Draft PathArray

Description
The tool places copies of a selected shape along a selected path, which can be a Draft Wire, a Draft BSpline, and similar edges.

The PathArray 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.


 * To create orthogonal, polar or circular arrays, use the corresponding, , or tools.
 * To position App Link copies along a path use.
 * 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 distribute.
 * 2) Select the path object or edges along which the object will be distributed.
 * 3) Press the  button.
 * 4) The Array object is immediately created. You must change the properties of the array to change the number and direction of copies created.

Each element in the array is an exact clone of the original object, but the entire array is considered a single unit in terms of properties and appearance.

if the object doesn't seem to be positioned correctly in the path, check that its  is in the origin. Certain objects can be placed anywhere in the 3D space when used with the tool, but others must be at the origin, particularly those created by using  with a 2D profile like a.

Alignment
The alignment of the elements in a Draft PathArray depends on the position and orientation of the source object relative to the global coordinate system and the properties of the array. If the property is set to  the orientation of the array elements is identical to that of the source object. If it is set to the X axis of the local coordinate system of each element placement is tangent to the path. The Y and Z axes of the local coordinate systems depend on the property of the array. Other properties involved in the alignment include, and.



Align Mode
Three modes are available:

Original
This mode comes closest to the single available in version 0.18. It relies on a fixed normal vector. If the path is planar this vector is perpendicular to the plane of the path, else a default vector, the positive Z axis, is used. From this normal vector and the local tangent vector (the local X axis) a cross product is calculated. This new vector is used as the local Z axis. The orientation of the local Y axis is determined from the local X and Z axes.

Frenet
This mode uses the local normal vector derived from the path at each element placement. If this vector cannot be determined (for example in the case of a straight segment) a default vector, again the positive Z axis, is used instead. With this vector and the local tangent vector the local coordinate system is determined using the procedure explained in the previous paragraph.

Tangent
This mode is similar to  but includes the possibility to pre-rotate the source object by specifying a.

Force Vertical and Vertical Vector
These properties are only available if is  or. If is set to  the local coordinate system is calculated in a different manner. The is used as a fixed normal vector. From this normal vector and the local tangent vector (the local X axis) again a cross product is calculated. But now this vector is used as the local Y axis. The orientation of the local Z axis is determined from the local X and Y axes.

Using these properties can be required if one of the edged of the path is (almost) parallel to the default normal of the path.

Properties
See also: Property editor.

A Draft PathArray object is derived from a Part Feature object and inherits all its properties (with the exception of some View properties that are not inherited by Link arrays). The following properties are additional unless otherwise stated:

Data
The properties in this group are only available for Link arrays. See Std LinkMake for more information.




 * : specifies if the elements in the array are aligned along the path or not. If it is all other properties in this group, except, do not apply and are hidden.
 * : specifies the align mode, which can be, or.
 * : specifies an additional displacement for each element along the path.
 * : specifies whether to override the local Z direction with the value of . Only used if is  or.
 * : specifies the alignment vector. Only used if is.
 * : specifies the override for the the local Z direction. Only used if is.


 * : specifies the object to duplicate in the array.
 * : specifies the number of elements in the array.
 * : specifies whether to expand the array in the Tree view to enable the selection of its individual elements. Only available for Link arrays.
 * : specifies the object to be used for the path. It must contain in its Part TopoShape.
 * : specifies a list of edges of the . If supplied only these edges are used for the path.

View
The properties in this group, with the exception of the inherited property, are only available for Link arrays. See Std LinkMake for more information.


 * : this is an inherited property that appears in the Selection group for other arrays
 * : this is an inherited property that appears in the Selection group for other arrays
 * : this is an inherited property that appears in the Selection group for other arrays
 * : this is an inherited property that appears in the Selection group for other arrays
 * : this is an inherited property that appears in the Selection group for other arrays

The properties in this group, with the exception of the inherited property, are only available for Link arrays. See Std LinkMake for more information.


 * : this is an inherited property.
 * : this is an inherited property.
 * : this is an inherited property.
 * : this is an inherited property.
 * : this is an inherited property.

The properties in this group are inherited properties. See Part Feature for more information.


 * : this property is not inherited by Link arrays.
 * : for Link arrays it can be or . For other arrays it can be:, ,  or


 * : not used.
 * : not used.

The properties in this group are not inherited by Link arrays.

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

To create a path array use the method  of the Draft module. This method replaces the deprecated method.


 * is the object to be arrayed. It can also be the (string) of an object in the current document.
 * is the path object. It can also be the (string) of an object in the current document.
 * is the number of elements in the array.
 * is a vector that displaces each element.
 * is a list of edges of, for example . If supplied only these edges are used for the path.
 * If is  the elements are aligned along the path depending on the value of, which can be ,  or.
 * is a unit vector that defines the local tangent direction of the elements along the path. It is used when is.
 * If is   is used for the local Z direction of the elements along the path. It is used when  is  or.
 * If is  the created elements are App Links instead of regular copies.
 * is returned with the created array object.

Example: