Autocad 2013 Hatching over a CADmep Object

[kerry]

We are a ductwork manufacturing company using CADmep 2013.  Whenever we have insulated ductwork we like to hatch it to show what kind it is, diagonal hatch for external & cross hatch for internal insulation.

We are able to hatch CADmep objects, but it does not do island detection.  In the attached photo the bottom is how it looks after hatching, then the top shows what it looks like after we trim the hatch around the Item number block.  By not trimming the hatch it makes the drawing hard to read.

My question would be then is there a way to hatch an item where it will detect things like item number, and sizes inside the ductwork?  By having to trim all the hatches becomes rather time consuming.

I've seen a few posts asking if there was a way that CADmep can show the hatching automatically?  Is this possible?  This would be the preffered way for us.  Ive played around with the facings feature but have had no luck.

Thanks

[cadbob]

There is not a clean way of doing it. Why not just let CadMEP show the External Insulation? True 3d Objects are not good for hatching. You could Type "Create2d" and you will have both 2d and 3d and you could then Hatch the 2d with Islands.

[kerry]

We tried the Create 2D command, and it helps with the hatching recognizing the islands.  It creates some unneccesary objects, but those can be turned off.  Would be nice if CADmep could hatch automatically.  Hopefully Autodesk will address this as I've seen other people ask for it as well.

Thanks

[cadbob]

Tough to hatch 3d objects in elevation. To test draw a rectangle and move it up in elevation and Hatch it, your hatch will be at 0 Elevation. Then would you want all 4 sides Hatched or the Round or Oval Hatched all around?

       Its an Autocad draw back not a CadMEP. But you can do other things to convay to the person looking at the drawings to depict external or internal liner, you just have to educate them and get them used to the new way and not the 2d way.