AutoCAD hatch fill very slow

Blisterman

I'm running AutoCAD 2005, and I find the filling an area with Hatch, by selecting a point to run very poorly for me.

Firstly, It doesn't work if the area to be hatched doesn't lie entirely within my view window. This makes it nearly impossible to hatch a long narrow area, as if I zoom out too far I can't select the area.

Secondly, sometimes it says that no enclosed area could be found, but if I try again, it works the second or third time.

Finally, when it does work, it sometimes takes up to ten minutes to analyse the area.

Is it just my copy of AutoCAD, or is it always like this? It's not my computer, which works perfectly for much more memory intensive programs. Why does it take so long? It seems like the simplest thing to do ever. It's just like the fill tool in paint, and that's been working smoothly since the 80s.

Davey909

I'm still using acad 2000 and used release 14 before that. That command has always been a bit temperamental for me too.

I think if you have the area you want to hatch completely in view on the screen before you use the command then you can possibly zoom in later when your picking points to fill and it will still work.

If that doesn't work then draw a few temp lines through the area to divide it up into smaller areas then fill each segment individually. when you're finished just remove the lines.

Its a silly point but also be sure there is no small gaps in the area you are filling. If its a complex shape, it can be easy to miss them.

Hope this helps

sickle

or just draw a polyline around it and hatch object instead of picking a point in the area.

Mellor

First of all, use the purge command.
It should clean up the drawing an allow it to speed up.

Flood filled hatch uses up more space than objerct filled, its obviously a more intensive process. I'd advise you to use object hatch as much as possible. I draw in mostly polylines. Then are just better/more flexible. If your hatch area is made up og multiple objects, then polyline around the area, hatch it and then delete the polyline.
Hope this helps

Davey909

Good to know that, I never use that select objects button. Must try and use it more in future.

Danbo!

Blisterman wrote: »

Firstly, It doesn't work if the area to be hatched doesn't lie entirely within my view window. This makes it nearly impossible to hatch a long narrow area, as if I zoom out too far I can't select the area.

This is always a pain. 2 methods, method 1 doesnt always work in more complex files.

1) Zoom extents and then use hatch command, zoom in close and choose a point on your long narrow area. Starting the Hatch command while zoomed in wont work.

2) zoom extents. Draw a rectangle off your drawing (ie not on top of anything), use hatch command and select this area first. When it selects the first area it generally analyses every object on screen. You can then zoom in and selct the long narrow area.

Oh and by the way, sometimes autocad is just temperamental and just will not hatch anything! I dont know how I havent smashed a few monitors/keyboards