Object snap tracking tracks the coordinates on object snaps and for this task, you need to track the midpoint of the rectangle’s sides. Here are the steps:

In case you don’t know, a hatch is a pattern of lines and dots that fills an enclosed area.

When you choose a hatch pattern and apply [...]]]>

Hatching can sometimes be frustrating, so I’ve collected a few hatching tips together, including links to other tips. Think of the collection as your personal hatching helper.

In case you don’t know, a hatch is a pattern of lines and dots that fills an enclosed area.

Create user-defined hatch patterns

When you choose a hatch pattern and apply it, it doesn’t always look the way you want it to. You can try to find a better hatch pattern, but an easy way to deal with this problem is to create a user-defined hatch pattern. A user-defined hatch pattern just lets you specify the angle of the pattern and its scale. Changing the scale is an especially easy way to correct a hatch pattern whose spacing is too close or too wide.

Increasing the scale makes the spacing wider; decreasing the scale makes the spacing closer (narrower). A value of 1 is the default, so to make the lines closer together, use a value that is between 0 and 1.

Start the HATCH command

Before you start hatching, you might want to create a separate layer for the hatch and make it current. When you start the HATCH command (Home tab> Draw panel> Hatch), the Hatch Creation tab appears. Choose the pattern you want from the Pattern panel.

At the Pick internal point or [Select objects/seTtings]: prompt, click inside the closed area or use the Select objects option. An easy way to switch between picking internal points and selecting objects is to right click and choose the option that isn’t current from the shortcut menu. In this example, you would choose Select Objects.

For more information, see the older (but updated) tip, “Easy hatching.”

Define the enclosed area properly

Sometimes, AutoCAD won’t hatch the right area. Here are some hints for defining the enclosed area:

Franck Wallez advises drawing with polylines, instead of with lines. One reason is that they make specifying an enclosed area easier. If your enclosed area is complex, use the BOUNDARY or REGION commands to create a closed area.

If you’re enclosed area has gaps, AutoCAD has a solution. See my tip, “Dealing with gaps.”

Customize your hatches

A user-defined hatch may not give you enough flexibility. In that case, you can build your own hatch patterns. See “Creating custom hatch patterns” for the details.

A minor customization is to specify the hatch origin. For example, if you’re filling in a wall with a brick hatch, you may want the brick pattern to start at the lower-left corner.  See the tip, “Control hatch origin.”

Another minor customization is to control islands, which are embedded shapes. See the tip, “Manage embedded shapes (islands) when hatching in AutoCAD” for more information.

What about paper space?

When you display your hatches in paper space, you may be in for a rude surprise.Your hatches in scaled viewports no longer have the right spacing! The solution is to make your hatches annotative. To do so, click the Annotative button in the  Hatch Creation tab’s Options panel.

For a tutorial on annotative objects, see “Tutorial: Automate annotation scaling with annotative objects.”

Use this secret for easy selection of hatched objects

It can be difficult to select hatched objects, because there are so many hatch lines nearby. Franck Wallez recommends the HATCHTOBACK command, which  moves all your hatching under everything else. Then, clicking on the hatched object is more likely to select the object you want and not the hatch.

Do you have any hatch tips? Please leave a comment and share them!

Done in AutoCAD 2012

Tommy’s approach is unique, I think. Instead of drawing the lines first, the AutoLISP routine prompts you for points, which are the endpoints of the lines. Here are the [...]]]>

Tommy Holder submitted a different approach to creating fillets–one that includes drawing the lines. For the earlier routine, see “Reduce mouse clicks and increase productivity with AutoLISP.”

Tommy’s approach is unique, I think. Instead of drawing the lines first, the AutoLISP routine prompts you for points, which are the endpoints of the lines. Here are the steps:

1. Download fl.lsp. FL.lsp (click to download)
2. Unzip the file.
3. Use the APPLOAD command to load fl.lsp in a location that is in AutoCAD’s support file search path.
4. On the command line, type fl and press Enter.
5. At the Enter points : prompt, specify the first line’s start point.
6. The prompt repeats, so specify the first line’s end point (which is also the second line’s start point)
7. Next, specify the second line’s endpoint and press Enter.
8. At the Enter BEND RADIUS <1.0000>: prompt, enter the fillet radius and press Enter.

Watch the video!

Tommy Holder has 35 years experience with Ingalls Shipbuilding on the Mississippi Gulf Coast where the company has built numerous ships for the Navy. He has been a CAD designer and developer, having written many lines of code, developed many menus, and trained many users. He has been a project lead and supervisor but found that his true calling was not in management but CAD development and helping users.

Note: Splines were significantly updated in AutoCAD 2011.

