Draft PointArray

Description
The tool places copies of a selected shape along various selected points.

The PointArray 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 the Part, PartDesign, or the Arch Workbenches.


 * To create orthogonal, polar or circular arrays, use the corresponding, , or tools.
 * To position copies along a path use.
 * 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 a point compound.
 * 3) Press the  button.

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.

Point compound
The point compound object can be created in different ways.
 * Create various or, and then press  to create the compound.
 * Repeat the previous method but instead of a compound use to create a "Block".
 * Create a, and inside add various.

In essence, the object to be used as the compound must have one of three properties,, , or , and inside that compound, there must be at least one point with , , and properties.

in the case of and  the array will try to position the copies using the  of the point. In the case of a sketcher, the position will be taken from its internal , , and attributes.

for its  always follows the values of, , , so modifying these values is enough to produce the desired displacement. However, for, the net displacement is given by the sum of with the vector with components , , and.

Options
There are no options for this tool. Either it works with the selected objects or not.

Properties
A PointArray is derived from a Part Feature ( class), therefore it shares all the latter's properties. In addition to the properties described in Part Feature, the PointArray has the following properties in the property editor.


 * : the object to duplicate; it must have a Part TopoShape.
 * : (read-only) specifies the number of copies in the array. This property is read-only because the number of copies is determined by the number of points inside of.
 * : specifies an additional placement, translation and rotation, that will be applied to each copy in the array. Each copy normally appears with the same rotation as the object; with this property it is possible to provide additional rotation, or counter the original rotation, and make small adjustments to the position of the copies.
 * : specifies a compound object with points that indicate where the copies of the object will appear. The compound object needs to have one of, , or  properties, and contain at least one element with , , and  attributes.

Scripting
Draft API and FreeCAD Scripting Basics.

The PointArray tool can be used in macros and from the Python console by using the following function:

Older call

New call


 * Creates a object from the, by placing the copies in the points contained within.
 * should have one of, , or attributes containing points.
 * Instead of a reference to an object, and  can also be  (strings) of objects existing in the current document.
 * can be a full, or just an or.

Example: