Topic: Block management

[hyposmurf]

How do you do yours?
Started at my new place,been asked to have a go at sorting the company block system out.It consists of a

multitude of blocks created by different users
not all blocks are drawn at the correct scale
theres no standard block naming convention
no order to the block library
some of the blocks have mtext where attributes shouldve been
alot of users just drag blocks from existing drawings
many blocks still to be created(many users draw the objects each time rather than create a standard block)
No legend/s detailing all the blocks[/list:u]

Im thinking of reordering the block library so its easy to navigate,renaming blocks to a coherant convention,modify any incorrectly scaled blocks,incorrect use of mtext/attributes and cerate a number of new blocks.There was me thinking yeh shouldnt be too hard. I'll probably do this over a weekend.
Where do I start are there any guides/standards online?What systems do you use to manage your block libraries?Do you use slide libraies,how do I go about setting one up?Is it best to create drawings related to each group of blocks so that users can create tool palettes from these?
If I change the path of the blocks,thats likely to screw up any menus that users may have? Heres one site with a block manager,anyone used it before?

http://www.caddee.com/

Just a few questions

[Murphy]

If your users are in Autocad 2004 or newer then I would say go for the tool pallette setup.

Right now you should focus on moving all blocks to 0,0,0, setting their base to 0,0,0, putting them on layer 0 (at least that's the way I do it) and setting them up so they can be scaled per dimscale. As you save them your naming system will come in. The way we used to name blocks was e-l1x4, e-lex1, e-lexl, e-lexr, etc. where e is for the dept. (electrical), l is for system (lighting) and the rest is a short description (1x4 fixture, ex1 single face exit, exl exit with left arrow, exr exit with right arrow).

If you intend to go the way of slides you may want to check out some other sites first. I know Afralisp will be back in a bit and Kenny had some lisp routines for doing slides and slide libraries.

If all else fails you could set them up for tool pallettes but use Design Center instead. Down and dirty but, it gets the job done.

[hendie]

*cough* Blockwerx. I know it's been said a hundred times before but it's an excellent program for very little layout.
I have about 500 blocks to manage ~ which I "inherited" so I had to go through the same problems as you now describe.
Blockwerx caters for both bitmaps and slides, even creates all the slides automatically for you. Simple to manage, easy to use, intuitive. I wouldn't be without it now.

[MvdP]

I have found this free block manager on the net.

Screenshot and info here.
http://home.broadpark.no/~avarnes/autolisp/routines/blib.html

Latest release til AutoCAD 2006 can be downloaded here.
http://www.cadsite.be/lisp/blib.zip

(needs doslib)

[gerstal82]

that is a good one, i've been using it since a wile and it is a good one and its free.

[CottageCGirl]

I manage a library of over 6000 blocks, many I inherited, but with new product, I have now replaced many of them.  
First I went thru block by block and put all obsolete and duplicate blocks into void folders, then unified the naming conventions, then created a block layer template that I brought into each block with Design Center, then used layer manager to clean them all up.
We are on 2005 and the palletts dont seem to work for us well (maybe 2006) the primary use of the blocks is, that I create blocks of multiple blocks that our designers bring in to drawings and this doesn't seem to jive w/ the whole pallatte thing.

I have a DWG folder in which all of my blocks are sorted in folders by number and name.   so all the product that starts with a "10-" is in one folder etc...... then I have buttons for every product prefix (10-) so when someone wants to insert a single item, they click the button and type in the iem #, I also create a custom pull down menu of all the blocks of blocks which are named like... "24-LRA" for 24 Living Room A.  These blocks then explode on insertion.

[craigr]

All good answers, but....

First off, I am the untitled CAD Manager here. ALL Dwgs must come thru me for final inspection for accuracy & to make sure they meet our CAD standards.

I manage ALL OFFICIAL blocks here. We had MANY blocks created years ago that don't meet standards, wrong scale, wrong color, not set to snap, etc......

I went through them and organized, fixed & deleted some of them. Now when someone creates a new block for the collective to use, it comes to me to manage and assure that it is correct & meets standards. I then file it on our server in the 'Blocks' directory, which is organized appropriately for our industry.

By ONE person managing the blocks, it prevents others from re-using a block that doesn't meet standards &/or has incorrect info in it. It amazes me that after we standardized our CAD a couple years ago, there are still blocks that others CAD guys have tucked away for their own use. So, when their finished dwg then comes to me to check, I have to weed out their bad blocks or fix them. - I always call the guy on it and ask him to either fix his block or replace it with an approved block.

So, I always recommend that ONE person manage them if possible.

craigr

[CottageCGirl]

If only ONE thing can be said about CAD Jockeys.... it is that they tend to be the most stubborn group of people on the planet......

[MP]

Are not.

[CottageCGirl]

are too

[Murphy]

I have lived under the dictatorship of a lone CAD manager before.

Let's just put it this way, what he didn't know didn't hurt him.

If you know how stubborn we are then why bother argueing with us?

[CottageCGirl]

I have learned to expect that it is happening, but when someone has a problem because they copied a 3 year old drawing....I have no sympathy.

[hyposmurf]

Im going to take what you have all said on board.I am th0ough beginning to come to realise that maybe alot of these users are stuck oin their own particular ways and they may not accept any new ways,even oif I can see they are alot more efficient.Such as taking an old drawing and dragging/dropping from one to the other,drawing the required symbol/equipment each time rather than creating a standard block to insert each time.Im going to do my best and if they dont like it Ill just go and keep what I know to myself and get on my with my work.

[ELOQUINTET]

we use a mixture of slide menus which someone created tool palettes. i have blockwerx at home but have yet to try to implement it here. i think they tried it in the past and were not happy as i see a folder with the name on my computer, not sure why though. i do have a recommendation noone has brought up yet. you should also get familiar with and keep in mind dynamic blocks for the future because they will change all of our block libraries in the future. just my 2 cents

[hyposmurf]

Can you clarify what exactly will be different with 2006 dynamic blocks with reagrds the management of them.Im using 2004 ADT.Also have a liscence for 2006 ADT but not yet installed it had enough problems so far setting everything up,that Ive stuck with the beast I know for now.Until such time as Im up to speed with everything here will I change over.