I need to be able to adjust the pattern origin location so the hatching is say evenly spaced within the element or region, not just randomly located. In AutoCAD you simply relocate the SNAPBASE point or in new releases use the Origin adjust button in the Hatch dialog box. There's a way to do this in MicroStation too, though I've forgotten how. Doesn't seem to be a way to do this in Revit. It is important only from need to create an 'aesthetically pleasing' set of contract documents.

But a set of drawings that look like, well I won't say, doesn't help me sell the product.

I have a nicer-looking version of a batt insulation Linetype than AutoCAD's BATTING, if you're interested, but it's still a Linetype. It has the added advantage that it's defined in such a way that you merely divide the thickness you want by the reality-to-drawing ratio; with their BATTING, because of the arbitrary way it's defined, you have to multiply the thickness you want by 5 and divide by that ratio. Any Linetype-based approach is going to have that 'limitation' in relation to Linetype Scale, because of the way Shapes are used in Linetypes. But any other approach is going to have more severe limitations, in my opinion. There was a thread about something very similar, maybe several months but probably less than a year ago, looking at generating a polyline version with the looping built in, and a Continuous Linetype. I don't remember whether someone came up with a way to do it, but I wouldn't be likely to use something like that. If you ever needed to change the shape of the curve, or straighten a curve within a Polyline, or Lengthen an end, or you decide you want a different thickness of insulation, you'd have to give up on the original and generate the whole thing all over again.

AutoCAD blocks, each in an individual drawing (.dwg) file, patterns in a pattern. Textures and hatch patterns. INSFOM – Spray Foam Insulation.

A Linetype approach takes care of all of that for you. -- Kent Cooper wrote. I would appreciate if you could send a lisp routine which will draw batt insulation on curves. Linetype has limitations: when change ltscale batt insulation linetype width change. Thanks johny.

[It's not that anyone said dynamic blocks support curved lines. The issue is that the original question was about representing batt insultation *on curves*, so something that can't do that is of no use.

To paraphrase: maybe it would be better to look properly at what is being asked before suggesting something.] -- Kent Cooper wrote. Who said it did support curved lines? It does however support repetition of a shape which is how this block works. Maybe it would be better to look properly at what is being suggested before commenting. Wrote: >> This is by fay the best way of drawing insulation I have come across. I don't know if I can agree with that. The polyline in the anonymous block that holds the geometry for each insertion is copied when you change the length.

When you stretch your block to a length of 10', it produces 60 copies of the polyline in the anonymous block (with the insertion scale at 4.0, that is). You would have much less baggage in your drawings, if you use an MINSERTed regular block, with 1 row by N columns, where N = the desired length of the insulation. With an MINSERT there is no duplication of the polyline at all. -- AcadXTabs: MDI Document Tabs for AutoCAD 2008 Supporting AutoCAD 2000 through 2008 http://www.acadxtabs.com.

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:56:55 +0000, Tony Tanzillo wrote: >>> This is by fay the best way of drawing insulation I have come across. >I don't know if I can agree with that. The polyline in the anonymous block that holds the geometry for each insertion is copied when you change the length. >When you stretch your block to a length of 10', it produces 60 copies of the polyline in the anonymous block (with the insertion scale at 4.0, that is). >You would have much less baggage in your drawings, if you use an MINSERTed regular block, with 1 row by N columns, where N = the desired length of the insulation. With an MINSERT there is no duplication of the polyline at all.

The 'duplication' of the polyline is really insignificant to the benefit gained, particularly if you first use a 'unit' batt symbol to seed the dynamic block and array it with the stretch action. You in effect get the same efficiency results of MINSERT with the on-screen stretchability of using DBs. Otherwise you have to use Properties to change the numbers of row/columns by hand.