I'm teaching a class on Dynamic Blocks tomorrow at the AUGI CAD Camp in Virginia Beach, so I thought I'd share a tip from it with you early.
One popular question on the discussion groups is how to stop attribute text from rotating when you rotate the rest of a dynamic block, so it always stays horizontal and readable.
Here's how it works:
- I'm assuming you're already in the Block Editor for a block with an attribute in it somewhere, but no parameters or actions.
- Add a point parameter at the insertion point of the text. Use the Properties palette to set its grips to 0, and set Chain Actions to Yes.
- Add a move action to the point parameter and select the text as its selection set.
- Add a rotate parameter -- use whatever base point, radius, and angle makes sense for your block.
- Add a rotate action and select whatever geometry you want to rotate AND the point parameter. Do NOT select the text or the move action.
- Close the Block Editor and Save changes.
That's it -- when you use the rotate grip to rotate the block, the text circles around but stays horizontal. Pretty cool.
Here's a screenshot of the block editor, and a sample file if you'd like to play around with it yourself. (Note: You have to have LT 2007 or higher to edit Dynamic Blocks.)
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