Stone Hatch Patterns

I regularly get asked about stone hatch patterns - where to find them and what to do with them once you do find one that suits.

I was working on a job recently and needed some different type stone hatch patterns. A Google search should give you plenty of options - I found some useful ones here - http://www.eldoradostone.com/trade-community/specification-library/hatch-patterns/

Once you have downloaded the files (they will be in .pat format) what do you do with them? The best solution is to copy all of your custom hatch patterns to a folder (C drive or network) and then set up a Support File Search Path pointing to this location. To do this type OPTIONS in AutoCAD. On the files tab select Add and browse to the location where you saved your hatch patterns.

Once this file path is set up you will then have access to your new hatch patterns from within the hatch command.

Importing Point Files - warning message

If you are importing point files into C3D and you are getting an error message like below:

Your point file might be in one of the typical formats (PENZD) when you open it and look at it but C3D still doesn't appear to recognise it. This usually happens because there is something in the file that C3D doesn't understand. Typically this will be a number in a column where it is expecting alpha characters or vice versa. Check your point file to make sure that, for example, the 'P' column contains only numbers. Looking at my file I see that the first point was a base station and this point does not have a number, rather it uses the STN code in the 'P' column.

C3D doesn't know what to do with the STN as it is expecting a number. Edit the point file and try reimporting and it should work ok.