Draft Draft2Sketch

Draft Draft2Sketch
Menu location
Drafting → Draft to Sketch
Workbenches
Draft, Arch
Default shortcut
None
Introduced in version
-
See also
Sketcher Workbench, PartDesign Workbench

Description

This tool converts Draft objects to Sketcher Sketches, and vice-versa.

How to use

1. Select a Draft object or a Sketch.
2. Press the Draft Draft2Sketch button.

Notes:

• If you convert a Draft Wire, the resulting sketch will use point constraints for the nodes.
• If you convert a Draft Rectangle, the resulting sketch will use point constraints for the corners, and horizontal and vertical constraints for the edges.
• If you convert a Draft BezCurve, the resulting sketch will be approximated by a Sketcher BSpline, as the Sketcher Workbench doesn't support Bezier curves currently.
• Non-Draft objects that are totally planar will also get converted to sketches.

Limitations

The conversion of an object that cannot be represented with a combination of straight lines, circular arcs, and B-Splines will usually fail, that is, the item will not appear in the sketch.

In the past, a Draft BSpline couldn't be converted directly to a sketch. A special tool was required, such as a function in the the KicadStepUp Workbench, which can approximate B-Splines to a series of Draft Arcs. See the forum thread BSplines to Shape2DView and Sketcher.

Since FreeCAD 0.17, the conversion from Draft BSpline to Sketcher BSpline is possible. However, converting to a series of arcs is still useful in order to export the curved shape to a particular application that doesn't support B-Splines, like KiCad.

Options

There are no options for this tool. Either it works with the selected object or not.

Scripting

See also: Draft API and FreeCAD Scripting Basics.

There is no programming interface available for the Draft2Sketch tool. See the Sketcher Workbench documentation for the Sketcher API.

Draft

• Drafting: Line, Polyline, Fillet, Arc, Arc by 3 points, Circle, Ellipse, Rectangle, Polygon, B-spline, Cubic Bézier curve, Bézier curve, Point, Facebinder, ShapeString, Hatch
• Annotation: Text, Dimension, Label, Annotation styles, Annotation scale
• Modification: Move, Rotate, Scale, Mirror, Offset, Trimex, Stretch, Clone, Array, Polar array, Circular array, Path array, Path link array, Point array, Point link array, Edit, Subelement highlight, Join, Split, Upgrade, Downgrade, Wire to B-spline, Draft to sketch, Set slope, Flip dimension, Shape 2D view

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• Draft Tray: Select plane, Set style, Toggle construction mode, AutoGroup
• Snapping: Snap lock, Snap endpoint, Snap midpoint, Snap center, Snap angle, Snap intersection, Snap perpendicular, Snap extension, Snap parallel, Snap special, Snap near, Snap ortho, Snap grid, Snap working plane, Snap dimensions, Toggle grid

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• Miscellaneous: Apply current style, Layer, Manage layers, Add a new named group, Move to group, Select group, Add to construction group, Toggle normal/wireframe display, Create working plane proxy, Heal, Show snap toolbar
• Additional: Constraining, Pattern, Preferences, Import Export Preferences, DXF/DWG, SVG, OCA, DAT
• Context menu:
  • Layer container: Merge layer duplicates, Add new layer
  • Layer: Activate this layer, Select layer contents
  • Text: Open hyperlinks
  • Wire: Flatten
  • Working plane proxy: Write camera position, Write objects state

User documentation

• Getting started
• Installation: Download, Windows, Linux, Mac, Additional components, Docker, AppImage, Ubuntu Snap
• Basics: About FreeCAD, Interface, Mouse navigation, Selection methods, Object name, Preferences, Workbenches, Document structure, Properties, Help FreeCAD, Donate

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• Help: Tutorials, Video tutorials
• Workbenches: Std Base, Arch, Assembly, CAM, Draft, FEM, Inspection, Mesh, OpenSCAD, Part, PartDesign, Points, Reverse Engineering, Robot, Sketcher, Spreadsheet, Start, Surface, TechDraw, Test Framework, Web

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• Addons: Addon Manager, External workbenches, Scripting and macros

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• Hubs: User hub, Power users hub, Developer hub