Description
Key Learnings
- Learn how to quickly and smartly replace groups of objects with blocks.
- Learn how to place blocks in a similar fashion.
- Learn how to use AI-driven object-detection workflows to find objects to convert to blocks.
Speaker
- MTMike ThomasMike started his career as an Application Specialist for an Autodesk Reseller. Now he is the Technical Services Manager at Prairie Machine (www.prairiemachine.com) a mining equipment manufacturer. Reporting to the CEO, Mike is responsible for overseeing the company's technical operations and strategic technical growth. His primary duties include the ongoing support of critical computer applications and the interactions between departments.
MIKE THOMAS: Hello. Welcome to Working Smartly with Blocks and AutoCAD. My name is Mike Thomas. I'm a Technical Services Manager with Prayer Machine located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. I've been using AutoCAD for a long time. Maybe not as long as everyone in on this, but I've been using AutoCAD since R13. So back in 1996 is when I started using AutoCAD.
Just got to start with the standard safe harbor. Everyone can take a look at this. I'm sure everyone's seen it before, but here it is. And this is a big wall of text, but it's just a summary of the class. And what are we here for. Well, we're here to work smartly with blocks. And by that, can we cut down on some of the tedious things that we have to do, not just with blocks but within AutoCAD and make our lives easier is really what we're hoping to do here.
Autodesk is definitely committed to improving AutoCAD, which is crazy for how long AutoCAD has been around and how many times so-called experts have said, it's dead, there's nothing else you can do. They continue to improve on it and make our lives easier in our day to day activities.
Smart Blocks is a really good example. So what is Smart Blocks? It's just a name that was given to the new suite of workflows around working with blocks. Like what? Well, making it easier to insert blocks, place them appropriately. Quicker replacements make it easier to grab a block and swap it out for something different, and then something new around object detection. So find objects that look like it should be a block and might as well make it a block. So how does AutoCAD do this? Well, essentially, it's watching your patterns and how you do things or how others do things and then mimicking that behavior to make it.
Now, I should say that if you're an LT user, unfortunately this mark block functionality is not available in AutoCAD LT, but you're welcome to stick with us and see what else, see what can happen in AutoCAD.
So the agenda where we kind of talked about what smart blocks are, we're going to look at placing blocks, replacing blocks and converting. I think where, I put this in the order where I think you're going to see the most bang for the buck, where you're going to get the most value with the placing blocks is fantastic. Whereas converting objects is new and it's and it's still growing and it will become a great feature.
So what are blocks? Well block is a collection of objects into one compound object. Why do we do this? Well, we do this because it is for conformity and it's for ease of use. If it didn't make it easier, then we probably wouldn't do it. Take, for example, a title block. I want to insert the same titable block every time so it's consistent. So it's always the same. Everyone's familiar with it when they're looking at my drawings, but I don't really want to create it every time. I don't want to have to go and copy and paste it and work with all those objects. I want one symbol essentially that I can insert into my drawing. And not just me, but my team, everyone has the same block that they can put in. What comes with that kind of as a bonus is that it makes it easier to work with. One object, one selection. We can quickly move and copy and rotate. Blocks work, there's a definition. And if you change that definition, then all the instances in the drawing automatically update to match the change. So it can make changing much easier. Also, if you integrate attributes, well, then you can collect that attribute information and do things like schedules and bills of materials and other types of things.
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to Insert a block. And I'm just doing this traditional way. Nothing's smart about this. Pick the wrong scale, so I'm going to have to scale it again. Still trying to feel out what this block looks like. It's got an odd insertion point, so I'm going to rotate it. I rotated it wrong. So you know what, I'm just going to drop it into my drawing and I'm just going to move it into the right location. So we'll move it. And I'm going to rotate it manually because that way I can see, I can pick where I want it to go. Well, it turns out I put that block in the wrong location, so let's move it. So we'll move it into the corner. And again, I'm just going to rotate it. Sometimes I have a tough time visualizing it without seeing it, and then once I see it, then it's a lot easier for me. And I think I actually put it in crooked there, but we'll just leave it.
