Îndrumător de modelare 3D a fonturilor cu ShapeString

From FreeCAD Documentation
This page is a translated version of the page Draft ShapeString tutorial and the translation is 2% complete.
Outdated translations are marked like this.
Tutorial
Topic
ShapeString (Draft workbench)
Level
Beginner
Time to complete
30 minutes
Authors
r-frank
FreeCAD version
0.16.6704
Example files
Draft_Shapestring_Text
See also
None

Introducere

În această lecţie vom discuta:

  • insert a text with the ShapeString tool
  • extrude it to be a solid
  • position it in 3D space using placement and Draft Move with sketches as helper elements
  • doing an engraving by applying a boolean cut

This tutorial was originally written by Roland Frank (†2017, r-frank), and it was rewritten and re-illustrated by vocx.

This tutorial describes a method to create 3D text and use it with solid objects in the Part Workbench. We will discuss how to

To use ShapeStrings inside the PartDesign Workbench, the process is essentially the same as with the Part Workbench, but the ShapeString is placed inside the PartDesign Body to extrude it. Go to the end of this tutorial for more information.

Final model of the engraved text.

Se recomandă să fi terminat mai întâi tutorialul sketcher.

Setup

1. Open FreeCAD, create a new empty document with File → New, and switch to the Part Workbench.

1.1. Press the View isometric button, or press 0 in the numerical pad of your keyboard, to change the view to isometric to visualize the 3D solids better.
1.2. Press the View fit all button whenever you add objects in order to pan and zoom the 3D view so that all elements are seen in the view.
1.3. Hold Ctrl while you click to select multiple items. If you selected something wrong or want to de-select everything, just click on empty space in the 3D view.

Crearea de forme de bază

  • Start FreeCAD și creați un nou document
  • Comutați la Atelierul Part/Piese
  • Inserați un cub făcând click pe
  • Make sure the cube is selected in the tree view
  • Change width to be 31 mm by using the data-tab in the property view
  • Click on to change to axometric view
  • Click on to zoom to fit all
  • Select upper edge on the front face of the cube in 3D view
  • Apply a chamfer (to Edge6) of 5 mm by clicking on
  • Make sure object "chamfer" is selected in the tree view and press <Space> to toggle visibility

2. Insert a primitive cube by clicking on Box.

2.1. Select Cube in the tree view.
2.2. Change the dimensions in the Data tab of the property editor.
2.3. Change Width to 31 mm.

3. Create a chamfer.

3.1. Select the upper edge (Edge6) on the front face of the Cube in the 3D view.
3.2. Press Chamfer.
3.3. In the Chamfer edges task panel go to Selection, choose Select edges. As Chamfer type choose Equal distance, then set Length to 5 mm.
3.4. Press OK. This will create a Chamfer object.
3.5. In the tree view, select Chamfer, in the View tab change the value of Line Width to 2.0.

Base object created from a cube and a chamfer operation.

Inserarea de text cu instrumentul Draft ShapeString

  • Switch to Draft workbench
  • make sure nothing is selected in the tree view
  • Toggle working plane to XY (Top) by clicking on Auto and choosing XY
  • Insert text "FreeCAD" by
    • Click on
    • Highlight the text in the "Global X"-field and type "0" on the keyboard and press Return
    • Highlight the text in the "Global Y" field
    • Type "0" on the keyboard and press Return
    • Highlight the text in the "Global Z" field
    • Type "0" on the keyboard and press Return
    • Enter "FreeCAD" in the string field (without brackets) and press Return
    • Choose a height of 5mm
    • Choose a tracking of 0 mm
    • now point FreeCAD to a "TTF"-Text-Font to use (for example the ARIAL-TTF)
    • After pressing Return one last time, the Draft-Shapestring object is created in the tree view

4. Switch to the Draft Workbench.

4.1. Make sure nothing is selected in the tree view.
4.2. Establish the working plane to XY (Top) by clicking on SelectPlane and pressing Top (XY).

