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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Revit Hatch Patterns (Hatch Kit)

Firstly apologies for my slackness in regular posts...
This question has come up a lot, and its how do I make custom hatch patterns for Revit?
Typically I'll recommend using Cadro's Hatchkit.

However, I recommend a different workflow to using hatchkit directly as the editor. I like to use the import DXF feature.
  1. Begin by starting up Revit.
  2. Start a new project.
  3. Start a drafting view, set the scale to 1:1 for a drafting pattern or 1:100 or similar for a model pattern.
  4. Now using solid detail lines draw the pattern you'd like to create at the scale you require it. In my example I'm trying to create a water surface pattern (some waves).
  5. Next we need to outline a box/tile that if repeated would create a clean pattern and break our linework here.
  6. Then delete the excess linework. (leave the box there as this helps to define the size of the tile)
  7. Export to 2004 DXF format.
  8. Start HatchKit
  9. Go to File-->Import (change files of type to DXF entities) Find you file and import
  10. Now we just need to delete the box that we drew. Select each of them by clicking on the white box and delete. You actually end up deleting 6 lines...
  11. Finally add a name/description/comment then save as a Revit Model or Drafting pattern as required.
  12. Its now ready to be imported and used in Revit!