The Trinity Block Library Palette

All block libraries are accessible from the Trinity Block Libraries palette. At any time, you can insert Blocks into your drawing.

From the Trinity Block Library palette, you can:

• Access the Block Library Manager
• Display Blocks from a specified block library
• Insert Blocks from the current block library into the active drawing
• Open Blocks for editing
• Delete Blocks from the current block library
• Search a Block in the current block library
• Control the display of Blocks in the Trinity Block Library palette.

Use the BlockLibrary command to display the Trinity Block Library palette.

Toolbar

Use the buttons on the toolbar at the top of the Trinity Block Library palette to access and use Blocks from your Block libraries.

• Block library drop-down list: Displays available block libraries.
• Edit : Opens the specified Block in a new browser tab. You can edit the Block in the graphics area.
• Insert : Lets you insert the specified Block in the graphics area.
• Delete : Deletes the specified Block.
• Open Trinity Block Library : Opens the Block Library Manager.
• Display options : Click the arrow to select a display mode:
  • Show grid view. Displays the folders and Blocks as thumbnails.
  • Show tree view. Displays a hierarchical view of the folders and Blocks.

  The Sort by option lets you display the Blocks in an ascending or descending order according to the drawing name.

• Refresh : Refreshes the list of available Block libraries and the gallery. For example, if new Blocks were added externally to the current Block library, they will be displayed in the gallery.

Search field

Lets you filter the Blocks displayed in the gallery by specifying a part of their name. When you are typing a string, the gallery filters the Blocks from the specified Block library and displays only Blocks that contain the specified sequence of characters in their name. Filtering based on the Block name is always case insensitive.

To remove the active filter, click Close  on the right side of the search field.

Block gallery

Displays thumbnails for each Block from the Block library. Thumbnails update when you modify and save the Block. Optionally, you can display captions for thumbnails.

A green arrow on the thumbnail indicates that the Block contains several Blocks. Clicking the green arrow lists all contained Blocks.

Note: In tree view, each Block shows hierarchy. Clicking the plus sign (+) in front of a Block drawing file lists all contained Blocks. Thumbnails update when you modify and save the Block.

Two additional thumbnails at the top of the Trinity Block Library palette allow you the following:

• Uploading new Blocks
• Uploading new folders
• Creating new folders

Right-clicking a file thumbnail displays a menu with the following options:

• Insert. Inserts the specified Block as if you used the InsertBlock command.
• Delete. Deletes the specified Block from the Block library.
• Edit. Opens the specified Block in a new browser tab. You can edit the Block in the graphics area.

To upload a Block to the Block Library:

1. On the Trinity Block Library palette, click Upload new block.
2. Navigate to the folder where you store the Block as DWG file.
3. Specify the file to upload and click Open.

   The file appears in the Block gallery.

To add a new folder to the Block library:

1. Click Create new folder.
2. In the dialog box, specify the following:
   • Folder name
   • Description
3. Click Create.

   The new folder appears in the Block gallery.

To add a Block library to the Block galery:

1. On the Trinity Block Library palette, click Upload new folder.
2. Navigate to the folder to upload and click Upload.
3. Click Upload to confirm.

   The folder appears in the Block gallery.

To insert a Block from the Trinity Block Library palette:

1. Do one of the following:
   • Drag a Block into the active drawing.
   • Right-click a Block and select Insert from the context menu.

   The Block appears attached to the mouse cursor.

2. Under Position, for X, Y, and Z, specify coordinate values, or select Specify later to specify the insertion point on screen.
3. Under Scale:
   • For X, Y, and Z, specify the scale factor for each axis.

     - or -

   • Click Specify later to define the Block size during insertion. Specify the Corner option, then define the opposite point of the rectangle where the Block is to fit.

     - or -

   • Click Apply uniform scale, and for X, specify a scale factor. A scale factor of:
     • 1: Inserts the Block at its original size.
     • Less than 1: Reduces the size to the percentage of the original size specified by the factor.
     • Greater than 1: Increases the size.
4. Under Rotate, for Angle, specify a value or select Specify later to set the rotation angle in the graphics area during insertion.
5. Under Block UnitSystem:
   • You cannot edit the Units or Scale. If Scale is unequal to 1.0, then the drawing units differ from the Block units.
   • Select Explode Block to explode the Block into its component entities. A Block loses its characteristics when exploded. You can explode uniform scaled Blocks only.
6. Use the Ctrl key to toggle through the available insertion points.
7. Click a point to place the Block.

Access

Command: BlockLibrary

Menu: Tools > Block Library

Menu: Insert > Trinity Block Library

Ribbon: Insert > Palettes > Trinity Block Library