AutoCAD® 2012 FOR DUMMIES®

Batten Down the Hatches!

This section outlines the steps you use to add hatching to a drawing with the Hatch Creation contextual Ribbon tab, as shown in Figure 15-2. You can use this information to get started quickly with hatching. When you need more information about any part of the process, jump to the relevant sections of “Pushing the Boundary (of) Hatch,” later in this chapter.

Figure 15-2: The Hatch Creation contextual Ribbon tab.

The following steps show you how to hatch an enclosed area by using the “pick points” method of selecting the hatch area:

1. Open a drawing containing geometry that forms fully closed boundaries, or draw some boundaries by using the drawing commands described in Chapters 8 and 9.

   The areas you want to hatch should be completely enclosed. The CIRCLE, POLYGON, and RECTANG commands, and the LINE and PLINE commands with the Close option, make great hatch boundaries (see Chapters 8 and 9 for details).

2. Start the HATCH command by typing H and pressing Enter. Alternatively, click the Hatch button on the Draw panel of the Ribbon's Home tab.

   The Hatch Creation contextual Ribbon tab (as seen in Figure 15-2) appears.

3. Select any predefined hatch pattern on the Pattern panel.

   Alternatively, you can click the Hatch Type button at the top left of the Properties panel ...