I'm going to put in a slightly different block. Again, I already know the scale, so it's a little bit quicker. I can just scale it. I'm going to insert it and then rotate it. Instead of trying to mess around with rotation, I know that's where I want it. But we actually want this flipped on the other side. So I'm going to do a mirror. Now I can't get this result by inserting the block. I have to do it through a mirror, so I have to go and mirror that to get that symmetry on it because we've got a reverse of it now.
OK, now probably should have copied this to make it a bit easier. But we're kind of on a roll here, so we'll insert another one. Run it on a scale. I know the rotation, so I'll rotate it this time. So I can enter that value. I'll go pick that point. Now instead of mirroring it, I'm going to insert it just so we can see what would happen if I inserted it and rotated it. So as I take this and I insert this and I rotate it, we're going to see that it's not going to be symmetrical because there's no way to rotate this and make it the same. So what it's doing here is exactly what I asked for. So I picked that point. I rotated it. There's no way to get symmetry based on an insertion and a rotation in this case.
Now, you're probably thinking, well, we could do this a lot better than a bunch of inserts. Why don't we do something like a tool palette? So let's take that block. Let's put it on the proper layer. So we'll put this on the desk layer or furniture layer.
And I'm going to add that to my tool palette. So it already knows the scale now. And let's change the rotation so that it prompts us rotation. So we're going to make this pretty smart because I got a bunch of other places that I need to go insert this.
So now when I pick it, I can pick that point. It prompts me for the rotation automatically, and it's scaling it appropriately. It already knows. So again, I'll just drop that in. I'll just repeat the process, and I'll drop that in. Now, there's a bit of a catch here, is that there's no way for me to mirror it from the tool palette.
So it's a case here where I would have to use mirror command to create the proper results. Now, what happens if I go into a different drawing? So here's a different drawing where I want to insert this into a different location, still the same block. I can be pretty smart about this. I'm going to use parallel, and I'm going to snap parallel to it.
So pretty smart about it. Picked it. But notice the scale is way off because the units were different, how that drawing is different. It just didn't work. So tool palette made it easier. It definitely helped me in certain spots, but there was still a lot of work where I had to worry about the scale and the rotation and in some cases, where I had to mirror it.
Now, before we look at the smart way of inserting blocks, your smart insertion, smart placement is only going to be as good as the block. So you want a well-located base point. If I'm looking at this chair, for example, here, maybe the front middle here of that chair is a good point or maybe offset a bit from it is a good point so that I can quickly insert that into the desired location and be consistent about it.
Make sure you draw your blocks in a real-world size, but be aware of the block unit size. That's what happened to me at the end, is my block was maybe in inches, but that drawing was in metric. So it scaled it, but in that case, not the way I wanted it.
So you can actually change this. So maybe I'm not happy with the base point on this. The base point, I just-- I don't insert this desk like this. So I'm going to use the block editor, and I'm actually going to change the base point. I'm going to move the base point.
So there's actually a base point parameter. Now, notice the base point is in that corner. So not only that I can insert that way, but I can then use that grip to manipulate. What you might actually have multiple occasions you like to use. So maybe sometimes you use the upper-left corner. Sometimes you like to use the upper-right corner.
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to add a point parameter. And then using that-- or sorry, position parameter, and then I'm going to add a move action to it. So now if I use that particular grip, it'll allow me to move this block. So this is where you might have, not just one location that you use. Notice now this gives me a secondary point to move about.
The catch is I can't snap to it. So I can't actually snap to that point. I can't use other grip features on. I can't move or rotate with it. It is 100% a move. Well, if I had something that maybe I snapped, so maybe the chair, for example, that I snap a lot, well, if I want that to be in a set location, maybe what I should do is just put a point.
So I'll just add a point. It's essentially invisible. I don't use the node grip very often, but it gives me that point. So now, I have another point that I can take that block, and I can manipulate it. So I can use that node point and manipulate it.
