Draft Arc
Draft Arc |
Menu location |
---|
Drafting → Arc tools → Arc |
Workbenches |
Draft, Arch |
Default shortcut |
A R |
Introduced in version |
0.7 |
See also |
Draft Circle, Draft Ellipse, Draft Arc 3Points |
Description
The Draft Arc command creates a circular arc in the current working plane by entering four points, the center, a point that defines the radius, the first end point and the second end point, or by picking tangents, or any combination of those. It uses the Draft Linestyle set on the Draft Tray.
Arc defined by four points, center, radius, initial point of arc and final point of arc.
Usage
- There are several ways to invoke the command:
- Press the Draft Arc button.
- Select the Drafting → Arc tools → Arc option from the menu.
- Use the keyboard shortcut: A then R.
- Click a first point on the 3D view, or type coordinates and press the Enter point button.
- Click a second point on the 3D view, or enter a Radius.
- Click a third point in the 3D view, or enter a Start angle.
- Click a fourth point in the 3D view, or enter an Aperture angle.
Options
- The primary use of the arc tool is by picking four points: the centre, a point on the circumference, the start of the arc, and its end.
- By pressing Alt, you can select a tangent instead of picking point, to define the base circle of the arc. You can therefore construct several types of circles by selecting one, two or three tangents.
- The direction of the arc depends on the movement you are doing with your mouse. If you start to move clockwise after the third point is entered, your arc will go clockwise. To go counter-clockwise, simply move your mouse back over the third point, until the arc starts drawing in the other direction.
- To enter coordinates manually, simply enter the numbers, then press Enter between each X, Y and Z component. You can press the Enter point button when you have the desired values to insert the point.
- Press T or click the checkbox to toggle continue mode. If continue mode is on, the Arc tool will restart after you finish the arc, allowing you to draw another one without pressing the tool button again.
- Hold Ctrl while drawing to force snapping your point to the nearest snap location, independently of the distance.
- Hold Shift while drawing to constrain your point horizontally or vertically in relation to the center.
- Press Esc or the Close button to abort the current command.
Properties
An Arc object shares all properties from a Draft Circle, but some properties only make sense for the circle.
Data
- DataFirst Angle: specifies the angle of the first point of the arc.
- DataLast Angle: specifies the angle of the last point of the arc.
- DataRadius: specifies the radius of the arc.
- DataMake Face: specifies if the arc makes a face or not. This property only works if the shape is a full circle.
- To make an arc a full circle set the DataFirst Angle and DataLast Angle to the same value. The values 0° and 360° aren't considered the same, so if these two values are used, the circle will not form a face.
View
- ViewPattern: specifies a Draft Pattern with which to fill the face of the arc. This property only works if the arc is a full circle, and if DataMake Face is
true
, and if ViewDisplay Mode is "Flat Lines". - ViewPattern Size: specifies the size of the Draft Pattern.
Scripting
See also: Autogenerated API documentation and FreeCAD Scripting Basics.
The Arc tool can be used in macros and from the Python console by using the same function to create circles, with additional arguments. See the information in Draft Circle.
Example:
import Draft
Arc1 = Draft.makeCircle(200, startangle=0, endangle=90)
Arc2 = Draft.makeCircle(500, startangle=20, endangle=160)
Arc3 = Draft.makeCircle(750, startangle=-30, endangle=-150)
- Drafting: Line, Polyline, Fillet, Arc, Arc by 3 points, Circle, Ellipse, Rectangle, Polygon, B-spline, Cubic Bézier curve, Bézier curve, Point, Facebinder, ShapeString, Hatch
- Annotation: Text, Dimension, Label, Annotation styles, Annotation scale
- Modification: Move, Rotate, Scale, Mirror, Offset, Trimex, Stretch, Clone, Array, Polar array, Circular array, Path array, Path link array, Point array, Point link array, Edit, Subelement highlight, Join, Split, Upgrade, Downgrade, Wire to B-spline, Draft to sketch, Set slope, Flip dimension, Shape 2D view
- Draft Tray: Select plane, Set style, Toggle construction mode, AutoGroup
- Snapping: Snap lock, Snap endpoint, Snap midpoint, Snap center, Snap angle, Snap intersection, Snap perpendicular, Snap extension, Snap parallel, Snap special, Snap near, Snap ortho, Snap grid, Snap working plane, Snap dimensions, Toggle grid
- Miscellaneous: Apply current style, Layer, Manage layers, Add a new named group, Move to group, Select group, Add to construction group, Toggle normal/wireframe display, Create working plane proxy, Heal, Show snap toolbar
- Additional: Constraining, Pattern, Preferences, Import Export Preferences, DXF/DWG, SVG, OCA, DAT
- Context menu:
- Layer container: Merge layer duplicates, Add new layer
- Layer: Activate this layer, Select layer contents
- Text: Open hyperlinks
- Wire: Flatten
- Working plane proxy: Write camera position, Write objects state
- Getting started
- Installation: Download, Windows, Linux, Mac, Additional components, Docker, AppImage, Ubuntu Snap
- Basics: About FreeCAD, Interface, Mouse navigation, Selection methods, Object name, Preferences, Workbenches, Document structure, Properties, Help FreeCAD, Donate
- Help: Tutorials, Video tutorials
- Workbenches: Std Base, Assembly, BIM, CAM, Draft, FEM, Inspection, Mesh, OpenSCAD, Part, PartDesign, Points, Reverse Engineering, Robot, Sketcher, Spreadsheet, Surface, TechDraw, Test Framework
- Hubs: User hub, Power users hub, Developer hub