TechDraw Workbench

Introduction
The TechDraw Workbench is used to produce basic technical drawings from 3D models created with another workbench such as Part, PartDesign, or Arch, or imported from other applications. Each drawing is a Page, which can contain various Views of drawable objects such as Part::Features, PartDesign::Bodies, App::Part groups, and Document Object groups. The resulting drawings can be used for things like documentation, manufacturing instructions, contracts, permits, etc.

Dimensions, sections, hatched areas, annotations, and SVG symbols can be added to the page, which can be further exported to different formats like DXF, SVG, and PDF.

TechDraw was officially included in FreeCAD starting with version 0.17; it is intended to replace the unsupported Drawing Workbench. Both workbenches are still provided in v0.17, but the Drawing Workbench may be removed in future releases. To keep up with TechDraw plans and developments, visit the TechDraw Roadmap.

FreeCAD is primarily a 3D modelling application, and thus doesn't have many 2D drawing tools, which are mostly included in the Draft and Sketcher Workbenches. If your primary goal is the production of complex 2D drawings and DXF files, and you don't need 3D modelling, you may wish to consider a dedicated software program for technical drafting such as LibreCAD, QCad, TurboCad, and others.



Pages
These are tools for creating Page objects.


 * TechDraw PageDefault.svg Insert Default Page: adds a new page using the default template.


 * TechDraw PageTemplate.svg Insert Page using Template: adds a new page using a selected template.


 * TechDraw RedrawPage.svg Redraw Page: forces an update of the selected page.

Views
These are tools for creating View objects.


 * TechDraw View.svg Insert View: adds a 2D projection view of an object.


 * TechDraw ActiveView.svg Insert Active View: inserts a view of the active 3D view.


 * TechDraw ProjectionGroup.svg Insert Projection Group: invokes a dialog to create many views of an object from multiple directions.


 * TechDraw SectionView.svg Insert Section View: inserts a cross-section view of an existing view.


 * TechDraw DetailView.svg Insert Detail View: inserts a detail view of a portion of an existing view.


 * TechDraw DraftView.svg Insert Draft Workbench Object: inserts a view of a Draft Workbench object.


 * TechDraw ArchView.svg Insert Arch Workbench Object: inserts a view of an Arch Workbench Section Plane object.


 * TechDraw SpreadsheetView.svg Insert Spreadsheet View: inserts a view of a Spreadsheet Workbench sheet.

Clips
These are tools to create and manage Clip objects (clipped views).


 * TechDraw ClipGroup.svg Insert Clip Group: inserts a clip group into a page.


 * TechDraw ClipGroupAdd.svg Add View to Clip Group: adds an existing view to a clip group.


 * TechDraw ClipGroupRemove.svg Remove View from Clip Group: removes a view from a clip group.

Dimensions
These are tools for creating and working with Dimension objects.

Linear dimensions can be based on two points, on one line, or on two lines.


 * TechDraw_LengthDimension.svg Insert Length Dimension: adds a length dimension.


 * TechDraw_HorizontalDimension.svg Insert Horizontal Dimension: adds a horizontal length dimension.


 * TechDraw_VerticalDimension.svg Insert Vertical Dimension: adds a vertical length dimension.


 * TechDraw_RadiusDimension.svg Insert Radius Dimension: adds a radius dimension to a circle or circular arc.


 * TechDraw_DiameterDimension.svg Insert Diameter Dimension: adds a diameter dimension to a circle or a circular arc.


 * TechDraw_AngleDimension.svg Insert Angle Dimension: adds an angle dimension between two straight edges.


 * TechDraw_3PtAngleDimension.svg Insert 3-Point Angle Dimension: adds an angle dimension using three vertices.


 * TechDraw_HorizontalExtentDimension.svg Insert Horizontal Extent Dimension: adds a horizontal extent dimension.


 * TechDraw_VerticalExtentDimension.svg Insert Vertical Extent Dimension: adds a vertical extent dimension.


 * TechDraw_LinkDimension.svg Link Dimension to 3D Geometry: links an existing dimension to the 3D geometry.


 * TechDraw_Balloon.svg Insert Balloon Annotation: adds a "balloon" annotation to a page.


 * TechDraw_LandmarkDimension.svg Insert Landmark Dimension: adds a landmark distance dimension.

Decorations
These are tools to decorate pages or views:


 * TechDraw Hatch.svg Hatch Face using Image File: applies a hatch pattern from a file to a face.


 * TechDraw GeometricHatch.svg Apply Geometric Hatch to Face: applies a hatch pattern to a face using an Autodesk PAT specification.


 * TechDraw Symbol.svg Insert SVG Symbol: inserts a symbol from a SVG file into a page.


 * TechDraw Image.svg Insert Bitmap Image: inserts a PNG or JPG bitmap image into a page.


