AutoCAD 12 and higher versions

MINSERT, which is one of the unthought-of commands of Autocad, can be very useful sometimes. Command consists of the first letter of ‘Multiple’ word and ‘Insert’ word. I think you understand a familiar word when you hear the INSERT command. We are going to insert blocks but multiple ones at a time. The best example for the situation is always the roof tiles.

Fig.1

You can see a 22×42 cm. roof tile in the Figure 1. Whether you may know the dimensions or not, Autocad can measure for us. Let us now insert the block named ‘BRICK’ by using MINSERT command.

Command: _minsert
Enter block name or [?] <BRICK>:
Units: Centimeters Conversion: 1.0
Specify insertion point or [Basepoint/Scale/Rotate]:
Specify scale factor <1>: enter
Specify rotation angle <0>: enter

Up to now, the whole process is simply same with ‘Inserting a block’ which we have already know. After that, the process proceeds exactly same with ARRAY (rectangular) command.

Enter number of rows (—) <1>: 2
Enter number of columns (|||) <1>: 5
Enter distance between rows or specify unit cell (—): < pick p1 & p2 >

After the repeating row and column numbers are entered, the distances between each row and column are requested. We can define the lateral and horizontal distance by simply drawing a rectangle same as the ARRAY command. (Figure 2)

Fig.2

The result can be seen in Figure 3. The whole block group acts as a one.

Fig.3

Blocks created by MINSERT commands can not be exploded which you can realize going into it but, you can change the row and column number entering the options menu of the MINSERT object. (Figure 4)

Fig.4

The changes you made modifies the drawing immediately. Besides, you can change the rotation angle and distance. Although blocks created by MINSERT command have some restrictions, they speed up the working on the drawing file. They are very useful especially when you are dealing with roof tiles, road surfaces etc.

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• AutoCAD Blocks

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Autocad, Blocks, Command