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Hatching


Shani

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Also, you can import any hatch from one VW file to another, by using the Resource Browser, or by copying and pasting an object that's filled with that hatch.

And if you import a DWG file, its hatches become VW hatches.

And it's easy to make hatches. Just pull down the list of hatches in the Attributes palette, and click on "Hatch..." at the bottom. In the window that pops up, click "New", or select an existing hatch that's similar to what you want and click "Duplicate". Then click "Edit", and the Edit Hatch window pops up.

A hatch consists of a number of infinitely long dashed lines, repeated parallel to each other ad infinitum. The dashed lines are called "Levels", and the levels are listed in the pull-down box called "Active". And the whole hatch can be either background filled (any color) or not.

Each dashed line, or "Level", is defined by:

-- color & lineweight attributes,

-- a Dash Factor (1.0 for a solid line), and

-- 3 vectors. Each vector is defined by a distance and an angle.

The linear distances of the vectors can be either:

-- "World", meaning to scale (for example in a brick or tile pattern), or

-- "Page", meaning relative to print-out size (for example in a shading pattern).

The angles are measured counter-clockwise from angle 0. Angle 0 is to the right.

The 3 vectors are:

1. Start Point: angle and distance from the Origin (0,0) to the start point of one of the dashes;

2. Repeat: angle of the dashed line, and distance along it from the Start Point of any dash to the start point of the next dash. Note that the Dash Factor is applied to this "Repeat" distance, so the length of the dashes = Dash Factor x Repeat distance;

3. Offset: angle and distance from any point on one of the dashed lines to the same point on the next parallel dashed line. Usually Offset angle = Repeat angle + 90 degrees.

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Agreed. I once tried to make a concrete poche, and gave up. I found a DWG file with a nice one and imported it. The most ambitious Hatch I've successfully completed is an interwoven lattice.

But for simple hatches (i.e. what the term "hatch" really means) it's easy, and I would even say extremely easy as compared to Autocad. At least VW lets you see the hatch while you're creating it. When I started out in VW I made about 40 standard hatches, which I still keep in every drawing file (I'd be happy to share them with anyone who wants them), and I think nothing of creating a new one or altering an existing one for a specific purpose.

The Hatch Editor can be confusing even for simple hatches until you figure out what it's doing. That's why I posted that summary of what it's doing and called it easy, so beginners wouldn't be discouraged. It's just another nice feature of VectorWorks that the average user can create simple hatch patterns.

Of course, there's room for improvement. I often wonder why we can't just draw a pattern inside a rectangle in the normal VectorWorks drawing window, and then issue a command that converts it to a "Hatch". That seems easier than converting Autocad hatch definitions to VW Hatches, which has been part of the Import process since forever.

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I had a lengthy discussion with him - he was totally frustrated and even annoyed by the situation: various people on the Architosh-board and private emails demanding the utility to be free.

Here we had a genuine, independent developer (not even a VW user himself), pushed out by the ignorance and stinginess of VW users: they want features, but when it comes to paying for them...

Now, if I spend even several days in writing a program, why on earth should I give it to someone else for free?

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