Brick hatch wrong scale

[JHEarcht3]

Vectrorworks 2013 on Windows 10

 

The Running Bond Brick Hatch included in VW is not to scale. The bricks scale 3 1/2" high x 8 1/2" wide. That is not a standard American brick size. I have struggled with the hatch editor to change it to 2 1/4" high x 8" wide, to no avail. It's like calculating a three-body problem. As you change one dimension, the others go wacky. (I don't know how to calculate the Offset angle) I also downloaded an AutoCAD pattern file HBSTRCS, which is supposed to be a pattern file. But I only have DWG TrueView to look at CAD files. And it won't open a .pat file directly. It also wouldn't open in my Corel Paintshop. So I'm stuck.

 

Any suggestions to get a properly scaled brick hatch in my drawing would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Boh]

There is a quick way to create a new hatch from an existing one and that is by locally mapping the hatch, either with the Attribute Mapping tool or via the attributes palette, and then right click and hit:

 

 

Downside is that for your brick you don't want a direct scale of the brick proportions so unless you are adept at locally mapping to what you want then you probably need to go back to the less than intuitive hatch edit dialogue.

 

To make it a bit easier I have edited another brick hatch to be 3.5" x 8.5". There are three layers to a brick hatch. You can copy the settings for each layer from the screen shots below.

 

Cheers

 

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by Boh

[JHEarcht3]

"Downside is that for your brick you don't want a direct scale of the brick proportions so unless you are adept at locally mapping to what you want then you probably need to go back to the less than intuitive hatch edit dialogue." ___Boh

 

Thanks for the response. I may try to copy your example, even though it still gives the wrong brick dimensions. But why don't I "want a direct scale"? How did you arrive at the numbers for Repeat & Offset? And how do you do "local mapping"? And why did you need three layers, when the original has only two : 1. horizontal lines ; 2. vertical lines? The Hatch Editor would be more intuitive if I could just enter the desired final dimensions directly, and let the computer do the math.

[Boh]

Apologies I've confused you.

Firstly - I didn't read your post properly and gave you the hatch settings for the default vw 3.5"x8.5" brick hatch rather than what you wanted, i.e. a 2.25"x8" brick.

Secondly - you can do the hatch edit in 2 levels rather than three. 3 level just breaks the vertical running bond coarse lines into 2 different levels which is perhaps easier to understand. 2 levels does the vertical lines in one level.

Thirdly - I should have also mentioned to make sure the hatch is world based rather than page based.

 

Here's an explanation of the hatch edit settings for a 2.25"x8" brick for both 3 level and 2 level hatches.

 

3 Level brick hatch

Level 1 - Solid horizontal coarse lines.

Repeat: not required as is a solid line (can be set to anything).

Offset: The height between horiz lines: i.e. one brick height ΔY=2.25"

 

Level 2 - Dashed vertical lines offset horizontally a full brick along with no vertical offset. Starting point X=0, Y=0.

Repeat: You want the vertical lines to repeat vertically every second coarse so ΔY = 2x 2.25=4.5". Dash factor is set to 0.5 so that only half the repeat is solid i.e. one brick coarse solid then one brick coarse gap.

Offset: This is just horiz distance between vertical lines with no ΔY offset. i.e.  ΔY = 0, ΔX = one brick length = 8".

 

Level 3 - As level 2 but just with different starting point of half a brick length along and one brick high: X = 4", Y = 2.25"

Repeat: As level 2.

Offset:  As level 2.

 

 

 

2 Level brick hatch

Level 1 - Solid horizontal coarse lines.

Settings as Level 1 for 3 level brick hatch above

 

Level 2 - Dashed vertical lines with horizontal offset half a brick along and one brick high. Starting point X=0, Y=0.

Repeat: As Level 2 setting for 3 Level Brick Hatch above (ΔY = 4.5" / dash factor = 0.5).

Offset:  Here the horiz offset is half a brick along and the vertical offset is one brick high. ΔX = 4", ΔY = 2.25".

 

 

Hope that makes sense! Now try and allow for the width of the mortar joints in that!!

 

5 hours ago, JHEarcht3 said:

But why don't I "want a direct scale"?

 

5 hours ago, JHEarcht3 said:

And how do you do "local mapping"?

You can locally map a hatch, i.e. change it's scale, alignment and rotation via the attribute mapping tool or via the attributes palette. The attribute mapping tool will only let you scale it proportionally (what I called "direct scale" in previous post). This is where the x axis is scaled the same as the y axis. To go from a 3.5"x8.5" brick to a 2.25"x8" brick you have to scale the x axis differently from the y axis. You can do this via the attributes palette by playing with the local mapping "I length" and "J length" settings but that to me looks even harder than just redoing it in the hatch edit dialogue.

 

The attribute mapping tool is in the basic tool set. Have a play with it, it is really useful.

 

Adjusting hatch attribute mapping via the attributes palette:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by Boh

[Pat Stanford]

You might also consider using a tile instead of a hatch as you can just draw one brick and then move the other images around to get the repeat you are looking for.

[Tom W.]

Although be aware that a Tile can't be used as a Surface Hatch should that be the desired outcome...

[JHEarcht3]

On 6/1/2021 at 4:56 PM, Boh said:

You can locally map a hatch, i.e. change it's scale, alignment and rotation via the attribute mapping tool or via the attributes palette.

Thanks for the update. I'll try your 3 level method. That may avoid having to calculate an offset angle. I had also tried "local mapping" but the original bricks were at the wrong proportion, so simply changing the scale didn't make them look right. I wonder why VW provided a hatch for British bricks, and Modular bricks, but not for American standard bricks. I'm often forced to look for AutoCAD hatches, but with only TrueView, the functions are limited. I used to have a non-ACAD viewer, but I guess the ACAD folks put them out of business.

[Boh]

8 hours ago, JHEarcht3 said:

That may avoid having to calculate an offset angle.

All gd. There is an option to enter delta x an delta y instead of an angle. Gd luck. 

[JHEarcht3]

8 hours ago, Boh said:

All gd. There is an option to enter delta x an delta y instead of an angle. Gd luck. 

That may be why I always found it difficult to modify a hatch. The hatch tool seems to default to use angles instead of coordinates. Now, I know to always check to make sure it's in XY mode before I try to change anything.