FreeCAD Learn the Basics of Tech Draw Workbench in 15 minutes. Technical Drawing Beginners Tutorial

Using a basic FreeCAD example we learn how to add views from different angles, add section views, add dimensions such as width, height, distance and radius, add shading, change font and point size, scale, rotate, navigate, export and change the default template / page layout. This tutorial should help you get up and running in tech draw workbench in under 15 minutes.
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[@ronjones4069]

One of the best tutorials I have ever seen. Very helpful, to the point and not a lot of fancy things, just to basics. You were teaching us something, anc not showing off with how much you know. Great video, thak you.

[@MangoJellySolutions]

So glad it's helpful. I do like doing the quick self contained 15 minute ones. It constrains the amount of information to the minimum needed to get the job done. I have to put together some more. Thank you for your kind comment and so glad your enjoying the videos. All the best.

[@cheesedoff-with4410]

Yes, I realise I've spent all my time with FreeCAD 3D modelling. I've so far avoided, or rather got by without a drawingsheet and title block. You've made it possible to start churning out drawings. Thanks

[@MangoJellySolutions]

Great to hear its helped 👍😊

[@gregwoolley]

Another really well made tutorial. Imparting a lot of information very quickly and clearly. Much thanks!

[@MangoJellySolutions]

Glad you enjoyed it, at some point I would like to do similar videos with other workbenches.

[@abdelkaderkaouane1944]

Both of you re amazing, You and FreeCad.

[@therealkinghimself]

Thank you again for doing these videos

[@MangoJellySolutions]

My pleasure! :)

[@ShamanthS13]

Concise and informative! Thanks!

[@MangoJellySolutions]

Thank you 👍😁

[@Allegedly2right]

Haha that’s the way to do it nice to watch a master at work 10/10

[@MangoJellySolutions]

Glad you enjoyed it! And thank you 😁👍👍

[@Drew_pew_pew_pew]

May have missed it but it's important to add that if you use dimensions, the ones shown are projected. To get the actual dimensions you have to link them with the 3d geometry

[@meisievannancy]

Thanks. Very useful video.

[@johncpescod]

Your FreeCAD videos are so good. You are one of a rare breed who manage to get the message across well. After originally downloading FreeCad several years ago but getting nowhere fast, I've downloaded the most recent 0.2 version. Your videos really make the difference. However my main interest in FreeCAD is to be able to help my daughter and her husband who are architects. Your Tech Draw workbench is a good start, but I would really like to see videos using the Arch and BIM workbenches. The few that do exist for architects date from several years ago and most are really not good at all. Would you consider making some videos showing how FreeCAD can be used for building design, presentations and drawings for the builders? Top on my list would be have a fully parameteric model with such things as composite walls, and being able to put in doors and windows and producing the sections for the builders.

[@MangoJellySolutions]

Thank you for the comments, glad your enjoying the videos. I am looking at doing a series with the arch and bim workbench, as you say not much new material out there but I am trying to figure out where to start.

[@johncpescod]

@@MangoJellySolutions Most architects in small offices work in 2D typically AutoCad but I see many advantages to start in 3D especially for multifloor buildings. In any case you always start with 2D sketches and then "extrude" them with the wall, columns, beam, piping etc. I love your Python Macro videos too. You would gather a lot of interest showing an example with a python macro where you generate a multi-layered wall starting from a 2d rectangle for example. These types of examples would be something you could hide behind your pay wall. Thx again.

[@MangoJellySolutions]

@@johncpescod Thank you for the information, I don't have much architecturally experience but it is something that I want to get into. Thanks for the ideas I will add it to my list and you should see something start to arrive in the near future. Normally with this I do some one off tutorials and then roll in some larger projects

[@johncpescod]

This is not the place to ask but there is something I'm looking for but can't find in FC. In SketchUp you can find the length/area or volume of line/surface or volume by selecting the object and then right-clicking to see these properties. Can you do something similar in FC?

[@DavidLindes]

@@johncpescod I think you can see area computed in the properties on an object in the ComboView... at least for stuff made in Arch -- which, I too would love to see content on. I've found some, but so far they're all either assuming too much knowledge, and/or just doing something quite different from what I want to do, which is to basically build a model of the space I live in, and perhaps make some drawings from that that I could print out, walk around with and mark up with detailed measurements/annotations to come back and update the model, and then maybe print again with things like layouts of where circuit breakers map to, etc.

[@sana7876]

many thanks ,this very useful for engineering

[@RealMemeGang]

Спасибо, очень выручил.

[@goldstandard7406]

Great video, I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. When I hit add view, I only get the word view on my page. No image shows up. Any help is awesome. There is something simple I'm just not aware of

[@MangoJellySolutions]

Thank you, in regards to your question you need to select a body or a part from either the screen or treeview then hit insert view. The part needs to be visible. This will add anything you have selected, so if it's a sketch then that will be added (which can be handy 😊)

[@volkan_youtube]

Thanks a lot 🙏

[@Appregator]

Anyone else struggling to get an "Insert View" showing the object selected drawing. This was my experience, but somewhat solved it with Scale. I really struggled with scale as my drawings just did not appear at all on the View A4 page window. Just a flash of colours from my drawing. The Solution I found was to set the Scale to Auto in the *preferences* . I deleted all previous Views I had inserted and then after selecting ALL of my drawing I pressed the Insert View button and it worked fine. Then in the parameters window for the View i see the Auto had scaled my drawing to 0.01 (No wonder I couldn't see it at the default of "Page" set at 1.0 ) I could then go to the properties "View" window and change auto to custom then edit this "0.01" scale in the properties window,. Set it to 0.02 and hit refresh. It worked. But set it back to Auto and was happy with the 0.01 scale. I suppose one could select Custom but then it is a mission to find the scale. I found that if I re-selected Page (seems to be the default on my 0.21 FreeCAD version) with its scale set at 1 in the preferences, then the drawing is enormous (in my case) and when I hit Insert View, then when I go to the properties list in the View, then selecting Auto there will not adjust its scale even after a refresh. It looks like Auto must be selected from preferences first and then it scales correctly, if there is a big relative size. My last hurdle is that the scale 0.01 is still too large and I can't make it say 0.005 as the scale does not seem to allow scaling to the 3rd decimal point. Will look for a solution and if anyone has ideas then I'd be happy to know what else to do.

