Autocad Find Blocks in Drawing
You can save hours of work in AutoCAD with dwgExplore plugin.
Transformation, as seen in the picture above, is done by using only a few simple steps...
"Target Pattern" is any combination of supported AutoCAD objects (lines, poly lines, blocks, texts, leaders, curves, etc. ).
dwgExplore is able to find all instances of target pattern in a drawing.
Like the target pattern, "Replacement Pattern" is also any combination of AutoCAD objects (lines, poly lines, blocks, texts, leaders, curves, etc. ).
dwgExplore replaces selected instances of "Target Pattern" with "Replacement Pattern".
If you have large file set in which patterns/objects are to be found, counted and replaced, as in this video , contact us.
In addition dwgExplore has batch mode operations :
· Batch Find and Replace Text processing
Find and replace texts in TEXT objects, MTEXT objects, blocks attributes, tables and hyperlinks in active drawing OR in file set.
· Batch Statistics
Evaluate AutoCAD object type based statistics(distribution) per layers in active drawing OR in file set .
Evaluate block based statistics (distribution) per layers in active drawing OR in file set.
· Batch Find and Replace Font processing
Find and replace font in text styles, MTEXT objects, mleader objects and tables in active drawing OR in file set.
Exact Match
Users often copy/paste individual entities (line, curve, text) or groups of them. Typical example is door in architectural drawings.
After the objects are pasted, user scale them sometimes, or rotate, or both. Also, sometimes after pasting, parts of objects are changed or deleted.
However, a typical AutoCAD drawing, no matter if it is AEC, Mechanical or it belongs to other discipline, has groups of identical (transformed by scaling and/or rotation) or nearly/partly identical patterns scattered in drawing.
Occasionally it is only needed to find and count patterns (find number of screws, find number of doors), and at times it is needed to modify or replace them with completely new pattern.
dwgExplore enables users to search and eventually replace selected pattern.
It can complete these operations no matter if it is single entity or complex pattern composed of hundreds of objects in a drawing.
Users can specify if they are looking for objects/patterns of same size or any size (or scale range).
In addition, users can specify if they are looking for patterns of same orientation or any orientation(angle of rotation).
Users can even specify if they are looking for any subset/subpattern of selected /target pattern. For example when room with all furniture symbols is selected,
dwgExplore can find all instances of table and chairs symbols in drawing, no matter if those are placed in differently shaped room.
dwgExplore is user friendly and very easy to use. After few minutes, users will become familiar with it and become productive
Hence, user can easily specify target pattern(example shown below)
Results of search are displayed in custom dialog/ list, enabling user to focus/inspect each matching pattern (shown below).
If user wants to replace one or more or all matching patterns, our Replacement Pattern Editor will enable the user to define replacement and to position it accurately in respect to target pattern (as below).
Finally, user can easily replace matching patterns one by one, or group of them with defined replacement pattern (as below).
User can select where to search for the target pattern. dwgExplorer can search in
o Model space
o Paper space layouts
o Blocks
There is also a QuickReplace option, where user can specify in one step(dialog) both target and replacement patterns, and replace all instances of target with one click.
Above functionality is referred in dwgExplore as a "Find Exact Match" and is intended to be used to find patterns that are copy/pasted(and eventually transformed by rotation and scaling after pasting).
Close Match
However, there are scenarios and workflows when users need to find not exactly same patterns, but more or less similar. As an example, a situation where technical documentation available in paper form only needs to be digitalized and analyzed is considered. First step is to scan drawing and vectorize it. Such drawing is composed mostly of basic AutoCAD objects like lines and curves. It has no blocks. If such drawing is taken from architectural project, it may have numbers of patterns designated to represent identical object, door or desk. Due to fact that those patterns are not copy/pasted, but handwritten in original drawing and then scanned and vectorized, those patterns will not be identical in mathematical sense(length of lines may differ a bit, angle of patterns is not exactly same etc). Therefore "Find Exact Match" will not find them.
In order to deal with such or similar workflow we have developed "Find Close Match". It will find those patterns that are not only identical, but also similar to target pattern. It will evaluate similarity and express it in numerical form, so that user is able to sort and filter close match(similar) patterns.
As in "Find Exact Match", user can specify search for similar pattern of same scale or any scale and/or same or any orientation(rotation angle).
