Michael’s Corner

Michael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

This month…

From the Vault

Originally published July 2006

Dynamic Blocks: Visibility Parameter

Dynamic blocks (A2006 / A2007) have many wonderful characteristics, among them is the ability to have a single block with multiple "visibility parameters". In other words, you can have a single block of a door in which you can display a variety of sizes. In my recent training, the customer did electronic diagrams requiring two different cabling configurations… GRB and GRBHV… so here's what we did:

Instructions to Create a Dynamic Block with Two Visibility Parameters

1. Create the desired geometry, then launch the Block command.
2. When selecting the objects for the block(s), select all the objects for the blocks.  When you get to the Block Editor you will select the geometry to be displayed for each block.
3. After specifying the Base Point and the name, be sure the box is checked for "Open in block editor ", then click OK.

Note: If you have not worked with Dynamic Blocks before, the Block Editor can be a bit disconcerting because your drawing appears to have disappeared with the exception of your block geometry. Don't Panic. The Block Editor is an entirely separate graphic environment in which you assign the dynamic features to your block.

4. On the Parameters tab of the Block Authoring Palettes, click Visibility Parameter. When prompted to specify the parameter location, pick a point that will be easily seen for both of the block conditions. You will see the icon along with an exclamation point in a yellow box.

5. In the upper right corner of the Block Editor, click Manage Visibility States to open the Visibility States dialog box. Click New and enter the name of one of the visibility states. Turn on the setting to "Leave visibility of existing objects in new state". Click OK. To name additional visibility states, click the New button as often as needed and name the states. In this exercise I made two, GRB and GRBHV. (You can delete the default VisibilityState0 name).

When you click OK to close the Visibility States dialog box, you will notice the yellow box with the exclamation point is removed, indicating a successful assignment of two or more visibility states.

6. In the visibility state dropdown list, set GRB to be current, then click Make Invisible and select the objects that are not to be displayed in the GRB visibility state.
7. In the visibility state dropdown list, set GRBHV to be current to see the other objects.

Note: You can move the position of the Visibility parameter icon at any time while you are in the Block Editor.

8. Click Close Block Editor and save the changes. Click on the block to display the visibility parameter icon and select the desired visibility state!

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