So just a little bit real quick about putting some thought into your block, because the better your block is, then the better the smart placement will work. So what we can do is we can use the auto-placement feature. This was introduced in 2024. It was improved in 2025. And who knows what we'll see in 2026.
Now, I have it here in the blocks palette because it's really the only place where it's visible. There's also a system variable where it's auto-placement that you can use to invoke the same functionality. So what I'm going to do is I'm actually going to insert a block first.
Consider the seed. I'm essentially showing AutoCAD how I'm going to want to insert this block. Well, now, from the blocks palette, I'm going to make sure the auto-placement is turned on. And I'm going to drop in that same block. And notice now, based on the geometry, so based on the similarities the layers, the type of objects or lines, they form 90 degree corners, I'm able to-- it's all similar, but I'm able to now quickly place that.
And even more than that, notice how it was able to mirror it. So it was actually able to do that symmetrical relationship. It was able to get that without me having to use the mirror command. So with the insert command, if I was using the blocks palette without auto-placement, there's no way I could insert in that fashion. I would have to mirror it.
Now, it's not perfect. What I'm going to find is up here. For whatever reason, I just can't find the insertion that I want. I can zoom in. Still not finding it. I push control. Still not finding it. It's close. Even if I go in there and trim it out-- so I'm going to say, you know what? Let's trim this out and get it.
Notice how it gets close, but for whatever reason, it's just not putting it into that corner. So sometimes you might have to see multiple orientations and multiple rotations of it. So here's a case I'm going to insert into the corner. Let's delete these two.
And now, what I'll see is that I'll have no problem finding that secondary orientation now. So no problem with me finding the secondary orientation because I kind of seated it the other way. Now, if we continue on into the other area, nothing really I need to do because AutoCAD is able to recognize where I want that.
So here, notice-- now here, notice that it went in the wrong way. Well, I'm just going to push control. So I'll just push control till it finds the solution that I want. So there's actually multiple solutions in that point. So here wasn't finding it. It's kind of moved my cursor away, kind of come back in it at a different angle, and it's able to find that orientation.
So in some cases, what I'll have to do is move that cursor away and then come back into it from a different angle. And then AutoCAD is like, oh, you actually wanted something different, or you can push the Control key, and it'll actually cycle through. Here's all the different options that I've found. Is one of these the one that you want?
Well, if we look at the area just below here, what we see is that this geometry is not quite as clean as maybe it should be. So I've got a bunch of short line segments. So AutoCAD has no problem with the orientation that I've used. But here, again, it's just it can't make that leap. It just can't find it.
The geometry is just off a little bit. It just can't find enough commonality to insert that. Has no problems with the orientations that are used, but it just can't find them. So no matter how I move my cursor around, different angles I come into it, how many times I push Control, I can't just get what I want.
Now, here's a situation where if I was to clean this geometry up-- so here, you can see that I've cleaned that geometry up. Now, I have no problem inserting that block. So just to save everyone from watching me trim and extend and join and stuff, I just did that.
So same drawing. I had just paused recording. I cleaned it up, and I came back here. And notice that AutoCAD had no problem then finding that orientation because now the geometry is similar enough to what I've already used to insert that block. OK, well, here, what I'm going to do is I'm actually going to drop in a chair, and I'm going to rotate the chair. I'm going to position it.
But what I'm going to do is I'm actually going to snap between two points. So I'm going to use two points to position that chair. So pretty common. I put that chair where I want, but AutoCAD is not going to find that orientation. So based on how I've positioned it, based on the references I used, it's just not finding that rotation. So it's just not going to do it.
Well, let's see what it can do. Well, I'm going to insert that chair. What I'm going to do is I'm actually going to rotate it. I'm going to position it right onto the desk. So snapped right onto the desk, and let's go and insert another one. So auto-placements on.
And notice now that it will find the similar geometry. Won't find the horizontal, but it finds that vertical line and allows me to position that even it will mirror them. OK, well, let's delete that, and let's go and let's move that chair. Let's just back that chair away from that desk a little bit. So let's just move it away a little bit, and let's try this again.
