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Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing
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Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Create an attribute and turn it into a block.
Tutorial resources
These downloadable resources will be used to complete this tutorial:
Transcript
00:04
Using attributes can add content to any AUTOCAD block.
00:08
But exactly what are they?
00:11
Attributes are labels or tags that can be visible or not.
00:16
That essentially add data
00:18
to the block
00:20
examples where you could see attributes in a drawing
00:23
could be on title blocks
00:26
or section call outs,
00:28
maybe even room tags or phone blocks
00:32
and they can help produce things such as bill of materials,
00:36
door schedules
00:37
or even facility management documents.
00:41
We're gonna start off looking at how to create attributes.
00:46
Let's go ahead and look at the
00:48
attribute definition dialog box.
00:52
You can see that we have different modes,
00:56
invisible is so that it doesn't show up but it's contained there,
00:60
which sometimes you would use that for data extraction exercises.
01:06
The constant mode means it cannot be changed,
01:10
verify,
01:12
preset lock position
01:14
and the last one is multiple lines so that
01:17
you can have multiple lines of attributed text.
01:22
Then you have the insertion point.
01:25
Now let's talk about the three elements of the attribute. First is the tag.
01:32
This is what your attribute
01:34
will actually read as when you first see it,
01:39
the prompt is what a user could be prompted for for example,
01:43
what is the room number or simply room number could be a prompt
01:49
default is if you want a default value to show up and then that value could be edited.
01:55
And then of course, we have the tech settings
01:58
at the bottom.
02:01
For this example, I'm going to create an attribute,
02:04
place it in a rectangle
02:06
and then create a block out of it.
02:09
This example will be for a department designation.
02:14
First thing I'm gonna do is
02:17
make
02:17
the department layer current.
02:21
Then I'm gonna get this started by typing in att
02:26
de for attribute definition and that opens the attribute definition dialog box.
02:33
I'm gonna leave
02:34
the mode as the default.
02:38
I'm going to have specify on screen for the insertion point
02:44
and for the tag,
02:47
this one, I'm gonna put as DPT for department.
02:51
Then for the prompt,
02:53
what
02:54
is
02:58
the department
03:00
with a question mark
03:03
in the default?
03:04
I will type in
03:07
admin. Now maybe they
03:09
have different codes
03:11
in whatever facility this is going to belong to
03:14
and the most common one is admin. So
03:17
that's why I'm putting that as a default.
03:20
Then I'm going to put middle for the justification.
03:24
I'll keep the text as standard
03:28
and I'll put
03:30
eight inch, we'll go ahead and leave that
03:33
and I'll click. OK?
03:36
Now, as the attribute asks to be
03:40
placed in, I'll just place it
03:44
and then I'm gonna move it
03:46
using the M two P the mid to point
03:50
command.
03:51
So notice I have the grip
03:55
as
03:56
chosen in the center of the attribute.
03:59
Once I have the grip selected, I'm going to type in M two P
04:06
and I'm going to grab each
04:08
corner endpoint.
04:10
And now
04:12
the attribute is placed in the middle of that rectangle.
04:16
Now that I have my attribute inside of the rectangle, I'll use the
04:21
bake command
04:23
to turn this into a block
04:25
which I will call
04:27
department
04:30
for the
04:31
base point.
04:33
I can use this endpoint.
04:37
I'll select
04:39
the objects.
04:40
Notice I'm selecting the
04:43
attribute and the rectangle
04:46
and then I will click.
04:49
OK.
04:50
Notice
04:52
the edit attributes comes up and this is what a user would be prompted with.
04:57
Notice we have our question of what is department.
05:01
I click. OK?
05:02
And now that block definition
05:05
has been created. So if I want to use the insert command
05:10
and look for the block
05:12
department,
05:15
I can place it.
05:16
And then as I'm placing it, I get prompted
05:20
for what is the department?
05:22
Maybe this code of ENG would be for engineering
05:27
and notice how that updates
05:29
and it stays in the middle of the rectangle because of the justification
05:35
that was chosen for me.
