Hatch and fill areas

What you will make

A wall section filled with the ANSI31 pattern, a column in it left empty, and a solid fill in the column.

Hatch by clicking inside an area

1. Draw a rectangle (REC, 0,0, @2000,1200) and a circle inside it (C, 1000,600, 300). Click Extents.
2. Click Hatch in the Draw group, or type H and press ReturnEnter. The history says which pattern is current, for example Current hatch: ANSI31, scale 1, angle 0°.
3. Type P and press ReturnEnter, type ANSI31 and press ReturnEnter.
4. Type SC and press ReturnEnter, type 20 and press ReturnEnter. Pattern sizes are on paper, so a drawing plotted at 1:20 wants scale 20.
5. At Pick internal point, click inside the rectangle, outside the circle. The hatch shows as a preview.
6. Press ReturnEnter. The rectangle is hatched; the circle inside stays empty, because it is an island.

Click inside several areas before pressing ReturnEnter to make them one hatch. U takes back the last area.

A solid fill

1. Type H and press ReturnEnter.
2. Type P, press ReturnEnter, type SOLID and press ReturnEnter.
3. Click inside the circle, then press ReturnEnter.

Hatch closed shapes you pick

Instead of clicking inside, type S (Select objects) at Pick internal point and pick closed polylines, circles or closed ellipses, then press ReturnEnter. Shapes inside others are left empty in turn (the outer one hatched, the next one in empty, and so on).

Patterns

Type ? at the pattern question for the list. The standard ones are ANSI31 to ANSI38, LINE, NET, NET3, DASH, SQUARE, BRICK, DOTS and EARTH, and SOLID. In a drawing in inches (or with feet and inches as its length format) the inch sizes of the patterns are used, as in AutoCAD; otherwise the millimeter ones.

Angle (A) turns the whole pattern: ANSI31 at 90° slopes the other way.

Change a hatch

Select it (click one of its lines). In Properties: Pattern, Pattern scale and Pattern angle. Hatches from opened drawings show their pattern when it is one of the standard ones; others show as a light tone of their color.

Common mistakes

• "No closed boundary round that point." There is a gap in the outline, or part of it is off screen: CadCraft looks only at what is on screen. Close the gap (zoom in on the corners), or zoom out.
• "The pattern is too dense to draw at this scale." The lines would be closer than the drawing can show. Use a larger scale: try the plot scale (20 for 1:20).
• The pattern looks huge or tiny. The scale is in drawing units per pattern unit; see step 4 above.
• Moving the outline does not move the hatch. A hatch is not tied to its boundary. Move both, or hatch again.