Virginia Beach CAD Camp and a Dynamic Block Tip

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:

1. I'm assuming you're already in the Block Editor for a block with an attribute in it somewhere, but no parameters or actions.
2. 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.
3. Add a move action to the point parameter and select the text as its selection set.
4. Add a rotate parameter -- use whatever base point, radius, and angle makes sense for your block.
5. 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.
6. 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.)