Topic Title

Is there any programs that will create custom brick hatching for DataCad? I need a 3 5/8" x 2 1/4" x 15 5/8" brick pattern with a 4" offset from one course to the next. Is it possible to modify an existing hatch pattern? Cheap Tricks does not have this size.

You can take a similar pattern, save it to a new name and make the adjustments in sizes.
I think many of the numbers are based on 1/32", but not always.

The advice that Roger gave is good for one that doesn't mind experimenting. Sometimes, a lot of experimenting will be needed, but when the numbers finally work, you'll feel really good about what you have done.
Take an existing brick pattern and insert it into a new drawing, exploded. That will let you identify various lines that make up the pattern. I'd recommend doing a small area so that you can see just a few brick lines rather than an entire wall panel or such.
Use your comma to begin erasing the "last drawn entity." Repeat enough times that you see the pattern in the order that it was drawn. This will be like scrolling up a stack of text which is what you will really be doing when you look at the text file that draws the brick. In the case of the brick, there may only be a few lines of text for the pattern and you'll be able to figure out which is which easily. I recommend doing this only so that if you do more complex patterns, you have the habit already established.
Take one line of text and work with it until it performs exactly as you want. The others will come more easily once you've worked out what numbers controls what in that line.
A good one to start with would be Brick-King. It has only two lines of controls, one for the horizontal spacing ( you want a 2 1/4" + 3/8" joint, I assume) and the other for vertical (15 5/8" + 3/8" joint). Note that for this pattern, the joints are indicated with only a single line. That is why the pattern file is simple. If you are wanting a pattern with both sides of the joint indicated, you've gone up a major step in complexity and that won't be one to "learn with." This is it.

[Header]
Scale=1
Angle=0
Display Scale=1
Segments=2

[Segments]
001=0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 96
002=0, 0, 90, 0, 0, 96, 160, 96, -96


The great part about the Brick-King pattern is that it is only a tiny bit off of what you described for the horizontal spacing, but unless I am guessing wrong, you really want a 3" coursing. If that is the case then the last number of 96 in the Segment 001 line is correct as it is (3 times 32). That leaves you with only the initial offset distance and the repeat to calculate.
So... change the 160 in line 002 to 256.
Save the file by some new name that you will use while you experiment. Perhaps "1Brk." Name it that way so that the name shows early in your pattern list while you experiment.
Now hatch an area and you will see that the repeats are 16" which is exactly what you want. Smile and move on to the next step which is to establish the offset.
You will need to use Ctrl+Z to erase the hatched area (if it was associative) or the hatch lines if it was not. Then go to the hatch Manage and Purge. You need to remove 1Brk from the file. Once purged, you can go back to the text file and change the number that controls the beginning of the pattern.
Since we don't know which of those zeros needs to be 128, we'll have to experiment. Once you've done a few of these, you will know which number group that is, but right now, we can search to see which one declares how far over from the origin, the first vertical line will be drawn. On a guess, I did the first 0 after the 90 (that indicates the direction for the line run). And it worked. 1Brk now looks as you want when written like this.

[Header]
Scale=1
Angle=0
Display Scale=1
Segments=2

[Segments]
001=0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 96
002=0, 0, 90, 128, 0, 96, 256, 96, -96


One thing that I like to do is to work with a rectangle area and make my bottom left corner the origin point. I also set my snap distance to 1" initially and in this case kept it there throughout.
You can go through the process here or just paste this in to a file, save it by the name that you want and go. Either way, you can be a happy camper with DCAD.
Have fun,
Woody

Oops.
I looked at the pattern and realized that it did offset the first joint 4", but then established a normal center to center spacing there-after.
I'll need to experiment with it some more to make it where the offset course to course is 4".
My mistake.
Woody

I found that I had two similar patterns. One with two segment lines and another with three segment lines. Amazingly, the three segment line needed only two changes to work. The original was this:

[Header]
Scale=1
Angle=0
Display Scale=1
Segments=3

[Segments]
001=0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 96
002=0, 0, 90, 119, 96, 0,320, 96,-96
003=0, 0, 90, 0, 0, 0,320, 96,-96

To work as you want meant only changing the two "320" to "512" so that the joints would be spaced 16 times 32.

[Header]
Scale=1
Angle=0
Display Scale=1
Segments=3

[Segments]
001=0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 96
002=0, 0, 90, 119, 96, 0, 512, 96,-96
003=0, 0, 90, 0, 0, 0, 512, 96,-96

Now you can really smile.
Woody

Appreciate the previous reply's. Is there something that I can read that would describe what each row and each number represents when it comes to creating custom hatch patterns so I can better understand it?