So I just offset away because you I don't want that chair right up against that desk. And now, notice it finds the same relationship, even mirrors it for me. So I know what you're thinking. You're probably thinking, well, isn't that what you did before? But no, I used two endpoints position, where here, I was actually using the lines to position it.
So here, I've rotated it, and notice that it's able to snap between the lines. So I was able to place that pretty quickly there. So auto-replacement, as we already seen, it recommends the block placement. If you're happy with it, you can just left-click.
You don't even need object snaps on, which is great, because it just finds that-- like that chair that we just positioned was a great example of that. Object snaps weren't even on. So I was able just to-- it highlighted. I'm like, yeah, that's what I want. Left-click, block's in place.
If it's found multiple solutions, you can use the Control key to cycle through all the different options. Now, in some cases, you might just have to back off and come back in. And it will then offer up a different set of solutions. And this works regardless of the block source.
So I was using the block palette, but maybe I'm inserting them from the gallery. Maybe these blocks came from a different application, so a third party, and they were exported. It came from a DXF, came from drawing older version of AutoCAD. Maybe it was created in civil. Maybe it was created in architectural.
It doesn't matter what the source of the block is. A block is a block, and this feature will work with it. OK, so that's the block placement. Pretty cool stuff. You can see that it works fairly well. I was working with architectural type symbols, but you'll find it works the same across the board.
Another one of the smart blocks is the replacing block. And replacing blocks is not always the easiest because you have to insert the new block, position it, and then make sure you delete the other one. And you have to match the scale. You have to match the rotation.
What if it has attributes? So there's lots of things that you have to worry about. And what this does is you invoke it. And what it says is, hey, I think that you should change it with these blocks. So what it does is based on visual similarities, so colors and layers and line types, geometry, the orientation, even the name of it, AutoCAD will make suggestions.
Now, you don't have to use the suggestions. You can actually pick through some recent blocks like what I just use, or you can even go out and pick a block in the drawing. So here's a case where I want to change this chair. So I'm going to do it from the properties.
And notice that the current rotation of this chair is 90 degrees. That's important. So the chair is currently in 90 degrees. I'm going to pick one of the recommended ones. And what it did is it put that chair in there. Let's just back this up just a little bit.
You can see it put that chair in there, and it rotated it, and it just used the current scale. So obviously, these blocks have different units, and the scale is different. So it doesn't make it wrong. It just means that I would have to do a little bit more work to get that to replace it.
In this case, let's pick a different one. And notice that it was drawn similar. So it was drawn similar. Again, let's just back this up just a little bit. So it was drawn similar. So you can see that the original orientation would be pointing in the same direction.
They were drawn to the same units. And AutoCAD was able to go, OK, this one's rotated 90. We'll rotate at 90 and put it in there. Now, I'm doing this from the Properties palette. You can also do it from the block-- the Replace button in the ribbon. I was just doing it from the Properties palette.
This case, I've got two blocks selected. I'm actually going to pick the one I just used. And notice how it was able to go in there and swap those blocks out. So there's a case where it's just like, hey, I just did this. Let's just go grab that existing block.
OK, here, I'm going to select all three. Let's pick the selection. So we'll pick this kitchen chair. And what it's telling me there-- let's just back this up. What it's telling me here is that the suggestion was actually from a different drawing. So either it was a drawing that I just recently used or it's a drawing that's in my block library.
And it's saying, hey, this is already in your drawing. Would you like to redefine it? So it's just a visual clue that tells me, hey, this is actually coming from a different drawing. So you can see it swapped all three. Well, let's take those three and actually just use that chair office-- that office chair that I just used.
And you can see how quickly I was able to go through and replace that. I think the keys here is that even though the first suggestion was wrong, is that the replacement process is so much easier because it puts the block in. So insertion point to insertion point, it uses the same rotation. So if you're consistent with how you create your blocks, then you're going to get the consistent result with the replace.
Now, this isn't always going to work. So here's a case where I'm going to take this table. And you can see here, based on the suggestions, there's no suggestions. So it suggests that a keyboard because if you think about it, that keyboard block was the same size as that table.
