Draft Upgrade

Split

Downgrade

Draft

Draft Upgrade
Menu location
Draft → Upgrade
Workbenches
Draft, Arch
Default shortcut
U P
Introduced in version
-
See also
Draft Downgrade, Part Fuse

Description

The Draft Upgrade tool upgrades the selected objects in different ways.

The Upgrade tool performs things such as creating faces and fusing different elements. This tool works with 2D Draft elements. To fuse 3D solids use Part Fuse and related Boolean operations of the Part Workbench, and PartDesign Boolean of the PartDesign Workbench.

The counterpart to this tool is the Draft Downgrade operation.

Open wire upgraded to a closed wire, then to a face; a closed square upgraded to a face, and then fused with the previous face

Usage

1. Select one or more objects that you wish to upgrade.
2. Press the Draft Upgrade button or press U then P keys. If no object is selected, you will be invited to select one.

The selected objects are modified or upgraded according to the following conditions, in order:

1. If there are more than one face in the selection, the faces are merged (union).
2. If there is only one face in the selection, nothing is done.
3. If there is only one open wire in the selection, it gets closed, making a face.
4. If there are only edges in the selection, all edges are joined into a wire, and the wire is closed if possible.
5. If none of the above is possible, a compound object is created.

It is worth trying to upgrade a selection several times to see if a better shape is obtained. For example:

1. Upgrading two Draft Lines connected at one end will result in a non-editable wire.
2. Upgrading this element again will add a third line and close the non-editable wire.
3. Upgrading this element again will add a face to the closed, non-editable wire.
4. Upgrading this element again will turn it into a Draft Wire, which can be fully edited, and all its properties modified.

The resulting wire can be better manipulated than the original lines. The fusion of single lines can also be done directly with the Draft Wire tool. Some fusion operations can also be done with the Part Fuse tool.

Options

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

Scripting

See also: Draft API and FreeCAD Scripting Basics.

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

upgrade_list = upgrade(objects, delete=False, force=None)
addList, deleteList = upgrade(objects, delete=False, force=None)

• Upgrades the given objects, which can be a single object or a list of objects.
• If delete is True, old objects are deleted.
• If force is given, it is the internal function to call to force a certain way of upgrading. It can be: "makeCompound", "closeGroupWires", "makeSolid", "closeWire", "turnToParts", "makeFusion", "makeShell", "makeFaces", "draftify", "joinFaces", "makeSketchFace", "makeWires", or "turnToLine".
• upgrade_list is returned, which is a list containing two lists: a list of new objects (addList) and a list of objects to be deleted (deleteList).

Example:

import FreeCAD, Draft

Circle = Draft.makeCircle(1000)
Rectangle = Draft.makeRectangle(2000, 800)

addList1, deleteList1 = Draft.upgrade([Circle, Rectangle], delete=False)
fused = addList1[0]

Line1 = Draft.makeLine(FreeCAD.Vector(2000, 0, 0), FreeCAD.Vector(2500, 1500, 0))
Line2 = Draft.makeLine(FreeCAD.Vector(2500, 1500, 0), FreeCAD.Vector(3000, -1000, 0))
addList2, deleteList2 = Draft.upgrade([Line1, Line2], delete=False)

simple_wire = addList2[0]
addList3, deleteList3 = Draft.upgrade(simple_wire, delete=False)

closed_wire = addList3[0]
addList4, deleteList4 = Draft.upgrade(closed_wire, delete=False)

face = addList4[0]
addList5, deleteList5 = Draft.upgrade(face, delete=False)

Split

Downgrade

Draft

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

---

• 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

---

• 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

---

• 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

---

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

---

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