TechDraw Hatching
Description
The TechDraw workbench includes two hatching tools:
TechDraw Hatch (based on tiled SVG or bitmap images)
TechDraw GeometricHatch (line based)
Image based hatch
TechDraw Hatch uses tiled SVG or bitmap (introduced in version 0.21) images to cover the selected Face. The origin of the tiling grid will match the geometric center of the face.
SVG tiles are typically 64x64 pixel images. All pattern files that come with FreeCAD are available on GitHub.
Bitmap based patterns are displayed with a fixed resolution of 10 px/mm relative to the page.
The default hatch pattern file can be specified in the TechDraw Preferences.
Available SVG patterns
-
aluminium
-
brick01
-
concrete
-
cross
-
cuprous
-
diagonal1
-
diagonal2
-
earth
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general_steel
-
glass
-
hatch45L
-
hatch45R
-
hbone
-
line
-
plastic
-
plus
-
simple
-
solid
-
square
-
steel
-
titanium
-
wood
-
woodgrain
-
zinc
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/
- freecad-daily PPA:
- Pages: Insert Default Page, Insert Page using Template, Update template fields, Redraw Page, Print All Pages, Export Page as SVG, Export Page as DXF
- Views:
- TechDraw views: Insert View, Insert Broken View, Insert Section View, Insert Complex Section View, Insert Detail View, Insert Projection Group, Insert Clip Group, Insert SVG Symbol, Insert Bitmap Image, Share View, Turn View Frames On/Off, Project Shape
- Views from other workbenches: Insert Active View, Insert Draft Workbench Object, Insert BIM Workbench Object, Insert Spreadsheet View
- Stacking: Move view to top of stack, Move view to bottom of stack, Move view up one level, Move view down one level
- Dimensions: Insert Dimension, Insert Length Dimension, Insert Horizontal Dimension, Insert Vertical Dimension, Insert Radius Dimension, Insert Diameter Dimension, Insert Angle Dimension, Insert 3-Point Angle Dimension, Insert Area Annotation, Create Arc Length Dimension, Insert Horizontal Extent Dimension, Insert Vertical Extent Dimension, 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, Insert Balloon Annotation, Insert Axonometric Length Dimension, Insert Landmark Dimension, Dimension Repair, Link Dimension to 3D Geometry
- Hatching: Hatch Face using Image File, Apply Geometric Hatch to Face,
- 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: Insert '⌀' Prefix, Insert '□' Prefix, Insert 'n×' Prefix, Remove Prefix, Increase Decimal Places, Decrease Decimal Places
- Miscellaneous: Remove Cosmetic Object
- Additional: Line Groups, Templates, Hatching, Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, Preferences

- Getting started
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