SUPERHATCH (Express Tool)

Find

SUPERHATCH displays the SuperHatch dialog box.

Dialog Box Options

Image	Opens the Attach Image dialog box for specifying the image for the superhatch pattern.
Block	Opens a dialog box for specifying the block for the superhatch pattern.
Xref Attach	Opens the Xref File Name dialog box for specifying an xref file for the superhatch pattern.
Wipeout	Uses a wipeout object for the superhatch pattern.
Select Existing	Selects an existing image, block, xref, or wipeout object for the superhatch pattern.
Curve Error Tolerance	Specifies the error tolerance for the vector approximation of curved superhatch boundaries.

You can use the Block option to create hatch patterns on-the-fly; you can created blocks with different layers, colors, and linetypes to create hatch patterns that react to layer states and plot with a variety of line weights. You can use hatch images on surfaces to get a rendered effect. Use 3D blocks as hatch patterns to place repeating items such as bricks, roof tiles, or fence fills in 3D drawings.

Note: Because some objects are not supported by the BOUNDARY command, SUPERHATCH cannot use them as boundary edges. These objects include splines (although splined polylines work), circles in non-uniformly scaled blocks, ellipses within blocks, and text and mtext objects within blocks.

Prompts

For images:

Insertion point <0,0>: Specify an insertion point

Base image size: Width: 1.00, Height: 0.24 <Unitless>

Scale factor <1>: Specify a scale factor

For blocks and xrefs:

Insertion point: Specify an insertion point

X scale factor <1> / Corner / XYZ: Specify the X scale factor

Y scale factor (default=X): Specify the Y scale factor

Rotation angle <0>: Specify the rotation angle

Specify a window around the block to define column and row tile distances.

Specify block [Extents] First corner <magenta rectang>: Specify a tiling (tesselation) frame, and press Enter

Specify an option [Advanced options] <Internal point>: Specify an internal point for hatch boundary, or enter A for advanced options, and press Enter

For images and wipeout objects:

Use TFRAMES to turn on and off the object frames.

Error tolerance for curves:

SUPERHATCH makes hatching to curved boundaries possible by traversing arc segments with a series of short straight segments. SUPERHATCH lets you to control the precision with which it traverses arc segments by allowing you to specify the maximum distance between the midpoint of any given segment and the arc. (See the Curve Error Tolerance option described in the Dialog Box Options above.)

Maximum error distance for resolution of arcs:

Entering a large error value results in fewer segments and faster performance, but arcs appear less smooth. Conversely, entering a very small value results in smooth hatching along arcs but places more of a processing burden during regeneration of a drawing.

Example

In this example, a block is used to create a superhatch pattern.

Insert the block:

Specify the framing around the block:

Specify the boundary:

Finished superhatch:

Modifying a Superhatch

Superhatch objects are glued together using unnamed groups. Therefore, they are not associative. If you want to modify a single object that is part of a superhatch, you can use the GROUP command to turn off selection of the group as follows:

1) Start the group command.

Command: group

2) Make sure that the Include Unnamed check box is selected.