing’s model space. For this exercise, you will click Cancel to close the Insert dialog box without inserting a block reference. |
14. |
Click Cancel. AutoCAD saves the block definition in the current drawing, then closes the Insert dialog box. Note By clicking Cancel to close the Insert dialog box, you insert a block definition into the current drawing without actually inserting a block reference into the current drawing’s model space. The block definition can then be used at a later time to insert a block reference using the INSERT command. |
15. |
In Tree View, select the Layers source object. The palette displays the named layers that are stored in 12DWG01a.dwg drawing, as shown in Figure 12.15. Figure 12.15. The selected drawing’s named layers are displayed in the palette.
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16. |
In the palette, starting in the upper-left corner, drag a window around all the layers to select them. DesignCenter highlights all the named layers. |
17. |
Right-click over one of the highlighted layers, then select Add Layer(s) from the shortcut menu. DesignCenter adds the highlighted layers to the current drawing. |
18. |
You may close DesignCenter, and close the drawing without saving changes. |
By using DesignCenter, you can easily locate source objects and copy their content into the current drawing. When copying objects such as blocks and xrefs, you can only copy the objects one at a time. When copying objects such as layers, linetypes, and text styles, however, you can select multiple objects and copy them simultaneously.