topic Re: Fills in Modeling

Fills

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:45:35 GMT

Hi, can anybody help. I'm trying to use the fill tool to hatch between enclosed lines. I'm fairly new to AC and more used to Autocad where I would have used the advanced hatch tool and detect islands or something similar. All I want to do is to indicate on a map that the outer 3m of a field are to be kept clear. Please help.

Re: Fills

rocorona — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:45:42 GMT

When the Fill tool is active, you can notice that, pressing the SPACE BAR on the keyboard, the cursor change in a Magic Wand. Click with the Magic Wand inside a region, and it will be filled.

To enlarge the whole perimeter of the fill, once placed, select it and click on one of the nodes. In the appearing pet-palette you can find an offset-shaped icon. If the inspector is on, just start dragging the perimeter, then type the length (3).

There are many other ways to do the same things, or different tings that can be done with the same tools... reading the user manuals (especially once accustomed with the working method of a new software) helps a lot!

Re: Fills

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:56:48 GMT

Hi, thanks for that Rocorona. It works exactly as you say, unfortunately that's not what I want to do. Imagine a rectangle with a further rectangle offset by 3m. I am wanting to hatch/fill the 3m gap between the 2 rectangles. Can it be done. Is there any way of perfoming boolean operations on 2D entities. I have looked for a tool to do it but can't find one. Or can I draw a 'region' that acts in a similar manner to 3D objects and then use the solids editing tool. I have considered filling the outer rectangle with a pattern or colour then filling the inner rectangle with a solid white fill but there are 2 drawbacks to this that I can see. First it seems to be a long way round and secondly anything under the solid white fill will need brought forward. I apprecite that AC is essentially a 3D modelling program but I'm sure there must be a simple way of performing this task. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Ian

Re: Fills

rocorona — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:09:12 GMT

Once a fill is selected, if you draw a new form inside it's perimeter with the same tool, it becames an hole.

You can combine this with the Magic Wand method, and "magic-wand" an hole inside a selected fill.

Moreover, the pet-palette has a sort of "boolean" tools (with a "plus" and a "minus" signs). Again, select your fill, click on a node or perimeter, and choose the "minus" tool. Draw a new perimeter and it will be subtracted from your fill (unlike the hole, this can intersect the fill border).

Re: Fills

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 07:38:29 GMT

Absolutely fantastic! I've tried both methods with exactly the result that I was after. My faith is once again restored in AC. Thanks very much. Where can I get a book with all these tips and tricks in. I certainly can't find anything as helpful in the 'help'.

Re: Fills

Barry Kelly — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:17:52 GMT

1606 wrote:
Where can I get a book with all these tips and tricks in. I certainly can't find anything as helpful in the 'help'.

You obviously didn't read pages 127 and 145 of the version 12 reference guide PDF that can be accessed from the help menu.

I'll admit it is sometimes hard to find things if you don't know what the termnology is but most of it is in the manual somewhere.
I does pay to have a skim through it - even for experienced users.

Barry.