There are 2 methods for creating splines:

But it might be quicker to set a command to repeat automatically, if you know in advance that you’ll use it a number of times in a row.

Some commands repeat automatically. In a sense, the LINE command does this, [...]]]>

You probably know that after you execute an AutoCAD command, you can press Enter to repeat it.

But it might be quicker to set a command to repeat automatically, if you know in advance that you’ll use it a number of times in a row.

Some commands repeat automatically. In a sense, the LINE command does this, prompting you automatically for a new segment. and the COPY command prompts you to create additional copies. For more information, see my tip, “Changing the Multiple options of AutoCAD commands (or sometimes you feel like a multiple option, sometimes you don’t).”

Brian Glover wrote a tip about another way to repeat commands–typing multiple (and a space) before typing a drawing command.

Did you know that you can force a command to repeat itself after you finish using it? Sure there are some commands already that have multiple functions. The LINE command is a good example. Start the command, pick your first point, the next point and the next until you are done entering points and press the escape key to end the command. To draw more lines, you have to start the command again.

Unless you entered the MULTIPLE command in before you start the LINE command. Now you draw your first line, but when you press the Escape key, the LINE command starts again and you are prompted for the first point of the line. When you are completely finished drawing lines, press the Escape key a second time to end the MULTIPLE command.

This command works with all drawing commands (Arcs, Circles, Ellipses, Lines, Rectangle, etc.), Text commands, Match Properties, and even the COPY command. Please note, that it does work with the Dimension commands, but unless you are entering multiple, separate dimensions, it is better to use the DIMENSION CONTINUE command.

Remember, after using MULTIPLE before a command, when you want to stop repeating, press the Escape key. So, go ahead and make lots of arcs or rectangles. You’ll be able to do it a little faster now.

The Windows taskbar can show a separate button for each drawing. The system variable for this is, appropriately enough, TASKBAR. When set to 1, you’ll [...]]]>

You may have several drawings open at one time and want to switch between/among them. AutoCAD gives you several methods to do so. I can think of four.

Use the Windows taskbar

The Windows taskbar can show a separate button for each drawing. The system variable for this is, appropriately enough, TASKBAR. When set to 1, you’ll see a separate button for each drawing. Then you can easily click the drawing you want to display it. In Windows 7, the default value for TASKBAR is 1. However, in earlier versions of Windows, the default is 0, so you need to change the value if you want separate buttons. Just type taskbar, press Enter, type 1, and press Enter again.

Press Ctrl + Tab

Just press Ctrl + Tab to cycle among your drawings. Thanks for Franck Wallez for this tip.

Use Quick View on the status bar

Click the Quick View Drawings button on the right side of the status bar. You’ll see a display like this.

Click the thumbnail of the drawing you want to display.

Application button list of open drawings

Click the Application button at the upper-left corner of your screen. By default, you see a list of recent drawings. Click the Open Documents icon to see a list of open drawings and choose the one you want to display.

Which method do you use? Does it depend on the situation? Do you sometimes want to see a thumbnail of the drawing? Which method do you think is fastest?

Tested in AutoCAD 2012

To set the options [...]]]>

It’s common to have closed figures inside other closed figures in AutoCAD drawings. When you hatch these shapes, you can specify whether or not the inner figures are also hatched. This becomes most important when you have 3 closed figures, one inside the other. In fact, you have 3 options for islands.

To set the options in AutoCAD 2011 and 2012, start the HATCH command to display the Hatch Editor tab. Expand the Options panel and choose an option from the Island Detection drop-down list.

In earlier releases, expand the Hatch and Gradient dialog box by clicking the right arrow at the lower-right corner. In the Islands section, choose one of the options.

Here is the result of each option.

Outer Island Detection only hatches the outer-most closed shape.

Normal Island Detection alternates between hatched and not hatched areas.

Ignore Island Detection ignores islands and hatches everything.

Note that text is counted as an island and isn’t hatched, even if the island option would normally hatch the island. This example was done with Normal Island Detection, which would have hatched a circle, but the text wasn’t hatched.

To auto-fill cell data, click in a cell that you’ve already filled with a value. Click and drag the [...]]]>

You can auto-fill data in an AutoCAD table like you can in an Excel spreadsheet. This makes it easy to copy data along a row or column and to automatically create incremental data, such as consecutive numbers.

To auto-fill cell data, click in a cell that you’ve already filled with a value. Click and drag the cyan (turquoise) diamond to the desired cell and click.

To auto-fill incremental data, such as consecutive numbers, drag across two cells that already have incremental data. For example, if you typed 1 and 2, drag across those cells. Then click and drag the cyan diamond to the desired cell and click. Before the final click, a tooltip shows you what results to expect. Click to place the data.