TechDraw Roadmap

Here is a rough roadmap of areas to be addressed in the TechDraw Workbench in 2023.

Current Activity

• refactoring code into more maintainable pieces

Primary Focus for 2023

There are 2 main areas to be addressed in 2023:

• conversion between drawing geometry and model geometry
  • these conversions are scattered throughout the code
  • the most visible impact is the difficulty in specifying cosmetic geometry
  • cosmetic vertex/edge/centerline now rotates with the parent view.

• the "lesser topological naming problem"
  • primarily making dimensions survive the renaming of reference geometry
    • Phase1 (reference geometry has a new name, but still exists) implemented by PR #8989
    • First attempt at Phase2 (handling situation where reference geometry has legitimately changed) stalled. Rethinking.
  • also affects face hatching
  • also affects edge appearance attributes

Work Completed in 2023

• remove redundant edges from HLR result PR #9280
• dimension reference name change handling PR #8989
• RichTextAnnotation fix text size & position in svg export PR #10019
• improve SVG hatch drawing speed PR #9995 and PR #9885
• add large ANSI format templates PR #9825
• fix precision errors in 3d window direction/orientation PR #9577
• add shaft/hole fit annotation PR #8455
• add ANSI Y14.5 compatible font PR #8198
• Replacement for Qt XMLPatterns PR #9104 (Thanks Werner!)
• zoom improvements PR #10547, #10456
• hatch speed improvements PR #9995, #9985

Other Items for 2023

These items would be nice to address in 2023:

• drawing overlay
  • allow graphics to be added to a drawing page as on a transparent overlay in traditional drafting. This will build on the SymbolsAndTraces research project and @Evgeniy's schematic workbench.

Work Completed in 2022

These items were implemented in 2022:

• Navigation modes
• New face detection algorithm
• PrintAll function
• Bitmap hatching fix
• Extension line gaps
• Section dialog live/deferred update option (implemented as part of complex section)
• Convert all templates to "plain svg" (implemented for latin script templates)
• View stacking order
• Use separate thread for hidden line removal, face finding, section and detail cuts
• replace ActiveView Svg creation with simple screen capture
• complex section views
• easier dimensions from 3d geometry
• simple dimension reference repair dialog

2022 Plan Items Not Completed

These items are still on the infamous TODO list. They will be worked on as and if time allows.

• Projection group dialog upgrade including live/deferred update option
• Ability to specify file preferences as relative paths 6707
• ability to specify units by dimension or page instead of system wide.
• weld symbol upgrades including ISO/AWS symbology and help text 6313
• ordinate dimensions 6587
• broken view 5694
• improved handling of Draft/Arch objects
• include sketcher points in drawings
• Feature Control Frames (GD&T)
• Threaded hole representation

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

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