topic Re: Missing predefined hatch patterns in AutoCAD Forum

Missing predefined hatch patterns

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 12:40:39 GMT

I have encountered a strange problem regarding the predefined hatch pattern JIS_LC20. The said hatch pattern is predefined (i.e. not custom defined) and can be found in file acadiso.pat whose location you can find by typing (findfile "acadiso.pat") as autocad command. When I create a new drawing this pattern is readily available in hatches I create.

However, in the attached minimal_sample.dwg the said predefined pattern is not available for new hatches I create. To make the matter stranger, there is a hatch in the drawing that uses the said hatch pattern and is displayed correctly.

To see the problem

see that the pattern JIS_LC20 is available on your autocad as a predefined hatch pattern

create a new drawing using e.g. acadiso.dwt template
draw a rectangle
create a hatch (using command H, click inside the rectangle, press esc)
select the hatch you just created and view its properties
in the "Pattern" section in the properties, first make sure you have selected "Predefined" as the pattern type and then click the icon on the right of Pattern Name
you should be able to find JIS_LC20 on the "Other predefined" tab (third tab) of the Hatch Pattern Palette - dialog that opens

see that it is not possible to use JIS_LC20 hatch pattern in the attached drawing

open the attached drawing minimal_sample.dwg
zoom extents (z <enter> e <enter>)
click on the hatch on the left and see its properties
see that when navigating to the available predefined patterns as above (properties -> Pattern -> Pattern Name -> Other predefined - tab) JIS_LC20 is not available
open the properties for the hatch on the right
see that Pattern Name is JIS_LC20
open the pattern selection dialog (the icon right to Pattern Name) and see that the pattern JIS_LC20 is not available where it was in the newly created drawing ("Other predefined" - tab in the Hatch Pattern Palette dialog that opens)

To the best of my knowledge I have not installed any custom defined hatch patterns nor edited acadiso.pat so I should just have the ones that come with AutoCAD. And be that as it may, it still remains a mystery why some of the predefined patterns are not available in the included drawing.

So my question is: why is JIS_LC20 (and possibly other patterns defined in acadiso.pat) not available in the attached drawing but are available in new drawings? What can I do to remedy the situation?

Some context in case it matters: in the end what I am doing is that I am writing C# (.NET) plugin code that will copy hatch properties from one hatch to another. Well, in reality it is not quite that simple, but that suffices for the purposes of context for this problem. When trying to set the hatch pattern of a hatch to be what it is in a given hatch (i.e. HathPatternType.PreDefined, name "JIS_LC20") I get eInvalidInput indicating the said pattern can not be found.

Any pointers and hints will be highly appreciated.

::Antti::

Ps. My support file search path (Options -> Files -> Support File Search Path) includes C:\Users\antti\appdata\roaming\autodesk\autocad 2015\r20.0\enu\support, i.e. the location of acadiso.pat as its first entry.

Pps. Using AutoCAD 2015 64-bit version on Windows 7

Re: Missing predefined hatch patterns

pendean — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 14:01:15 GMT

Without your source PAT file no one can recreate a custom hatch in a DWG file: I don't see that you've included it here yet.

Re: Missing predefined hatch patterns

АлексЮстасу — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 14:13:52 GMT

acadiso.dwt - ISO, metric.

acadiso.pat - "Customized for ISO scaling", contains pattern JIS_LC20.

In your dwg MEASUREMENT == 0 - imperial, Feet.

AutoCAD displays the hatch pattern from acad.pat - for imperial units.

acad.pat may not contain JIS_LC20.

Or set MEASUREMENT == 1, meters, either add a description JIS_LC20 hatch patterns in acad.pat.

Re: Missing predefined hatch patterns

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 07:13:48 GMT

Thanks, this really helped! Now I understand what's going on here.

Changing MEASUREMENT=1 in the drawing I attached makes JIS_LC_20 hatch pattern be available there. However, if I create a new drawing using acad.dwt (and check that MEASUREMENT=0 there) I still have the said pattern available.

I investigated some more and it seems AutoCAD sticks with the hatch patterns indicated by MEASUREMENT when the hatch pattern dialogue is first opened. To change the pattern file used once the hatch pattern dialogue has been opened at least once one needs to restart AutoCAD.

Any ideas on how to make AutoCAD refresh the hatch patterns available (short of a restart)?

Re: Missing predefined hatch patterns

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 07:20:21 GMT

Thanks for your reply.

As I mentioned in my post (and its topic), the question was not about a custom hatch pattern but a predefined one. Also, like I mentioned, no customizations have been made to my acad.pat or acadiso.pat files.

Anyhow, АлексЮстасу explained what's going on here. The problem is almost solved, short of finding out how to make AutoCAD reload the .pat file it uses when changing from one measurement system to another (please see my reply to his post).

Re: Missing predefined hatch patterns

АлексЮстасу — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 12:38:02 GMT

In my 2012, 2014 in active dwg replacement acadiso.pat to acad.pat occurs immediately after changing the MEASUREMENT from 1 to 0 and vice versa. Without restarting.

It may be useful to you even see the influence of values MEASUREINIT 0/1.