Dean Petersen reminds us about AutoCAD’s SuperHatch command.

Don't forget to use the SuperHatch command. Either type it on the command line or find it in the Express tools.

This is way easier than trying to create your own hatch patterns. All you need to do is draw a block of the pattern that you want to tile as your hatch, then tell it to make a hatch using that block. Furthermore, you can even make a hatch from an image (like a benchtop grain for instance) to give a truly realistic hatch effect. You can also make a SuperHatch from an Xref or a wipeout.

This command has been there for a while but many, like myself, sometimes forget it is there.

Notes from Cadalyst tip reviewer R.K. McSwain: Dean pretty much nailed the description on this one. You sure can create almost any type of fill using SuperHatch. About the only downside is that the end result is not a true hatch object, so hatch editing tools will not work on a SuperHatch.