Hatching, pattern, fill, bitmap area and style area

You can apply hatching, patterns or fills to areas in order to define different materials or to visually highlight areas. In addition, you can apply bitmaps to areas or use architectural surface styles for 2D areas (we will use the term ‘surface element’ to refer to the wide range of options provided by Allplan).

The library of hatching styles that ships with Allplan includes a wide range of hatching styles and patterns. However, you can also define your own hatching styles and patterns (click Defaults on the Tools menu) or modify those that come with the program. You can display the boundary of hatching, patterns and fills as a construction line by setting the appropriate option in Show/Hide.

You are advised to use the polyline entry tools to enter areas to which you want to apply a surface element, such as hatching, pattern, fill.

The following tools are available for entering filled areas:

Icon	Function	Use
	Hatching	You can use this tool to apply hatching to an area.
	Pattern	You can use this tool to apply a pattern to an area.
	Fill	You can use this tool to apply a color fill to an area.
	Bitmap Area	You can use this tool to apply bitmaps to areas.
	Style Area	You can use this tool to apply architectural surface styles to 2D areas.

The following tools are available for modifying filled areas:

Icon	Function	Use
	Reshape Surface Element, Architectural Area	You can use this tool to add areas to hatching, patterns, fills, bitmaps or architectural elements (slabs, rooms, net stories, floors, ceilings, roof covering) or remove such areas.
	Split Surface Elements, Archit. Elements	You can use this tool to split hatching, patterns, fills, bitmaps and architectural elements (walls, columns, slabs, beams, upstands, rooms, net stories, floors, ceilings) into two parts. This can be useful if you need to split up the 3D plan while creating the layout.
	Merge Surface Elements, Archit. Elements	You can use this tool to merge two areas of hatching, patterns, fills, bitmaps and architectural elements (walls, slabs, beams, upstands, rooms, net stories, floors and ceilings) to form a single element.
	Convert Surface Element	You can use this tool to convert surface elements (hatching, patterns, fills or bitmaps) to surface elements of the same or different type. You can also use the tool simply to modify the properties of a surface element.
	Stretch Entities	You can use this tool to modify the outline of filled areas.

What do you want to do?

Find out more about the relationship between hatching and reference scale

Define your own hatching styles

Define your own patterns