How to Add a New Hatch Pattern in Bricscad

Bangalore, India

Often, users ask me how to add a new hatch pattern in Bricscad. The procedure is easy but not well-documented or straighforward. This post explains how to do it.

Background info:

Hatch patterns in Bricscad (and AutoCAD) are defined in ASCII file which have the .PAT extension. Each hatch pattern is defined by a series of numbers representing orientation (angle), length of line, spacing distance etc., which looks something like this:

*ANSI32, ANSI Steel
45, 0,0, 0,9.525
45, 4.490128053,0, 0,9.525

Adding a new hatch pattern:

If you want to add a new hatch pattern, which will become available by default when you start Bricscad, you must add it into the .PAT file.

In AutoCAD, the main (or default) hatch pattern file is called ACAD.PAT while in Bricscad, it is called as DEFAULT.PAT for imperial units hatch pattern and ISO.PAT for metric units. Any new hatch pattern that you want to add must be added to these files manually using a text editor.

By default, these files are located in two places in any Bricscad installation:

For example, on my computer, I have the two .PAT files located here:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Bricsys\Bricscad V12\UserDataCache\Support\en_US\default.pat"

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Bricsys\Bricscad V12\UserDataCache\Support\en_US\iso.pat"

Additionally, these files are also located again in the c:/Users Data folder as shown below:

"C:\Users\Rakesh Rao\AppData\Roaming\Bricsys\Bricscad\V12\en_US\Support\default.pat"

"C:\Users\Rakesh Rao\AppData\Roaming\Bricsys\Bricscad\V12\en_US\Support\iso.pat"

To create a new hatch pattern, you must copy the hatch pattern info from another .PAT file to the DEFAULT.PAT file of Bricscad. For example, the Bricscad .PAT file does not contain the SWAMP hatch pattern that is found in AutoCAD. To make this available in Bricscad, open the ACAD.PAT file (in a text editor) and copy the block of text representing the definition of the SWAMP hatch pattern, and copy-paste the same into the DEAFULT.PAT file (for imperial units) or ISO.PAT file (for metric units) in the Bricscad folder.

Make sure you copy the files into both the locations shown above (as applicable on your computer. Actual paths may vary depending on where you have installed Bricscad).

Block of text defining the SWAMP hatch pattern:

 *SWAMP, Swampy area
0, 0,0, .5,.866025403, .125,-.875
90, .0625,0, .866025403,.5, .0625,-1.669550806
90, .078125,0, .866025403,.5, .05,-1.682050806
90, .046875,0, .866025403,.5, .05,-1.682050806
60, .09375,0, .5,.866025403, .04,-.96
120, .03125,0, .5,.866025403, .04,-.96

Once you have done this, restart your Bricscad and you should be able to access the newly added hatch patterns in Bricscad.

The above image shows the HATCH command in Bricscad with the SWAMP hatch added.

Please do give me your feedback and let me know if this article was helpful to you.

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Comments

[Piping Symbols]

hi..great information about AutoCAD Hatch Patterns.Browse our easy to install AutoCAD Hatch Patterns. We feature both a wood and stone hatch pattern set or a large collection of hatch patterns – over 350 available … or create your own hatch pattern with the Hatch Pattern Manager!

[Dora Todorova]

Hi, I tried to copy a hatch from Autocad to Bricscad and couldn't save it. Got a message "Access denied". What to do in this case?

[Rakesh Rao]

Check your file permissions. It is a systems error.

[Chirag Maheshbhai Oza]

NICE WEBSITE. NICE CONTENT KEEP IT UP.
But I am confused about this.
How to use Autocad Hatch ?

[Rakesh Rao]

You will have to make sure that all the patterns you have in AutoCAD are transferred to BricsCAD.

In AutoCAD, the file is ACAD.PAT/ACADISO.PAT and in BricsCAD, it is DEFAULT.PAT and ISO.PAT.

There is a utility in CADPower called CP_CHECKHATCH.
CADPower -> Miscellaneous -> Check and compare .PAT files

to manage PAT files.