What is a ʼHatchʼ pattern in BricsCAD?

ByCADbrief Staff

Short Answer

A Hatch pattern in BricsCAD is a fill made of lines, solids, gradients, or predefined patterns used to represent materials, cut areas, or zones inside a closed boundary. The most common professional method is the HATCH command with Pick Points. Limitation: hatches fail if the boundary is not fully closed.

What You Need to Know Before

Warning: Hatch creation often fails because tiny gaps, overlapping objects, or unjoined boundary segments prevent BricsCAD from finding a valid enclosed area. In large drawings, dense hatch patterns can also slow display and plotting significantly.

How to Create a Hatch Pattern in BricsCAD

  • Command: HATCH

  • Shortcut: H

  • Quick Steps:

    1. On the Ribbon > Draw panel, start HATCH.
    2. In the Hatch creation options, choose a pattern and set a real option such as Scale or Associative.
    3. Use Pick Points inside a closed boundary, then press Enter to place the hatch.

Variables & Settings

  • System Variable: HPSCALE (Default: 1)

  • Expert Setting: This controls the default hatch pattern scale. If the pattern looks too dense or too sparse, adjust HPSCALE before creating the hatch, or edit the hatch scale afterward in Properties.

Why it Fails

  • Cause 1 (Geometry): The boundary has small gaps, self-intersections, or disconnected endpoints, so BricsCAD cannot detect a closed region.

  • Cause 2 (layers/Locks): Boundary objects are on locked layers, or the target hatch layer is locked, preventing proper creation or editing.

  • Cause 3 (Command/Logic): The hatch scale is far too large or too small for the drawing units, making the pattern appear solid, invisible, or incorrect.

Quick Fix & Best Practice

  • Quick Fix: Use PEDIT to join boundary objects into a closed polyline, then run HATCH again with Pick Points.
  • Manager’s Verdict: Use associative hatches for standard production drawings because they update with boundary edits, but avoid overly dense patterns in large sheets where file performance and plotting speed matter.

FAQ

Can I edit a hatch pattern after creating it?
Yes, you can change pattern, scale, angle, and associativity in Properties.

Does BricsCAD support solid fills as hatch?
Yes, Solid is a standard hatch fill option in the HATCH command.

Why does my hatch not display correctly in a viewport?
The scale may be wrong for the drawing units or annotation/display settings may need adjustment.

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