TechDraw Module/zh-cn

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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.

• New Default: adds a new page using the default template.

• New Pick: adds a new page using a selected template.

Views

These are tools for creating View objects.

• New View: adds a 2D projection view of an object.

• 32px New Projection Group: invokes a dialog to create many views of an object from multiple directions.

• New Section: adds a cross-section view of an existing view.

• New Detail: adds a detail view of a portion of an existing view.

• New Annotation: adds a text block to serve as an annotation.

• New Draft: adds a view of a Draft Workbench object.

• New Arch: adds a view of a Arch Workbench SectionPlane object.

• Spreadsheet: inserts a view of a Spreadsheet Workbench sheet.

Clips

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

• Clip: inserts a clip group into a page.

• ClipPlus: adds an existing view to a clip group.

• 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.

Import/Export

These are tools for exporting pages to other applications.

• Save SVG: saves a page as an SVG file.
• Save DXF: saves a page as a DXF file.

Decoration

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

• Hatch Area: applies a hatch pattern from a file to a face.

• Geometric Hatch: applies a hatch pattern to a face using an Autodesk PAT specification.

• 32px New Symbol: inserts an SVG symbol into a page.

• New Image: inserts a PNG or JPG bitmap image into a page.

• 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)

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.

Previous: Surface Module

Next: Debugging

Index

TechDraw

• Pages: Insert Default Page, Insert Page using Template, Redraw Page
• Views: Insert View, Insert Active View, Insert Projection Group, Insert Section View, Insert Detail View, Insert Draft Workbench Object, Insert Arch Workbench Object, Insert Spreadsheet View
• Clips: Insert Clip Group, Add View to Clip Group, Remove View from Clip Group
• Dimensions: New Length, New Horizontal, New Vertical, New Radius, New Diameter, New Angle, New Angle3Pt, New Links, New Balloon
• Decorations: Hatch Face using Image File, Apply Geometric Hatch to Face, Insert SVG Symbol, Insert Bitmap Image, Turn View Frames On/Off
• Annotations: Insert Annotation, Add Leaderline to View, Insert Rich Text Annotation, Add Cosmetic Vertex, Add Midpoint Vertices, Add Quadrant Vertices, Add Centerline to Face(s), Add Centerline between 2 Lines, Add Centerline between 2 Points, Remove Cosmetic Object, Change Appearance of Line(s), Show/Hide Invisible Edges, Add Welding Information to Leader

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• Import/Export: Export Page as SVG, Export Page as DXF
• Additional: Preferences; Hatching, LineGroup, Templates; TechDraw API, TechDrawGui API

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, Draft, FEM, Image, Inspection, Mesh, OpenSCAD, Part, PartDesign, Path, Points, Raytracing, Reverse Engineering, Sketcher, Spreadsheet, Start, Surface, TechDraw, Test Framework, Web
• Deprecated or unmaintained workbenches: Complete, Drawing, Robot

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

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