TechDraw Preferences

    From FreeCAD Documentation

    Introduction

    The preferences of the TechDraw Workbench are found in the Preferences Editor, Edit → Preferences → TechDraw.

    All preferences settings with italic labels are default values for new drawing objects. They have no effect on existing objects.

    General

    General preferences

    Drawing Update

    • Update With 3D: Whether or not pages are updated every time the 3D model is changed. This is a global policy setting.
    • Allow Page Override: Whether or not a page's Keep Updated property can override the global Update With 3D parameter. This is a global policy setting.
    • Keep Page Up To Date: Keeps drawing pages in sync with changes of the 3D model in real time. This can slow down the response time.
    • Auto-distribute Secondary Views: Automatically distributes secondary views for projection groups.

    Labels

    • Label Font: The name of the font for labels. The font is also used for new dimensions, changing it has no effect on existing dimensions.
    • Label Size: Default size for labels.

    Conventions

    • Projection Group Angle: If projection groups will use either first-angle (European) projection or third-angle (American) projection. See multiview projection for an explanation.
    • Hidden Line Style: The style to be used for hidden lines.

    Files

    Grid

    Scale

    Scale preferences

    Scale

    • Page Scale: Default scale for new pages.
    • View Scale Type: Default scale for new views.
    • View Custom Scale: Default scale for views if View Scale Type is Custom.

    Size Adjustments

    • Vertex Scale: Scale of vertex dots. Multiplier of line width.
    • Center Mark Scale: Size of center marks. Multiplier of vertex size.
    • Template Edit Mark: Size of template field click handles in mm (green dots).
    • Welding Symbol Scale: Multiplier for size of welding symbols.

    Dimensions

    Dimensions preferences
    • Standard and Style: The standard to be used for dimensional values. The difference between the standards are shown in the image:
      Differences between the supported standards. (Image source)
    ISO Oriented - drawn according to the standard ISO 129-1, text is rotated to be parallel with the dimension line tangent.
    ISO Referencing - drawn in compliance with ISO 129-1, text is always horizontal, above the shortest possible reference line.
    ASME Inlined - drawn according to the standard ASME Y14.5M, text is horizontal, inserted in a break within the dimension line or arc.
    ASME Referencing - drawn in compliance with ASME Y14.5M, text is horizontal, short reference line is attached to one side's vertical center.
    • Use Global Decimals: Use number of decimals from the general preferences.
    • Show Units: Appends the unit (mm, in, etc.) to dimension values.
    • Alternate Decimals: Number of decimals if Use Global Decimals is not selected and Dimension Format not specified.
    • Dimension Format: Custom format for dimension text. Uses the printf format specifier.
    • Font Size: Font size for dimension text.
    • Tolerance Text Scale: Tolerance font size adjustment. Multiplier of dimension Font Size.
    • Diameter Symbol: Character used to indicate diameter dimensions.
    • Arrow Style: Arrowhead style for dimensions.
    • Arrow Size: Arrowhead size of dimensions.
    • Extension Gap Factor - ISO: Gap between dimension point and start of extension lines for ISO dimensions. introduced in version 0.21
    • Extension Gap Factor - ASME: Gap between dimension point and start of extension lines for ASME dimensions. introduced in version 0.21
    • Line Spacing - ISO: Spacing between the dimension line and dimension text for ISO dimensions. introduced in version 0.21

    Annotation

    Annotation preferences
    • Section Line Standard: Standard to be used to draw section lines in section views.
    • Section Line Style: Style for section lines.
    • Complex Section Line Marks: Show marks at direction changes on ComplexSection lines. introduced in version 0.21
    • Section Cut Surface: Style for section cut surface. The options are:
      • Hide: There is no visible surface.
      • Solid Color: The surface gets the color set for Section Face
      • SVG Hatch: The surface is hatched.
      • PAT Hatch: The surface is geometrically hatched.
    • Line Width Group: A LineGroup to set the default line widths.
    • Detail View Outline Shape: Outline shape for detail views.
    • Detail Highlight Style: Line style of the outline shape for detail views.
    • Center Line Style: Default style for centerlines.
    • Balloon Shape: Shape of balloon annotations.
    • Balloon Leader End: Default style for balloon leader line ends.
    • Balloon Leader Kink Length: Length of balloon leader line kink.
    • Balloon Orthogonal Triangle: If Balloon Leader End is Filled Triangle, the triangle can only get a vertical or horizontal direction when the balloon is moved.
    • Leader Line Auto Horizontal: Forces last leader line segment to be horizontal.
    • Show Center Marks: Show arc center marks in views.
    • Print Center Marks: Show arc centers in printed output.

