TechDraw Annotation

GeometricHatch

LeaderLine

TechDraw

Description

The TechDraw Annotation tool adds a text block to a drawing page.

Annotation in the drawing page

Usage

1. If there are multiple drawing pages in the document: optionally activate the desired page by selecting it in the Tree view.
2. There are several ways to invoke the tool:
   • Press the Insert Annotation button.
   • Select the TechDraw → Annotations → Insert Annotation option from the menu.
3. If there are multiple drawing pages in the document and you have not yet activated a page, the Page Chooser dialog box opens:
   1. Select the desired page.
   2. Press the OK button.
4. A text block containing Default Text appears on the page.
5. Use the Property editor to change the text.
6. Optionally drag the Annotation to the different position.

Modifying the annotation through the Property editor

Notes

• Some characters interfere with the internal representation of the Annotation text. Specifically, these are the double quote ", less than <, and greater than > symbols; these must be replaced by HTML escape characters, ", <, and > respectively. See Character encodings in HTML for details.

Properties

The Annotation inherits all applicable basic View properties except DataScale. Use the DataTextSize property instead.

• DataText: The text to be displayed.
• DataFont: The name of the font to use. Annotation will use the best match of installed fonts.
• DataTextColor: The color of the text.
• DataTextSize: The size of the text in mm.
• DataMaxWidth: The maximum width of the Annotation block. -1 indicates no maximum width.
• DataLineSpace: Line spacing adjustment (%).
• DataTextStyle: "Normal", "Bold", "Italic", "Bold-Italic"

Scripting

See also: Autogenerated API documentation and FreeCAD Scripting Basics.

The New Annotation tool can be used in macros and from the Python console by using the following functions:

anno = FreeCAD.ActiveDocument.addObject('TechDraw::DrawViewAnnotation','TestAnno')
anno.Text = ['Different Text']
anno.TextStyle = 'Bold'
rc = page.addView(anno)

GeometricHatch

LeaderLine

TechDraw

TechDraw

• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• Miscellaneous: Remove Cosmetic Object

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• Additional: Line Groups, Templates, Hatching, Geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, Preferences

User documentation

• 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

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• Help: Tutorials, Video tutorials
• Workbenches: Std Base, Assembly, BIM, CAM, Draft, FEM, Inspection, Material, Mesh, OpenSCAD, Part, PartDesign, Points, Reverse Engineering, Robot, Sketcher, Spreadsheet, Surface, TechDraw, Test Framework

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• Addons: Addon Manager, External workbenches, Scripting and macros

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• Hubs: User hub, Power users hub, Developer hub