TechDraw Balloon

From FreeCAD Documentation

TechDraw Balloon

Menu location
TechDraw → Annotations → Insert Balloon Annotation
Workbenches
TechDraw
Default shortcut
None
Introduced in version
0.19
See also
TechDraw Annotation

Description

The TechDraw Balloon tool can add balloons with leader line in a drawing.

Usage

  1. Select one of the following:
  2. There are several ways to invoke the tool:
    • Press the Insert Balloon Annotation button.
    • Select the TechDraw → Annotations → Insert Balloon Annotation option from the menu.
  3. If a View or a region was selected:
    1. The cursor changes to a balloon icon.
    2. Click a point on the page for the origin of the Balloon.

To move the bubble of a Balloon, press and hold the left mouse button on its center and drag the mouse.

To change the properties of a Balloon double-click it on the page or in the Tree view. This will open the Balloon task panel.

Note: The position of a Balloon is relative to its Source View and uses the same scale factor.

Using separators

When using a rectangle shape, separators can be added using "|" in the text. For example "AAA|TEST|111" gives:

Properties

Data

  • DataText: Text to be displayed.
  • DataSource View: Source View for the balloon.
  • DataOrigin X: Balloon origin x-position relative to the View.
  • DataOrigin Y: Balloon origin y-position relative to the View.
  • DataEnd Type: End symbol for the balloon line. Options: Filled Arrow, Open Arrow, Tick, Dot, Open Circle, Fork, Filled Triangle, None.
  • DataEnd Type Scale: Scale factor for the End Type.
  • DataBubble Shape: Shape of the balloon bubble. Options: Circular, None, Triangle, Inspection, Hexagon, Square, Rectangle.
  • DataShape Scale: Scale factor for the Shape.
  • DataText Wrap: Text wrap length; -1 means the text will never be wrapped and the result is in every case a single line.
  • DataKink Length: Distance from the Shape to the leader line kink.
  • DataX: Horizontal position of the balloon bubble relative to the View.
  • DataY: Vertical position of the balloon bubble relative to the View.

View

  • ViewColor: Color of the balloon text.
  • ViewFont: The name of the font to use for the balloon bubble.
  • ViewFontsize: Dimension text size in mm.
  • ViewLine Visible: Whether the balloon line is visible.
  • ViewLine Width: Balloon line width

Scripting

See also: Autogenerated API documentation and FreeCAD Scripting Basics.

The Balloon tool can be used in macros and from the Python console by using the following functions:

bal1 = FreeCAD.ActiveDocument.addObject('TechDraw::DrawViewBalloon','Balloon')
rc = page.addView(bal1)