Send AutoCAD Hatch Patterns to the back of the Display Order

If you have a complex drawing with multiple layers of geometry and Hatch Patterns, it can be difficult to pick the right item with so many things on top of each other. So to make things simpler you can send Hatch Patterns to the back in the Display Order. Simply type hatchtoback to send all Hatch Patterns to the back of the Display Order.

Create AutoCAD Tool Palettes with Drag and Drop

When using AutoCAD there are probably a lot of standard Blocks, Hatch Patterns or Dimension Styles for example, that you repeatedly use on different drawings. You may be jumping through hoops to find and reuse this information, so an easier way is to store it on AutoCAD Palette/s. Which can be created by simply dragging and dropping information out of your current drawing on to the Palette.

• The first step is to turn on your Tool Palettes, to do this go to the View TAB > Tool Palettes.

Hatch Grip

The new Hatch Grip functionality is very powerful, giving you direct manipulation of Hatch objects. Hover over the Grip Centre mark to stretch, move, change the origin, angle or scale.

Change the Hatch Background Colour

Hatch properties in AutoCAD 2011 now includes Background Colour providing you with more flexibility and control. Applying a Background Colour enables you to create the effect of layered hatches in a single object. For example, you might create a brick Hatch with a Background Colour to represent the bricks and Hatch Colour to represent the mortar in an elevation drawing.

• The new Background Colour can be found on both the Hatch Creation and Hatch Editor TAB.

• You will also find the Background Colour property in Properties when a Hatch is selected.

This is an extract from the AutoCAD Insider Blog