hatching problem

[Joe]

Why is it when I try to hatch something, I get a message saying its too dense or dash size to small.
I have tried playing around with the scale and can't seem to get the hang of it. Would someone please clue me in on what I need to look for to solve this problem. Thanks in advance

[Chris Mace]

If I have my drawing limits set to 12" X 9" and I have a rectangle drawn that has an are of about 48 square inches and I try to hatch that area using the ANSI32 ( steel ) hatch pattern at a .001 scale I will get the hatch is too dense to display. Meaning that there are just too many lines too close together in that rectangle to deal with. Therefore, I must increase the scale for my hatch ( .01 ). If I increase the scale to a point where I do not get the error message and the hatching is performed then you will notice that the area is all white (or what ever color you are using ). So now I don't get the hatch is too dense to display error, but, I can't see my hatch pattern either, I just have a rectangle colored solid. To take care of this problem I must further increase my hatching scale it will take several tries to get things till my pattern looks OK. In AutoCAD you can use the bhatch command and preview the hatch before you apply it.
Now that was on a 12" X 9" area in surveying the limits could be 1500' X 1500' with a rectangle that is 487048 square feet. Now hatching that with the ANSI 32 pattern at a scale of .1 will give you the grid too dense to display and a scale of 1 will probably make the screen completely white. So simply increase the hatching scale until the patter you selected looks ok for the drawing. A scale of 30 might not be out of the question.
The same problem exists with certain line types. If the dashes are real small ( because you have set the ltscale down low ) then the dashes are just too small to display.


Chris Mace
C & G Software Technical Support
Charleston, WV
Phone: 1-800-367-1157
FAX: (304) 347-8991<br

[Stacy Carroll]

Many times when I increase the pattern scale enough to stop getting the message, the hatch pattern is so large that you may only see one or two dots (using tridots) in your hatch area. The simple fix (although aggrivating) is to break down your hatch area into smaller areas and hatch individually with the desired pattern scale. You can draw a square and play with the numbers until it looks like you want it. I usually have this problem trying to hatch roadways (long narrow areas).

Hope this help

[Peter Hughes-Davies]

You didn't mention what cad engine you are using, but in Acad
you probably need to change the MaxHatch variable (can be between 100 and 10 million)
typing (getenv "MaxHatch") at the command prompt will show your current setting and
typing (setenv "MaxHatch" "1000000")would set the variable to 1 million for example.
Hope this helps. .
Pete

[DeVon Henne]

I agree with Stacy - Intelicad's hatch is problematic. So much so that I have given up on all hatch styles except "Lines". I can cover larger odd-shaped areas with this pattern than any I've tried so far. For roads, etc., I select Lines with a real dense pattern, cross hatched, with a pen selection that is thick and color that is gray scale. This results in a pretty sharp looking fill (you can't actually see the lines). What about covering your text, etc. ? Just remember to hatch first and place your text "on top" of the hatch, or copy and re-paste the text on top

[Chris Mace]

Since IntelliCAD 98 does not have the BHATCH command that automatically deals with text and hatching. You can manually draw a box around your text ( use the rectangle command ). After that, you can use the hatch command: Select the region you want to hatch and now the area(s) inside that region that you DO NOT want hatched ( i.e. your rectangle{s} that have text inside them ).


Chris Mace
C & G Software Technical Support
Charleston, WV
Phone: 1-800-367-1157
FAX: (304) 347-8991<br