editing patches

[Anonymous]

This is probably a dumb question, but I've searched the forum, help files, manual and google to no avail.

I've been told that the patch tool is probably needed to clean up problems with my window trim in elevation and that seems to be the case. So I marquee the area and go to create patch, then save it. So now everything looks the same except I have a patch object overlaying the problem area.

SO - how to I edit the lines in the patch to get what I need? Or is that not how it works?

I could swear that I successfully figured this out a while back, but can't remember how for the life of me...... thanks for any help!

[Anonymous]

If the Patch tool works like it does in versions previous to AC 11
then the first thing you have to do is un-check the "place immediately"
button (checked by default) so it won't put the patch into the section/elevation on top of everything else making it difficult to edit.
If you insert an instance of this 2D library part somewhere out of the way, explode it, edit the lines and fills to what you want, group everything,
and drag into place.
Peter Devlin

[Barry Kelly]

Peter wrote:
If the Patch tool works like it does in versions previous to AC 11
then the first thing you have to do is un-check the "place immediately"
button (checked by default) so it won't put the patch into the section/elevation on top of everything else making it difficult to edit.
If you insert an instance of this 2D library part somewhere out of the way, explode it, edit the lines and fills to what you want, group everything,
and drag into place.
Peter Devlin

You can explode it but you don't have to.
You can open the object and edit the 2D Symbol view.
Be sure to turn all the layers (fragments) on.
Save the object when finished.
Then you still have all the benefits of the patch object options.

Barry.

[Anonymous]

thanks for the quick response and input - I got it figured out and looks to work just right. I'm just working out how to deal with shadow fills now...

[Karl Ottenstein]

Barry wrote:

Peter wrote:
If the Patch tool works like it does in versions previous to AC 11
then the first thing you have to do is un-check the "place immediately"
button (checked by default) so it won't put the patch into the section/elevation on top of everything else making it difficult to edit.
If you insert an instance of this 2D library part somewhere out of the way, explode it, edit the lines and fills to what you want, group everything,
and drag into place.
Peter Devlin

You can explode it but you don't have to.
You can open the object and edit the 2D Symbol view.
Be sure to turn all the layers (fragments) on.
Save the object when finished.
Then you still have all the benefits of the patch object options.

Barry.

Exactly, Barry.

Peter, I also disagree about placing the object as it is created. Doing so guarantees precise alignment and avoids the work of having to place it later. They key is to do an Undo/Redo immediately after placing ...which then selects the object. Then, do an 'open object' (ctrl-shift-O was the old shortcut) and follow Barry's steps to edit the 2D symbol fragments. (Fragments, to the uninitiated are basically numerical layers for for 2D symbol window.)

One thing I would add to Barry's steps is to consider placing hotspots with the hotspot tool at obvious places if this patch is to be used more than once.

For example, sometimes you need a patch on each building corner. To avoid making four separate patches, simply place a hotspot on the corner in the 2D symbol window. Then, you can rotate/mirror the patch as needed to use the same object on all corners. Editing the single patch will then update all corners. Without the hotspot, the patch only has 'boundary' hotspots and you can only visually align it in other locations - a method doomed to produce bad results.

"Never" (never say never) 'explode' - you lose the power of the patch object to update multiple instances.

Cheers,
Karl

PS I'm surprised that Chris is the first to ask this question in many years. I've been surprised that techniques for using the Patch Tool and editing the resulting object have never been in the user manuals. Something that should be on the Wiki I suppose...

[Edited: spastic typing ... or else my keyboard was/is going bad...]

[Anonymous]

Hello Barry and Karl,
Frankly, after thinking about it, I like Barry's method of editing
the 2d symbol. That way, as Barry says, you don't have to explode.
Yes Karl, the undo redo does allow you to quickly select the object
so that you can open it for editing.
I thank you both for educating me about
a more effective way of using the patch tool.
Peter Devlin