What are Blocks? | Giraffe Help Center

A "block" is a named collection of geometries & properties that can be treated as a single 2D or 3D entity for efficient use in drawings. Use Blocks to insert frequently repeated elements, ensuring consistency, saving time, and reducing file sizes!

Blocks are saved to your projects as Definitions, and you place Instances of those definitions on the map.

Use blocks to build a library of reusable designs, like

Rooms
Apartments
Buildings
Parking Arrangements
and more!

Blocks can be placed on their own, referenced in Flows, or Nested within other blocks.

A Group vs a Block?

A group is a temporary, flexible collection of objects, while a block is a reusable, permanent master object. Both combine multiple objects to be selected and moved as one, but they serve different purposes in a workflow.

	Group	Block
Primary Use	Ad-hoc, temporary organization for a single, unique assembly. For example, arranging a set of furniture in one room.	Reusable, standardized parts for repeated objects. For example, every identical window in a building.
Editing Behavior	Edits to one grouped instance do not affect other copies of that group. The copies are unique, distinct objects.	All instances are linked to a single "definition." Editing one instance automatically updates all other instances of that block.
File Size	Creates a complete copy of the geometry for each instance, which increases the overall file size.	Stores the geometry only once and references it for each instance. This significantly reduces file size, especially for complex or frequently repeated objects.
Library Management	Not easily shared between projects or stored in a library. When copied to a new drawing, the group structure is lost.	Can be stored in a library for reuse across different projects. Block definitions can also be external files that are linked to the current drawing.
Complexity	Simple in nature. Used for quickly assembling a few objects to move together. Can be nested within other groups or blocks.	More robust and complex. Can have additional attributes, like text or scaling behavior, and are organized in a centralized block manager
Modifications	Easy to "ungroup" and re-group on the fly. Designed for flexibility.	Requires a specific "block editor" mode to modify the definition. Modifications are intended to be less frequent.