Creating hatches and gradient fills

The HATCH command fills an enclosed area in your drawing with a pattern.

The GRADIENT command creates solid fills in nine different patterns and one or two colors.

The area can either be a single entity such as a circle or a closed polyline or an area enclosed by a selection of entities.

To create the hatch you can click inside the closed perimeter of a boundary or you can select entities.

Note:
  • Depending on the pattern, hatchings are memory intensive and might take a considerable amount of time to draw and display. To improve performance, add hatching as one of the last steps when you create a drawing, or insert hatches on a separate layer that you can freeze as you continue to work on your drawing. Or use the FILLMODE system variable to switch off the display of hatches, gradient fills and filled entities.
  • The maximum number of dashes is controlled by the MAXHATCH settings variable. When the number of dashes is higher than the current MAXHATCH value, the hatch cannot be created. A warning box displays offering possible choices for subsequent actions. By default the maximum number of dashes is 100 000.

The Hatch and Gradient tools are available on:

  • the Draw menu
  • the Draw toolbar
  • the Draw ribbon panel
  • the Draw tab of the No Selection Quad (Hatch only)

General procedure

  1. Launch the HATCH or GRADIENT command.

    The Hatch and Gradient dialog displays.

  2. Do one of the following:
  3. (option) Click the Hatch tab to create a hatch, then define the hatch properties.
  4. (option) Click the Gradient tab to create a gradient fill, then define the gradient fill properties.
  5. Define the properties for the hatch or gradient fill.
  6. Choose the boundary for the hatch or gradient fill.
  7. Set the options.
  8. Click the OK button to create the hatch or gradient fill.

    Hatches and gradient fills are created on the layer defined by the HPLAYER system variable. Default = current layer.

To define hatch properties

  1. Select the Hatch tab on the Hatch and Gradient dialog box.
  2. (option) Click the Inherit properties button.

    The Hatch and Gradient dialog closes temporarily.

    You are prompted: Select hatch entity to copy properties from:

    Select a hatch entity.

    The Hatch and Gradient dialog reopens, displaying the properties of the selected hatch entity.

  3. (option) Select the Pattern Type:
    • User Defined - uses the pattern defined in this dialog box with the Angle, Spacing, and Cross Hatch options.
    • Predefined - uses patterns defined in:
      • iso.pat (metric units -MEASUREMENT= ON)
      • default.pat (imperial units - MEASUREMENT = OFF).
    • Custom - uses patterns defined in *.pat files (one pattern definition per file).

      BricsCAD searches for *.pat files in the folders that are defined in the SRCHPATH (Support File Search Path) system variable.

  4. If the Pattern Type is Predefined or Custom:
    • Double click the Swatch field,
    • Select a Pattern Name in the Hatch pattern palette, then double click the pattern or click the OK Button.
    • Type a scale in the Scale settings field or choose the scale from the drop down list.
    • Type an angle in the Angle settings field or choose the angle from the drop down list.
  5. If the Pattern Type is User Defined:
    • Specify the Pattern Spacing in drawing units.
    • Optionally set the Cross Hatch option.
  6. Define the Hatch Origin.

    The options are:

    • Use current origin : The origin as defined by the HPORIGIN system variable is reused.
    • Specified origin : Click the Pick new origin button, then pick a point in the drawing. The new origin is stored in the HPORIGIN system variable.
  7. Set the Color for the hatch pattern.
  8. Set the Background color.

To define gradient fill properties

  1. Select the Gradient tab on the Hatch and Gradient dialog box.
  2. (option) Click the One color radio button to create a 'color to white' or 'color to black' gradient fill.
    • Click the colored tile to open the Select color dialog box, to pick a different color.
    • The color slider sets the transition from color to white or black.

      Press and hold the left mouse button to move the color slider.

      Move the slider to the far right to create a 'color to white' gradient fill.

      Move the slider to the far left to create a 'color to black' gradient fill.

  3. (option) Click the Two color radio button to create 'two color' gradient fill.
    • Click the colored tiles to open the Select color dialog to pick the colors.
    • Select one of the 9 gradient patterns.

      The options are: linear, cylindrical, inverted cylindrical, spherical, hemispherical, curved, inverted spherical, inverted hemispherical and inverted curved.

  4. (option) Centered: If centered, the gradient fill is created symmetrical; if not centered, the gradient fill is built up from the left of the boundary.
  5. Angle: Specifies the angle of the gradient fill, relative to the current UCS.

To define the boundary

  1. Select a Boundary retention option.
  2. Select an Island detection option.

    This applies to enclosed areas inside hatch boundaries.

  3. Set the Boundary tolerance. This value defines the maximum gap size in the boundary. When it is set to 0 (zero), BricsCAD sets the tolerance with respect to the current view size. Zoom out to increase the tolerance.

    This value is saved through the HPGAPTOL system variable.

  4. (option) Click the Select button to select a Boundary set.

    The Hatch and Gradient dialog temporarily closes to let you select entities.

    If a selection set was active when you launch the HATCH or GRADIENT command, this selection set will be used as the Boundary Set. In this case, the Hatch and Gradient dialog closes and immediately reopens when you click the Select button.

  5. Do one of the following:
    • Click the Pick Points button.

      The Hatch and Gradient dialog closes.

      You are prompted: Select a point to define a boundary or hatch area:

      • Specify a point in each of the areas you want to hatch.

        You are prompted: Select a point to define a boundary or hatch area:

      • Right click or press Enter to stop adding areas.

        The Hatch and Gradient dialog displays again.

    • Click the Select Boundary Entities button.

      The Hatch and Gradient dialog closes.

      You are prompted: Select entities:

      • Select the entities you want to hatch.
      • Right click or press Enter to stop selecting entities.

        The Hatch and Gradient dialog displays again.

    • Click the Remove Boundary Entities button.

      The Hatch and Gradient dialog closes.

      You are prompted: Select entities:

      • Select the current boundary entities to be removed from the selection.
      • Right click or press Enter to stop selecting entities.

        The Hatch and Gradient dialog displays again.

Set the options

  • The Annotative option creates annotative hatches.
  • Select the Associative option to associate the hatch with its boundary.
  • Select the Create Separate Hatches option. When multiple boundaries are detected or multiple entities are selected, separate hatches are created, instead of a single hatch.
  • Choose a Draw order option.

    This option is reset to Send behind boundary when the drawing is closed and reopened.

  • Layer: choose an existing layer or Use Current (default).
  • Transparency: sets the transparency; values between 0 and 90 are accepted.