Hatch Settings dialog
The dialog appears when the Hatch tool is started or via the Hatch settings command, as a floating window: the drawing stays usable, the window can be dragged by its title. All changes apply immediately — OK only closes and confirms in the status bar. The values are defaults for new hatches; existing hatches are changed in the Properties panel.
Fields
Pattern
Choice of the pattern. The type follows the name in brackets, e.g. ANSI31 (lines). On a change, angle, spacing, color, line width and line type are loaded from the pattern definition into the fields, and the pattern immediately becomes the default (Hatch pattern: ANSI31 — settings apply immediately).
Angle, spacing, package spacing
Angle: rotates the pattern in degrees — 0° is a valid value and gives horizontal lines. Spacing: sets the distance between pattern lines (drawing units in the model, paper mm in a viewport; smallest value 0.1). Both values belong to the definition of the chosen pattern and are saved with it. Package spacing: appears only for DOPPEL and DREIFACH and is the distance between the two or three lines within one package (factory 1.5, smallest value 0.05).
Color, line width, line type
Color of the pattern lines, line width on screen in pixels (factory 0.5 px) and line type Solid, Dashed or Dotted. When printing, the pixel width does not count but the line width in mm. All three values belong to the pattern definition.
Layer
Layer that new hatches are placed on. The active layer is proposed.
Z level
Intended as the Z level of new hatches. In version 3.0.17 new hatches receive the current drawing Z level from the header bar; change the level of a hatch in the Properties panel or with PgUp and PgDn.
Origin X, Origin Y
Reference point of the line grid for the whole drawing (factory 0/0). Hatches with the same angle, spacing and origin line up exactly — see Origin. An individual origin for a single hatch is set in the panel.
Tolerance
How far apart two end points may lie and still count as connected (factory 0.05, range 0.01 to 5). Larger values detect tangential contact points more reliably.
Point markers r ≤
Circles up to this radius are treated as point markers during the boundary search and are not traced (factory 1, range 0 to 50). 0 considers all circles. Applies drawing-wide.
Opacity
Opacity of all hatches in the drawing from 10 to 100 % (factory 100 %). Takes effect immediately on all hatches that have not received their own opacity in the panel.
Exclude islands
On (factory): closed elements and closed loops inside the boundary stay clear. Off: the hatch runs across them. See Islands.
Visible area only (faster)
On (factory): the boundary search uses only elements within the view. The whole area to fill must then be visible. See Visible area only.
Only solid lines as boundary
On: only solid line types bound the area; dashed, dash-dot, dotted and center lines are skipped, even when the line type is inherited from the layer. On switching, existing automatic hatches are re-detected immediately. Off (factory): all line types bound.
Area definition
Automatic: click inside the area, boundary and islands are detected. Manual: click the boundary elements one by one; the snap mode switches to FREE and the buttons Hatch (Enter) and Cancel (ESC) appear. See Manual area definition.
Close, OK
Close closes the window; all changes are already in effect. OK closes as well and reports Hatch settings saved.
Properties panel
With a hatch selected, the Properties panel shows its values. Changes here affect only the selected hatches, not the defaults. With several hatches selected, only the Z level row is available.
| Row | Effect on the selected hatch |
|---|---|
| Pattern | Changes the pattern and adopts its angle, spacing, color, line width, line type and package spacing. |
| Angle, Distance, Package spacing | Own values of this hatch; package spacing only for DOPPEL and DREIFACH. |
| Color | Color of this hatch. |
| Opacity | Own opacity 0 to 100 %; takes precedence over the opacity from the dialog. |
| Line width | Line width on screen in pixels. |
| Line type | Solid, dashed, dotted — not for SOLID. |
| Origin X, Origin Y | Own origin of this hatch; empty = drawing-wide default from the dialog (shown as placeholder). |
| Point markers | Drawing-wide setting, here for convenient changing — applies to all hatches. |
| Layer | Layer of this hatch. |
| Z level | Current level with the buttons Send to back, One level down, One level up, Bring to front. |
Print dialog
In the print dialog Print, section Line widths (mm), you find the row Hatches: (1): the line width of all hatch lines when printing, in millimetres, factory 0.1 mm. Typical values are 0.1 to 0.25 mm — hatches are usually printed thinner than the geometry. The on-screen line width in pixels plays no role when printing.
DXF options
On DXF export the dialog asks under Hatches:
| Option | Meaning |
|---|---|
| as a block (one object, exact copy) | Each hatch is written as a block of individual lines — looks exactly as in LiberoDraft in the target CAD and can be grabbed as a whole. Factory setting. |
| as a hatch object (smaller, editable in the target CAD) | Each hatch is written as a native HATCH object — the file is smaller, pattern and angle can be changed in the target CAD. |
