TechDraw Workbench/zh

Surface Module

Web Workbench

Index

Introduction

The TechDraw Workbench is used to produce basic technical drawings from 3D models created with another workbench such as Part, PartDesign, or Arch, or imported from other applications. Each drawing is a Page, which can contain various Views of drawable objects such as Part::Features, PartDesign::Bodies, App::Part groups, and Document Object groups. The resulting drawings can be used for things like documentation, manufacturing instructions, contracts, permits, etc.

Dimensions, sections, hatched areas, annotations, and SVG symbols can be added to the page, which can be further exported to different formats like DXF, SVG, and PDF.

TechDraw was officially included in FreeCAD starting with version 0.17; it is intended to replace the unsupported Drawing Workbench. Both workbenches are still provided in v0.17, but the Drawing Workbench may be removed in future releases. To keep up with TechDraw plans and developments, visit the TechDraw Roadmap.

FreeCAD is primarily a 3D modelling application, and thus doesn't have many 2D drawing tools, which are mostly included in the Draft and Sketcher Workbenches. If your primary goal is the production of complex 2D drawings and DXF files, and you don't need 3D modelling, you may wish to consider a dedicated software program for technical drafting such as LibreCAD, QCad, TurboCad, and others.

Pages

These are tools for creating Page objects.

• File:Techdraw-new-default.svg New Default: adds a new page using the default template.

• File:Techdraw-new-pick.svg New Pick: adds a new page using a selected template.

Views

These are tools for creating View objects.

• File:Techdraw-view.svg New View: adds a 2D projection view of an object.

• File:Techdraw-projgroup.svg New Projection Group: invokes a dialog to create many views of an object from multiple directions.

• File:Techdraw-viewsection.svg New Section: adds a cross-section view of an existing view.

• File:Techdraw-viewdetail.svg New Detail: adds a detail view of a portion of an existing view.

• File:Techdraw-draft-view.svg New Draft: adds a view of a Draft Workbench object.

• File:Techdraw-arch-view.svg New Arch: adds a view of a Arch Workbench SectionPlane object.

• File:Techdraw-spreadsheet.svg Spreadsheet: inserts a view of a Spreadsheet Workbench sheet.

Clips

These are tools to create and manage Clip objects (clipped views).

• File:Techdraw-clip.svg Clip: inserts a clip group into a page.

• File:Techdraw-clipplus.svg ClipPlus: adds an existing view to a clip group.

• File:Techdraw-clipminus.svg ClipMinus: removes a view from a clip group.

Dimensions

These are tools for creating and working with Dimension objects.

Linear dimensions can be based on two points, on one line, or on two lines.

• New Length: adds a length dimension.

• New Horizontal: adds a horizontal length dimension.

• New Vertical: adds a vertical length dimension.

• New Radius: adds a radius dimension to a circle or circular arc.

• New Diameter: adds a diameter dimension to a circle or a circular arc.

• New Angle: adds an angle dimension between two straight edges.

• New Angle3Pt: adds an angle dimension using three vertices.

• New Links: links an existing dimension to the 3D geometry.

• New Balloon: adds a "balloon" annotation to a page. introduced in version 0.19

Import/Export

These are tools for exporting pages to other applications.

• File:Techdraw-saveSVG.svg Save SVG: saves a page as an SVG file.
• File:Techdraw-saveDXF.svg Save DXF: saves a page as a DXF file.

Decoration

These are tools for changing the appearance of pages and views.

• File:Techdraw-hatch.svg Hatch Area: applies a hatch pattern from a file to a face.

• File:Techdraw-geomhatch.svg Geometric Hatch: applies a hatch pattern to a face using an Autodesk PAT specification.

• File:Techdraw-symbol.svg New Symbol: inserts an SVG symbol into a page.

• File:Techdraw-image.svg New Image: inserts a PNG or JPG bitmap image into a page.

• File:Techdraw-toggleframe.svg Toggle Frames: turns on and off the frames and labels surrounding a view.

• Redraw: The Redraw tool attempts to redraw a page without recalculating the 3D model. (This tool was removed in v0.18)

Annotation

The annotation tools are for "marking up" a drawing with additional information.

• File:Techdraw-annotation.svg New Annotation: adds a plain text block to serve as an annotation.

• File:Techdraw-mline.svg Leader Line: The Leader Line tool adds an annotation line to a view. introduced in version 0.19

• File:Techdraw-textleader.svg Rich Text Block: The Rich Text Block tool adds an rich text annotation block to a Leader Line or a View. introduced in version 0.19

• File:Techdraw-point.svg Cosmetic Vertex: The Cosmetic Vertex tool adds a Vertex which is not part of the source geometry. introduced in version 0.19

• File:Techdraw-midpoint.svg Midpoints: The Midpoints tool adds Cosmetic Vertices at the midpoints of one or more Edges. introduced in version 0.19

• File:Techdraw-quadrant.svg Quadrant: The Quadrant tool adds Cosmetic Vertices at the quarter points of one or more (circular) Edges. introduced in version 0.19

• File:Techdraw-facecenterline.svg FaceCenterLine: The FaceCenterLine tool adds a center line to selected Face(s). introduced in version 0.19

• File:Techdraw-2linecenterline.svg 2LineCenterLine: The 2LineCenterLine tool adds a center line between 2 Edges. introduced in version 0.19

• File:Techdraw-2pointcenterline.svg 2PointCenterLine: The 2PointCenterLine tool adds a center line between 2 Points. introduced in version 0.19

• File:Techdraw-eraser.svg CosmeticEraser: The CosmeticEraser tool removes cosmetic objects from a Page. introduced in version 0.19

• File:Techdraw-linedecor.svg DecorateLine: The DecorateLine tool changes the appearance of Edges. introduced in version 0.19

• File:Techdraw-showall.svg ShowAll: The ShowAll tool shows/hide invisible edges in a View. introduced in version 0.19

• File:Techdraw-weldsymbol.svg WeldingSymbol: The WeldingSymbol tool adds welding specifications to an existing leader line. introduced in version 0.19

Additional features

• Hatching: explanation of the different hatching techniques.
• Line Groups: default weights can be assigned to various line types.
• Templates: the default templates defined for the drawing pages.

