Topic: Annotative blocks & orientation

[SLJOHNSON]

Hello,

I'm inserting blocks via lisp. The source drawing has annotativedwg set to 1 to make the block annotative when brought into the drawing, but how to I set things up so that it also matchings the orientation of the layout (model or viewport) automatically.

I see the block definition has a place to select "Match Block Orientation to layout" when a block is annotative. Is there a way to either, like annotativedwg, set that property in the block source drawing or to set it after insertion via lisp?

Can't seem to find any answers so far, perhaps I can find someone who's already tackled it here.

Best,
Shannon

[mjfarrell]

Shannon that feature would want to be set when the block was defined.
I don't think that one would do that to each block upon insertion.

Perhaps there is another way to do what you are doing?  Like with MAP, or with C3D.

So what sort of blocks are you inserting that you would like to be "Plan Readable"?

[SLJOHNSON]

Hello Michael,

I am making a tool for our surveyors to assist their drafting of existing underground utilities ( valves, hydrants, manholes and such). We use letters inside a circle to designate what the item is, e.g., (S) - sanitary manhole, (D) - storm manhole, (V) - valve, etc. We (and some other firms in town) have adopted some of our city's utility blocks as our own to provide continuity for contractors.

I'd like to keep the letters plan readable. I could put the blocks in the template with all the desired setting, but I want to keep excess blocks out of the template and just load them on demand as needed.

Because it's existing utilities for the background drawing, and moving the surveyors away from LDD is the goal, Civil 3D objects aren't the most useful, and I don't think MAP would work here either.

Shannon

[mjfarrell]

MAP would actually work perfectly for this task

One would simply perform a query against the file; with Alter Properties enabled.
Then using a range table (most likely) one would could add the text.
And or use C3D points, and description keys, to place the symbols (blocks), since this is a Survey task.