In the last post, I toured the changes & improvements for creating hatches in AutoCAD LT 2011. Today, editing! (Because when was the last time you created something in AutoCAD LT and didn't change it later? Never? Yeah, me too.) First, you don’t need to double-click on a hatch any more in order to edit its properties. Simply select it, and the Hatch Editor contextual tab appears. (Click the above image to see it full-sized.) This tab has all the options for adjusting the properties of the hatch. It has a lot in common with the Hatch Creation tab, as you’d expect. Notice that the “remove” and “recreate” boundary options are active now (they’re grayed out on the Creation tab.) The hatch itself has a new center grip—another instance of improved direct manipulation of objects. This grip, like the polyline grips, is multifunctional. You can see what options are available by hovering the crosshairs over the grip. You can click on an item in the list to activate that option, or left-click directly on the grip and use the Ctrl key to cycle through the different behaviors. The boundary grips for non-associative hatches are still there too, and can be used to modify the shape of the hatch’s perimeter. When you mirror a hatch object in AutoCAD LT 2011, its angle is now maintained. New way: Old way: I like the new way better, personally, but if you don’t, you can use the new MIRRHATCH variable to change it back. Finally, we’ve fulfilled one more item from the AUGI wishlist by adding a new option to the Draw Order flyout. Can you spot it? “Send Hatches to Back,” like “Bring Text/Dimensions to Front,” is straight from the list of feature wishes from users like you. It’s on the ribbon, as you see above, and also accessible as the stand-alone HATCHTOBACK command.

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