custom hatch pattern

[Mory]

Hi All,

 I am trying my hand at making my own hatch pattern.  I want it to make vertical lines only.  I want it to make a vertical line then make another vertical line 10 units to the right and then another vertical line 2 inches to the right of the second line and then start the process over so as to mimic a steel roof.  Would anybody know how to do this?  Thanks for any help.

[CyberAngel]

See this page, which should be enough to get you started.

 

Creating a hatch pattern is one of those things I do every five years or so, meaning I have to relearn the whole scheme every time.

 

Simply put, you create a text file with the PAT extension. In this file you have one line with the name and description, then the rest are the definition of the hatch. Yours might look like this:

 

*Steel_Roof, 12" panel

90,  10,0,  12,0

 

I haven't tried this, so it may (and probably will) take some trial and error. The first number is the angle, so the following lines are vertical. Beginning at the origin of the hatch, AutoCAD will draws a vertical line at (10,0) and another at (12,0) then repeat to the edges of the border. The pattern may start at the origin or be off center, I don't know.

 

The asterisk is required.

 

[eldon]

You could try:

 

*CT1, 12" panel

90,0,0,0,12

90,10,0,0,12

*

 

A blank line is essential at the end of a pattern definition, but I have found that AutoCAD tolerates a * in the last line, and it serves as a visual marker

[Mory]

thanks Cyberangel!  I have been trying this and it keeps saying my pat file is bad when i try to use it in cad.  I, like you, have really never done this as it is such a rare occurence that i need one special like this but acad doesnt have one that really looks right for my dwg.. i dont know why i am having such trouble since it is just some lines spaced the way i would like them to be... i have deleted trailing spaces and made sure my cursor is at the end of the script file before saving but to no avail.... 

[Mory]

Wow! that workd Eldon!  I don't really understand it... but it worked!  What number would i need to change to make the spacings .75 of an inch and 16 inches respectively?  Btw i just copied your text and pasted right into a new wordpad file and tada!  

[Mory]

39 minutes ago, eldon said:

You could try:

 

*CT1, 12" panel

90,0,0,0,12

90,10,0,0,12

*

 

A blank line is essential at the end of a pattern definition, but I have found that AutoCAD tolerates a * in the last line, and it serves as a visual marker

this worked!  i was even able to tinker with the values and create some different spacings for a couple different looks on my drawing.  Many thanks Eldon and all other help as well!! Said it before this forum is a great resource for autocad users!!!

[eldon]

I am glad it helped you. Here is a diagram of how the data for the pattern definition file is derived.

 

 

[Mory]

Thanks eldon.. cant tell you how happy i am to be having this going now... my boss was kinda wanting me to do a custom hatch to make the dwg look better so i am sure he will like this!  Thanks for the definition... i screenshoted it to refer to... did i just past tense a noun?? also i attached this screenshot to display how the pattern looks... thx again!

[CyberAngel]

Looks good!

[BIGAL]

Agree

 

Mory have you looked at dynamic blocks for your windows etc ? Not only width & height, but style. Sorry not my blocks.

 

 

 

[Mory]

Hi Bigal yes we used those where i used to work but my boss here likes to customize everything to look the way he likes so i am just slowly building a block library to suit the tastes of my management team here... have to be flexible in this business right?  plus i have a technique of inserting blocks that imho is quite hard to beat... just have to take the time first to develop a block naming system that is short and sort of makes sense to remember...  

[Mory]

On 8/30/2022 at 7:29 AM, CyberAngel said:

Looks good!

Thanks Cyberangel!  I came from the oil and gas industry so one of the things i am liking about the architectural field is that the drawings are more interesting to look at right?  not just a bunch of pipes flanges and brackets... but this corporate getaway building looks much more accurate/realistic with this custom hatch than the ones out of the box acad... this forum is such an amazing resource! 

[BIGAL]

Yeah making blocks to suit is a big problem, you can use scale sometimes to stretch a block in X & Y is a quick way for simple different styles, I mean do you really need to check that the frame is 50mm or is 2 lines ok. 

 

You could make a window program, ie draw lines etc, then turn it into a block or maybe a simple GROUP would do same, so custom sizes can be generated. Your windows are 2 rectangs at simplest with a bit of hatch. 

 

Last comment the window image I showed is Length & Width driven and has multiple visibility states for different style widows, eg Left or Right.