Chapter 10 Using Block and External References 10.1 OverviewAutoCAD provides several features to help you manage objects in your drawings. With blocks you can organize and manipulate many objects as one component. You can also associate items of information with the blocks in your drawings- for example, part numbers and prices - by attaching attributes. Specification sheets or bills of materials can be created using this information.You can attach or overlay entire drawings in your current drawing by using AutoCAD external references, or xrefs. When you open a drawing that contains xrefs, any changes that have been made in the referenced drawing appear in the current drawing. 10.2 Working with BlocksA block is a collection of objects you can associate together to form a single object, or block definition. You can insert, scale, and rotate a block in a drawing. You can explode a block into its component objects, modify them, and redefine the block. AutoCAD updates all current and future instances of that block based on the block definition.Blocks streamline the drawing process. For example, you can use blocks toBuild a standard library of frequently used symbols, components, or standard parts. You can insert the same block numerous times instead of re-creating the drawing elements each time.Revise drawings efficiently by inserting, relocating, and copying blocks as components rather than individual geometric objects.Save disk space by storing all references to the same block as one block definition in the drawing database.For information about how to create a block, see "Defining Blocks."When you insert a block in your drawing, you are creating a block instance. Each time you insert a block instance...
