Hatch from a palette tool

[gotphish001]

So I set up some palettes to do details. I put some hatch on a hatch palette with like concrete, site work, stone wall, gravel, etc. I right click on the palette tool and set the properties to make the hatch go in on the layer I want. It will work for awhile. I think where it goes wrong is when I match properties with another hatch. After that it changes the layer in the HPDLGMODE panel to whatever I match properties too. So after that every hatch come in on that matched layer no matter what the palette hatch layer is set to. What I have to do is turn on the HPDLGMODE (because I have it off normally) set the layer hatch will go in on back to Current ( see pic where it changes in blue circle), then hatch something to get the setting to stick, then delete that hatch. After all that nonsense I can use my palette hatches again and they go in on the correct layers until I match properties with hatch. 

Is there some setting to avoid this? The blue circled always changes from current to whatever I match.  

[pendean]

HPLAYER setting by chance https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/AutoC...

[Victoria.Studley]

Hi @gotphish001,

I just tested this here as follows:

• Create a hatch tool by dragging the hatch to the tool palette.
• Adjust the tool's Layer property to --current layer.
• Use the tool to create hatch on one layer.
• Switch the current layer and create hatch using the same tool on this layer.
• MATCHPROP the second hatch to match the first.
• Use the tool to create hatch on another layer.
• HPDLGMODE is set to the default of 2.

What I found is that the tool maintains its properties, and puts the new hatch objects on the current layer, as expected. (This is ACA 2018 with all updates installed, out-of-the-box configuration.)

Could you post a Screencast of your process creating the tool, using it, matching properties, and then the tool not placing hatch on the current layer any longer? Maybe we can spot something in the Screencast that isn't apparent in the description of the problem.

If one or more of these posts helped answer your question, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.

[gotphish001]

I'll make a screen cast of what I'm trying to explain when I get a chance. I think it's the match properties that is doing it but I haven't done a full test yet as I've been busy. There is a little confusion of what is happening though. Here is the work flow. Let's say I want to put a concrete hatch on the palette. I want to set the palette tool for that to go in on a layer called Hatch-Conc in the tools properties. The setting in the hpdlgmode panel that controls what layer a hatch goes on is set to current layer. If I use the palette tool it puts my concrete hatch on layer Hatch-Conc. The problem is at some point the layer setting in the hpdlgmode panel gets changed to some other layer than use current. At that point when I use any of my hatch palette tools they go in on that layer no matter what the palette tool layer in it's properties is set too. As to the pictures I added. I had the hpdlgmode panel set to use current layer. My palette hatches where working for a while going on there set layers. At some point it changed to the layer in the picture which is EPM shingles. I was guessing it was something with match properties as I did match properties to that layer in between when it stopped working. At that point all my hatch tools go in on EPM shingles layer no matter what is set in their individual properties. Also I'm not even using the hpdlgmode panel. I have that variable set to off and I just use the ribbon. I only opened that panel to try to figure out why my hatch pattern tools keep going in on other layers.

[gotphish001]

I couldn't get it to do it with match properties, but it does it when you use the inherit properties from the hpdlmode panel. It will change the use current layer to whatever layer I inherit from which is understandable. The issue is that after I use inherit then all my palette tools go in on that layer. It also isn't as simple as just opening panel and changing it back to use current layer. There is no apply button in that panel, so I need to change it to current layer then put a hatch in and then delete it to get the setting to stick. There's got to be an easier way. I made a screen cast but the screencast button isn't working. Forums had trouble this week, so I'm guessing they still are. I'll upload it when I can.

[gotphish001]

http://autode.sk/2wEgQZy Just grabbed the link. Since the SC button to upload isn't working.

[Victoria.Studley · Accepted solution]

Hi @gotphish001,

Thank you for posting more details about this. The screencast helped a lot. (Side note: if the option to embed screencasts in your posts isn't working, try clearing your browser cache.)

This time I was able to reproduce the problem, and found what I think is a decent alternative to the workflow you're using.

Here's what made the difference to reproduce the issue:

• I set the layer for the tool to something specific (ex. H-CONC) instead of *--current layer*.
• I set HPDLGMODE to 1 and used the Inherit Properties button instead of MATCHPROP.

Here's what I discovered as an alternative:

• Use the MATCHPROP tool instead of Inherit Properties, and the tool palette hatch tools retain their layer properties.

Could you try that instead and let me know if it works for you?

If one or more of these posts helped answer your question, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.

[gotphish001]

I know the work flow you suggested will work as I tried that in my test when I was trying to reproduce my issue. I think I was using some different gap tolerances and that is why I had the dpdlgpanel open. I must have used the inherit properties from there just because I happen to have it open instead of using match properties. I will just use that work flow from now on. It just seemed like the inherit properties shouldn't be working like that. I thought some variable might be making the inherited layer stick as how it's working seems counter productive to most workflows. If no variable exists to make the inherited layer go back to what it was previously set at maybe autodesk should add an apply button to the hpdlgmode panel. It would be nice if the hpdlgmode panel was able to be kept open in general like a palette. I can dream.

[Victoria.Studley]

Hi @gotphish001,

Thanks for the follow up. It might be working this way because the dialog is legacy, replaced by the contextual ribbon for the hatch tools.

I noticed that the Inherit Properties tool didn't make it to the ribbon, although I don't know that was intentional.

At any rate, I'll log the issue with the development team, to make sure they're aware of the issue. If I learn anything new about why it functions this way, I'll post back here to provide you with an update.