[@MarkFraserWeather]

The other way of creating multiple views is to use the "insert projection group". This allows you to add multiple views in one go in either 1st or 3rd angle projection.

[@sh3riff]

Very good tutorial! The issue I'm having is the 2nd and 3rd images I insert. The lines are thinner than the first one and look more greyed out. Any suggestions?

[@MangoJellySolutions]

Glad you enjoyed. For the point size: Preferences->TechDraw->VertexScale For the LineWidth: It can be changed in the View attributes of each view in the section Lines, or globally in Preferences->TechDraw->Annotation->LineWidthGroup

[@picflight]

Is there a video for the house floor, walls and roof? Should a house be drawn as a part or using the ARCH work bench to ultimately be used for permits and construction.

[@MangoJellySolutions]

Not yet but I am working on some architecture tutorials. The example was just for techdraw. I should of used something other than a house to save confusion. If your designing a house / building etc then you would use Arch WB.

[@davidbolliger5470]

Thank you for your time with these. I'm following along with a simple design and when I select "insert view" (timestamp 3:31) all that shows up on the drawing page is a green dotted outlined word "View". I've looked for some refresh or update way and not familiar with FC enough to know where things are. This is very reproducable. Any guidance would be appreciated.

[@dea6492]

Thank you!

[@jylfarm1964]

If I wanted to print the real dimension of the roof, I am still at a lost to get the house at the proper angle to get the roof flat on paper. (and get the real dimension)

[@ricobass0253]

Nice and clear. Thanks. 2 yrs on now, it would be nice to have an update. e.g how do you change line width in Techdraw. It's got me foxed (v 0.21.2 R33771)

[@robertlopez4801]

I am good at 123design, I can import my 3d models into freecad. how do I add it tothe page template? I am having issues.

[@kostyantynbrazhko2510]

hi. i am just starting my CAD experience. do you have a video of 2D drawing basics eg. floor plan?

[@MangoJellySolutions]

No sorry its something that I need to add to the collection.

[@solarenergynow08]

Is it possible for you to make a tutorial about how to trace a house from different photos? I've viewed your "tracing from photos project" and they are great but my need/want is to trace my own house from several pictures to plan addition/remodelling and it seems a bit overwhelming..thanks

[@MaryThompson63]

Is there a way to have rulers or a grid on the page to help with placement of views and notes?

[@3dprintwiz378]

Mine has a solid view instead of lines. How do you remove the solid colors?

[@aneka_funny_video]

kenapa menu techdraw aplikasi freecad tidak bisa di buka di wondows 11?

[@roykoxley7512]

For some reason all my Techdraw Icons are greyed out and no matter what I have done I cannot activate them. I have followed your video closely also all my libraries were blank I am using version 0.20.2. what am I missing please?

[@molbar77]

Hi Folks, Anybody could give me a hint why I cannot use dimensions in my Tech Draw page? I Inserted Arch Object to Tech Draw from Arch Section View adding the structures I want to be seen to the Section View. Everything fine only I cannot use dimensions as buttons are not active. Also on the imported view item I don't see point on the vertexes it seems like a "picture" inserted.

[@sp7067]

Sometimes techdraw doesn't detect faces, i.e. when trying to apply hatch pattern. Any idea how this can be fixed?

[@yakdaymar6659]

Good👍👍👍👍💯thank you

[@leeo.alexander2324]

I am working with this video to customize my drawings in FC-0.2 using Preferences. I can't change the Scale without indicating Custom. If I leave it on Page the Scale will only show a download arrow and the Scale is not editable. Also, when I attempt to use Techdraw my system slows way down and sometimes it just hangs and responds with "Freecad is not responding", and it crashes requiring me to rerun it from the beginning. I am running on Windows 10, with current updates, on a system that I custom-built. I can create drawings but it seems to be a hassle working in Techdraw.

[@aneka_funny_video]

why can't the freecad application techdraw menu be opened in windows 11?

[@TheSillybits]

Is it possible to add 1 or more rendered views of a body into techdraw?

[@freecadfundamentals292]

I have very little experience with the more esoteric features of TechDraw such as the "Active View" option, which is supposed to insert rendered views. It seems to me possibly better to use something like Blender to render an an exported model (stl) then import that into the drawing either during the TechDraw process or after completing the TechDraw page. You don't need to learn much in Blender to do this and the two packages work nicely together at a simple level. MangoJelly may have another solution which I too would be interested to hear.

[@MangoJellySolutions]

There is and techdraw offers a option, you can add in a render view from the top toolbar option but the quality is not very good. It would be best to create a render by adding a material and then taking a snapshot. This is a very simple render that freecad offers which you can import into the tech draw. As an image I use the feature in my tutorials for creating a logo from svg. It's the last video. The snapshot can be inserted into the technical drawing. Other options as kindly mentioned from a channel supporter in the comments is to use something like Blender.

[@dariuszjaniak5574]

Video looks promising, just please explain in the first place how to get freecad house.body drawing?

[@markturner4916]

no 'techdraw' on the menu at the top of my version of freecad