Thickness of the smooth lines

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cehjan
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Thickness of the smooth lines

Post by cehjan »

According to the standard in some countries, smooth lines should be at least half as thin as visible edges. Does anyone know how to change the thickness of smooth visible lines in Techdraw workbench.

I've searched both the forum and google and can't find how this can be done.
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wandererfan
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Re: Thickness of the smooth lines

Post by wandererfan »

cehjan wrote: Wed Feb 08, 2023 8:52 pm According to the standard in some countries, smooth lines should be at least half as thin as visible edges. Does anyone know how to change the thickness of smooth visible lines in Techdraw workbench.
We only use two widths when drawing: "Thick" for visible lines and "Thin" for hidden lines. You could use TechDraw_DecorateLine if there are only a few lines.

If this is a widely used convention, we could file a feature request so the idea doesn't get forgotten.

Just for reference: TechDraw_LineGroup
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FBXL5
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Re: Thickness of the smooth lines

Post by FBXL5 »

wandererfan wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 2:52 am If this is a widely used convention...
I as well think it is.
Even before it became common to use only 2 line widths smooth lines were drawn with "Thin" lines (in the DIN/ISO part of the world), as far as I remember.

On theTechDraw line group page I found this section of the LineGroup.csv:

Code: Select all

;FreeCAD LineGroup Definitions
;Format: *GroupName,thin,graphic,thick,extra
;thin: hidden lines
;graphic: dimensions, centerlines
;thick: visible lines
;extra: not implemented
Is it just for information or does it relate the line widths with the line type?

Centerlines should also be thin by default - this is the case in my not so recent LineGroup.csv.
Is this an outdated wiki entry that should be corrected?
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wandererfan
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Re: Thickness of the smooth lines

Post by wandererfan »

FBXL5 wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 9:17 am Is it just for information or does it relate the line widths with the line type?
The wiki text is taken from the comments in the LineGroup.csv file.

A quick scan of the source code gives this as the current line width usage:

thick/"visible"
visible lines

thin/"hidden"
hidden lines
dimension lines
section lines
center lines

graphic/"isoparameter"
leader line
rich anno frame
geometric hatch line

extra/"extrawidth"
not used

edit: added missing '['. Thanks @onekk
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onekk
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Re: Thickness of the smooth lines

Post by onekk »

wandererfan wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 4:41 pm ...
Probably one [ missed.

Sadly I have to check all my reposts, as for me it happens a lot :lol: or :oops: ?

Regards and Thanks for your work.

Carlo D.
GitHub page: https://github.com/onekk/freecad-doc.
- In deep articles on FreeCAD.
- Learning how to model with scripting.
- Various other stuffs.

Blog: https://okkmkblog.wordpress.com/
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cehjan
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Re: Thickness of the smooth lines

Post by cehjan »

I was hoping that it could be done and that it was just my problem.

Thicknesses and types of lines are very important in technical drawing and are precisely prescribed by the standard. In the following table you can see the purpose of individual lines.

It seems to me that according to the ISO standard, smooth visible lines should not go to the end of the edge, but similar to what is shown in the image below.
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wandererfan
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Re: Thickness of the smooth lines

Post by wandererfan »

cehjan wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 6:51 pm It seems to me that according to the ISO standard, smooth visible lines should not go to the end of the edge, but similar to what is shown in the image below.
I only have access to a small subset of the various drawing standards.

Does anybody know the rule for long smooth visible lines should be? 95% of the edge? 90%?
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cehjan
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Re: Thickness of the smooth lines

Post by cehjan »

Unfortunately, I did not come across this information either during my education or in the companies where I worked. It was always mentioned that it should not go all the way and that it should be determined visually how far it should go.

With Solid Edge, it's relative, no matter how much I zoom in, the distance from the end of the smooth edge to the edge is the same. Also if I save in dwg format when I open it again in some other CAD software the smooth edges go to the edge, there is no gap ie. it turns out that Solid Edge only simulates gap.
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FBXL5
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Re: Thickness of the smooth lines

Post by FBXL5 »

cehjan wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 10:44 pm Unfortunately, I did not come across this information either during my education or in the companies where I worked. It was always mentioned that it should not go all the way and that it should be determined visually how far it should go.
That applies to me, too.

Why not using a thicknes factor for the gaps at the ends, similar to those on the extension lines? (gap = x * line width)
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