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Dan Perico/3 min read

Design Center

Plot Setup Workflow

1

Switch to Layout Tab

Move from model space to paper space for output configuration.

2

Insert Title Block

Use a block-based title block referenced from your template.

3

Configure Viewports

Set scale per viewport — 1/4" = 1'-0" or other standards.

4

Plot or Export

PDF or printer with the correct page setup and plot style.

Master AutoCAD at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop's AutoCAD Certification teaches drafting, layouts, blocks, and dimensions.

Dive into this comprehensive AutoCAD tutorial and learn how to effectively use the Design Center to import blocks and other named drawing elements from other drawings.

Topics Covered in This AutoCAD Tutorial:

Design Center

Exercise Preview

ex preview blocks insert command

Exercise Overview

In this exercise you will learn how to use Design Center to import blocks from other drawings, as well as other named drawing elements like layers, layouts, linetypes, and styles.

Design Center

  1. Keep the Blocks-Studio.dwg open. Also open the file Design Center-Furniture.dwg in the Class files folder. Once the Showroom file is open, click on the Blocks-Studio.dwg File Tab to make it the active drawing.

  2. Press CTRL–2 to open the Design Center dialog box. You can also click the S. On the panel to the right, you will see the Folders tab is active. The Folders tab will allow you to search through folders on your computer for.dwg files to copy named items from, including sample drawings that come with AutoCAD. Click on the Open Drawings tab to search through files that are already open. In the Open Drawings panel, click Design Center-Furniture Showroom to expand the list of available items in that drawing, if the list isn’t expanded already. Click Blocks from the list and thumbnail images of the blocks attached to the Design Center-Furniture Showroom drawing will appear in the panel to the right. Drag and drop the Sink block into the Blocks-Studio.dwg. You can drag and drop any of the items from the drawings in the Design Center from to any other open drawing.

    design center dialog

  3. Rotate the sink –90˚ and move it so the base point of the block is snapped to the midpoint at the rear of the counter rectangle in the upper-right corner of the bathroom.

    design center rotate sink

  4. If time permits, use the Copycopy tool, Movemove tool, Rotaterotate tool, and Mirror mirror tool tools to finish placing the blocks as shown below. Use the Insert command to insert the Kitchen Sink from the list of attached blocks and place it on the counter next to the refrigerator. The bathroom window is a dynamic block. Use the Lengthen/Shorten grip to reduce its length to 2'6".

    design center finish placing blocks

  5. Press CTRL–2 to reopen Design Center. At the upper-right corner of the window you will see the Autodesk Seek button. At the time of this writing the Autodesk Seek button will open your web browser and take you to bimobect.com. Autodesk Seek was an online service that has been discontinued, but the button is still labeled this way in AutoCAD 2018. Bimobject is a free online service that will allow you to browse and download files for specific commercially manufactured objects that can be inserted as blocks if you download the.dwg files.

    design center autodesk seek

  6. Close and save Blocks-Studio.dwg.

    You can also do web searches for.dwg files posted for download by various manufacturers that can be used as blocks. There are also programs like Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator, and Google SketchUp that can convert.pdf files to.dwg files. In the Level 2 class. Autodesk’s free A360 cloud service that allows you to save blocks to the cloud will also be covered in Level 2.