AutoCAD® 2012 FOR DUMMIES®

Editing Hatch Objects

Editing an existing hatch pattern is simple once you're familiar with the Ribbon's Hatch Creation tab. Follow these steps:

1. Select the hatch object.

   AutoCAD opens the Hatch Editor contextual Ribbon tab and displays the hatch object's current settings.

2. Make any desired changes and watch the real-time preview as you do. When you're happy, click Close Hatch Editor to keep the changes.

Alternatively, you can use the Properties palette or the Quick Properties palette (described in Chapter 6) to make most existing hatch pattern changes. By default, AutoCAD opens the Quick Properties palette and displays the Hatch Editor tab when you double-click a hatch object. The Quick Properties palette is especially good for changing several hatches at once.

Without even opening the Hatch Editor tab, you can make one hatch look like another by using the Match Properties button on Clipboard panel of the Ribbon's Home tab.

The multitude of options in the Hatch Creation and Hatch Editor Ribbon tabs let you tweak your hatch patterns in all sorts of useful and semi-useful ways. You can easily set a new origin point for hatch objects, you can hatch areas that are not fully visible on-screen, and you can optionally hatch multiple boundaries at one go and have those hatches treated as individual objects.

You can find the area of any hatch object by simply selecting the hatch object ...