So there's a case where based on what's in the current drawing, what's in my libraries, there was just nothing close enough to matching it. So it was a case-- there's a case where I would have to go find the block, probably insert it, then use the replace. So like we talked about, is that it's going to make suggestions. And it's going to make suggestions, again, based on visual similarities.
And it will search the current drawing, but also your block libraries. Now, if the suggestions aren't what you want, like I said before, is you can use recent blocks, but you can also go out and just pick an existing block. Now, here, what I'm going to do is I'm actually going to insert a table. And one thing to notice here is that I'm actually using the smart placement. I'm using the auto-placement.
And because this love seat block was scaled, well, the auto-placement is going, OK, I'm going to orientate this and scale this block for you to match. So let's just go and let's insert the tables. And if I pick it, notice that the insertion points at the middle of the table.
Well, we're going to do a replace. I'm going to take this other table. And notice that the location isn't quite where I maybe want it, because you can see that the insertion points out actually in the upper-right corner. So it's still quicker to replace it. It's just I've a little bit more work because I'm going to have to go through and move that block into the right location.
But it's still quicker because it replaced the block. I didn't have to go delete it after. It just did that. OK, let's do the same thing with the couch here. So I couldn't find the one I want. So what I'm going to do is I'm actually going to search and say, OK, here's the couch that I actually want.
And we're going to use that to do replace. So I want to replace. I'll use the pick option. I'll go pick that block. It moved because of the orientation or where the base points are. Let's take all three of them. Let's actually change all three of them to that couch.
So let's just go pick it. Well, I kind of changed my mind. Let's take those three couches again, those three love seats again. And let's swap those back to what they were. So let's just pick them. Again, we'll do the replace. And what we'll find is that I'm just going to pick from the recent blocks or maybe one of the suggested ones and just put it back.
So again, pretty easy to replace those blocks, even if I'm not using suggestions. So AutoCAD is going to keep the same scale rotation and the attribute information. So we've already seen that. So it uses the same insertion point, insertion point for insertion point. If the block instance rotate 90 degrees, well, the replacement will also be rotated 90 degrees.
OK, well, what does it do with attributes? So attributes are something different. So here's a case where this block has an attribute called ROOMNUM, and so does this block. This one is actually just called NUM. So let's take this 3B, and let's actually replace it with this other circular one.
I'll have to do an attribute synchronization, but notice that it was able to maintain the value. It was able to maintain the value because the attribute names are the same. So even though I did a replacement, AutoCAD kept that attribute information.
Now, let's actually take this, and let's swap it with the other one. Now, remember, the attribute names don't match. So it looks OK right now, but as soon as I do a synchronization, what we'll see is that it goes back to the default because the attributes were different, so the information was lost. So if the attribute names are the same, AutoCAD is going to keep as much as it can. But it's when the attribute names differ that you will lose the attribute information.
So 2/3 of the way there. We've seen how we can streamline our process a lot with smart placement. We can see how we can do a replace. And we can actually swap out blocks based on suggestions from AutoCAD. So AutoCAD looks at and says, hey, you know what? These blocks look pretty similar. Is this the one that you want?
The one that's the newest is the convert to block. So what this does is it goes through your drawing. And it looks to your drawing and using machine learning is it goes, you know what? These objects sure look like block X or it looks like this block. Sure would be-- I'm thinking that these should be converted into blocks.
Now, even though it might base the suggestion on some existing blocks, it doesn't mean you have to use that block. So what you could do is say, hey, I found these 25 instances of what I think is a hex head bolt. You could actually create a new block. It'll convert those objects and replace them with blocks.
Or what you can do is you can do-- and you can go do an existing block. And it uses that replace functionality that we just saw. So just to show this real simple, I'm going to blank drawing. I'm going to insert three doors. I'm going to take one of them. I'm going to rotate it, so it's a different orientation.
Let's take one. Let's explode it. Maybe what we should also do is we should take one of them. We should actually maybe change the layer on it. Let's just see if we can trick AutoCAD, so it can't find this. So I'm just going to change the properties and move that to that particular layer.
