The BOUNDARY command is one of those tools that is mostly unknown and seldom gets used… which is a shame because it can be really useful. The BOUNDARY command draws a polyline by taking a point from the user, and looking for the boundary that encloses it. In other words, it returns the boundary that would be found if you used the “pick points” option from the HATCH command.
Normal Usage
Invoke the BOUNDARY command and you will get a little dialog box. You can choose to untick “Island detection”, and you can change the object type that is generated from polyline to region. Once this is set up click “Pick Points” at the top, and select a point on screen that is enclosed by other objects. As you’d expect objects that are hidden or frozen are not considered in the formation of a valid boundary.
Special Usage
Without, I can create my hatch/fill and then delete the boundary. This is necessary for highway design since we often have the edges of the hatch boundaries as right-of-way lines (or other line styles with gaps/text). We can not have the solid line of the hatch boundary obstruction the gaps. On the Properties panel Hatch Type list, select the type of hatch that you want to use. On the Pattern panel, click a hatch pattern or fill. On the Boundaries panel, specify the how the pattern boundary.
One of the most intuative ways of using this tool is to retrieve the boundary of complex shapes. Consider the below arbitrary set of shapes:
- AutoCAD LT Forum Hatch outside boundaries; Announcements. Learn more about your Autodesk Subscription, Account and Installation and Licensing and connect with other Technology Managers here! Turn on suggestions. Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type.
- AutoCAD Trim Everything Outside or Inside Polyline, Boundary, Polygon AutoCAD Tips and Tricks. This tutorial shows how to trim everything outside or inside.
If you wanted to convert this into a polyline boundary, how would you do it? A lot of people would just head directly to the TRIM command and start hacking away. The more AutoCAD® savvy person might take another approach… You probably gathered as you’re on the BOUNDARY page, that this can be achieved using the BOUNDARY command, but have you figured out how? How about when you consider this:
Autocad Hatch Boundary Problem
![Autocad Autocad](/uploads/1/1/8/2/118201116/897659941.jpg)
Autocad Hatch Outside Boundary Definition
By using another boundary around the objects, you can pick a point in the area between the outer boundary and the set of shapes, and capture the outline of the complex shape as an island. Once you have your outline, just delete the bits you don’t want. This can be an extremely useful trick for very complex shapes, and can save a heck of a lot of time and effort.