hatch help please

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Prostreet
Newbie Member
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2023 1:43 am

hatch help please

Post by Prostreet » Wed Oct 11, 2023 7:19 pm

I am trying to install a new hatch pattern, (wood).
I have gotten various .pat files from different sites.
I download and copy them to the directory as follows:
C:\Program Files\QCAD\patterns\imperial
After copying the files to the destination where all the other pattern .pat files are located,
I close QCAD, open it back up and CANNOT find the new hatch pattern.
Attempted this about 6 times. This 81 yo man is frustrated!
Decided to get help from the pros.
Any and all help would greatly be appreciated.
Thank You!
Jerome :shock:

CVH
Premier Member
Posts: 3480
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2017 4:17 pm

Re: HATCH HELP PLEASE

Post by CVH » Wed Oct 11, 2023 7:39 pm

You must use imperial for the Measurenent system under Drawing Prefereces .. Drawing Unit referring to the install folder.

Please attach such a pattern file.

Regards,
CVH

Prostreet
Newbie Member
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2023 1:43 am

Re: HATCH HELP PLEASE

Post by Prostreet » Wed Oct 11, 2023 10:34 pm

Just checked. Imperial units are set.
Attached is a .zip file that I attempted to install to the pattern folder.
Thanks. :)
Attachments
25-AutoCAD-Wood-Hatch-Patterns.zip
(64.52 KiB) Downloaded 138 times

CVH
Premier Member
Posts: 3480
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2017 4:17 pm

Re: hatch help please

Post by CVH » Thu Oct 12, 2023 7:27 am

Hi,

There is nothing wrong with the pattern files themselves.
They should be installed as *.pat files directly under the folder that you mentioned.

Remark that the Zipper holds two sub-folders, one for MACOSX and one for other OS types.
You need to extract the 25 pattern files for your OS.
QCAD does not search for patterns in sub-folders of ...\QCAD\patterns\imperial or ...\QCAD\patterns\metric
(Where the 3 dots stands for the installation path of QCAD)
The MACOSX files are no valid *.pat files, I think they are download links or cloud based references.

Another option is to install them in the user local data location path.
See changelog 3.26.2 (2021/04/15) https://www.ribbonsoft.com/en/documentation/changelog/
Especially for Windows users without Admin rights.
For example Windows: C:/Users/[Username]/AppData/Local/QCAD/QCAD/patterns/[metric or imperial]/*.pat
These will complement or supersede those of the main pattern folder.


Now don't hold your breath with fancy and elaborated hatch patterns from www.AUTOCADhatch.com aka https://www.cadhatch.com/
Systematically these can slow down QCAD.
The main reason why I ceased with further development of Tile2Hatch, unreleased in general so far.
This QCAD tool can turn every line-art into a hatch pattern matching the highest standards and much more.

The first and simple example I studied (HWDLN1E1.pat) had 238 definitions and a total cloning load of 244.
Meaning that 244 patterned lines cross every tile.
QCAD has to render all these dashed/dotted lines before cropping them to the hatch boundary(-ies).
5 dots strings are declared twice for no good reason. :shock:
The exact same hatch can be written in 211 lines with specialized techniques at no extra rendering effort.

At first glance I am about sure that I can simplify this pattern by at least 50%.
And this by merging a few (N) of the meaningful 196 dots in the same definition line with load = 1 instead of N.

I even think that it is a metric pattern because it repeats every 60 by 60 units.
Then a tile in inches is a piece of wood of about 1.5 by 1.5 meters at unit scale. :roll:
The lower the scale the more dashes/dots on more parallel cloned patterned lines ... What renders slower ...

HWOD40E1.pat: 423 definitions, 50x50units tile, total cloning load of 597, can be written in 190 lines.
HWOD40E1byCVH.pat
Export by Tile2Hatch beta v0.17 © CVH
(10.52 KiB) Downloaded 143 times
Regards,
CVH

Prostreet
Newbie Member
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2023 1:43 am

Re: hatch help please

Post by Prostreet » Thu Oct 12, 2023 11:26 pm

Problem Solved!
I have using computers since you started them and had a black screen and a blinking C:\
I can't believe that you solved my problem.
I NEVER would have guessed that logging in as a NON Administrator user would have caused this problem!
When I checked your example for the path of:
C:/Users/[Username]/AppData/Local/QCAD/QCAD/patterns/[metric or imperial]/*.pat
I noticed the last two folders were non existent.
I added the two folders, /QCAD/patterns/imperial.
Dropped one .pat wood pattern file *.pat
Started QCAD and Incredibly was able use the hatch pattern.
I really want to THANK YOU for taking your valuable time to solve a total strangers problem.
CVH you are truly a guru!
Wish there were more people in this world like you.
It would definitely be a better place.
THANK YOU!
Jerome. :oops:

CVH
Premier Member
Posts: 3480
Joined: Wed Sep 27, 2017 4:17 pm

Re: hatch help please

Post by CVH » Fri Oct 13, 2023 7:09 am

Prostreet wrote:
Thu Oct 12, 2023 11:26 pm
When I checked your example for the path of:
C:/Users/[Username]/AppData/Local/QCAD/QCAD/patterns/[metric or imperial]/*.pat
I noticed the last two folders were non existent.
These are not created by standard.

Thank you for your kind words.

When considered as solved then please add [Solved] to the title of your first post by editing it.

Regards,
CVH

Prostreet
Newbie Member
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2023 1:43 am

Re: hatch help please [Solved]

Post by Prostreet » Fri Oct 13, 2023 2:48 pm

Prostreet wrote:
Wed Oct 11, 2023 7:19 pm
I am trying to install a new hatch pattern, (wood).
I have gotten various .pat files from different sites.
I download and copy them to the directory as follows:
C:\Program Files\QCAD\patterns\imperial
After copying the files to the destination where all the other pattern .pat files are located,
I close QCAD, open it back up and CANNOT find the new hatch pattern.
Attempted this about 6 times. This 81 yo man is frustrated!
Decided to get help from the pros.
Any and all help would greatly be appreciated.
Thank You!
Jerome :shock:

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