Materials
In this grid, you can set all the different types of materials that you are going to use in IMPACT. The technical data you can set is "Density", how the material will look like when rendered ("Material Type"), Weight" and how the material will look like when shaded ("R", "G" and "B").
Figure 1: Grid for Materials
The mass of an element is calculated with the volume multiplied by the density.
Figure 2: The mass of an element is displayed in the drawing head
Figure 3: You can get an elements mass by holding the mouse pointer on the element
The weight of an element is multiplied as the volume multiplied by the weight.
You cannot insert the weight in the drawing head but, it’s possible to present it in a report.
Color
It is possible to set how a material will appear, both when rendered and shaded.
Figure 4: Rendered and shaded appearance
To set the shaded color to a material, you need to choose a color and get the values for red, green and blue (RGB-value). Insert the RGB in the columns "R", "G" and "B".
Hatch pattern
It is possible to define custom hatch patterns for materials in IMPACT. The pattern will be drawn on shop drawings where the material is presented. First, find the pattern you want to use by starting the hatch command in AutoCAD, as shown in the animation below...
Figure 5: Hatch pattern command in AutoCAD
Next, you'd want to find and open the file named acad.pat . This file contains all browseable hatch patterns in AutoCAD...
Figure 6: Pattern file where the hatch patterns in Autocad are listed
Open the file and find the pattern you want to use, in this example we will use the Honeycomb pattern.
Figure 7: File where hatch patterns are listed
Copy the marked text into a new text file. Change the information in the top line from *Honey, Honeycomb pattern to match the name of the material that you want to use the pattern with. In this example, we'll change the text to *Polystyrene, Polystyrene pattern. The material in IMPACT Standard Admin is named Polystyrene.
Figure 8: Edit information in the text file
NOTE: A blank line must be placed after the last hatch pattern definition in a PAT file. If a blank line is not placed after the last hatch pattern definition, the last hatch pattern definition will not be accessible when creating a hatch fill.
Save the file to the standard directory. In this case it's: …common\1100\1100\templates_drawings.
It is important that the name of the hatch pattern is the same as the name of the material one wants to use it for.
Nb! The hatch patterns will then be copied from the drawing standard folder specified above ...common\1100\1100\templates_drawings to the ProgramData folder on each user computer
Figure 9: Location of the hatch patterns on each user machine
Hatch patterns to download
We have some predefined hatch pattern example that can be downloaded using the links below. There is also a preview of the pattern below the link.
Figure 10: Polystyrene hatch pattern
Figure 11: Mineral Wool hatch pattern
Change the scale of a filling hatch
If you have a wall and add a filling to it with a hatch, it will automatically get the same scale as the drawing itself. The scale can then be changed on 3 levels, the drawing itself, local or common.
On the drawing, you double-click on the hatch and change the scale there. The scale was 30 on the drawing.
Figure 12: Hatch scale 30
The local and common settings are changed in standard admin under variables. The variable is beginning by the material you choose e.g. LAC. The variable for LAC will then be LAC_FILLING_SCALE. There you can set the scale under Value.
Figure 13: Standard Admin variables
Next, you return to the drawing and refresh the settings, Base -> Refresh settings and properties.
Figure 14: Refresh settings and properties
Lastly, you redraw the drawing and the adjusted scale is set, Element -> Draw Element.
Figure 15: Draw Element
The result should look like this.
Figure 16: Hatch scale 5