Draft Offset

Description
The Offset tool moves the selected object by a given distance (offset) perpendicular to itself.

Typically this tool is used in copy mode to create offset copies of a base wire while leaving this wire in the same place. The offset copies are scaled versions of the original object. To create other scaled copies use Draft Scale. To produce exact copies shifted a distance use Draft Move.



Usage

 * 1) Select the object that you wish to offset.
 * 2) Press the  button, or press  then  keys. If no object is selected, you will be invited to select one.
 * 3) Click a point on the 3D view, or type in a distance.

The distance used to create the offset is perpendicular to one of the edges of the original shape, depending on the position of the pointer. If the pointer is moved closer to another edge, this edge now becomes the reference for the distance. Hold the key to keep the current reference edge despite moving the pointer closer to other edges.

Options

 * Press or click the checkbox to toggle copy mode. If copy mode is on, the Offset tool will keep the original shape in its place but will make a scaled copy at the chosen point.
 * Hold while picking the point to also toggle copy mode. Keeping  pressed will allow you to continue placing offset copies; release  to finish the operation and see all offset shapes.
 * Click the "OCC-style" checkbox to toggle OCC mode. This will create an offset from both sides of an line segment, which will produce a specially closed shape with rounded edges at the ends of the segments.
 * with this style the original segments will be removed, so use copy mode to preserve the original edges.


 * Hold while offsetting to force snapping your point to the nearest snap location, independently of the distance.
 * Hold to keep the offset distance referred to the current segment, and avoid picking another reference.
 * Press or the  button to abort the current command; offset copies already placed will remain.

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

To offset objects use the method of the Draft module. The method can only handle Draft Wires, Draft Circles, Draft Rectangles, Draft Polygons and Draft BSplines.


 * is the object to be offset.
 * contains the offset information:
 * For Draft Wires, Draft Rectangles and Draft Polygons it is an offset vector that must be perpendicular to the first segment of the object.
 * For Draft Circles it is the new radius.
 * For Draft BSplines it is a list of new points.
 * If is  the original object is kept and a new object is created.
 * If is  a face is created by connecting the shape of the original object and the shape of its offset. This only works for open Draft Wires.
 * If is, and  is  as well, the offset is made on both sides of the original object, the total width being the length of the given vector. This only works for open Draft Wires.
 * If is  OCC-style offsetting is used: open Draft Wires are offset on both sides, and new wires are connected with rounded corners. This does not work for Draft Circles and Draft BSplines. If  is  the  and  arguments are ignored.
 * is returned with the original offset object, or with the new object. If  is  or  is, the new object will be a  object.

Example: