I experimented with the "Apply Geometric Hatch to Face" function and like to share my experience and some results.
Initially I tried to use the '...' button to change to some external PAT file, but it always showed an error in Report View:
"Could not find pattern: xxx"
I figured out, that only patterns that are present in the default pattern file can be selected, even though the ones of the chosen PAT file are properly shown in drop down list.
So it seems, one needs to stick to the FCPAT.PAT file and do the edits there. I don't think, it is supposed to be this way, because then actually the '...' button to select another file has no use. Maybe, you could also choose a completely different default file in TechDraw preferences, but again, on the fly re-selection of PAT file through '...' is not feasible. I suppose, it has to do with loading the first patterns from the default file, if then the pattern set is changed through another file, only the patterns are working, that also were present in the intially loaded file, all others raise the aforementioned "Could not find pattern" error.
So for my project I needed some specific patterns that are not present in the FCPAT.PAT and also I did not found them available in the internet.
So I started PAT programming.
I want the hatching patterns from ISO 128-3 which are recommended for architectural design hatching.
The result is shown here: I followed the explanations provided here: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/ ... excel.html
But some behavior still puzzles me:
The repetition offset does not seem to work as I understood it, e.g. in this pattern
Code: Select all
*ISO-128-3_concrete-reinforced, 45 diagonal R, Solid-Dash, 4.0 mm separation
45, 0, 0, 0, 5.5
45, 4.0, 0, 0, 5.5, 3.2, -1.6
This also seems to be impacted by the "Pattern Scale" value from the Geometric Hash function, because when used, the block of defined lines is scaled but the distance of these repeated blocks not accordingly, so that the pattern gets block-wise spread [Attached the FCPAT.PAT I used, also containing a pattern provided by some other FC User here.] Edit: Removed wrong file. See post below for later version.
Maybe I explore the svg based feature next.
But this also seems to come with some challenges.
Making the base pattern repeat symmetric also with respect to scaling does not seem to be trivial, my first try failed at least: OS: Windows 10 Version 2009
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.19.24267 +148 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: Branch_0.19.4
Hash: 476ecf091941bead59b14e44afa6064d5a66afa3
Python version: 3.8.6+
Qt version: 5.15.2
Coin version: 4.0.1
OCC version: 7.5.3
Locale: German/Germany (de_DE)