Make Stretch work on hatches

[AaronEllsworth]

I think this is a bug in AutoCAD that desperately needs fixing.  The stretch command should work on hatches.  Right now if the hatches are non-associative (and MANY of ours are) they get left behind by a stretch command and then have to be manually updated.

[M_Hensley]

AutoCAD has always not stretched non-associative hatches. If it stretched a non-associative hatch at all that would make it partially associative.

[doni49]

1. I agree that Acad has NEVER "stretched" a hatch (although in relatively recent versions, you can grip edit the hatch to change its shape).  But I could understand the benefit of such a feature request.  However, although Autodesk employees do (sometimes) visit these forums, they're mostly monitored by volunteers and thus there's a good chance AD will not even see this. Feature requests can be posted at the following address.
   
   http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=1109794
   
2. A hatch object is esentially a closed shape that has been filled in.  As such, I beleive that the dev team COULD enable stretching a hatch object.  It would work very similar to stretching a closed polyline.

[kimK7B54]

AutoCAD used to stretch hatch entities;  AutoCAD R14 does (version before AC2000)

I still use r14 as my preferred version.  Newer versions are just laiden with garbage features that slow down productivity.  Launching r14 takes less than 1 second also.

[scot-65]

First reassociate the hatch(es) using the Properties floating window.

???

[aadish_bin_abdul_sathar]

thanks

[jreidKVSUZ]

I am surprised at all of the answers given. AutoCAD has had this command for years now.

Go into your hatch window and select Hatch Associative.

Hatch your box. Then use your Stretch command and the hatch will then re associate to your new box size.

Hope this helps!  Happy New Years!!

JRR!

[baleti3266]

lol

[kimK7B54]

---

@jreidKVSUZ wrote:

I am surprised at all of the answers given. AutoCAD has had this command for years now.

Go into your hatch window and select Hatch Associative.

Hatch your box. Then use your Stretch command and the hatch will then re associate to your new box size.

Hope this helps!  Happy New Years!!

JRR!

---

Yeah, that doesn't work most the time.  Tried it often.

[sta69D29]

You obviously didn't read the original post, as he mentioned that the hatches were non-associative. If he wanted then to be associative he would have made them that way. I also never use the associative "feature" as you'll lose it anyway when you clip or need to adjust the hatch. Often I edit the hatch and follow the outline by adding new grips (if it's faster than creating a polyline and then select the polyline and create a new hatch). 

He's not asking how to make them associative, He, like me, just want to be able to use the Stretch command, crosswinds select and have the hatches follow. Right now all follows except the hatches. I don't get why the command can move all other grips, but not the hatch grips. It should not be that complicated (but maybe it is, I don't know). I just know that it's very annoying to have to manually move the grips after doing a stretch.

[pendean]

@sta69D29 What you want does not exist: sorry. There is a workaround, but if that does not work for you then you're stuck without an option.

If you truly believe it's not complicated to do, head over to the LISP forum and ask for guidance on how to dip into the workaround then dip back out to get closer to your wishlist.

In the meantime... start a new post, title it FEATURE REQUEST and ask away in detail what you want in the future of AutoCAD. Then in 3-5-10-20 years from your post, if 100s-1000s of other ask too, it may just happen. Maybe.

Best wishes.

[manieshkumar.suresh]

Could you confirm whether this issue is happening with all AutoCAD default hatch pattern or custom hatch pattern.

I am not able to reproduce the issue .

In order to stretch again the non-associative hatch do one of the following:

• identify the wrong vertex from the hatch boundary and remove it
• recreate the hatch and make it associative.

[sta69D29]

Uhm...??? Why are we talking about making it associative again? I don't want to make it associative.

How to reproduce (I'm on AutoCAD 2024, if it's fixed in a newer version, please let me know and I'll upgrade):

Make a rectangle (RECT)

Fill it with a Hatch, make sure it's not Associative.

Now start a Stretch command (S), select 2 corners of the rectangle and hatch using the window-crossing (right to left select). Stretch the geometry.

One of two things will happen:

1) The rectangle side will be stretched, the hatch side will stay put. You can then select the Hatch and manualy stretch the Hatch using the Grips.

2)  The rectangle side will be stretched, the hatch side will move along (you crossed by the center of the hatch). You can then select the Hatch and manualy stretch the Hatch using the Grips.

That's happens in my AutoCAD, and with the original poster.  All we would like is that the grip edges of the hatch are selected and stretched along with the original Stretch command. If this has been fixed in 2025 or 2026, I'll upgrade my Autocad.

[DGCSCAD · Accepted solution]

If you create a crossing selection window without using the stretch command, then select a grip and move from that point, all selected elements will move.

• Create a rectangle
• Apply a non-associative Hatch
• Select (by Crossing) one entire side, the whole, or just a corner of the rectangle
• Select an end or middle grip and move it to a new location
• All elements move and adjust to the new location

[sta69D29]

Thanks!!! That works! 😄

That'll save me so much time. I guess this makes stretch command obsolete.

[jreidKVSUZ]

I am still not sure why, if your intention is to stretch the boxed area with hatch, why not use the Associative. You don't lose your hatch by doing that... but that is the beauty of AutoCAD...

it is like the Slushy Machine at the Kwik-E-Mart.... it can give you many different flavors / ways of making your drawing the way you want it to be. But by far this does not obsolete the Stretch Command. If I had to use Grips to Move All of your drawing around, I would be on the unemployment line for using way to much time up.

Tip of the DAY..... go into Stretch or any command and Error it out and look at the different options you have for selecting objects. I many time use CP for crossing over objects many times. It works great. I also sometimes Erase objects to get them out of the way, do my Stretch or Move and then use the OOPS command to bring back what I deleted. Or... I move that objects I don't want stretched over 100' or so and then move it back after I stretch or move or add what I needed is completed.

Now that DGCS gave you your answer, give him more then a Thumbs Up, give him the ACCEPTED SOLUTIONS click.

Thanks, 

JRR!

[kimK7B54]

Not an accepted solution.  I want/need hatches to work as they did in
R14.  I still use R14 because it's a much better version of AutoCAD
without all the bloat and slow launch time.  There's only one or two
things they improved from 2000 on that don't make it worth using the
newer versions.

[cadffm]

Hi,

that probably depends a lot on your and everyones area of ​​responsibility.

The list of sensible changes/improvements is quite long – if you don't consider that it was compiled over 30 years.

Thank you for sharing this information again, that you can stretch non-associated hatchs in the first Release Version of real hatch-objects (R14)

[sta69D29]

I would if this was my own thread, but I have no "accepted solution" button. If it's hiding somewhere let me know how to find it.

Also, just because it works for me (or at least it's an alternative solution), doesn't mean it works for the original poster or that he find it acceptable.

I would still prefer to use the Stretch command, as as pointed out it's more versatile. But this way works for my normal use of it.

[sta69D29]

Been way too long since I used R14, can't remember how they worked there.

But using R14 isn't an option, as I work at a firm, so it's they who decide what software is installed... 

That said, there are a lot of stuff that I really love, like dynamic blocks and Fields. The new array annoyed me at first, but now I like it (though that it takes the layer where it's created is a bit annoying, since I then am missing the visual sign that it's in the correct layer - and no, I can't think of how to fix this) . 

Also you can configure AutoCAD to behave like R14 did. However if you have no use for these stuff in your daily day, then I see no reason to upgrade either.

But it's rare that we have AutoCAD only projects these days, most are Revit (which is an entire new beast and the relation that I have with it is of "love/hate")...