Using Associative Hatch

Using Associative Hatch
Associative Hatch is the most straightforward method. Make sure the Associative option is selected
in the Hatch And Gradient dialog box, and include your equipment or furniture in the boundary
set. You can do this by using the Add: Select Objects option in the dialog box.
After the pattern is in place, the hatch pattern automatically adjusts to its new location when
you move the furnishings in your drawing. One drawback, however, is that AutoCAD attempts to
hatch the interior of your furnishings if they cross the outer boundary of the hatch pattern. Also, if
any boundary objects are erased or exploded, the hatch pattern no longer follows the location of
your furnishings. To avoid these problems, you can use the method described in the next section.

Overlapping Objects with Draw Order
The Draw Order feature lets you determine how objects overlap. In the space-planning example,
you can create furniture by using a solid hatch to indicate horizontal surfaces (see Figure 7.8).


How to Quickly Match a Hatch Pattern and Other Properties
Another tool to help you edit hatch patterns is Match Properties, which is similar to Format Painter in
the Microsoft Office suite. This tool lets you change an existing hatch pattern to match another existing
hatch pattern. Here’s how to use it:
1. Click the Match Properties tool in the Standard toolbar.
2. Click the source hatch pattern you want to copy.
3. Click the target hatch pattern you want to change. The target pattern changes to match the
source pattern.
The Match Properties tool transfers other properties as well, such as layer, color, and linetype settings.
You can select the properties that are transferred by opening the Property Settings dialog box.


To open this dialog box, type S↵ after selecting the object in step 2, or right-click and choose Settings
from the shortcut menu. You can then select the properties you want to transfer from the options
shown. All the properties are selected by default. You can also transfer text and dimension style settings.
You’ll learn more about text and dimension styles in Chapters 10 and 12.

You can then place the furniture on top of a floor-covering pattern, and the pattern will be
covered and hidden by the furniture. Here’s how to do that. (These steps aren’t part of the regular
exercises of this chapter. They’re shown here as general guidelines when you need to use the Draw
Order feature.)
1. Draw the equipment outline, and make sure the outline is a closed polygon.
2. Start the Hatch tool described earlier in this chapter to place a solid hatch pattern inside the
equipment outline.
3. In the Hatch And Gradient dialog box, make sure that Send Behind Boundary is selected in
the Draw Order drop-down list.
4. Complete the rest of the hatch pattern.
5. After you’ve finished placing the hatch, turn the outline and solid hatch into a block, or use
the Group command to group them.
6. Choose Tools  Draw Order  Bring To Front, and select the equipment. When you’re done,
the equipment covers the floor hatch pattern (see the bottom panel in Figure 7.8).
After you take these steps, you can place the equipment over a hatched floor pattern, and the
equipment will appear to rest on top of the pattern. If you create a floor pattern after you create
the equipment, choose Tools  Draw Order  Send To Back to move the pattern to the back of the
display order. You can also change the display order of objects relative to other objects.
The Draw Order options are all part of the Draworder command. As an alternative to the menu, you
can type Draworder↵ at the Command prompt, select an object, and then enter an option at the prompt:
Enter object ordering option
[Above objects/Under objects/Front/Back] :
For example, the equivalent of choosing Tools  Draw Order  Send To Back is entering
Draworder↵B↵. You can also select the object you want to edit, right-click, and then choose Draw
Order from the shortcut menu.
If you need to white out an area of a hatch pattern to make text more readable, you can use a
solid hatch along with the Display Order option to block out areas behind text.
TIP Draworder settings are maintained through blocks and Xrefs.
You’ve had a detailed look at hatch patterns and fills in this section. Remember that you can also
use the Tool palettes to help organize and simplify access to your favorite hatch patterns, or use the
patterns already available in the Tool palettes. The patterns in the Tool palettes can be edited and
manipulated in the same way as described in this chapter. If you want to know how to make full
use of the Tool palettes, check out the discussion on the AutoCAD DesignCenter in Chapter 27.