TechDraw Module



FreeCAD is primarily a 3D modelling tool. There are times, however, when we must produce 2D drawings for documentation, contracts, permits, etc. The TechDraw workbench is used to produce basic technical drawings based on the 3D model. Each drawing is a Page, and a Page contains many Views of individual 3D objects. Dimensions and hatched areas can be added to Views.

Note if your primary goal is the production of complex 2D drawings, you may wish to consider a dedicated tool such as LibreCad.

Preference settings

 * The TechDraw module has a preferences screen to adjust default values.

Scripting
The TechDraw module features a Python API so you can use its functions in scripts and macros.

Limitations

 * TechDraw is very much still in development. You should expect bugs!
 * TechDraw drawings and Python API are not interchangeable with the Drawing module. It is possible to convert Drawing Pages to TechDraw Pages using Python (moveViews.py). It is possible to have both TechDraw and Drawing Pages in the same FreeCAD document.
 * There are minor differences in specifying Editable Texts in Templates compared to the Drawing module.
 * TechDraw has not yet been extensively tested with the new PartDesign Body construct. To insert a view of an object created by PartDesignNext, you must select the Body in the tree, not the Part.
 * TechDraw is available starting with FreeCAD 0.17.

Workarounds

 * The first time you use TechDraw, set your preferences (Edit->Preferences->TechDraw) before making a drawing. There is a bug in the handling of default preferences.
 * Preference changes only apply to objects created after the change, or after closing/reopening the document.