Hatch pattern - how to make the pattern a tiny bit smaller without it becoming invisible?

[HVAC-Novice]

I have perforated ceiling and applied a hatch pattern to show how it looks.

I like to have the holes smaller. but if I set the scale to less than 0.06, the ceiling view just doesn't show them at all. 

I realize if I make the holes too small, they won't be visible. But right now they are about 3.5"in diameter and I should be able to at least show dots if they would be 2"or 1".  

I noticed when I use 0.05 for scale, the holes sometimes become visible if I zoom in and out. but it isn't consistent and if I zoom far in or out, they are invisible, they only are visible in a specific medium zoom. the print preview doesn't show them either.

View settings are for ceiling are "fine". 

Are there settings I should change? Could it be a GPU (Quadro P2000) problem? 

[ridantuo]

Have you checked what it looks like on .pdf,.dwg and paper. Or do you need it to show up all the time realistically? Seems very process heavy for the computer to be running that small pattern all the time, so I am quite sure they don't show up on zooming all the time to keep the program running.

[hmunsell]

can you upload the hatch patter....

Hatch "circles" are not really circles, there a bunch of short straight lines. Revit doesn't like lines shorting than a certain length (3/32" I think) so i was wondering if that may have something to do with it.

[HVAC-Novice]

I had tried to upload in the OP. but the forum told me it doesn't support the file format... but i attached a zip file

Creating a PDF shows the same result (and so does print preview)

[hmunsell]

Hmmm works fine for me. it does disappear until I zoom in a little then it pops back up again. Revit will hide patterns when the scale is too small to display, usually turning the element Grey. if your Visual Style is set to WireFrame they will disappear completely. 

[HVAC-Novice]

I was in wireframe.

In "hidden Line" when I zoom, it goes from solid gray to showing the pattern and then to solid gray again. 

Scale is 1/8":1' (but not really relevant here since I'm just modeling the existing building right now). When I change the scale, the points it switches from gray to pattern change. but it never really is consistent.  PDF just shows it as blank (no ceiling pattern visible).

Ultimately in construction view it should show something like a pattern. Maybe it doesn't have to show the exact holes, but at least something that indicates it is a perforation and not drywall or 2x2 etc. 

The fact that a PDF does the same makes me think it may not be a GPU issue. 

[hmunsell]

Dogh..... I don't believe I missed this..... The pattern you attached is a Drafting Pattern, not a Model Pattern. 

• Drafting patterns scale relative to the scale of the view.
• Model Pattern maintain there size regardless of the view scale. 

I changed it to a model pattern.... when you make the new pattern make sure you pick the Model option at the top before you pick the new pattern button.

[hmunsell]

🤣 😂 then again... maybe not.... I'd say you have an issue with that pattern file. 

[hmunsell]

You definitely want to be using a Model Pattern, so the holes stay consistent regardless the scale of the view.  Unfortunately, like I said earlier, Circles are not circles, there Polygons. I've had this happen before, I forget what the solution was though, if anything.  sorry couldn't be more help with that. I'll look thru my old notes and see if can find the old issue I had in the office. 

[HVAC-Novice]

it looks like my pat-file isn't for model patterns:

I looked at the help and copied the default pat-file. 

but it isn't clear at all how to make my drafting pattern to be a model pattern, or how to create a new model pattern. 

but I found this trick to edit the pat file. That way Revit accepted the pattern. 

The holes still are too large. but if I change the scale to make them smaller, it will be solid gray. it still changes from gray to the actual pattern depending on Zoom. it isn't consistent yet.

On the upside, I learned something new 🙂

[hmunsell]

edit the pattern .PAT file and add ;%TYPE=MODEL to the second line.

for a drafting pattern put in DRAFTING instead of model.

[HVAC-Novice]

yeah, that was the trick I mentioned above. 

what import scale did you use?  

[hmunsell]

I tried several scales. The scale for Model is different than for Drafting. I tried 1, .5, .25 and 4. All looked incorrect and if I remember correctly, the .25 said it couldn't do it because the pattern was too small.

[SteveKStafford]

Apart from all the other replies...when you're looking at the view and zoom out Revit will change the display of patterns to a solid fill that is not related to what will print at all...on screen graphics only. So you might find that it prints fine while you are seeing a gray solid fill in the view.

Edit: I'll add that a model pattern is intended to represent something with real world dimensions so it is counterintuitive to me to want to scale such a pattern unless the size is something that will make sense after scaling, such as a 1" diameter hole is 2" after scale x2 or .5" when scaled x.5. In which case the name of the pattern should indicate it's real world size after scaling so it makes sense to everyone else who encounters it.

[ToanDN]

Is it a model pattern?

[HVAC-Novice]

Yes, I converted it to a model pattern with the above linked "trick".

[ToanDN]

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@HVAC-Novice wrote:

Yes, I converted it to a model pattern with the above linked "trick".

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What is the diameter and spacing?

Do yourself a favor and get PyRevit to create custom patterns by drawing them, not coding.

[ridantuo]

I was just about to say the same.