OK, so now, what we're going to do is we're going to go do a detect. Now, you can see here that it's going to scan the drawing. And this is real time. This is a pretty simple drawing. It's not necessarily the speediest. What it did is it found an object that it thinks should be converted to a block.
So what I can do with it is I can actually run the conversion. So I can actually run that replace. It's the same as running replace, but it's going to run it on this found instance. So again, we just talked about, is I could create a new block. I could say, hey, this is my new door. Here's the base point. Here's the layer I want it on. Go.
But in this case, I actually want to use an existing block, and I want to use the existing block in the drawing. So we'll go existing block. Notice that we are using essentially the replace as the replace is. So it's saying, here's some suggestions. What it's doing is it's looking to the current drawing, but also my block libraries.
So it's going through saying, here's some blocks that I think-- here are some blocks that I've recently used. And then again, I can assign it to a layer as I'm going on. So it actually found the block here. So we'll pick that block. We'll say Convert.
But it doesn't make any assumptions that it's-- The geometry is there actually lines up with the block. So what I do now is I actually go through and I reposition it. So I might have to move it. I might have to rotate it. I might have to scale it.
But once I got into position, what it does is it takes all those objects-- here, it actually missed one, but it took all those objects, and I was able to-- well, it swapped them out. So deleted the objects and replaced it with that block. OK, well, let's see what else we can do with it. So let's see what else we can do with this block to trick it. So what else can we do with the instances here.
I actually just go to the right point here. Looks like I got to go to the next. We'll go to the next slide here. So here's a case where we're going to explode this one in the middle. We're going to change the layer of the first instance.
And just to skip the process there of having to wait for it, we can see that it found it even though it was rotated 90 degrees. So it's tough to trick AutoCAD. So still able to find that instance, and it was still able to replace it. So here's a case where I'm going to have to rotate it and move it into the proper location for it to work. But notice that it did swap out, deleted all those lines and arcs and replaced it with the block.
The one that kind of impressed me-- this one is kind of at a funky rotation, is able to find it, make a suggestion. This is a little bit annoying because it's using the replace, but not really using the replace, is it doesn't have a block to go by. So the difference between this and the replace is when you do the replace, is you're swapping a block for a block.
Whereas in this case, you're swapping objects for blocks. So there's no insertion point for it to match. There's no rotation property to match. So what it's doing is it's showing you the block in its initial orientation, then it's up to you. And it kind of falls apart here a little bit because I don't actually know what angle that's at.
So here's a case where I might actually need to just convert it to a block and then position it after. I just didn't know. The one that kind of blew me away here is this is a dynamic block. So as a dynamic block, is there's actually different sizes built into this. So I'm going to make this one smaller, and I'm going to explode it.
So now, when I go through and do the detect, notice that it still finds it, even though it's a different size than the other ones. So it's actually a different size than the other ones. And I'm going to swap it out with that same block, but it's able to swap it up with that specific variation. So that specific configuration was able to go and find. So even though the initial state of that block is not this size, the convert was still able to go and find it and kind of jump that bridge and convert that for me.
So object detection is a tech preview in 2025. What that means is that it is functional. It's ready to use. It's part of the public product, but it's still under development. So unlike a beta-- a beta would be closed and only certain people would be able to use it. Whereas a tech preview is just available for anybody.
But you're going to run into issues, may not work as you expected. As you can see here, no objects were detected. So it searched the drawing, searched the drawing, searched the drawing, came back and said sorry, no objects. But you can actually make it better. There's tools built in here to kind help Autodesk and help the feature get better.
So if we all chip in and we all use it and we all provide feedback, it's just going to get better and better and better. So what does object detection actually doing? Well, it's using machine learning. And what it's doing is it's using a process in the cloud to scan your drawing and is looking through your drawing, looking for combinations and collections of geometry that could be converted to a block.
So again, based on blocks that it's seen, blocks in the drawing, blocks in your block library, where it's seen blocks, is it's going to start making suggestions. And like I mentioned, you can use the convert to essentially swap out that block or those objects and replace it with the block. So here's a drawing, and I'm going to run it on this drawing.
