Part Feature
Introduction
A Part Feature object, or formally a Part::Feature
, is a simple element with a topological shape associated to it that can be displayed in the 3D view.
A Part Feature is the parent class of most 2D (Draft, Sketcher) and 3D (Part, PartDesign) objects, with the exception of meshes, which are normally based on Mesh Feature, or Fem FemMeshObject for FEM objects.
Every object created with the Part Workbench is essentially a Part Feature.
Simplified diagram of the relationships between the core objects in the program. The Part::Feature
class is the origin of most 2D (Draft, Sketcher) and 3D (Part, PartDesign) objects that have a Part TopoShape.
Usage
The Part Feature is an internal object, so it cannot be created from the graphical interface, only from the Python console as described in the Scripting section.
The Part::Feature
is defined in the Part Workbench but can be used as the base class for scripted objects in all workbenches that produce 2D and 3D geometrical shapes. Essentially all objects produced in the Part Workbench are instances of a Part::Feature
. Solid objects imported from STEP or BREP files will be imported using the Part Workbench, so they will also be imported as Part::Feature
elements albeit without parametric history.
Part::Feature
is also the parent class of the PartDesign Body, of the PartDesign Features, and of the Part Part2DObject, which is specialized for 2D (planar) shapes.
A Part::Feature
has simple properties like a placement, and visual properties to define the appearance of its vertices, edges, and faces. Workbenches can add more properties to this basic element to produce an object with complex behavior.
Properties
A Part Feature (Part::Feature
class) is derived from the basic App GeoFeature (App::GeoFeature
class), therefore it shares all the latter's properties.
In addition to the properties described in App GeoFeature, the Part Feature has the DataShape property, which stores the Part TopoShape of this object; this is the geometry that is shown in the 3D view.
Other properties that this object has are those related to the appearance of its TopoShape, including ViewAngular Deflection, ViewDeviation, ViewDraw Style, ViewLighting, ViewLine Color, ViewLine Width, ViewPoint Color, ViewPoint Size, and also the hidden properties ViewDiffuse Color, ViewLine Color Array, ViewLine Material, ViewPoint Color Array, and ViewPoint Material.
See Property for all property types that scripted objects can have.
These are the properties available in the property editor. Hidden properties can be shown by using the Show all command in the context menu of the property editor.
Data
Base
- DataPlacement (
Placement
): the position of the object in the 3D view. The placement is defined by aBase
point (vector), and aRotation
(axis and angle). See Placement.- DataAngle: the angle of rotation around the DataAxis. By default, it is
0°
(zero degrees). - DataAxis: the unit vector that defines the axis of rotation for the placement. Each component is a floating point value between
0
and1
. If any value is above1
, the vector is normalized so that the magnitude of the vector is1
. By default, it is the positive Z axis,(0, 0, 1)
. - DataPosition: a vector with the 3D coordinates of the base point. By default, it is the origin
(0, 0, 0)
.
- DataAngle: the angle of rotation around the DataAxis. By default, it is
- DataLabel (
String
): the user editable name of this object, it is an arbitrary UTF8 string.
Hidden properties Data
- Data (hidden)Expression Engine (
ExpressionEngine
): a list of expressions. By default, it is empty[]
. - Data (hidden)Label2 (
String
): a longer, user editable description of this object, it is an arbitrary UTF8 string that may include newlines. By default, it is an empty string""
. - Data (hidden)Proxy (
PythonObject
): a custom class associated with this object. This only exists for the Python version. See Scripting. - Data (hidden)Shape (
PartShape
): a Part TopoShape class associated with this object. - Data (hidden)Visibility (
Bool
): whether to display the object or not.
View
Most objects in FreeCAD have what is called a "view provider", which is a class that defines the visual appearance of the object in the 3D view, and in the tree view. The default view provider of Part Feature objects defines the following properties. Scripted objects that are derived from Part Feature will have access to these properties as well.
Display Options
- ViewBounding Box (
Bool
): if it istrue
, the object will show the bounding box in the 3D view. - ViewDisplay Mode (
Enumeration
):Flat Lines
(regular visualization),Shaded
(no edges),Wireframe
(no faces),Points
(only vertices). - ViewShow In Tree (
Bool
): if it istrue
, the object appears in the tree view. Otherwise, it is set as invisible. - ViewVisibility (
Bool
): if it istrue
, the object appears in the 3D view; otherwise it is invisible. By default this property can be toggled on and off by pressing the Space bar in the keyboard.
Object style
- ViewAngular Deflection (
Angle
): it is a companion to ViewDeviation. It is another way to specify how finely to generate the mesh for rendering on screen or when exporting. The default value is28.5 degrees
, or0.5 radians
. This is the maximum value, the smaller the value the smoother the appearance will be in the 3D view, and the finer the mesh that will be exported. - ViewDeviation (
FloatConstraint
): it is a companion to ViewAngular Deflection. It is another way to specify how finely to generate the mesh for rendering on screen or when exporting. The default value is0.5%
. This is the maximum value, the smaller the value the smoother the appearance will be in the 3D view, and the finer the mesh that will be exported.
The deviation is a value in percentage that is related to the dimensions in millimeters of the bounding box of the object. The deviation in millimeters can be calculated as follows:
deviation_in_mm = (w + h + d)/3 * deviation/100
where w
, h
, d
are the bounding box dimensions.
