Sketcher Preferences

From FreeCAD Documentation
Revision as of 07:21, 12 July 2019 by Renatorivo (talk | contribs)

The preferences of the Sketcher is located in the Edit menu → Preferences → Sketcher. It consists of 2 tabs:

General Settings

In the General tab you can specify the following:

Name Description
Font size The font size used for the labels and constraints in the sketch.
Grid line pattern The line pattern used for grid lines. Grid lines will be displayed if you set the option Show grid.
Segments per geometry Curves are approximated by polygon segments for visualization. The segments per geometry define the number of polygons for the approximation. The lower limit are 50 segments. Higher values refine the visualization but can lead to longer calculation times, especially for B-splines.
Ask for value after creating a dimensional constraint If checked, a dialog will pop up to input a value for new dimensional constraints.
Geometry Creation "Continue Mode" If checked, the current sketcher creation tool will remain active after the creation. If you use for example the line tool , it will remain active after you created a line with it. You can leave the tool any time by right-clicking into the sketch.
Constraint Creation "Continue Mode" If checked, the current constraint creation tool will remain active after the creation. If you use for example the tangent tool , it will remain active after you created a constraint. You can leave the tool any time by right-clicking into the sketch.
Hide base length units for supported unit systems If checked, base length units will not be displayed in the sketch constraints. The actual base length unit is the one of the selected unit system.
Hide all objects that depend on the sketch If checked, all features that depend the sketch will be hidden when the sketch is opened. Note that the effect of this option might not occur when using the option Show objects used for external geometry and/or Show object(s) sketch is attached to.
Show objects used for external geometry If checked, all objects used for an external geometry will be shown. If you edit for example a sketch that uses the geometry of a pad, this pad will be shown (if not already). Other features in the model tree between the pad and the sketch will not necessarily be shown.
Show object(s) sketch is attached to If checked, objects the sketch is attached to will be shown when the sketch is opened. If you attached for example a sketch to a pocket, this pocket will be shown (if not already). Otherwise you will only see the sketch if the pocket was not shown in advance.
Restore camera position after editing If checked, the camera position is moved back to where it was before sketch was opened.
Apply to existing sketches If pressed, the options in the preferences section Visibility automation will be applied to existing sketches too. Otherwise these settings will only be used for new sketches.
Notify automatic constraint substitutions If checked, you will be informed with a dialog about constraint substitutions. For example if the endpoints of two arcs are connected with the coincident constraint and you reconnect the arcs using the tangent constraint, the coincidence constraint will be substituted by the tangent constraint and you will get a popup dialog to telling you this.
Show Grid If checked, a grid will be shown in the sketches.<br\> This option and the following 5 preferences settings can also be specified only for single sketches in the sketcher dialog section Edit controls.
Grid size The distance between 2 subsequent grid lines. Note that the default value of 0 mm will result in a 10 mm grid.
Grid snap If checked, new points will snap to the nearest grid crossing point. Note that the points have already to be close to a grid crossing point that the snap takes effect.

Please note that this is just a visual aid; grid snap is no substitution for coincidence constraints.

Auto constraints If checked, the sketcher proposes automatically sensible constraints. If you draw for example a polyline and point towards the bottom, you will see that the sketcher proposes a vertical constraint:. If you set now a point the drawn line segment will get the vertical constraint.
Avoid redundant auto constraints If checked, the sketcher tries not to propose redundant auto constraints. This option only has an effect if also the option Auto constraints is used.
Rendering oder The order how sketches are rendered. To change it, drag and drop one of the geometries to the top or bottom.
Show Advanced Solver Control in the Task bar If checked, the sketcher dialog will have the additional section Advanced solver control to adjust solver settings.
Improve solving while dragging If checked, an special solver algorithm will be used while dragging sketch elements.??unclear

Colors

In the Colors tab you can specify the following:

Name Description
Default edge color ??
Default vertex color
Making line color
Edit edge color
Edit vertex color
Construction geometry
External geometry
Fully constrained geometry
Constraint color
Reference Constraint color
Expression dependent constraint color
Datum color
Cursor text color
Cursor crosshair color