Rhino WIP Feature: Drafting Symbols

Serengeti (Rhino WIP)
1

Rhino WIP now includes a Drafting Symbols library of blocks.

What are Drafting Symbols?

Drafting Symbols are commonly used 2D blocks that can be used to create drawings. They are standard 2D representations of common 3D objects (eg: doors, windows, piping, etc). They also include Title Blocks, Arrowheads, Detail Titles, etc.

Note: Currently Drafting Symbols are available on the Windows WIP only.
Mac WIP implementation is being worked on and we will let you know here when it is ready.

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Why are they useful?

These 2D symbols can give you a quick start on creating drafted drawings. Previously in Rhino, you would need to manually draw these symbols and create your own library for use with other files and for sharing with your team. Symbols can also include additional user-defined data and text fields to customize for each detail and drawing.

Folders represent categories of symbols and like materials the thumbnails show the current folder content and all the sub-folders. Adding content in the lowest most folders will make category and sub-category browsing easier.

Steps to Use:

  1. Open the Library panel by right-clicking on the grey area of the sidebar (to the right of the UI):

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  2. Click on the Menu and select Blocks:

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  3. Navigate the menu of folders to find the content needed.

  4. Drag and drop the symbol into a Rhino viewport.

  5. If the Symbol include attributes, it will prompt for the required content.

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  6. Attributes on the symbol can be edited from the AttributeUserText page on the Properties panel.

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Download Rhino WIP…

23 Likes
2

I have 9.0.26069.12306, 2026-03-10) (mac 26.3 (25D125) and nothing is showing in the blocks folder

3

this is all I see when selecting blocks

Screenshot 2026-03-13 at 11.40.54 AM
Screenshot 2026-03-13 at 11.40.54 AM474Ă—630 53 KB

4

Yes, currently Mac does not have teh Block content. We are working on adding that.

5

Is this available in grasshopper also?

6

Will this be compatible with AutoCAD blocks?

My normal workflow is to do drafting in autocad lt and as such have an extensive block library already built and want to know if I’ll need to rebuild it to shift across.

7

Sure it should work for that too. Although, I have found it better to convert to 3dm because there are some differences with Blocks and attributes if that is being used.

8

Yeah, I expected it’d work better to eventually have rhino specific symbols, but obviously a lot are only used occasionally, so good to know I can just import them as needed.

9

Great! I’m looking forward to the Mac drafting symbols as will be really useful, so please post when ready. Thanks, Tim

10

Amazing work! I’ve been waiting for it a long time, so it’s great to finally see it coming along. Can’t wait to try it! :smiley:

11

This is really useful. What plans do McNeel have for handling corporate blocks so we can add proprietary annotations?

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I see that I can add my own block files (and set up my own folders to keep them apart) but while I can see the block name there doesn’t appear to be a way to set up icons yet like the McNeel blocks have. Nor any alternative to navigating the Appdata tree to save the block definition, which may not be allowed in a corporate environment.

1 Like
12

Hi Jeremy -

Those are just the thumbnails that are saved in a file.
Can you see those in the preview pane in Windows Explorer?

You can set up your own folders from the options in the panel or directly from the Rhino Options → Libraries page:

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-wim

1 Like
14

Not seeing anything in Windows :frowning:

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15

Hi Bill -

Please run SystemInfo and copy-paste its output here.
-wim

16

Here you go

Rhino 9 SR0 2026-4-7 (Rhino WIP, 9.0.26097.12305, Git hash:master @ b60dd410008243ac590db0c97997566b52def575)
License type: Commercial, build 2026-04-07
License details: Cloud Zoo
Expires on: 2026-05-22

Windows 11 (10.0.26200 SR0.0) or greater (Physical RAM: 16GB)
.NET 9.0.14

Computer platform: LAPTOP - Plugged in [79% battery remaining]

Non-hybrid graphics configuration using DirectX
Primary display: AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT (AMD) Memory: 8GB, Driver date: 3-9-2026 (M-D-Y). DirectX(11)

Integrated accelerated graphics device with 5 adapter port(s)

  • Windows Main Display is laptop’s integrated screen or built-in port

Secondary graphics devices.
Intel(R) Arc™ Graphics (Intel) Memory: 2GB, Driver date: 4-16-2025 (M-D-Y).

Integrated accelerated graphics device with 4 adapter port(s)

  • Laptop’s primary display device

DirectX Settings
Safe mode: Off

OpenBLAS: OpenBLAS 0.3.30 DYNAMIC_ARCH NO_AFFINITY Haswell MAX_THREADS=64.

Rhino plugins that do not ship with Rhino

Rhino plugins that ship with Rhino
C:\Program Files\Rhino 9 WIP\Plug-ins\Commands.rhp “Commands” 9.0.26097.12305
C:\Program Files\Rhino 9 WIP\Plug-ins\rdk.rhp “Renderer Development Kit”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 9 WIP\Plug-ins\AnimationTools.rhp “AnimationTools”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 9 WIP\Plug-ins\UpdatesAndStatistics\UpdatesAndStatistics.rhp “UpdatesAndStatistics” 9.0.26097.12305
C:\Program Files\Rhino 9 WIP\Plug-ins\RhinoRenderCycles.rhp “Rhino Render” 9.0.26097.12305
C:\Program Files\Rhino 9 WIP\Plug-ins\RhinoRender.rhp “Legacy Rhino Render”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 9 WIP\Plug-ins\rdk_etoui.rhp “RDK_EtoUI” 9.0.26097.12305
C:\Program Files\Rhino 9 WIP\Plug-ins\NamedSnapshots.rhp “Snapshots”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 9 WIP\Plug-ins\MeshCommands.rhp “MeshCommands” 9.0.26097.12305
C:\Program Files\Rhino 9 WIP\Plug-ins\RhinoCycles.rhp “RhinoCycles” 9.0.26097.12305
C:\Program Files\Rhino 9 WIP\Plug-ins\3dxrhino.rhp “3Dconnexion 3D Mouse”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 9 WIP\Plug-ins\Displacement.rhp “Displacement”
C:\Program Files\Rhino 9 WIP\Plug-ins\SectionTools.rhp “SectionTools”