By default, hatches are created starting from the drawings origin (0,0,0 of the active UCS). This often causes the hatch pattern becomes misaligned from the rest of the drawing. For example, suppose we have a box with 5x5 units and we need to place a simple horizontal hatch of 1 unit in order to have 5 strips of 1 unit each strip. Unless the box has been created at the 0,0,0 point or, at least, the Y coordinate of its base be multiple of 1, we will never achieve the desired result if we just place the hatch on that box.
The solution for this problem relies on the SNAPBASE system variable. The program's help says that this variable "Defines the xy location of the grid origin in the current viewport relative to the active UCS." and it is of type of a point.
If we set the SNAPBASE to one of the box's vertices and then apply the hatch, the hatch will be created starting from that vertice.
Here is an example of three boxes (5x5 units) with horizontal hatches:
Box 1 is created at drawing's origin, so the hatch will match the desired result.
Box 2 is created somewhere and hatch is applied without setting the SNAPBASE point. Note how the strips has different dimensions.
Box 3 is created somewhere (it stands in the same Y coordinate as Box 2) and the hatch is applied AFTER setting the SNAPBASE to the lower-left vertice.
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