Hi @pgodman @martinsiegrist ,
for similar purposes, I have been thinking this out-of-the-box solution for referencing fabrication objects, without them being encased inside a block. The idea came some time ago through a similar need. Idea - Block for referencing objects
I have not done anything about it in a while, but your post reminded me about it. And also, some updates on the software allow it to be handled better nowadays.
It is utilising VisualARQ and Elefront (I see you might be using a mac, so don’t know how well this applies there), and especially VisualARQ’s Gh-generated styles. They are basically small independent Grasshopper scripts encased inside geometry and running directly in Rhino.
Here I am using the Annotation style, because it allows to input the position as a plane, instead of just a point. The small script selects the geometry base on name or layer and orients it from its location to the point. You can freely edit the original, and update the reference when needed.
I made a video about it (sharing via Youtube).
The script:
Testing GhStyle.gh (13.7 KB)