We held a fun Dynamic Blocks contest with prizes during the AutoCAD 2006 (codename AutoCAD Rio) beta program. The contest name was "Beta Blocker". We received some really cool and interesting submitted blocks during the beta. We have now announced the winners.
Best Dynamic Block
1. Mark Douglas - "Post Tension"
Prize: Olympus camera
Mark's own explanation:
This Dynamic Block is a Structural Post Tension Tendon Dynamic Block. A post tension tendon is a steel cable that is embedded in the middle of concrete slabs. When AutoCAD 2006 was released most users went straight to their old legacy block libraries and started converting their 2000 old legacy blocks into 1 Dynamic block. I think it is great. But what happens once you convert those 2000 blocks and are left at a point where you have nothing else to convert to dynamic blocks? This is the time to start digging into your company LISP code. Yes, who thought Dynamic blocks would start cutting away on a companies LISP code. This one block alone has cut about 5 or 6 of the longest and error prone LISP code we have. When using LISP code its great for the initial instance of the block but once something changes the user has to manually re-run the LISP code again to generate all the correct information. This block uses NO LISP code and is totally user friendly. With this new dynamic block we’ve cut our time creating our foundation plans by more than 75% leaving us extra time to focus on other aspects of the project. This block also has a huge lookup table that has all our length conversions using the range function in the lookup tables.
2. Barry Ralphs - "DynBolt"
Prize: iRiver IFP-795 512MB MP3 player
3. Chris Wallis - "wally_table"
Prize: Rio Forge 256MB Sport MP3 player
Chris also submitted a very creative Clock Dynamic Block.
Best Story
1. Nicolas Menu - Boundary Block meeting Swiss Government Requirement
Prize: "iRiver IFP-799 1GB MP3 player
Nicolas's own explanation:
"When printing a situation at different scale and for different purpose you might encounter some problems. This is especially true if you have to stick to CAD standards, regarding the exact aspect (dimensions) your blocks should have once printed. All Swiss surveyors have to stick to very strict norms edicted by the government (swisstopo) and all architects are using the surveyors drawing for their projects.
We have a different library of blocks for the different scales. All goes well if the drawing you work with will be plotted at the scale you initially choose when importing the symbols into AutoCAD. But most of the time it is not the case. So it means exporting and then re-importing the symbols which is annoying even with LISP files... thought why not give a try to the Dynamic Blocks for that particular case! And here it is.
I made one boundary block as simple as possible which enable the user to select before printing which scale the block should display (got 6 different scales + 3 more option for high density boundary marks zone). A quick select will do the job for selecting the blocks and changing their lookup properties all at once doesn't take that long.
This way will helped reduced our library of blocks from 900 blocks to 100!"
2. Rick Moore - "joist_elev18"
Prize: iRiver IFP-795 512MB MP3 player
Rick's own explanation:
"This is a steel joist elevation block - previously we have drawn from these scratch, which is a very tedious process involving a lot of trimming, copying, and UCS changes. Now with this block we just insert, stretch to the desired length, then touch up the web placement and details around the joist seat. It doesn't matter what angle they will be placed at because of the alignment parameter and the linear constraints on the web array - no need to switch the UCS! I have created one of these for all of the K joists from 8" to 30" deep and added them to our standard block palettes, this one is the18k joist."
3. Les Vogel - "2006-Jack" Electrical Connector
Prize: Rio Forge 256MB Sport MP3 player
Most Complex Dynamic Block
Mark Douglas - "Shearwall"
Prize: Rio Forge 256MB Sport MP3 player
Mark's own explanation:
"This Dynamic block is a Structural Shear Wall Dynamic Block that has had many revisions due to the growing power of Dynamic Blocks. The Dynamic Block uses a combination of Visibility, Point, Lookup, and Linear parameters. There is a Total of 16 Parameters and 19 Actions. The block may look very intimidating at first but each parameter and action set is utilized to its fullest to perform to a users needs. When opening the Dynamic block in the Block editor it immediately shows that Dynamic blocks take time to learn and perfect. This block explains it all, the Dynamic blocks are almost too powerful at times but with many revisions it has been the most powerful one we have in our Dynamic Block library. There also is a Linear parameter in the Block Editor called S.W. Symbol Length that is stretched way down in the editor. This is designed this way so we don't have to use a Flip parameter. Since the Flip parameter re-justifies attributes when flipped we don't have to worry about modifying a block when the attributes are moved. This allows a user to stretch the block to the other side of the wall with ease."
Mark Douglas has become the undisputed king of Dynamic Blocks "Block Head" among customers using AutoCAD 2006. Mark even has a blog "In the Dynamic Interface".
We have been trying to provide as much rewards as we can for those that are very active in providing feedback during the AutoCAD beta programs.
Cheers,
Shaan
