Substituting Blocks

Substituting Blocks
In the preceding example, you updated a block in your Plan file by using the Browse option in the Insert
dialog box. In that exercise, the block name and the filename were the same. You can also replace a block
with another block or file of a different name. Here’s how to do this:
1. Open the Insert dialog box.
2. Click the Browse button next to the Name input box, locate and select the file you want to use as a
substitute, and then click Open to return to the Insert dialog box.
3. Change the name in the Name input box to the name of the block you want replaced.
4. Click OK. A warning message appears, telling you that a block with this name already exists. Click
OK to proceed with the block substitution.
You can use this method of replacing blocks if you want to see how changing one element of your project
can change your design. You might, for example, draw three different apartment unit plans and give
each plan a unique name. You could then generate and plot three apartment building designs in a fraction
of the time it would take you to do so by hand.
Block substitution can also reduce a drawing’s complexity and accelerate regenerations. To substitute
blocks, you temporarily replace large, complex blocks with schematic versions of those blocks. For
example, you might replace the Unit block in the Plan drawing with another drawing that contains just
a single-line representation of the walls and bathroom fixtures. You would still have the wall lines for
reference when inserting other symbols or adding mechanical or electrical information, but the drawing
would regenerate much faster. When you did the final plot, you would reinsert the original Unit
block showing every detail.