TechDraw SectionView

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Revision as of 21:11, 29 March 2020 by FuzzyBot (talk | contribs) (Updating to match new version of source page)

TechDraw SectionView

Menu location
TechDraw → Insert Section View
Workbenches
TechDraw
Default shortcut
None
Introduced in version
-
See also
Insert View, Insert Projection Group

Description

The Section tool creates a cross section view based on an existing part view.

File:TechDraw Section example.png

Sectioning an already placed view, which shows the internal holes and a shaded cut surface

Usage

  1. Select a part view in the 3D window or tree.
  2. If you have multiple drawing pages in your document, you will also need to select the desired page in the tree.
  3. Press the Insert Section View button
  4. A dialog will open which will help calculate the various Section properties. The dialog calculates reasonable starting points for SectionNormal and view Direction, but these may be changed after creation for special needs.
  5. If you make a mistake, or change your mind while setting up the Section parameters, press the Reset button, and you can start over.

Taskview to define the sectional cut of a view

Properties

Data

Section

  • DataBase View: The view on which this section is based.
  • DataSection Normal: A vector describing the direction normal to the cutting plane.
  • DataSection Origin: A vector describing a point on the cutting plane. Typically the centroid of the original part.
  • DataFuse Before Cut: Fuse the source shapes before performing the section cut.

Cut Surface Format

  • DataCut Surface Display: Appearance of cut surface. Options:
    • Hide Hides the cut surface, only the outline will be displayed.
    • Color: Colors the cut surface using the setting of Cut Surface Color in the TechDraw preferences.
    • SvgHatch: Hatches the section cut using a hatch
    • PatHatch: Hatches the section cut using a geometric hatch
  • DataFile Hatch Pattern: Full path to SVG hatch pattern file.
  • DataFile Geom Pattern: Full path to PAT pattern file.
  • DataSvg Included: Full path to the included SVG hatch pattern file.
  • DataPat Included: Full path to the included PAT pattern file.
  • DataName Geom Pattern: Name of PAT pattern to use (ignored for the SvgHatch setting of Cut Surface Display).

View

Cut Surface

  • ViewCut Surface Color: Solid color for surface highlight. Used if Cut Surface Display is set to Color.

Surface Hatch

  • ViewHatch Color: Color for surface hatch lines.
  • ViewWeight Pattern: Line weight for surface hatch lines.

Base View

A Section view inherits all applicable properties of the view specified as DataBaseView. In the properties of the view you can change the appearance of the section line:

  • ViewSection Line Color: Color for the section line.
  • ViewSection Line Style: Style for the section line.

The default settings for these parameters are set via the settings Section Line and Section Line Style in the TechDraw preferences.

Scripting

See also: TechDraw API and FreeCAD Scripting Basics.

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

view = FreeCAD.ActiveDocument.addObject('TechDraw::DrawViewPart','View')
rc = page.addView(view)
view.Source = box
view.Direction = (0.0,0.0,1.0)

section = FreeCAD.ActiveDocument.addObject('TechDraw::DrawViewSection','Section')
rc = page.addView(section)
section.Source = box
section.BaseView = view
section.Direction = (0.0,1.0,0.0)
section.SectionNormal = (0.0,0.0,1.0)
section.SectionOrigin = (5.0,5.0,5.0)

Notes

  • Section Line Format: both the traditional section line format (as depicted above), and the "reference arrow method" are supported. This option is controlled by the Preference setting "Mod/TechDraw/Format/SectionFormat" (see Std_DlgParameter). 0 for traditional line, 1 for reference arrow method.
  • CutSurfaceDisplay: the cut surface can be hidden, painted in a solid color, hatched using an Svg pattern (default) or hatched using a PAT pattern. See Hatching.
  • FuseBeforeCut: the section operation sometimes fails to cut the source shapes. If FuseBeforeCut is true, the source shapes are merged into a single shape before the section operation is attempted. If you encounter problems with the section operation, try flipping this value.