Using FreeCAD in Windows: Drawing Page

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GustavesF
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Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2016 4:32 pm

Using FreeCAD in Windows: Drawing Page

Post by GustavesF »

The answer to the question should probably be in a "read this first" section of some document, because I've read the tutorials and I can not figure this out at all.

I can send things to my Drawing Page.
An imagePlane, things I've drawn in Draft Mode... except that they are completely invisible.

I can see them in the tree under my "page", a bunch of "View[Something]" objects.
I've changed the scales, rotations, styles, locations, directions, etc. to everything I can think of, but I can't get anything to appear on my A3 drawing page.

I imagine I'm just doing something stupid that's not spelled out in any of the tutorials.

(Like for example, as a new user I had no idea you had to hold "CTRL" for doing anything other than rotating the drawing around.)

Here's my info:
OS: Windows 7
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.16.6706 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: releases/FreeCAD-0-16
Hash: f86a4e411ff7848dea98d7242f43b7774bee8fa0
Python version: 2.7.8
Qt version: 4.8.7
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 6.8.0.oce-0.17
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NormandC
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Re: Using FreeCAD in Windows: Drawing Page

Post by NormandC »

Hello GustavesF,

Welcome here.

It would be easier to help if you attached your FreeCAD file. That way we can figure out what's wrong.
GustavesF wrote:Like for example, as a new user I had no idea you had to hold "CTRL" for doing anything other than rotating the drawing around.
What specifically are you referring to?

Normand
GustavesF
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2016 4:32 pm

Re: Using FreeCAD in Windows: Drawing Page

Post by GustavesF »

What specifically are you referring to?
By default, with a Windows installation the navigation scheme is such that:
Left-Click -> Rotate
Right-Click -> Pan
Ctrl-Left-Click -> Interact/Do Anything (draw a point, draw a line, do a measurement, etc.)

It drove me crazy. I was trying to draw a line for about 2 hours, until I found a forum with someone asking the same question.

Regarding my Drawing issue, I discovered that my problem was that the default scale was such that anything larger than 10mm was off of the page (scale 10) and not visible.

So now I am able to put draft shapes on a Drawing Page, but I am not able to put an image plane onto the Drawing Page.
Is this not possible?
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NormandC
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Re: Using FreeCAD in Windows: Drawing Page

Post by NormandC »

GustavesF wrote:By default, with a Windows installation the navigation scheme is such that:
Left-Click -> Rotate
Right-Click -> Pan
Ctrl-Left-Click -> Interact/Do Anything (draw a point, draw a line, do a measurement, etc.)

It drove me crazy. I was trying to draw a line for about 2 hours, until I found a forum with someone asking the same question.
I can understand that. This is called OpenInventor navigation mode. But I find this very puzzling, because the default navigation mode should be "CAD", and it's actually default on Ubuntu. I really don't understand why it's different for some people on Windows.

You can change it to many more navigation modes that may be more to your liking. I've never found OpenInventor useful myself. Mouse Model
GustavesF wrote:Regarding my Drawing issue, I discovered that my problem was that the default scale was such that anything larger than 10mm was off of the page (scale 10) and not visible.
Great that you figured that out. You also need to fiddle with the X and Y coordinates to place your view. And if you don't know already, the Y axis goes downward, the XY 0,0 coordinates are at the top left corner of the page.

Another hint: when you select the Page object, you will see "Hint" values for X, Y and scale in its properties (in the "Data" tab). change them to what you need, and before creating a view, select both the page and the objects you want to create a View from. The created view will automatically adopt the "Hint" values.
GustavesF wrote:I am not able to put an image plane onto the Drawing Page.
Is this not possible?
You're talking about the image plane object created in the Image workbench? I never tried that before. Since it's not a shape, the Drawing View tool won't work with it; I used the Draft Drawing tool and it did create a ViewImagePlane object on the page, but it shows empty in the page no matter what scale and coordinates I use.

I'm guessing it was never meant to be added on a Page, I'd guess the fact a View object is created is the actual bug.

There's a way to add an image to a Drawing Page, but it's a little convoluted and requires third-party software:
  1. Download and install Inkscape open-source vector graphics editor
  2. Open Inkscape, open the image and save it as "Inkscape SVG"
  3. Go back to FreeCAD, switch to the Drawing workbench, create a Page
  4. Click on the Image Drawing Symbol icon, select your image.
There's a new Drawing workbench being developed called "TechDraw" which will be available in the next release (0.17) and it will include a tool to import a bitmap image directly.
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sgrogan
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Re: Using FreeCAD in Windows: Drawing Page

Post by sgrogan »

NormandC wrote:I can understand that. This is called OpenInventor navigation mode. But I find this very puzzling, because the default navigation mode should be "CAD", and it's actually default on Ubuntu. I really don't understand why it's different for some people on Windows.
I'll test this but "Cad" should be the default on Win as well :?
"Cad" is the default. I can't get to "OpenInventor" Navigation Styles with random clicks, although it is first on the list?
"fight the good fight"
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NormandC
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Re: Using FreeCAD in Windows: Drawing Page

Post by NormandC »

This issue appears from time to time with newcomers, and I doubt all of them have purposely switched their navigation mode to OpenInventor. It seems far fetched, but IMO it can only be explained by some installations having it somehow by default. :?
GustavesF
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Re: Using FreeCAD in Windows: Drawing Page

Post by GustavesF »

Since it's the first time I am using FreeCAD I can say that I definitely didn't venture into the settings at any point.
It's the first option in the list, maybe if the software can't find a configuration file it defaults to OpenInventor style?

Thanks for all the help. I look forward to version 0.17!
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NormandC
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Re: Using FreeCAD in Windows: Drawing Page

Post by NormandC »

GustavesF wrote:Since it's the first time I am using FreeCAD I can say that I definitely didn't venture into the settings at any point.
Thanks for confirming what I've suspected for a long time.
GustavesF wrote:It's the first option in the list, maybe if the software can't find a configuration file it defaults to OpenInventor style?
I think that's a valid assumption. I'm not a coder so I cannot check on it...

Maybe the order in which the navigation modes are listed should be changed.
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