00:04
Using attributes can add content to any AUTOCAD block.
00:08
But exactly what are they?
00:11
Attributes are labels or tags that can be visible or not.
00:16
That essentially add data
00:18
to the block
00:20
examples where you could see attributes in a drawing
00:23
could be on title blocks
00:26
or section call outs,
00:28
maybe even room tags or phone blocks
00:32
and they can help produce things such as bill of materials,
00:36
door schedules
00:37
or even facility management documents.
00:41
We're gonna start off looking at how to create attributes.
00:46
Let's go ahead and look at the
00:48
attribute definition dialog box.
00:52
You can see that we have different modes,
00:56
invisible is so that it doesn't show up but it's contained there,
00:60
which sometimes you would use that for data extraction exercises.
01:06
The constant mode means it cannot be changed,
01:10
verify,
01:12
preset lock position
01:14
and the last one is multiple lines so that
01:17
you can have multiple lines of attributed text.
01:22
Then you have the insertion point.
01:25
Now let's talk about the three elements of the attribute. First is the tag.
01:32
This is what your attribute
01:34
will actually read as when you first see it,
01:39
the prompt is what a user could be prompted for for example,
01:43
what is the room number or simply room number could be a prompt
01:49
default is if you want a default value to show up and then that value could be edited.
01:55
And then of course, we have the tech settings
01:58
at the bottom.
02:01
For this example, I'm going to create an attribute,
02:04
place it in a rectangle
02:06
and then create a block out of it.
02:09
This example will be for a department designation.
02:14
First thing I'm gonna do is
02:17
make
02:17
the department layer current.
02:21
Then I'm gonna get this started by typing in att
02:26
de for attribute definition and that opens the attribute definition dialog box.
02:33
I'm gonna leave
02:34
the mode as the default.
02:38
I'm going to have specify on screen for the insertion point
02:44
and for the tag,
02:47
this one, I'm gonna put as DPT for department.
02:51
Then for the prompt,
02:53
what
02:54
is
02:58
the department
03:00
with a question mark
03:03
in the default?
03:04
I will type in
03:07
admin. Now maybe they
03:09
have different codes
03:11
in whatever facility this is going to belong to
03:14
and the most common one is admin. So
03:17
that's why I'm putting that as a default.
03:20
Then I'm going to put middle for the justification.
03:24
I'll keep the text as standard
03:28
and I'll put
03:30
eight inch, we'll go ahead and leave that
03:33
and I'll click. OK?
03:36
Now, as the attribute asks to be
03:40
placed in, I'll just place it
03:44
and then I'm gonna move it
03:46
using the M two P the mid to point
03:50
command.
03:51
So notice I have the grip
03:55
as
03:56
chosen in the center of the attribute.
03:59
Once I have the grip selected, I'm going to type in M two P
04:06
and I'm going to grab each
04:08
corner endpoint.
04:10
And now
04:12
the attribute is placed in the middle of that rectangle.
04:16
Now that I have my attribute inside of the rectangle, I'll use the
04:21
bake command
04:23
to turn this into a block
04:25
which I will call
04:27
department
04:30
for the
04:31
base point.
04:33
I can use this endpoint.
04:37
I'll select
04:39
the objects.
04:40
Notice I'm selecting the
04:43
attribute and the rectangle
04:46
and then I will click.
04:49
OK.
04:50
Notice
04:52
the edit attributes comes up and this is what a user would be prompted with.
04:57
Notice we have our question of what is department.
05:01
I click. OK?
05:02
And now that block definition
05:05
has been created. So if I want to use the insert command
05:10
and look for the block
05:12
department,
05:15
I can place it.
05:16
And then as I'm placing it, I get prompted
05:20
for what is the department?
05:22
Maybe this code of ENG would be for engineering
05:27
and notice how that updates
05:29
and it stays in the middle of the rectangle because of the justification
05:35
that was chosen for me.