topic Re: Blocks inserted using MEASURE command not scaling in AutoCAD Forum

Blocks inserted using MEASURE command not scaling

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 20:47:30 GMT

I have a block of a circle with a radius of 7 inches. It is a non-annotative block and the block units are inches.

I am inserting the block into a new drawing where the UNITS are feet, so the block gets scaled by 1/12 upon inserting (i.e., the radius is 7/12 = 0.583 feet). Cool, that's normal.

However, when I insert the block using the MEASURE command in the new drawing, the block isn't scaling by 1/12. The block has a radius of 7 ft.

How do I fix this behavior? Why is AutoCAD ignoring the scaling when using the MEASURE command?

Re: Blocks inserted using MEASURE command not scaling

Patchy — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 21:13:11 GMT

I guess you have to explode that block and redefine it.

Re: Blocks inserted using MEASURE command not scaling

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 21:20:13 GMT

That's a workaround, but I am looking for a solution that helps me understand why AutoCAD is behaving this way. I realize I can just redefine the block with radius 0.583, which takes care of the MEASURE issues, but then if I insert the block using the INSERT command, the block WILL scale by 1/12, which makes it too small.

I'm trying to understand why AutoCAD is doing what it's doing because it helps me with drafting overall.

Re: Blocks inserted using MEASURE command not scaling

Patchy — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 21:23:04 GMT

That's 1st time I saw a post like that 😀

A solution maybe existed.

Re: Blocks inserted using MEASURE command not scaling

pendean — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 15:01:20 GMT

Show your work: post DWGs of your block and your file that exhibits the problem, lets see it all for ourselves.

Re: Blocks inserted using MEASURE command not scaling

cwr-pae — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 15:45:29 GMT

Not a solution but avoids redefining the block.

After measure/divide use the select command with P(revious) to select the blocks inserted by the previous command, then set the correct scale in the properties pallet. Entering fractions is quicker and more accurate than entering decimals.

Long ago I went to all blocks and drawings set to unitless, and most scaled uniformly, because of this and similar inconsistencies in other commands. Most blocks are inserted through the tool pallets and scaled by the current dim scale of the drawing.

Re: Blocks inserted using MEASURE command not scaling

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 16:51:44 GMT

Attached are two DWGs. One contains the circle block definition and the other shows how the block scales when inserted using INSERT vs MEASURE.

@cwr-pae Thanks for the tip.

Re: Blocks inserted using MEASURE command not scaling

pendean — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 17:10:35 GMT

See attached: works fine here after purging your drawing of all that block's definitions then starting over, except for your circle block's insertion point is where you left it instead of probably where you want it.

Re: Blocks inserted using MEASURE command not scaling

Kent1Cooper — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 17:48:45 GMT

My MEA+ command, part of DivideMeasurePlus.lsp, available >here<, has many enhancements compared to the native MEASURE command, one of which is that you can specify the scale of a Block used in it [MEASURE uses only 1]. I find that even if I accept the default of 1, it works in your drawing the way you would expect, without redefining the Block.

Re: Blocks inserted using MEASURE command not scaling

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 17:56:07 GMT

It looks like you inserted the entire CIRCLE BLOCK.dwg file as a block and then used that with the MEASURE command. However, in reality, the CIRCLE BLOCK.dwg file contains 50+ blocks (I just didn't include them as part of this upload), so inserting the entire file as a block into the target drawing isn't practical. I want to be able to insert just the block (named "CIRCLE") and have it scale correctly regardless of whether it's inserted via MEASURE or INSERT.

I feel like I'm not asking a lot from this software. Is there a reason AutoCAD would intentionally have the MEASURE command ignore block scaling?

Re: Blocks inserted using MEASURE command not scaling

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 18:09:53 GMT

Wow this is amazing, thank you! The extra features are fantastic, too, especially the ability to apply the command repeatedly to different objects and centering the measure on the object.