The routine also loads the new custom hatch pattern into the current AutoCAD drawing for testing. Once complete, the Savehatch command will ask the user to select the entities for the hatch, ask for a brief description and then ask for the name and location of the hatch pattern file to save to. If not, the elements will either be ignored or result in a hatch error creation message.

The constraints mean elements must be drawn within a 0,0 to 1,1 limit and lie on a 0.01-unit grid. The Drawhatch command defines a boundary area, measuring 1 unit by 1 unit to provide the user a framework to define a custom hatch pattern with line and point entities. In a nutshell it lets users draw a bespoke hatch using simple entities. One such routine, Hatchmaker.lsp, once loaded using AutoCAD’s Appload function, provides two new commands DRAWHATCH and SAVEHATCH. I have provided a list of some useful Lisp resources previously here: The Cadalyst website has for many years been a repository of custom lisp routines provided by users which are available to download to use or to learn from. This includes tedious tasks like creating custom hatch patterns. AutoLISP, despite being an older environment, can perform many popular tasks. I usually see the questioner switch off at this point and mentally write off the custom hatch issue as not being possible, but hang in there, we have an easy solution!įor many years AutoCAD (and now AutoCAD LT 2024) can achieve tasks via its API. We must plan out a series of lines and points on paper or in our head, and type it out into a text file, save it with a PAT extension and then add it to our drawing or template file.

The answer is, the process is a little clunky. not just ones with parallel or crosshatch lines but ones with more bespoke arrangements. A common question I receive when training AutoCAD at various levels is, how easy it is to create complex custom hatch patterns? i.e.

Create autocad hatch patterns