With so many Autodesk product experts, writers, authors, and blogs out there it has always been a pleasure to publish a guest post from someone. It helps the guest author get more attention and also shares some valuable knowledge with the readers of the Between the Lines blog, a win – win for everyone in my book. Perhaps you are looking for a job and want exposure and to be noticed by a large audience or perhaps a link to your blog and all the SEO goodness that comes from that. The only thing I ask is the topics be Autodesk related and exclusive. If you would like to submit a guest post please Email Me for details and consideration.
This guest post is by Paul Munford (The CAD Setter Out)
Do you need to create hatched areas in AutoCAD using Circles, Arcs or Splines? Find out how with this quick tip.
OK, my title is a bit cheeky. Of course, you can’t create AutoCAD hatches with Circles, Arcs and Splines.
But I can show you another technique that you could use to get a great result.
Did you know that AutoCAD’s ‘CLIP’ command can be used to clip Blocks?
We can use this feature of AutoCAD to create a re-usable pattern that will act in place of a Hatch.
To use this method we will need:
- An AutoCAD Block which will represent our hatch.
- A Polyline as the Clipping Boundary.
Tip: The polyline can be closed or open, but it must contain straight line segments only.
Firing up the ‘CLIP’ command
Button
You will find the CLIP command on the ‘Insert’ tab on the ‘Reference’ Panel.
Tip: If you are using AutoCAD in ‘Classic’ Mode you can use:
Modify Menu > Clip > XRef
You can also start the CLIP command by typing ‘CLIP’ at the command line.
Pick a Block to Clip
AutoCAD will ask us to select an object to be clipped:
Command: CLIP
Select Object to clip:
In this case we will choose our Block.
AutoCAD will ask us for a clipping option:
Enter clipping option
[ON/OFF/Clipdepth/Delete/generate Polyline/New boundary] <New>:
In this case we will choose ‘New’ to create a new clipping boundary.
Pick a Boundary
AutoCAD will ask you to specify a clipping boundary:
Specify clipping boundary or select invert option:
[Select polyline/Polygonal/Rectangular/Invert clip] <Rectangular>:
In this case we will choose ‘Select Polyline’ and pick the Polyline that we wish to use as our clipping boundary.
The Result!
The Block is clipped to the Polyline that we gave it.
A ‘Hatched’ section through a door Frame
Note: The Block is not permanently trimmed, and can be used again elsewhere in the drawing.
The clipping boundary can be adjusted at anytime by Grip editing or using the ‘CLIP’ command again to define a new boundary.
An Extra tip for AutoCAD 2012
AutoCAD 2012’s new Dynamic Array objects behave like Blocks. They can also be trimmed with the ‘CLIP’ command.
I hope that you enjoyed this quick explanation of Block clipping. Do you use Clipped Blocks in your workflow? Can you think of any situations where this technique would help you?
Guest post author Paul Munford is a Joinery draughtsman (a ‘Setter Out’) for Beck Interiors; a UK based international Interior Fit out contactor which specializes in Museum Interiors.
Paul uses AutoCAD and Autodesk Inventor to create manufacturing ‘Workshop’ drawings day in – day out. In his spare time Paul writes the ‘CAD Setter Out’ Blog and lives a second existence on Twitter @CadSetterOut
Thank you Paul for the great guest article!
Shaan
Try the same with arc based boundaries and you will see that it does not work.
If you xclip a block with hatches and the boundary is having arcs it does not work.
Good tip, but unfortunately it doesn’t work correctly with polyline boundaries, that contains arc segments.
Thank you for the feedback. This is not a one solution for all arc type objects but is good for many cases and common objects. Polylines are just a different type of animal.
To Maxim and Drafter,
Thanks for the comments. yes, you are correct. It is unfortunate but while the boundary can be closed or open, it must contain straight line segments only.
If you chose to include curved segments AutoCAD will automatically convert the boundary path to straight lines.
The method I demonstrated here has a polyline which is separate to the clipping boundary. This polyline is on a separate layer which will allow you to control the plot settings.
If you need the Clipping boundary to match the plotted shape more accurately, then you could increase the number of straight line segments that make up the curve.
For example A 12 sided polygon will look pretty similar to a circle. You can Increase the number of sides to get a closer fit.
I hope that this helps!
Cheers,
Paul A.K.A – The CAD Setter Out.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for reply.
In this case, I think, it is better to use CLIPIT command from Express Tools instead of the standard commands CLIP (or XCLIP) – it allows to automate the process of approximation of curves for the clipping boundary.
Regards,
Maxim
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You can use Superhatch command for this..
I have a challenging question, what if i want my hatch (standard hatch or custom hatch) to follow a curved path.
say i want to hatch a curved pathwalk in which the hatch pattern should follow the curve. how can i do this?
So i am wondering it too Manny. How can we create new complex hatches including pictures or numbers within the hatch texture?