finding an appropriate hatch scale without guessing and trying

[boicottms]

When starting a new hatch often you can't immediatly get a correct scale, it may be invisible because too big or too small, and you have to guess and try (10*, 100*, 1000*, then /10, 1/100) until something shows up.

This is really annoying, even if the last versions of acad tend to show a solid if the hatch is too small.

Does somone have a fix/workaround for this?

Thank you

[imadHabash]

Hi,

Good question ... 

Depending on your drawing CAD file ( units , scale , Annotative , ...etc ) you will determine what is the right scale value . BUT you have to know that AutoCAD has two hatch pattern files.  acad.pat (imperial) and acadiso.pat  (metric) The pattern that is used is determined by the setting of  MEASUREMENT variable when the pattern is first inserted. >> Click <<

[rkmcswain]

It depends on what you are drawing. Something microscopic defined in microns, a map of the United States defined in kilometers, or something in between?

If you set the scale of your viewport (yes, including Model Space), and set the hatch to be annotative, then you should be really close from the start with a scale of 1.0. But it also depends on the hatch pattern and the size of the defined objects within. The stock AR-* and ACAD_ISO* patterns are generally defined with larger measurements than the other stock patterns such as ANSI31, and EARTH.

[Kent1Cooper]

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@boicottms wrote:

When starting a new hatch often you can't immediatly get a correct scale....

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If  and when you are doing simple parallel-lines  patterns such as ANSI31 [one direction] or ANSI37 [both directions, there's a very easy way to get exactly the scale you want, right off the bat.  Just use the User-defined option.  In the Hatch dialog box, pull down the Type:  list and pick that:

Then you get to tell it directly  the spacing [in drawing units] between the lines, rather than try to figure out what kind of multiple you need of whatever the spacing happens to be in a pattern's definition.  And you get to tell it directly  the direction the lines should run, so for vertical lines you just ask for 90 degrees, rather than having to know that you need to ask for a rotation of 45 degrees to get vertical lines from ANSI31.  And you specify whether one direction only or also the perpendicular direction for cross-hatching.

Unfortunately, I don't have any better suggestions for other types of patterns, since they're so affected by how each pattern is defined and the scale you're working in.  When I define a pattern, I always make some reasonable aspect of it one unit, so that I can get the size of the repeat of that aspect directly from the scale I apply, but sadly, many of AutoCAD's pattern definitions are not done that way [ANSI31 has lines 1/8  of a drawing unit apart when used at a scale factor of 1, for some reason].