Draft PolarArray

Description
The tool creates an array from a selected object placing the copies along a circumference.

This tool can be used on any object that has a Part TopoShape, meaning 2D shapes created with the Draft Workbench, but also 3D solids created with other workbenches, for example, Part, PartDesign, or Arch. It can also create App Links instead of simple copies.


 * To create orthogonal or circular arrays, use the corresponding and  tools.
 * To position copies along a path use or.
 * To position copies at specified points use or.
 * To create copies and manually place them use or.
 * To create exact copies and manually place or scale them, use or.



Usage

 * 1) Select the object that you wish to array.
 * 2) Press the  button. If no object is selected, you will be invited to select one before proceeding.
 * 3) The task panel is launched where you can select the polar angle, the number of elements, and the center of the axis of rotation.
 * 4) You can click on the 3D view to simultaneously set the position of the center of rotation, and complete the command. Otherwise, just press  or the  button to complete the operation.

Options
These are the options displayed in the task panel.


 * : the angle which determines where the last element of the array will be placed in the polar arrangement. The angle is positive in the counter-clockwise direction, and negative in the clockwise direction.
 * : the number of elements in the array. Minimum of 2, maximum of 99.
 * : the coordinates through which the axis of rotation goes through.
 * : it resets the center of rotation to the origin.
 * : if it is checked, the resulting objects in the array will fuse together if they touch each other. This only works if is unchecked.
 * : if it is checked, the resulting array will be a "Link array". This array internally uses App Link objects, so it is more efficient when handling many copies of complex shapes. However, in this case, the objects cannot be fused together.
 * Press or the  button to abort the current command.

if a Link array is created, this object cannot be converted to a regular array. And similarly, a regular array cannot be converted to a Link array. Therefore, you must choose the type of array that you want at creation time.

Properties
A PolarArray object internally is the same object produced with the tool. It is based on Part Feature ( class), and thus shares all properties of the latter.

See the tool for the complete description of the properties. All properties apply, except for those under the and  groups.

Scripting
See also: Autogenerated API documentation and FreeCAD Scripting Basics.

Parametric array
To create a parametric polar array use the method  of the Draft module. This method replaces the deprecated method. The method can create Draft OrthoArrays, Draft PolarArrays and Draft CircularArrays. For each array type one or more wrappers are available.

The main method:

The wrapper for polar arrays is:


 * is the object to be arrayed. It can also be the (string) of an object in the current document.
 * is the number of elements in the pattern, including the original object.
 * is the angle of the polar arc in degrees.
 * is the vector that defines the center of the pattern.
 * If is  the created elements will be App Links instead of regular copies.
 * is returned with the created array object.

Example:

Non-parametric array
To create a non-parametric polar array use the method of the Draft module. Note that this method returns.

Example: