TechDraw Balloons

[Kunda1]

Did this get mentioned in the 0.19 release notes ?

[chrisb]

P.S. I used to add them in Inkscape.

Mee too. It is the best way for now.

I don't think so at all. The best way for me is to use balloons directly in FreeCAD. Easy to handle, looking great, what else can be expected?

[liutas4x4]

I am not speaking about balloons only. It is about all graphics, about total editing of drawings.
Sorry to mention it, but FC drawings are looking too non-pro for now.
Old DrawingDimentioning WB was far better. But even after DD WB there were a lot of corrections in second graphic editor.

Hope it will be better one day )))

Yours,
Eugenijus.

[triplus]

Mee too. It is the best way for now.

The truth is things have substantially improved, over the last couple of years. An average technical drawing should now be doable in FreeCAD, not requiring much post-processing in external software at all. I have just noticed:

https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=39571

All in all, from drawing templates, different types of views, dimensions, hatching, balloons, welding symbols, tolerances, tables, standards compliance ... Huge improvements all over.

[freecad-heini-1]

What is the possibility to dock the starting point of a balloon to another edge? After a restart of Freecad the points were lost. How can you reset them quickly and easily so that they stay on the view if it is moved?

[wandererfan]

What is the possibility to dock the starting point of a balloon to another edge? After a restart of Freecad the points were lost. How can you reset them quickly and easily so that they stay on the view if it is moved?

drag moves the bubble. ctrl + drag moves the point. The arrow and bubble should travel with the view when the view is dragged.

Which points were lost? There was a recent change to fix positioning issues - https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/pull/2837.

[freecad-heini-1]

drag moves the bubble. ctrl + drag moves the point. The arrow and bubble should travel with the view when the view is dragged.

Thank you very much. That works.

[KenSimmons]

Hi there, new to FreeCAD. I have used TurboCAD in the past. My interest is in aircraft sheet metal work. Over the past 5-6 years TurboCAD has been improving with Bend / Unbend tools. But is still limited in data inputs. I noticed that FreeCAD sheet metal workbench has K factors. I would like to be able to add "rivet location" symbols to prints. Such as the NAS523 symbol. There are four quadrants, each quadrant will have a different code letter or code number. I believe Blocks allow for data inputs and symbols are fixed. How are they different from Balloons. With sheet metal work you deal with layout patterns, setbacks, Bend Allowances, Bend radius's, Rivet Edge Distances, Rivet Transverse Pitch distances.

[wandererfan]

Hi there, new to FreeCAD. I have used TurboCAD in the past. My interest is in aircraft sheet metal work. Over the past 5-6 years TurboCAD has been improving with Bend / Unbend tools. But is still limited in data inputs. I noticed that FreeCAD sheet metal workbench has K factors. I would like to be able to add "rivet location" symbols to prints. Such as the NAS523 symbol. There are four quadrants, each quadrant will have a different code letter or code number. I believe Blocks allow for data inputs and symbols are fixed. How are they different from Balloons. With sheet metal work you deal with layout patterns, setbacks, Bend Allowances, Bend radius's, Rivet Edge Distances, Rivet Transverse Pitch distances.

Hi Ken, welcome to the forum. Full disclosure: I don't know much about the sheet metal work bench and I had never heard of the NAS523 symbol until I read this note. So thanks for expanding my horizons.

I see a couple of problems with using the existing Balloon feature as NAS523 symbol. Balloons don't do multiple lines easily and a Balloon only has one leader.

I've posted a request for input to the sheet metal folks here: https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 49#p373049

[KenSimmons]

Wandererfan thanks for the reply. I suspect that 'Blocks" would be the method used, but I am not a CAD expert. Never could get it to work in TurboCAD the way "I think it may work" with a CAD program. Originally I was just browsing the forum, with no intention of asking a question until...
Will look for the Sheet metal section.