5. Insert the text "FreeCAD".

5.1. Click on ShapeString.
5.2. Change X to 0 mm.
5.3. Change Y to 0 mm.
5.4. Change Z to 0 mm.
5.5. Or press Reset point.
5.6. Change String to FreeCAD; change Height to 5 mm; change Tracking to 0 mm.
5.7. Make sure Font file points to a valid font, for example, /usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf. Press the ellipsis ... to open the operating system's dialog to find a font.
Note: for more details about working with fonts please refer to the Draft ShapeString Notes section.
5.8. Press OK. This will create a ShapeString object.
5.9. Recompute the document by pressing Refresh.
5.10. In the tree view, select ShapeString, in the View tab change the value of Line Width to 2.0.
5.11. In the tree view, select Chamfer, in the View tab change the value of Visibility to false, or press Space in the keyboard. This will hide the object, so you can see the ShapeString better.
5.12. To see the ShapeString from above change the view by pressing Top (XY), or 2 in the keyboard.
5.13. To restore the view to isometric, press View isometric, or 0 in the keyboard.

Text created as a ShapeString, that is, as a collection of edges in a plane.

Crearea de texte 3D

  • Comutați pe Atelierul de Piese(Part workbench)
  • Make sure the object "Shapestring" is selected in the tree view
  • Use Part Extrude-Tool with the parameters:
    • extrude Z=1 mm
    • make sure to tick "create solid"
    • use "OK" to finish part extrude operation
  • Make sure object "Extrude" is selected in the tree view and press <Space> to toggle its visibility to be visible

6. Switch back to the Part Workbench.

6.1. In the tree view, select ShapeString, then press Extrude.
6.2. In the Extrude task panel go to Direction, choose Along normal; in Length, set Along to 1 mm; also tick the Create solid option.
6.3. Press OK. This will create an Extrude object.
6.4. In the tree view, select Extrude, in the View tab change the value of Line Width to 2.0.

Text created as a ShapeString, and turned into a solid by extrusion.

Inserarea schiței pentru poziționare

  • Switch to sketcher workbench
  • Make sure object "chamfer" is selected in the tree view and press <Space> to toggle its visibility to visible
  • Choose sloped face created by chamfer operation
  • Click on to insert new sketch
  • Draw a line (may be horizontal or vertical, length is not of importance ...)
  • Constrain one of the endpoints to be +2,5 mm vertical distance and +2,5 mm horizontal distance away from the origin
  • Close the sketch

Now we will draw a simple sketch that will be used as auxiliary geometry to position the ShapeString extrusion.

7. In the tree view, select Extrude, and press Space in the keyboard to make it invisible.

8. Switch to the Sketcher Workbench.

9. In the tree view, select Chamfer, and press Space in the keyboard to make it visible.

9.1. Choose the sloped face created by the chamfer operation (Face3).
9.2. Click on NewSketch. In the Sketch attachment dialog, select FlatFace, and press OK.
9.3. The view should adjust automatically so that the camera is parallel to the selected face.
9.4. Draw a horizontal line in a general position on top of the face. The length is not important; we are just interested in its position.
9.5. Constrain the left endpoint to be 2.5 mm away from the local X axis and from the local Y axis, using ConstrainDistanceX and ConstrainDistanceY.
9.6. Since the sketch is just an auxiliary object, we don't need to have it fully constrained. You can do this if you wish by assigning a fixed distance, say, 20 mm, again with ConstrainDistanceX.
9.7. Close the sketch.

Line being created with the sketcher, with constraints.

Sketch line created on top of the solid face, to be used as reference guide for positioning the extruded text.

Posiționare text 3D în spațiul 3D

  • Make sure object "Extrude" is selected in the tree view and press <Space> to toggle visibility to visible
  • Make sure, object "Extrude" is selected in the tree view
  • Open Placement task Edit->Placement...
  • Apply incremental placement, axis of rotation Z=90°
  • Apply incremental placement, axis of rotation Y=45°
  • Switch to draft workbench
  • Switch to wireframe mode
  • Make sure, only "snap to endpoint" is activated Draft->Snapping->Snap to endpoint
  • Select "extrude"-object
  • Click on
  • In 3D view click on the most upper left corner point of "extrude"-object (1) and then click on the constrained point in the sketch (2)

10. In the tree view, select Extrude, and press Space in the keyboard to make it visible.

11. With Extrude still selected, in the Data tab of the property editor, click on the Placement value so the ellipsis button ... appears on the right and click on that button.

