2D Printing from Draft Workbench - Impossible?

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bluewave
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 11:29 pm

2D Printing from Draft Workbench - Impossible?

Post by bluewave »

I made a floor plan using draft - looks good enough on the screen! But now I can't find a way to print a decent quality version of it.

So a warning - if you make something using the draft workbench, it might end up stuck there (and only viewable there)!!??

Things I have tried:

- exporting to DWG / DXF, to then try to print with LibreCAD (various problems - often nothing is exported. Or no dimensions / annotations. Or if using legacy export - gives error about a line color being unspecified.) Never succeeded in getting a good quality version exported to LibreCAD.

- Export to PDF - get low-res bitmap, with no page size or resolution settings available

- Print to PDF - get low-res bitmap

- Export to flattened svg - unusable messed up image with lots missing

- Techdraw workbench
View problems:
- No fill patterns appear in views
- Filled shapes are sometimes tapered / distorted in view
- dashed or dotted lines all become solid in view
- random bits missing - e.g. some dimension lines (and not others) - some annotations or parts of annotations missing

Have spent more time trying to print this, than making it...I must be missing something

UPDATE:
The ONLY thing I've found that gives a good quality printable image is:
Tools > Save Picture > [set high resolution in EXTENDED button]

Then you have a good image (albeit only a bitmap) you can print into a pdf etc.

But no way to get to a decent quality vector image it seems? I'll attach the file in case someone knows a better way?

Code: Select all

OS: Windows 10 Version 2009
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.20.2.29177 +426 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: (HEAD detached from 0.20.2)
Hash: 930dd9a76203a3260b1e6256c70c1c3cad8c5cb8
Python 3.8.10, Qt 5.15.2, Coin 4.0.1, Vtk 8.2.0, OCC 7.6.3
Locale: English/New Zealand (en_NZ)
Installed mods: 
  * dxf-library
  * kicadStepUpMod
Attachments
floor_plan.FCStd
(295.1 KiB) Downloaded 19 times
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thomas-neemann
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Re: 2D Printing from Draft Workbench - Impossible?

Post by thomas-neemann »

if this quality is sufficient for you, i can shoot a video for you and link it via private message
me_pc50_PDF-job_341.pdf
(617.22 KiB) Downloaded 44 times
Gruß Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Thomas Neemann

https://www.youtube.com/@thomasneemann5 ... ry=freecad
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Roy_043
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Re: 2D Printing from Draft Workbench - Impossible?

Post by Roy_043 »

bluewave wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:53 am - Techdraw workbench
View problems:
- No fill patterns appear in views
- Filled shapes are sometimes tapered / distorted in view
- dashed or dotted lines all become solid in view
- random bits missing - e.g. some dimension lines (and not others) - some annotations or parts of annotations missing
No fill patterns appear in views:
* Use TechDraw_DraftView.

Filled shapes are sometimes tapered / distorted in view:
* Switch to ortho mode and properly align the 3D view first: Switch to Top view.

Dashed or dotted lines all become solid in view:
* That is a known limitation.

Random bits missing:
* Use TechDraw_DraftView.

See the attached file. The results are quite reasonable, but not perfect. Multi line texts overlap for example and there is an issue with the text size not changing with the scale of the view.

Note that in V0.20 a TechDraw_DraftView cannot be directly create from a Group, you first have to create it from a single Draft object and then update its Source property.

EDIT: TechDraw_DraftView can be created from a Group in V0.21.
Attachments
floor_plan_roy.FCStd
(338.36 KiB) Downloaded 12 times
bluewave
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 11:29 pm

Re: 2D Printing from Draft Workbench - Impossible?

Post by bluewave »

Hi Thomas

Thanks - that looks like what I could do with tools>save picture>[extended - resolution HUXGA 6400 x 4800]. Then saved as .png (gives a reasonable file size, unlike .bmp), then printed to a pdf using a graphics program.

That actually is a sufficiently good image - faithful to the original object. Unfortunately not a vector outcome, which would be better for zooming right in.
bluewave
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 11:29 pm

Re: 2D Printing from Draft Workbench - Impossible?

Post by bluewave »

Hi roy_43

Thanks for the file, I didn't know about techdraw-draft view. It is getting closer, but the faulty text etc stops it from being useable for my purpose.

I tried the orthoview / top alignment - still get the distorted filled shapes (attached example).

Overall, the Tools - save picture - external pdf creator approach has saved the day for me. Hopefully that is also useful for someone else.
Capture.JPG
Capture.JPG (33.97 KiB) Viewed 511 times
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Roy_043
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Re: 2D Printing from Draft Workbench - Impossible?

Post by Roy_043 »

Please post the file with that view.
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thomas-neemann
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Re: 2D Printing from Draft Workbench - Impossible?

Post by thomas-neemann »

bluewave wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 11:34 am .... which would be better for zooming right in.

if you want to send the file to someone who wants to zoom, you can simply send freecad along with it. this is often not possible with commercial programs, so you need pdf etc
Gruß Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Thomas Neemann

https://www.youtube.com/@thomasneemann5 ... ry=freecad
bluewave
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 11:29 pm

Re: 2D Printing from Draft Workbench - Impossible?

Post by bluewave »

Hi roy_43

This file contains the view
Attachments
floor_plan.FCStd
(713.04 KiB) Downloaded 14 times
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