Extending line from or to a block

Hi Folks,

Why can;t i extend a line from a block, or extend a line to a block
???

Is there a solution to do this ?


Greets Edwin

 

What are you trying, and what version are you using?

 

Op Fri, 18 Feb 2005 13:15:06 -0500 schreef "Michael Bulatovich"

Iam working with Autocad 2005.


In a elektrical drawing, with components, i want to extend a line, for
example, from a contactor to the + 24 Volt.

This contactor is a block.

In actual situation we explode this block en then extend that line.
I wonder if this possible with a block.
For me it won't take lots of time if this is possible.

Regards
Edwin

 

There is a set of lisps first called "bonus tools" then 'Express Tools' (now
god knows what) that has a routine that does this. It was once called
BEXTEND and you had to pay extra to get the whole set at one time. Some one
else might advise about 2005 and these tools. (I thought they became part of
the package)

 

Op Sat, 19 Feb 2005 07:15:46 -0500 schreef "Michael Bulatovich"

Heej ...

I found Expresstools, but now when i do the command bextend nothing
happend. Probably i must load something into autocad to make it
work...
????

Anyway many thanks for helping me
Edwin

 

Did you get the "select objects" prompts?

 

Op Sat, 19 Feb 2005 21:51:21 -0500 schreef "Michael Bulatovich"

I have Expresstools installed, re-installed, and installed again.
For the things i have red, you must type EXPRESSTOOLS or EXPRESSMENU
in the commandline, but that results in a unknown command....

Yes, i get an select oblects Project/edge/undo.

I find out that i can extend a line TO a block....
Now i like to extend a line FROM a block.
I also red that the expresstools sometimes don't work at all....

Well,
I wish you a nice Sunday....

Greetings
Edwin

 

I thought you just enter the Command, like BEXTEND.

As for extending FROM a block, that is editing the block,
and will involve exploding and perhaps redefining the block.
Blocks by definition are all the same, and if you want some of
your blocks to be different from the rest, you probably
need to use more than one block.

 

As Michael wrote, extending a line that's part of a block would require
editing the block. You could explode it or use refedit but keep in mind
that refedit will update all the instances of that block in the drawing as
well as any inserted in the future. So if you need to edit one instance
only, better to explode, edit and redefine with a new name. I'm sure there
must be a lisp routine out there to do that.
I have absolutely no trouble at all with the Express Tools. I couldn't work
without them. They should be renamed "kick ass tools" or "tools that should
be standard but are not because Autodesk's priorities are screwed up".

Autodesk is too busy doing pointless things such as giving the copy command
multiple copy capability and having the fillet command remain active instead
of quitting after you enter a radius. We've been doing that for years by
making simple changes to the toolbar buttons or using simple one line lisp
commands. They also mess with stuff that is just fine the way it is, like
the properties and design center panes. Since rel 2004, they are now tool
palettes that can be collapsed with the auto-hide option. You know what a
pain in the ass it is when you reach for a tool bar button and in doing so,
the hidden design center palette expands when you pass over it? When it's
collapsed, I sometimes would forget it's there. Now I just kill it when I'm
done. The same goes for the properties palette. And the mtext editor is
awful in 2005. It opens transparent by default which makes me nuts. You
have to click on that really thin area just below the ruler to shut off
transparency. And there have been times where my output text formatting
still does not match the formatting in the editor, even when I stretch the
editor window. The ability to format text was supposed to be an
enhancement. Is it really necessary to have the editor window separated
from the menu bar? I can understand the convenience of seeing exactly where
the text is placed as it is being typed but what's the point if the
formatting is not the same after you click ok? Another unpredictable
feature is the new shadeplot feature for a viewport. I must admit that it's
fantastic (and high time) to be able to finally plot a rendered viewport but
I've had difficulty with the "hidden" option. Sometimes, it plots with
hidden lines suppressed, other times, it does not. And the page setup name
mess still has not been fixed. If you make a change in a page setup, the
setup name changes to "none" instead of having a save option for the
existing name. So you have to add a new name and you can't use the existing
one because it can't be overwritten. These are all issues that are most
likely impossible to address with lisp or VBA.

The objective of continuing to attempt to make cad software simpler to use
so that "anyone" can use it is destructive and ill-fated. Not only is the
quality of the drawings created by users untrained in fundamental
engineering drawing reduced to junk,
but also to the software itself. The real useful and necessary enhancements
and fixes are ignored.

2004 and 2005 have a few long overdue features, but either one is far from
the best release. 2002 still holds that title, imo. But still, I can't
imagine what a lousy product acad would be if it were not for lisp, third
party developers and the many creative routines available for free and the
ones posted on these newsgroups.

 

Op Sun, 20 Feb 2005 15:40:09 GMT schreef "Pete"

---snip--

Hello Pete,

I will take you advise. I realy like you're opinion on Autodesk. Also
with a beginnerscourse wich i had, its difficult to understand
Autocad.
Later on i will get the advanced training.
But collegues did that already and now iam struggling myself to things
as, blocks explode and other stuff.
You see they are much advanced trained as i....means that i must
learned a lot at home.....

Nevertheless i find it an very interesting program....

Cheers
Ed