Linked block does not display

[brenden.egan]

I have a model with a linked block (2 instances), all seemed to go well when I inserted the blocks. I have not used that part of the model for some time, but now when I turn on the appropriate levels the blocks do not display. The blocks are listed in the block manager. The blocks can not be selected by cursor pick either. If I explode all blocks the geometry becomes visible.
These are the properties of the block

Any ideas?

[Gijs (Gijs de Zwart)]

Any hidden layers in your file?

[brenden.egan]

I have found the block it was on an undisplayed layer. However the blocks were defined on another layer, when I tried to delete the layer it would not let me saying I had to delete the blocks first.
Still trying to come to grips with linked blocks and layers.
Thanks for your help.

[Gijs (Gijs de Zwart)]

Yes, you have the block definition layer and then the layers of the objects inside of the block. These can but don’t need to be the same.
I have made some scripts to organize blocks that might help you out:

Organized Block / Organize Blocks

After following this discussion, I’ve made a script that you can use to create a block definition layer structure when creating a block. And another to organize blocks onto layers with their block name @pascal @Helvetosaur what do you think? organizedBlock.py (1.6 KB)

see the code

import rhinoscriptsyntax as rs import Rhino def organizedBlock(): """ create a block from selection and add it to a layer with the block's name nested under layer Block_Definitions …