    Colors

    Colors preferences

    Setup of the default colors for new pages:

    • Normal: Normal line color.
    • Preselected: Preselection color. The color that is used to highlight objects when hovering with the mouse over them.
    • Selected: Color for selected objects.
    • Background: Background color around pages.
    • Dimension: Color of dimension lines and text.
    • Centerline: Color for centerlines.
    • Detail Highlight: Line color for the outline shape of detail views.
    • Grid Color: Color for all page grids. introduced in version 0.20
    • Hidden Line: Hidden line color. This color will be used for all kinds of hidden lines.
    • Section Face: Color of the section view cut surface. Only used if the setting Section Cut Surface is set to Solid Color.
    • Section Line: Color of the section view cut line.
    • Hatch: Hatch image color.
    • Geometric Hatch: Geometric hatch pattern color.
    • Vertex: Color of the selectable vertices in views.
    • Leaderline: Color for new leaderlines.
    • Transparent Faces: If checked, object faces will be transparent. Otherwise the set color will be used for faces.
    • Light on dark: If checked text and lines will have a light color. To be used if the Page Color is dark. Transparent or light colored faces are recommended with this option. introduced in version 0.21
    • Monochrome: If checked, the set color will be used for all text and lines. introduced in version 0.21
    • Page Color: The background color of the page. introduced in version 0.21

    HLR

    HLR preferences

    HLR stands for hidden line removal.

    • Use Polygon Approximation: Uses an approximation to find hidden lines. This is fast, but the result is a collection of short straight lines.
    • Show Hard Lines: Shows hard and outline edges (visible lines always shown)
    • Show Smooth Lines: Shows smooth lines. A smooth line is a line indicating a change between tangent surfaces, as in the transition from a flat surface to a fillet.
    • Show Seam Lines: Show seam lines. A seam line is a boundary between faces.
    • Show UV ISO Lines: Shows ISO lines. ISO stands for isoparametric. Here is a description what isoparametric lines (in fact curves) are.
    • ISO Count: The number of ISO lines per face edge.

    Advanced

    Advanced preferences
    • Detect Faces: If checked, TechDraw will attempt to build faces using the line segments returned by the hidden line removal algorithm. Faces must be detected in order to use hatching, but there can be a performance penalty in complex models.
    • Report Progress: Issue progress messages while building View geometry. introduced in version 0.21
    • Use New Face Finder Algorithm: If checked, the new face finder algorithm will be used instead of the original one. introduced in version 0.21
    • Auto Correct Dimension Refs: If checked, an attempt is made to update dimension references when the model changes. introduced in version 0.21
    • Show Section Edges: Highlights the border of the section cut in section views.
    • Fuse Before Section: Performs a fuse operation on the input shape(s) before Section view processing
    • Show Loose 2D Geom: Includes 2D Objects in projections, e.g. loose sketches
    • Allow Crazy Edges: Includes edges with unexpected geometry in results, e.g. zero lengths
    • Debug Section: Dumps intermediate results during a Section view processing
    • Debug Detail: Dumps intermediate results during a Detail view processing
    • Overlap Edges Scrub Passes: The number of attempts to remove overlapping edges returned by the Hidden Line Removal algorithm. A value of 0 indicates no scrubbing. Values above 2 are generally not productive. Each attempt adds to the time required to produce the drawing. introduced in version 0.21
    • Edge Fuzz: Size of selection area around edges. The fuzz unit is approximately 0.1 mm, depending on your current zoom. The default is 10. Values in the 20-30 range will make it noticeably easier to select edges. Large numbers will cause overlaps with other drawing elements.
    • Mark Fuzz: Selection area around center marks. The fuzz unit is approximately 0.1 mm, depending on your current zoom.
    • Line End Cap Shape: Setting of the line end cap shape. Explanation of the options: pen cap styles
    • Max SVG Hatch Tiles: The limit of SVG tiles with a size of 64x64 pixels used to hatch a single face. For large scalings one might get an error about to many SVG tiles, then one needs to increase the tile limit.
    • Max PAT Hatch Segments: The maximum hatch line segments used when hatching a face with a PAT pattern.