11.1. Tick the option Apply incremental changes.
11.2. Change the Rotation to Rotation axis with angle; Axis to Z (by setting the X, Y and Z values of the axis inputboxes to 0, 0 and 1 respectively, Z is the third inputbox), and Angle to 90 deg, then click on Apply. This will apply a rotation around the Z-axis, and will reset the Angle field to zero.
11.3. Change the Rotation to Rotation axis with angle; Axis to Y (by setting the X, Y and Z values of the axis inputboxes to 0, 1 and 0 respectively), and Angle to 45 deg, then click on Apply. This will apply a rotation around the Y-axis, and will reset the Angle field to zero.
11.4. Click on OK to close the dialog.

12. Switch again to the Draft Workbench.

12.1. Switch to "Wireframe" draw style with View → Draw style Wireframe, or press the Wireframe button in the view toolbar. This will allow you to see the objects behind other objects.
12.2. Make sure the Draft Snap "Snap to endpoint" method is active. This can be done from the menu Draft → Snapping → Toggle On/Off, and then Endpoint, or by pressing the ToggleSnap and Snap endpoint buttons in the Snap toolbar.

13. In the tree view, select Extrude.

13.1. Click on Move.
13.2. In the 3D view click on the upper left corner point of the Extrude object (1), and then click on the leftmost point in the line drawn with the sketcher (2).
13.3. If Snap endpoint is active, as soon as you move the pointer close to a vertex, you should see that it attaches to it exactly.
Note: if you have problems snapping to vertices, make sure only the Snap endpoint method is enabled. Having multiple snapping methods active at the same time may make it difficult to select the right feature.
13.4. The extruded text should now be inside the body of the Chamfer object.

The extruded ShapeString should be moved to the position of the sketched line that lies on the face of the base body.

Extruded ShapeString positioned in the Chamfer.

Creaţi un text gravat

  • Switch to part workbench
  • Switch to "As is"-view mode
  • Select the 3D text ("extrude") and then the base object ("chamfer") in the tree view
  • Apply a boolean cut by clicking on
  • Make sure object "Sketch" is selected in the tree view
  • Press <Space> to toggle visibilty
  • Click on to change to axometric view
  • Click on to zoom to fit all
  • Finished

14. Switch back to the Part Workbench.

14.1. Switch to "As is" draw style with View → Draw style As is, or press the As is button in the view toolbar. This will show all objects with the normal shading and color.
14.2. In the tree view, select Sketch, and press Space in the keyboard to make it invisible.

15. In the tree view select Chamfer first, and then Extrude.

15.1. Then press Cut. This will create a Cut object. This is the final object.
Note: the order in which you select the objects is important for the cut operation. The base object is selected first, and the subtracting object comes at the end.
15.2. In the tree view, select Cut, in the View tab change the value of Line Width to 2.0.

Final model of a filleted cube, with carved text created from a ShapeString, Extrude, and boolean Cut operations.

Engraving 3D text with the PartDesign Workbench

A similar process as described above can be done with the PartDesign Workbench.

  1. Create the Draft ShapeString first.
  2. Create a PartDesign Body, make it active, and add a base solid by adding primitives, or using a Sketch and extruding it with PartDesign Pad.
  3. Move the ShapeString object into the active body.
  4. Attach the ShapeString object to one of the faces of the solid, or to a PartDesign Plane, using Part EditAttachment.
  5. Now create a PartDesign Pad or a PartDesign Pocket from the ShapeString, in order to produce an additive or a subtractive feature of the base body, respectively.

See the forum thread, How to use ShapeStrings in PartDesign.

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