BricsCAD Hatch and Gradient System Variables Explained
Quick answer: BricsCAD has around 34 system variables governing hatches, gradient fills, related selection behaviour, and PDF import of filled areas, all settable via the Settings dialog. Grouped below by category.
Measurement and File Source Variables
| Variable |
Controls |
MEASUREINIT |
Sets Imperial or Metric units for newly created drawings, and which hatch pattern and linetype files get used: ANSI for Imperial, ISO for Metric |
MEASUREMENT |
Sets Imperial or Metric units for the current drawing, controlling whether ANSI or ISO hatch pattern and linetype files are used |
Selection-Related Variables
| Variable |
Controls |
OSOPTIONS |
Suppresses entity snaps on certain entity types, stored as a bitcode |
PICKSTYLE |
Controls selection of groups and associative hatches, stored as a bitcode. Ctrl+H toggles it between 0 and 1 if it’s currently 0 or 1, or between 2 and 3 if it’s currently 2 or 3, a paired toggle rather than a single switch across the full range |
PREVIEWFILTER |
Controls which entity types are excluded from selection previewing, stored as a bitcode |
Fill Mode
| Variable |
Controls |
FILLMODE |
Whether multilines, traces, solids, hatches (including solid-fill), and wide polylines display filled in |
Gradient Fill Variables
| Variable |
Controls |
GFANG |
The angle of a gradient fill |
GFCLR1 |
The gradient fill’s first colour |
GFCLR2 |
The gradient fill’s second colour |
GFCLRLUM |
Tint intensity in a one-colour gradient fill |
GFCLRSTATE |
Whether a gradient fill uses one or two colours |
GFNAME |
The gradient fill’s pattern |
GFSHIFT |
Whether the gradient pattern is centred, or shifted up and to the left |
Hatch Pattern Variables
| Variable |
Controls |
HPANG |
The hatch pattern’s angle |
HPANNOTATIVE |
Whether a new hatch pattern is annotative |
HPASSOC |
Whether new hatches and gradient fills are associative, updating automatically when their boundary changes |
HPBACKGROUNDCOLOR |
The hatch’s background colour; enter . for none |
HPBOUNDRETAIN |
Whether HATCH/BHATCH create boundary entities |
HPBOUND |
Whether BHATCH and BOUNDARY create a region or a polyline |
HPCOLOR |
The hatch’s foreground colour; enter . to use the current colour (CECOLOR) |
HPDOUBLE |
Whether user-defined patterns create a single hatch or a cross hatch |
HPDRAWORDER |
The draw order of hatches and gradient fills, saved from the Hatch and Gradient dialog’s Draw Order setting |
HPGAPTOL |
Gap tolerance when generating a boundary for BHATCH or BOUNDARY; default 0 means the app sets tolerance based on current view size (zooming in too far can cause boundary detection to fail); otherwise accepts 0 to 5000, defining the maximum gap in drawing units |
HPISLANDDETECTION |
How islands within a hatch boundary are processed |
HPLAYER |
The default layer for new hatches |
HPLINETYPE |
Whether non-continuous linetypes display in hatches. Off (0, default) always shows continuous lines regardless of assigned linetype; on (1) shows the actual non-continuous linetype, but this isn’t recommended since it reduces performance, choosing a predefined hatch pattern with a non-continuous linetype is the suggested alternative |
HPMAXAREAS |
How sparse hatches get filled |
HPMAXCONTOURPOINTS |
The maximum number of points a hatch’s contour can have and still render; 0 to 10,000,000 accepted, default 100,000, setting to 0 disables the check entirely |
HPNAME |
The default hatch pattern name |
HPOBJWARNING |
How many hatch boundary entities can be selected before a warning appears; 1 to 100,000,000 accepted, default 10,000 |
HPORIGIN |
The origin point for new hatches, relative to the current UCS |
HPSCALE |
The hatch pattern’s scale factor |
HPSEPARATE |
Whether HATCH creates one combined object or separate objects when several boundaries are selected |
HPSPACE |
Line spacing for user-defined hatch patterns |
HPTRANSPARENCY |
Default transparency for new hatches; accepts . (use current, the default), ByLayer, ByBlock, 0 (fully opaque), or 1 to 90 (percentage) |
MAXHATCH |
Maximum number of dashes a hatch can contain before it can’t be created; 100 to 10,000,000 accepted, default 100,000 |
MIRRHATCH |
Whether MIRROR mirrors hatch patterns |
SRCHPATH |
Folders searched for fonts, customization files, plugins, drawings to insert, linetypes, and hatch patterns not in the current folder; multiple paths separated by semicolons |
PDF Import Variables
| Variable |
Controls |
PdfImportVectorGeometry |
Whether to ignore or import vector geometry from a PDF. Linear paths, Bézier curves, and solid-filled areas import as polylines and 2D solids or solid-filled hatches; curves resembling arcs, circles, or ellipses are interpolated as such within a tolerance; patterned hatches import as many separate objects |
PdfImportSolidFills |
Whether to ignore or import solid-filled areas. If originally exported from AutoCAD, these include solid-filled hatches, 2D solids, wipeout objects, wide polylines, and triangular arrowheads. Imported solid-filled hatches get a 50% transparency so overlapping objects stay visible |
PdfImportConvertSolidsToHatches |
Converts imported 2D solid objects into solid-filled hatches |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Ctrl+H cycle through all four PICKSTYLE values in order? No, it’s a paired toggle: it switches between 0 and 1 if you’re currently on either of those, or between 2 and 3 if you’re on either of those, rather than cycling through all four values sequentially.
Does FILLMODE affect multilines, not just hatches and solids? Yes, multilines are included alongside traces, solids, hatches, and wide polylines.
What transparency values does HPTRANSPARENCY accept? . for use current (the default), ByLayer, ByBlock, 0 for fully opaque, or 1 to 90 as a percentage.
Why would I avoid turning on HPLINETYPE? It’s not recommended because it decreases performance. Choosing a predefined hatch pattern that already has a non-continuous linetype built in is the suggested alternative.