The same dialog and functionality used to display and manage exact match results is used also for close match results.
Batch Processing
Statistics
When working in team, it is practice to use layer naming standards (the name of layer determines what it should be used for). It is very useful to have a tool that quickly detects the presence or absence of the certain layer in file(s). Using dwgExplore you can get this information through Batch Statistics option.
It generates report showing distribution of different types of AutoCAD objects across different layers as well as summarizing objects on each layer. For example, not used layers are quickly noticed in drawings.
Since blocks are often used for various purposes in AutoCAD, dwgExplore's Batch Statistics has additional option to analyze distribution of blocks across different layers in file set. 
Both version of statistics tool can work either on active file or file set.
Find and Replace Text
AutoCAD has FIND command that is used to find and replace text strings within various objects(text, mtext, mleader, …). It also has number of additional settings such as wild card support, case matching, option to search within blocks. dwgExplore's "Find and Replace Text has the same options expanded not only to a single file but to a file set. So, user can quickly and efficiently find and replace text strings in hundreds of files without opening them
Find and Replace Font
Similar to previously described functionality, "Find and Replace Font" enables user to find and replace fonts used in text styles, within mtext, mleader and table objects in single file or in file set. So, user can quickly and efficiently change text appearance in large file sets.
15 days trial can be downloaded via link CAD Project Point's dwgExplore
Product documentation is available for download on dwgExploreHelp
Tip : If you try to open a .chm file and you see the contents window appears blank, you mya have to do following :
1. Right clik on the .chm file and go to the Properties window
2. Click the Unlock button under the Security section. A security issue in some version of Windows, prevent the opening of html help(*.chm) files.
3. Click Apply.
4. Now open .chm file. The html help file should now open and you should see all the content.
Answers to most common questions like licensing, AutoCAD verticals and typical w orkflows can be found in our FAQ section.
Download product from download section(here)
Start installation package.
dwgExplore installation will have to modify registry and will add itself to the same AutoCAD folder (usually c:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 20XX).
Therefore, user should start it with 'Run As Administrator' option, as shown in the picture below.
Tip : To find 'Run As Administrator' option, right click on install package and find it in context menu.
Insert location where dwgExplore files will get installed (or leave default path : C: \ProgramData\Cpp Solutions\dwgExplore)
During installation, dwgExplore will detect all installed versions of AutoCAD on your machine.
Select AutoCAD versions for which dwgExplore will be installed on(one license is enough for any number of AutoCAD installations on single machine).
Once the installation is finished, AutoCAD should be started . For the very first start of AutoCAD(after dwgExplore installation), AutoCAD should be started with 'Run As Administrator' option.
You will be prompted by dialog :
To use trial :
· Select 'Continue Trial'
To activate product :
· Purchase license on Store page
· Select 'Activate' option.
· Enter the 12 digit activation code received upon license purchasing.
dwgExplore functions in AutoCAD are available through menu, ribbon or context menu.
It is done !
15 days trial can be downloaded via link CAD Project Point's dwgExplore
Limitations of the free trial are:
· Only medium size patterns of maximum 30 entities can be searched for.
· Only small size patterns of maximum 7 entities can be used as replacement pattern.
· Trial is limited to 15 days.
To use the unlimited version of the product, product has to be activated.
Single or group activation license can be purchased on Store Page
Product documentation is available for download on this link dwgExploreHelp.chm
Tip : If you try to open a .chm file and you see the contents window appears blank, you mya have to do following :
1. Right clik on the .chm file and go to the Properties window
2. Click the Unlock button under the Security section. A security issue in some version of Windows, prevent the opening of html help(*.chm) files.
3. Click Apply.
4. Now open .chm file. The html help file should now open and you should see all the content.
List of "how to" videos
How to find and replace identical(copy/pasted) objects
How to find and replace similar objects
How to find and replace objects in drawing area
How to batch find and replace text in AutoCAD with dwgExplore
Short 3:23 "How to find and replace identical(copy/pasted) objects" tutorial
Short 2:37 "How to find and replace similar objects" video
Short 1:33 "How to find and replace objects in drawing area" video
Short 1:38 "How to batch find and replace text in AutoCAD with dwgExplore" video
Full 35:30 "Using dwgExplore for AutoCAD" tutorial
Source: http://www.cpprs.com/dwgexplore.html
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