There was an article in Cheap Tricks June 1996 that broke out the "stacks"
Here it is as I can best remember. The first two stacks of numbers are always "0" in a DataCAD pattern, but were associated with ACAD hatching codes.
The third number in the line declares the angle of the line to be drawn.
The fourth and fifth indicate the X & Y for the start.
The sixth place is a mystery to me, but just is so I know when things are "funny," it is usually the problem. Here it is a zero and that is fine.
The seventh place is the length of the "line."
The eighth place is the "pen down" distance.
The ninth place is the "pen up" distance.
There can be places clear out to thirteen or perhaps, more, but my patterns are always so simple that nine is usually sufficient.

Here is an example that I just created and named 1Ell. It is a two line pattern. It's nothing more than a single horizontal line with a length of 5 increments, three pen down, two pen up and a vertical line with a length of 5 increments, three pen down, two pen up.

[Header]
Scale=1
Angle=0
Display Scale=1
Segments=2

[Segments]
001= 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5, 3, -2
002= 0, 0, 90, 0, 0, 0, 5, 3, -2

I then took the same code and copied the values to create a four line pattern of double ells. As you can see, the only difference is that the start points for lines four and five have been changed to 1. This now creates a second offset ell. This, I saved as 2Ell.

[Header]
Scale=1
Angle=0
Display Scale=1
Segments=4

[Segments]

001= 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5, 3, -2
002= 0, 0, 90, 0, 0, 0, 5, 3, -2
003= 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 5, 3, -2
004= 0, 0, 90, 1, 1, 0, 5, 3, -2

Hopefully, this will help you get started. Other folks in the forum create some really complex patterns and they would be able to explain the segments far better than I have here.

Experiment and have fun,
Woody

Thanks for every one's help.

The guardian brick is the same as common brick except it is twice as long. I tried messing with the hatch pattern but ended up having to put the scale at .9 to get the correct coursing height. The bricks need to be stepped at 4" increments from one course to the next which is what I cannot seem to figure out.

I'll give it a try first thing in the morning.
Hopefully, by the time you fire up your computer, I'll have something.
Or I'll still be agonizing over it late Sunday night and my teeth will be ground down to nubs.

Here is a "version" for you to check. It is the pattern as I understand it, but adjusted to show the mortar joints as shadow lines. That will let you see each line a bit more clearly. The scale that you want to use is 1.

[Header]
Scale=200
Angle=0
Display Scale=10
Segments=8

[Segments]
001=0,0,90,0,0,0,512,72,-268
002=0,0,90,128,85,0,512,72,-268
003=0,0,90,256,170,0,512,72,-268
004=0,0,90,384,255,0,512,72,-268
005=0,0,0,0,0,0,340,484,-28
006=0,0,0,128,85,0,340,484,-28
007=0,0,0,256,170,0,340,484,-28
008=0,0,0,384,255,0,340,484,-28

I hope that this is close to what you need and that you can see how the pattern is created. Note how the minus number applies to the pin up repeat. For example, the 72 is the length of the 90 degree lines and the -268 is the pin up. That gives that line a repeat distance of 340/32". The horizontal lines are 484 long with 28 up for a repeat distance of 512/23".
Have fun.
Woody

Oops! that last fraction has a transposed number. It should have been 512/32".

The hatch will be used on elevations at 1/8" scale so I have to keep it at single lines to avoid a muddy look to the drawings. I attached a pdf of the intended pattern. The brick is the same as common brick except 1'-3 5/8" long. The courses will stagger 4" from one to the next. I attached a jpeg of the brick pattern for you to look at. Thanks for your help on this.

I think that this is it.
It is slightly more complex than it needs to be because I left the four horizontal lines segments there. The horizontal lines could all be created with a single segment that repeated 85/32". That would make this work with a total of five segments.

+--------------------------------------+
;| 1AGuardian |
;| Oran Woody |
;+--------------------------------------+

[Header]
Scale=200
Angle=0
Display Scale=10
Segments=8

[Segments]
001=0,0,90,0,0,0,512,85,-255
002=0,0,90,128,85,0,512,85,-255
003=0,0,90,256,170,0,512,85,-255
004=0,0,90,384,255,0,512,85,-255
005=0,0,0,0,0,0,340,512,
006=0,0,0,128,85,0,340,512
007=0,0,0,256,170,0,340,512
008=0,0,0,384,255,0,340,512