TechDraw Hatching

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Revision as of 09:11, 11 March 2022 by FBXL5 (talk | contribs) (command name -> tool name)

Description

The TechDraw workbench includes two hatching tools:

Usage

  1. Select a Face
  2. Use one of the several ways to invoke either of both hatching commands:
Result: The face will be hatched initially using default values.
Note: Edit the hatch properties to get the desired pattern.

Image based hatch

TechDraw Hatch uses SVG or bitmap based tiles to cover the selected Face.

SVG tiles are typically 64x64 pixel images. All pattern files that come with FreeCAD are available on GitHub.

Any bitmap file can be used (PNG, JPG, etc.) as a fill. Note: Results are best with many small repeated images rather than fewer larger images.

The default hatch pattern file can be specified in the TechDraw Preferences.

Geometric hatch

TechDraw GeometricHatch forms a pattern of lines based on a specification read from a file. This file is generally compatible with the widely used AutoDesk® PAT format. A small selection of patterns is included in the FCPAT.pat file:

; standard PAT patterns

*Diamond, 45 diagonals L & R, Solid, 1.0 mm separation
45,0,0,0,1.0
-45,0,0,0,1.0
*Diamond2, 45 diagonals L & R, Solid, 2.0 mm separation
45,0,0,0,2.0
-45,0,0,0,2.0
*Diamond4, 45 diagonals L & R, Solid, 4.0 mm separation
45,0,0,0,4.0
-45,0,0,0,4.0
*Diagonal4, 45 diagonal R, Solid, 4.0 mm separation
45,0,0,0,4.0
*Diagonal5, 45 diagonal L, Solid, 4.0 mm separation
-45,0,0,0,4.0
*Square, square grid, Solid, 5.0 mm separation 
90,1,1,0,5.0
0,0,0,1,5.0
*Horizontal5, horizontal lines, Solid 5.0 separation
0,0,0,0,5.0
*Vertical5, vertical lines, Solid, 5.0 separation
90,0,0,0,5.0

You can add your own patterns if you have write permission to FCPAT.pat, or you can create your own *.pat file and point to it in TechDraw Preferences.

PAT File Path

The FCPAT.pat file can be found in the following location.

  • Windows: C:\Program Files\FreeCAD\data\Mod\TechDraw\PAT\
  • Mac: /Applications/FreeCAD.app/Contents/Mod/TechDraw/PAT/
  • Linux: /usr/share/freecad/Mod/TechDraw/PAT/
    • freecad-daily PPA: /usr/share/freecad-daily/Mod/TechDraw/PAT/