Preferences

• Preferences: preferences for the default values of the drawing page such as projection angle, colors, text sizes, and line styles.

Scripting

The TechDraw tools can be used in macros and from the Python console by using two APIs.

• TechDraw API
• TechDrawGui API

Limitations

• TechDraw drawings and its API are not interchangeable with the Drawing Workbench and its API. It is possible to convert Drawing Pages to TechDraw Pages using a Python script (moveViews.py).
• It is possible to have both TechDraw and Drawing Pages in the same FreeCAD document, as each page is completely independent from each other.
• There are minor differences in specifying editable texts in SVG templates compared to the Drawing module. In TechDraw the scaling of the SVG document affects the position of the editable text fields. See the forum discussion TechDraw templates scale for more details.
• Do not cut, copy and paste TechDraw objects in the tree view as this generally does not work out well.

Tutorials

• Basic TechDraw Tutorial: introduction to creating drawings with the TechDraw Workbench.
• Creating a new template: instructions to create a new page template in Inkscape for using with the TechDraw Workbench.

Video tutorials by sliptonic

• TechDraw Workbench Part 1 (Basics), Part 2 (Dimensions), Part 3 (Multiview)
• TechDraw Workbench Part 4 (Section and Detail), Part 5 (Customizing Templates)

Surface Module

Web Workbench

Index

TechDraw

• Pages: Insert Default Page, Insert Page using Template, Redraw Page, Print All Pages
• Views: Insert View, Insert Active View, Insert Projection Group, Insert Section View, Insert Complex Section View, Insert Detail View, Insert Draft Workbench Object, Insert Arch Workbench Object, Insert Spreadsheet View, Insert Clip Group, Share View, Project Shape
• Stacking: Move view to top of stack, Move view to bottom of stack, Move view up one level, Move view down one level

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• Decorations: Hatch Face using Image File, Apply Geometric Hatch to Face, Insert SVG Symbol, Insert Bitmap Image, Turn View Frames On/Off
• Dimensions: Insert Length Dimension, Insert Horizontal Dimension, Insert Vertical Dimension, Insert Radius Dimension, Insert Diameter Dimension, Insert Angle Dimension, Insert 3-Point Angle Dimension, Insert Horizontal Extent Dimension, Insert Vertical Extent Dimension, Link Dimension to 3D Geometry, Insert Balloon Annotation, Insert Axonometric Length Dimension, Insert Landmark Dimension, Adjust Geometric References of Dimension
• Annotations: Insert Annotation, Add Leaderline to View, Insert Rich Text Annotation, Add Cosmetic Vertex, Add Midpoint Vertices, Add Quadrant Vertices, Add Centerline to Faces, Add Centerline between 2 Lines, Add Centerline between 2 Points, Add Cosmetic Line Through 2 points, Add Cosmetic Circle, Change Appearance of Lines, Show/Hide Invisible Edges, Add Welding Information to Leader, Add Surface Finish Symbol, Add Hole or Shaft Tolerances

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• Extensions:
  • Attributes and modifications: Select Line Attributes, Cascade Spacing and Delta Distance, Change Line Attributes, Extend Line, Shorten Line, Lock/Unlock View, Position Section View, Position Horizontal Chain Dimensions, Position Vertical Chain Dimensions, Position Oblique Chain Dimensions, Cascade Horizontal Dimensions, Cascade Vertical Dimensions, Cascade Oblique Dimensions, Calculate the area of selected faces, Calculate the arc length of selected edges, Customize format label
  • Centerlines and threading: Add Circle Centerlines, Add Bolt Circle Centerlines, Add Cosmetic Thread Hole Side View, Add Cosmetic Thread Hole Bottom View, Add Cosmetic Thread Bolt Side View, Add Cosmetic Thread Bolt Bottom View, Add Cosmetic Intersection Vertex(es), Add an offset vertex, Add Cosmetic Circle, Add Cosmetic Arc, Add Cosmetic Circle 3 Points, Add Cosmetic Parallel Line, Add Cosmetic Perpendicular Line
  • Dimensions: Create Horizontal Chain Dimensions, Create Vertical Chain Dimensions, Create Oblique Chain Dimensions, Create Horizontal Coordinate Dimensions, Create Vertical Coordinate Dimensions, Create Oblique Coordinate Dimensions, Create Horizontal Chamfer Dimension, Create Vertical Chamfer Dimension, Create Arc Length Dimension, Insert '⌀' Prefix, Insert '〼' Prefix, Remove Prefix, Increase Decimal Places, Decrease Decimal Places

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• Export: Export Page as SVG, Export Page as DXF
• Additional: Line Groups, Templates, Hatching, Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, Preferences

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