Chapter

8
ADDING CROOS HATCHING AND BLOCKS TO THE DRAWING

8.1. Adding Cross Hatching

A common way to convey drawing information in a drawing is to fill areas with a solid color or with
repetitive patterns of lines. For example, you may need to represent a pattern of brick on the
elevation of a building, or a type of soil vegetation on survey or map. Cross sectional drawing or
mechanical parts or structure components are also usually filled with repetitive patterns or angled
lines. These solid colors or and repetitive patterns are called Hatch patterns. The Hatch patterns that
you applied to areas of a drawing are actually a special Auto CAD object called a Hatch object. You
add these Hatch objects to the drawing by BHATCH command
To hatch a new hatch object to the drawing
1. Do one of the following
• On the Draw toolbar, click Hatch
• From the Draw menu, choose Hatch
• At the command line, type BHATCH (or BH) and press ENTER
2. Press and hold down the pick button
3. Drag the window
4. Release the pick button and press ENTER or ESC to end the command

When you start the cross hatching command, Auto CAD displays the boundary hatch dialogue box as
shown in figure below. This dialogue box provides controls for selecting type of hatch pattern to
apply and the scale and the alignment of pattern. You can select the boundary or area to which the
hatch pattern is to be applied. Because hatch objects can add considerable number of lines to your
drawing, once you select the boundary, you can select the preview button to see how the hatch
pattern will look like in your drawing, before you actually add it to your drawing. When you are
satisfied with the hatch pattern, you can apply it.
Others controls in the boundary hatch dialogue box, lets you determine how Auto CAD determines
the hatch boundary, how the programs deals with other objects that are enclosed with in the hatch
boundary, and whether the hatch pattern is associative or non-associative.

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 Click to determine a boundary
from existing object from an
enclosed area

Controls in this area determine the

type and appearance of hatch pattern

Click to select specific

object for hatching

Click to display
current defined
boundaries

Click to match the new

hatch pattern properties
to those of an existing
hatch object

Click to preview the hatch object

before actually adding it to the
drawing

The Boundary Hatch Dialogue Box

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8.2. Modifying Hatch Objects

As with other complex objects, Auto CAD provides a special command for modifying existing hatch
objects. The HATCHEDIT command prompts you to select a hatch object. As soon as you do so, Auto
CAD displays a Hatch edit dialogue box, similar to Boundary hatch dialogue box as shown in figure
above, except that the controls for defining the hatch boundary is disabled.
To start the HATCHEDIT command by doing one of the following,
1. Do one of the following
• On the Modify II toolbar, click Edit Hatch
• From the Modify menu, choose Hatch
• At the command line, type HATCHEDIT (or HE) and press ENTER

When the Hatch Edit dialogue box appears, the values displayed are the current values of hatch
object that you selected. You can change the values to modify the scale and angle of hatch object,
click to Advance tab to change the boundary style, or even specify a different pattern type. After you
finish, click the OK button to update the hatch object, to reflect the new values.

8.3. Working with Blocks

Blocks generally consist of several objects combined into a single object that you can insert into a
drawing and manipulate as a single object. A block can consists of visible object such as lines, arcs,
circles, as well as visible or invisible data, called attributes. Blocks are stored as a part of drawing file.

Blocks can helps you to organize your work, quickly create and revise your drawings, and reduce
your drawing file size. Using blocks, you can create a library of frequently used symbols. After you
create these symbols, you can insert them as blocks, instead of redrawing a particular symbol from
scratch each time that you want to use it.

Basically there are two major elements of blocks. The first one is creating block and the second one
is inserting them into a specified location. You can create a block in two different ways. The first one
is saving block within the current drawing and the second one is saving block in a separate drawing
file that you can insert into other drawings.

8.3.1. Saving blocks within the current drawing

The BLOCK command saves the blocks for use within the current drawing. When you start the
command, Auto CAD displays the block definition dialogue box as shown in figure below.
To create a block for use within the current drawing by using the BLOCK command:
1. Do one of the following
• On the Draw toolbar, click Make Block
• From the Draw menu, choose Block / Make
• At the command line, type BLOCK (or B) and press ENTER
2. In the Bock Definition dialogue box, type the name of bock in the Name field
3. Under the Base point, specify the base or insertion point by using one of the following
• Click the pick point button and then select the base point within the drawing
• Type the X, Y, and Z coordinates in their respective boxes

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 4. Under objects, click the select objects button, select the objects to include in the block by
using any object selection method, and then press ENTER
5. Under Objects, specify which of the following actions you want to applied to the objects
selected for inclusion in the block
• Retain:- Keeps the selected objects in the drawing as a individual objects at their
current location
• Convert to Block:- Converts the selected objects into an instance of the new block
• Delete:- Removes the selected objects from the drawing after you create the block
6. Under preview icon, specify whether you want to include a preview image of the block in
block definition
7. In the Insert Units drop – down list, select the units to which the block should be scaled
when dragged from Auto CAD design center
8. In the Description box, type a description to help you to identify the block
9. Click OK to end the command

3. Click to select object

1. Type the name of the

block

2. Click to select the base

point within the drawing
4. Select the option to
Retain or Convert to
block or Delete

5. Select the Preview

option either to omit or
to include preview
image
6. Select the scaling units when the
block is dragged from Auto CAD
Design center

7. Type the block

description

8. Click OK to end the

command

The Block Definition Dialogue Box

8.3.2. Insert Block

You can insert blocks or other drawings in to the current drawing. When you insert a block, it is
treated as a single object. When you insert a drawing, it is added to the current drawing as a block
and treated as a block. If you change the original drawing file, those changes have no effect on the
current drawing unless you redefine the block by reinserting the changed drawing.
To insert a block by using the insert dialog box:
1. Do one of the following
• On the Draw toolbar, click Insert Block

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 • From the Insert menu, choose Block
• At the command line, type INSERT (or I) and press ENTER
2. In the Insert dialogue box, specify the block or file to be inserted
3. If necessary, change the value under insertion point, scale, and rotation
4. Click OK
5. Specify the insertion point for the block

Click to select
the file to insert

Specify the name

of the block

Select to specify
the parameter
during block
insertion

Select to explode Select to use X

block upon scale value for Y
insertion and Z

The Insert Dialogue Box for Inserting blocks and files

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