TechDraw Workbench
FreeCAD is primarily a 3D modelling tool. There are times, however, when we must produce 2D drawings for documentation, manufacturing instructions, contracts, permits, etc. The Technical Drawing workbench (TechDraw) is used to produce basic technical drawings based on the 3D model. 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.
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 module may be removed in future releases. To keep up with TechDraw plans and developments, visit the TechDraw Roadmap.
Note: if your primary goal is the production of complex 2D drawings, 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 Pages.
- File:TechDraw New Default.png New Default: Adds a new Page using the default Template.
- File:TechDraw New Pick.png New Pick: Adds a new Page using a selected Template.
Views
These are tools for creating Views.
- File:Techdraw-view.png New View: Adds a 2D View of a one or more Drawable Objects.
- File:Techdraw-projgroup.png New Projection Group: Invokes a dialog for creating Views of one or more Drawable Objects from multiple directions.
- File:Techdraw-viewsection.png New Section: Adds a cross-section View of one or more Drawable Objects.
- File:Techdraw-viewdetail.png New Detail: Adds a detail View of a portion of an existing View.
- File:Techdraw-annotation.png New Annotation: Adds a text block to a Page.
- File:Techdraw-draft-view.png New Draft: Adds a View of a Draft module object.
- File:Techdraw-arch-view.png New Arch: Adds a View of a Arch module Section Plane object.
- File:Techdraw-spreadsheet.svg Spreadsheet: Inserts a view of a selected spreadsheet into a drawing.
Clips
These are tools to create and manage clipped views.
- File:Techdraw-clip.svg Clip: Inserts a clip group into a Page.
- File:Techdraw-clipplus.svg ClipPlus: Adds a View to a clip group.
- File:Techdraw-clipminus.svg ClipMinus: Removes a View from a clip group.
Dimensions
These are tools for working with Dimensions. Linear dimensions can be based on two points, one line or two lines.
- File:Dimension Length.png New Length: Adds a Length Dimension.
- File:Dimension Horizontal.png New Horizontal: Adds a horizontal distance dimension.
- File:Dimension Vertical.png New Vertical: Adds a vertical distance dimension.
- File:Dimension Radius.png New Radius: Adds a Radius dimension to a circle or circular arc.
- File:Dimension Diameter.png New Diameter: Adds a Diameter dimension to a circle or a circular arc.
- File:Dimension Angle.png New Angle: Adds an Angle dimension between two straight edges.
- File:TechDraw Dimension Angle3Pt.png New Angle3Pt: Adds an Angle dimension using three vertices.
- File:Dimension Link.png New Links: Links 1 or more Dimensions to 3D geometry.
Import/Export
These are tools for exporting Pages to other applications.
- File:Techdraw-saveSVG.png Save SVG: Saves a Page as an SVG file.
- File:TechDraw SaveDXF.png Save DXF: Saves a Page as a DXF file.
Decoration
These are tools for changing the appearance of Pages and Views.
- File:Techdraw-hatch.png Hatch Area: Applies a hatch pattern from a file to a Face.
- File:Techdraw-geomhatch.png Geometric Hatch: Hatches a Face using an Autodesk PAT specification.
- File:Techdraw-symbol.png New Symbol: Inserts an SVG symbol into a Page.
- File:Techdraw-image.png New Image: Inserts a png/jpg image into a Page.
- File:Techdraw-toggleframe.png Toggle Frames: Turns View frames and labels on or off in a Page.
Additional features
- Hatching: TechDraw supports a number of hatching techniques.
- Line Groups: default weights can be assigned to various line types.
Preference settings
The TechDraw module has a preferences screen to adjust default values.
Scripting
The TechDraw Workbench features a Python API that can be used in scripts and macros.
Limitations
- TechDraw drawings and Python API are not interchangeable with the Drawing Module. It is possible to convert Drawing Pages to TechDraw Pages using Python (
moveViews.py
). 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. See forum discussion here.
- Do not Cut/Copy/Paste TechDraw objects. This does not generally work out well.
Workarounds
- None required at the moment.
- Pages: Insert Default Page, Insert Page using Template, Redraw Page, Print All Pages
- Views: Insert View, Insert Active View, Insert Projection Group, Insert Section View, Insert Complex Section View, Insert Detail View, Insert Draft Workbench Object, Insert Arch Workbench Object, Insert Spreadsheet View, Insert Clip Group, Share View, Project Shape
- Stacking: Move view to top of stack, Move view to bottom of stack, Move view up one level, Move view down one level
- Decorations: Hatch Face using Image File, Apply Geometric Hatch to Face, Insert SVG Symbol, Insert Bitmap Image, Turn View Frames On/Off
- Dimensions: Insert Length Dimension, Insert Horizontal Dimension, Insert Vertical Dimension, Insert Radius Dimension, Insert Diameter Dimension, Insert Angle Dimension, Insert 3-Point Angle Dimension, Insert Horizontal Extent Dimension, Insert Vertical Extent Dimension, Link Dimension to 3D Geometry, Insert Balloon Annotation, Insert Axonometric Length Dimension, Insert Landmark Dimension, Adjust Geometric References of Dimension
- Annotations: Insert Annotation, Add Leaderline to View, Insert Rich Text Annotation, Add Cosmetic Vertex, Add Midpoint Vertices, Add Quadrant Vertices, Add Centerline to Faces, Add Centerline between 2 Lines, Add Centerline between 2 Points, Add Cosmetic Line Through 2 points, Add Cosmetic Circle, Change Appearance of Lines, Show/Hide Invisible Edges, Add Welding Information to Leader, Add Surface Finish Symbol, Add Hole or Shaft Tolerances
- Extensions:
- Attributes and modifications: Select Line Attributes, Cascade Spacing and Delta Distance, Change Line Attributes, Extend Line, Shorten Line, Lock/Unlock View, Position Section View, Position Horizontal Chain Dimensions, Position Vertical Chain Dimensions, Position Oblique Chain Dimensions, Cascade Horizontal Dimensions, Cascade Vertical Dimensions, Cascade Oblique Dimensions, Calculate the area of selected faces, Calculate the arc length of selected edges, Customize format label
- Centerlines and threading: Add Circle Centerlines, Add Bolt Circle Centerlines, Add Cosmetic Thread Hole Side View, Add Cosmetic Thread Hole Bottom View, Add Cosmetic Thread Bolt Side View, Add Cosmetic Thread Bolt Bottom View, Add Cosmetic Intersection Vertex(es), Add an offset vertex, Add Cosmetic Circle, Add Cosmetic Arc, Add Cosmetic Circle 3 Points, Add Cosmetic Parallel Line, Add Cosmetic Perpendicular Line
- Dimensions: Create Horizontal Chain Dimensions, Create Vertical Chain Dimensions, Create Oblique Chain Dimensions, Create Horizontal Coordinate Dimensions, Create Vertical Coordinate Dimensions, Create Oblique Coordinate Dimensions, Create Horizontal Chamfer Dimension, Create Vertical Chamfer Dimension, Create Arc Length Dimension, Insert '⌀' Prefix, Insert '〼' Prefix, Remove Prefix, Increase Decimal Places, Decrease Decimal Places
- Export: Export Page as SVG, Export Page as DXF
- Additional: Line Groups, Templates, Hatching, Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, Preferences
- 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