- ViewDraw Style (
Enumeration
):Solid
(default),Dashed
,Dotted
,Dashdot
; defines the style of the edges in the 3D view. - ViewLighting (
Enumeration
):Two side
(default),One side
; the illumination comes from two sides or one side in the 3D view. - ViewLine Color (
Color
): a tuple of three floating point RGB values(r,g,b)
to define the color of the edges in the 3D view; by default it is(0.09, 0.09, 0.09)
, which is displayed as[25,25,25]
on base 255, almost black . - ViewLine Width (
FloatConstraint
): a float that determines the width in pixels of the edges in the 3D view. It defaults to2.0
. - ViewPoint Color (
Color
): similar to ViewLine Color, defines the color of the vertices. - ViewPoint Size (
FloatConstraint
): similar to ViewLine Width, defines the size of the vertices. - ViewShape Color (
Color
): similar to ViewLine Color, defines the color of the faces. It defaults to(0.8, 0.8, 0.8)
, which is displayed as[204,204,204]
on base 255, a light gray. - ViewTransparency (
Percent
): an integer from0
to100
(a percentage) that determines the level of transparency of the faces in the 3D view. A value of100
indicates completely invisible faces; the faces are invisible but they can still be picked as long as ViewSelectable istrue
.
Selection
- ViewOn Top When Selected (
Enumeration
):Disabled
(default),Enabled
,Object
,Element
. - ViewSelectable (
Bool
): if it istrue
, the object can be picked with the pointer in the 3D view. Otherwise, the object cannot be selected until this option is set totrue
. - ViewSelection Style (
Enumeration
):Shape
(default),BoundBox
. If the option isShape
, the entire shape (vertices, edges, and faces) will be highlighted in the 3D view; if it isBoundBox
only the bounding box will be highlighted.
Hidden properties View
Object Style
- View (hidden)Diffuse Color (
ColorList
): it is a list of RGB tuples defining colors, similar to ViewShape Color. It defaults to a list of one[(0.8, 0.8, 0.8)]
. - View (hidden)Line Color Array (
ColorList
): it is a list of RGB tuples defining colors, similar to ViewLine Color. It defaults to a list of one[(0.09, 0.09, 0.09)]
. - View (hidden)Line Material (
Material
): an App Material associated with the edges in this object. By default it is empty. - View (hidden)Point Color Array (
ColorList
): it is a list of RGB tuples defining colors, similar to ViewPoint Color. It defaults to a list of one[(0.09, 0.09, 0.09)]
. - View (hidden)Point Material (
Material
): an App Material associated with the vertices in this object. By default it is empty. - View (hidden)Shape Material (
Material
): an App Material associated with this object. By default it is empty.
Base
- View (hidden)Proxy (
PythonObject
): a custom viewprovider class associated with this object. This only exists for the Python version. See Scripting.
Deviation value
Deflection parameters of BRepMesh_IncrementalMesh
algorithm; d < linear deflection, α < angular deflection.
See the forum thread, Deviation and Angular deflection.
Scripting
See also: FreeCAD Scripting Basics, and scripted objects.
A Part Feature is created with the addObject()
method of the document.
import FreeCAD as App
doc = App.newDocument()
obj = App.ActiveDocument.addObject("Part::Feature", "Name")
obj.Label = "Custom label"
This basic Part::Feature
doesn't have a Proxy object so it can't be fully used for sub-classing.
Therefore, for Python subclassing, you should create the Part::FeaturePython
object.
import FreeCAD as App
doc = App.newDocument()
obj = App.ActiveDocument.addObject("Part::FeaturePython", "Name")
obj.Label = "Custom label"
Name
See also: Object name.
The addObject
function has two basic string arguments.
- The first argument indicates the type of object, in this case,
"Part::FeaturePython"
. - The second argument is a string that defines the
Name
attribute. If it is not provided, it defaults to the same name as the class, that is,"Part__FeaturePython"
.- The
Name
can only include simple alphanumeric characters, and the underscore,[_0-9a-zA-Z]
. If other symbols are given, these will be converted to underscores; for example,"A+B:C*"
is converted to"A_B_C_"
. - The
Name
cannot start with a number; it must start with a letter or the underscore,[_a-zA-Z]
. For example,"123ABC"
is converted to"_23ABC"
. - The
Name
is fixed at creation time; it cannot be modified afterwards. - The
Name
must be unique in the entire document. If the same"Name"
is used at creation time with many objects, a sequential number will be appended automatically so that the resulting names are unique; for example, if"Name"
already exists, then new objects will be called"Name001"
,"Name002"
,"Name003"
, etc.
- The
Label
If desired, the Label
attribute can be changed to a more meaningful text.
- Upon creating the object, the
Label
is the same as theName
. - However, unlike the
Name
, theLabel
can accept any UTF8 string, including accents and spaces. Since the tree view displays theLabel
, it is a good practice to change theLabel
to a more descriptive string. - By default the
Label
is unique, just like theName
. However, this behavior can be changed in the preferences editor, Edit → Preferences → General → Document → Allow duplicate object labels in one document. This means that in general theLabel
may be repeated in the same document; when testing for a specific element the user should rely on theName
rather than on theLabel
.
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