 * TechDraw ToggleFrame.svg Turn View Frames On/Off: turns on/off frames and labels surrounding a view.

Annotation
The annotation tools are for "marking up" a drawing with additional information.


 * TechDraw Annotation.svg Insert Annotation: adds a plain text block as annotation.


 * TechDraw LeaderLine.svg Add Leaderline to View: adds a leaderline to a view.


 * TechDraw RichTextAnnotation.svg Insert Rich Text Annotation: adds an rich text block as annotation to a leaderline or a view.


 * TechDraw CosmeticVertex.svg Add Cosmetic Vertex: adds a Vertex which is not part of the source geometry.


 * TechDraw Midpoints.svg Add Midpoint Vertices: adds Cosmetic Vertices at midpoints of selected edges.


 * TechDraw Quadrants.svg Add Quadrant Vertices: adds Cosmetic Vertices at quarter points of selected (circular) edges.


 * TechDraw FaceCenterLine.svg Add Centerline to Faces: adds a centerline to selected face(s).


 * TechDraw 2LineCenterLine.svg Add Centerline between 2 Lines: adds a centerline between 2 lines.


 * TechDraw 2PointCenterLine.svg Add Centerline between 2 Points: adds a centerline between 2 points.


 * TechDraw_2PointCosmeticLine.svg Add Cosmetic Line Through 2 points: adds a cosmetic line connecting 2 vertices.


 * TechDraw CosmeticEraser.svg Remove Cosmetic Object: removes cosmetic objects from a page.


 * TechDraw DecorateLine.svg Change Appearance of Lines: changes the appearance of selected line(s).


 * TechDraw ShowAll.svg Show/Hide Invisible Edges: shows/hides invisible lines/edges in a view.


 * TechDraw WeldSymbol.svg Add Welding Information to Leader: adds welding specifications to an existing leaderline.

Extension Package
The Extension Package includes many useful tools to improve your TechDraw drawings.


 * TechDraw_ExtensionCircleCenterLines.svg CircleCenterLines: adds center lines to circles and arcs.


 * TechDraw_ExtensionThreadHoleSide.svg ThreadHoleSide: adds a symbolic thread to the side view of a hole.


 * TechDraw_ExtensionThreadHoleBottom.svg ThreadHoleBottom: adds symbolic threads to the bottom view of holes.


 * TechDraw_ExtensionThreadBoltSide.svg ThreadBoltSide: adds a symbolic thread to the side view of a bolt.


 * TechDraw_ExtensionThreadBoltBottom.svg ThreadBoltBottom: adds symbolic threads to the bottom view of bolts.

Import/Export
These are tools for exporting pages to other applications.


 * TechDraw ExportPageSVG.svg Export Page as SVG: saves the current page as SVG file.


 * TechDraw ExportPageDXF.svg Export Page as DXF: saves the current page as DXF file.

Additional features

 * Line Groups: to control the appearance of various types of lines.
 * Templates: the default templates defined for the drawing pages.
 * Hatching: explanation of the different hatching techniques.
 * Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing: explanation on how to achieve geometric dimensioning and tolerancing.

Preferences

 * Preferences-techdraw.svg Preferences: preferences for the default values of the drawing page such as projection angle, colors, text sizes, and line styles.

Scripting
The TechDraw tools can be used in macros and from the Python console by using two APIs.
 * TechDraw API
 * TechDrawGui API

Limitations

 * TechDraw drawings and its API are not interchangeable with the Drawing Workbench and its API. It is possible to convert Drawing Pages to TechDraw Pages using a Python script.
 * It is possible to have both TechDraw and Drawing Pages in the same FreeCAD document, as each page is completely independent from each other.
 * There are minor differences in specifying editable texts in SVG templates compared to the Drawing module. In TechDraw the scaling of the SVG document affects the position of the editable text fields. See the forum discussion TechDraw templates scale for more details.
 * Threads are not implemented. A possible workaround is to use a diameter dimension and put a suitable text into the "Format Spec" property, e.g. "M4x15"
 * Do not cut, copy and paste TechDraw objects in the tree view as this generally does not work out well.

Tutorials

 * Basic TechDraw Tutorial: introduction to creating drawings with the TechDraw Workbench.
 * Creating a new template: instructions to create a new page template in Inkscape for using with the TechDraw Workbench.
 * Measurement Of Angles On Holes: instructions for adding center lines and subsequent angle representations on holes.
 * Miscellaneous: instructions for different settings like center marks, etc.
 * Creating a Pitch Circle: instructions for adding pitch circle

Video tutorials by sliptonic
 * TechDraw Workbench Part 1 (Basics), Part 2 (Dimensions), Part 3 (Multiview)
 * TechDraw Workbench Part 4 (Section and Detail), Part 5 (Customizing Templates)