TechDraw Roadmap
The TechDraw Workbench was introduced officially as part of FreeCAD in version 0.17.
Here is a rough roadmap of areas to be addressed in the future (in no particular order).
Current Activity
- v0.20 release preparation - linux display problems 6698
Upcoming
These items have working code in the development environment and will be implemented early in the v0.21 development cycle.
- Navigation modes (implemented)
- New face detection algorithm
- PrintAll function
- Bitmap hatching 6582 (implemented)
- Extension line gaps 6774 (implemented)
- Section dialog live/deferred update option
- Convert all templates to "plain svg"
- View stacking order 6012
These items have semi-working code or are well defined and will be implemented at some point in the v0.21 cycle.
- Projection group dialog upgrade including live/deferred update option
- Expanded dimension dialog that includes ability to update 2d and 3d references. Possible retirement of current "Link Dimension" function.
- Ability to specify file preferences as relative paths 6707
These items are expected to be in v0.21, but have not been analyzed in detail.
- ability to specify units by dimension or page instead of system wide.
- weld symbol upgrades including ISO/AWS symbology and help text 6313
These items are candidates for v0.21, but require investigation
- 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
There are a number of smaller feature requests that will probably be implemented in v0.21, possibly as macros.
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
- 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
- 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
- Export: Export Page as SVG, Export Page as DXF
- Additional: Line Groups, Templates, Hatching, Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, Preferences
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, Surface, TechDraw, Test Framework
- Hubs: User hub, Power users hub, Developer hub