And what we're going to see, it's going to go through. And what it's going to find is it's actually going to find multiple sets. So what it's found, once the detection goes through is it's going to find multiple sets. And by sets, would be collections of objects that it thinks should be blocks.
Now, the first set, as we can see, is doors. It makes sense. We just worked with doors. We did things that looked like that. So I've got this collection of lines and arcs that AutoCAD is going, you know what? These sure look like door blocks or should be blocks.
The second one here, as you can see, is-- I'm not sure what. It found one line out of a collection, and that just doesn't make any sense to me. So what I can do is I can actually report an error. So here's where we're saying is you can actually provide feedback.
So what I'm going to do is actually say that incorrect objects were found. So this doesn't make sense to me. So I'm actually going to mark it that way. Now, the next one, for whatever reason, is it went through and actually caught this kind of small part of the wall.
So it looked at it and goes, you know what? This is kind of like the block, but this looks like it should be part of it for me. This is a case where I'm going to make a suggestion that there was too many objects. So what it did is it actually merged in different objects. So I'm going to provide that feedback on this particular block.
Now, if we look at the last one, for whatever reason, it found part of the stairs. So again, this is one where I'm just going to tell it that it was incorrect and-- or missing objects, I guess, in this case, which makes more sense. So we want to use the door is here. So let's find the doors.
But I'm a little bit concerned that this is the primary instance because that's the one that's going to use to replace all of these objects. I'm looking at it going, you know what? That's actually kind of mirrored around the block that I want to use. What I'm going to also do is I'm going to remove some instances, so ones that I don't want it to convert.
We'll start the conversion process. I'm just going to pan it over, so we can see it. And we can see some suggestions. But it might actually be the recent one that I want to use because remember, I had it in the of my mind that that's the one I want to use.
So we're going to do a convert. I'm going to have to do a rotation here. So I'm going to rotate it, and then I'm going to move it. So I do this all in context. I don't have to do the replace and then move it after. But it's important that this first one is done correctly because this is what it's going to use to swap out all those objects in the drawing.
So you can see it's gone through. We'll complete the process. And when I select it, notice that it converted that into a block. And it did that with all those found instances throughout. So the whole entire set minus obviously those two that I have removed.
So that's object detection. So object detection is this online service, which is important to understand that it does require an internet connection. And Autodesk actually will tell you that the quality can actually be impacted by your internet connection. So slow connection might mean that it can't scan as much of the drawing.
So what it does is it scans your drawing. It takes a look at the various collection of objects. And if it finds some that it thinks should be a block based on what it's seen before, it'll make the suggestion. From there, what you can do is you can actually pick from suggested blocks, so ones that are in your block library or in the current drawing, recent blocks that you used, or you can go and pick one.
So I just go out and pick a block and say, that's the one I want to use. Now, Autodesk also make some other suggestions. It works best with simpler, smaller drawings. So the simpler, the better. Make sure that you set your real-world units before. So you have inches to inches or metric in the right ones.
And for right now, it works best with architectural objects and floor plans. So those are the three smart features when it comes to blocks within AutoCAD, introduced initially in AutoCAD 2024. This is AutoCAD 2025, and who knows what's going to come along in 2026.
So the three were the smart placement where it can make suggestions based on patterns that it's seen before, the block replace which it's maybe only a little bit smart-- it's a great feature because it takes a lot of legwork out of taking that block, putting the new one in the right place. The smart comes in, is where it makes suggestions and says, hey, this kind of looks like this block. Is this the one that you wanted to use?
Then the last one is the tech preview, where it will scan your drawing and use machine learning, will go through and identify patterns that look like blocks. So those doors was an example. It was a line with an arc. So the door swing.
So it said, hey, I think these should be blocks. Here's some suggestions. Here's what you've recently used, or you know what? Go pick the one you want. So thanks for attending. Hopefully, you've learned something from it. And I appreciate you coming out. Thank you.