topic Re: What is the use of insertion snap in AutoCAD ? in AutoCAD Forum

What is the use of insertion snap in AutoCAD ?

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 10:11:48 GMT

What I have concluded is that this insertion snap remove several grips from the object and make an object of only one grips so that it becomes easy to move an object . Is it right ?

See the gif I have sent:

Let make a rectangle

Click insertion snap on

Click ctrl+shift+c

Specify base point anywhere

Select the rectangle object, Enter

Ctrl + shift + v → produce rectangle with single grip

Now I can hold the grip and move the rectangle anywhere easily.

Re: What is the use of insertion snap in AutoCAD ?

RobDraw — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 10:35:11 GMT

Not even close.

You have several OSnaps activated. The OSnap that you used was NEAREST. Rectangles do not have an insertion point. Only certain kinds of objects have an insertion point OSnap.

You can more about OSnaps in HELP.

Re: What is the use of insertion snap in AutoCAD ?

Kent1Cooper — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 11:21:08 GMT

It doesn't "remove several grips," but rather changes the rectangle to a completely different object type. The difference is only because Ctrl+Shift+V is the PASTEBLOCK command, so the result is a Block [with a wacky name], not a rectangle in the original Polyline form that the RECTANG command makes. Blocks have INSertion points, as do Xrefs, Attributes, Text, Mtext, WMF's, Rtext, Images, and maybe a few other things, but not Polylines.

But you can Move your rectangle Polyline very nearly as easily without losing its Polyline capabilities by converting it into a Block. Select it, pick on any of its grips, and simply press Enter or space once, and it will change from editing-the-grip mode to moving the entire Polyline.

If you want to do it by converting to a Block, I would seriously suggest that you use a meaningful location for the INSertion point, such as a corner, or the MIDpoint of an edge, or the middle of it all with MTP object snap, rather than just some random location in the middle of nowhere along an edge.

And I suggest that you not include NEArest among your running Object Snap modes. Call for it only when you need it specifically. As a running mode, it will almost always "win" over other Osnap modes, and if you think you're picking [for example] an ENDpoint or a MIDpoint or an INTersection, you will often get a location that's close to what you intend but not exactly there.

Re: What is the use of insertion snap in AutoCAD ?

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 12:58:57 GMT

Ok..a polyline rectangle can be moved easily without converting into block but what is the purpose of insertion snap Or what is the use of insertion snap in AutoCAD?

Re: What is the use of insertion snap in AutoCAD ?

RobDraw — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 13:07:11 GMT

The purpose is exactly the same as other OSnaps. The uses are numerous as they can be used in many ways.

Are you looking for information about OSnaps in general?

Have you looked at help for general information about OSnaps?

Re: What is the use of insertion snap in AutoCAD ?

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 13:13:14 GMT

I have known many types of object snap like perpendicular, endpoint, midpoint..etc and it's purpose of use is very clear but I have no idea about insertion snap .

Re: What is the use of insertion snap in AutoCAD ?

RobDraw — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 13:20:24 GMT

Have you looked it up in help yet?

Objects can have a number of snaps available to use as you see fit. Different types of objects have different snaps available but not all.

Re: What is the use of insertion snap in AutoCAD ?

vinodkl — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 17:39:34 GMT

Hi @Anonymous

There are several uses of Insertion snap. You would use it once you start working with them. One example is that we have a symbol for which do wiring and object look something like as shown below and then wiring for it starts from the mid of the symbol. In this case, you need to use the "insertion snap" to snap to the mid of the object and draw the polyline(which is the wire) and end it at the respective place. Without using the insertion snap it's very difficult to draw a wire from the mid of the symbol, we need to use M2P(Midpoint Between 2 points) method to snap in between. So this is one example of where you would use the insertion snaps 🙂

Re: What is the use of insertion snap in AutoCAD ?

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 15:30:50 GMT

Sorry, still I haven't received it clearly. Can you provide me steps to show use of insertion in AutoCAD ? Steps with figure

Re: What is the use of insertion snap in AutoCAD ?

Kent1Cooper — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 16:59:37 GMT

Here's an example. Suppose I have a Text object and I want to draw a Circle around it so that the Text is centered in the Circle. If the Text is MC [Middle-Center] justified:

I can start a CIRCLE command, Object-Snap to the INSertion point of the Text for the center point of the Circle, and the Circle [no matter what size I make it] will be positioned exactly around the Text:

The grip in the center is both the INSertion point of the Text and the CENter of the Circle, because the Circle was Osnapped to the Text's INSertion point.

Here's another. This is a tree Block I sometimes use in site drawings:

whose INSertion base point is in the middle of its circular canopy, but not on any drawn element, so I can't Osnap to the middle with ENDpoint or something:

Suppose I want to put some kind of designation adjacent to some trees in a drawing, but not all of them, so I don't want to make it part of the Block definition. If I put that in the relationship I want to one of the trees:

then to copy it to the trees I want it on, I can set INSertion as the only running Osnap mode [OSMODE = 64], and COPY the indication in Multiple-copy mode, Osnapping to the first tree's INSertion point as the base point to Copy from, and Osnapping to the INSertion points of whichever other trees I want, even if Zoomed way out to do lots at once, without worrying about its Osnapping to some ENDpoint or MIDpoint or INTersection within the drawn elements of the Block:

and the indicator will be in exactly the same positional relationship to each of those other trees as it is to the first one, because the Copying used the INSertion points. Even if there were an ENDpoint or something in the middle, or I wanted to Osnap to one of the branch ENDpoints, I would need to be Zoomed in much closer to get the right place in each, and would need to be Panning around a lot, and if there are different Block rotation angles, it would spoil the possibility of using a branch ENDpoint.

One final way I have used INSertion Osnap: When someone defines a Block but fails to specify a meaningful location in relation to its drawn contents for the base point, the default base point is always 0,0, which can be a long distance away. [You couldn't do that in the days before the Block-definition dialog box, but specifying the base point was a necessary step in the command-line process.] If I pick on such a Block, hoping to Move it or something, and I don't see an INSertion-point grip to "grab" it by, I know it was badly defined. I start a LINE command, Osnap to the Block's INSertion point [wherever and however far away that is] for the start of the Line, and draw it to some logical place within the Block's contents. Then I can tell from the Line where the INSertion point currently is in relation to the contents, and have a basis for fixing the Block definition.

Re: What is the use of insertion snap in AutoCAD ?

sdvannelli — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 22:45:39 GMT

All blocks have an insertion point (as do text and dimensions, amongst others). If you create a block, you have to assign it an insertion point when you create it. If you insert any block at all into your drawing, it has an insertion point unless you explode it automatically upon insertion. Assuming you do not explode it automatically, just pick any block and only one grip will light up. That's the block's insertion point. Unless your block is an attribute, in which case the insertion point of the block as well as all the insertion points of the text within the attribute will light up as grips.