How to Insert Orthographic Views in FreeCAD TechDraw

Inserting orthographic views into FreeCAD is essential for generating standard multi-view engineering drawings from your 3D CAD models. This guide outlines the exact steps to create a drawing sheet, use TechDraw's Projection Group tool to generate primary and secondary orthographic projections, configure projection angles (First vs. Third Angle), and adjust scale and layout.

Step 1: Open the TechDraw Workbench and Create a Page

  1. Open your 3D model in FreeCAD.
  2. In the workbench selector dropdown, switch from your current workbench (such as Part Design) to TechDraw.
  3. In the toolbar, click Insert Default Page (or select Insert Page using Template if you want to use a custom title block). A new page tab will appear below your 3D viewport.

Step 2: Select the Source Geometry

  1. Click the 3D model tab to view your design, or navigate to the Model tree view panel on the left.
  2. Click on the 3D object, Body, or component you want to display on the drawing sheet to highlight it.

Step 3: Insert the Projection Group

  1. With the object selected, click the drawing page tab to display the blank sheet.
  2. In the TechDraw toolbar, click the Insert Projection Group button (icon displaying a central drawing view with arrows pointing outward).
  3. The Projection Group task panel will open on the left side of the screen.

Step 4: Configure Orthographic Views and Settings

  1. Choose Projection Type: Select either First Angle (standard in Europe/ISO) or Third Angle (standard in North America/ANSI) based on your drafting requirements.
  2. Set Primary View Direction: Under the Anchor settings, choose the primary camera direction (e.g., Front, Top, Right) that serves as the base for the projected views.
  3. Select Views to Display: In the secondary views grid, check the boxes corresponding to the orthographic views you need (such as Top, Right, Left, Bottom, and Isometric).
  4. Adjust Scale: Set the Scale Type to Custom or Page to resize the views so they fit cleanly onto your sheet.

Step 5: Finalize and Position

  1. Click OK in the task panel to generate the projections on the sheet.
  2. Click and drag the central anchor view to move the entire projection group across the page. Secondary views will automatically maintain their alignment relative to the anchor view.
  3. If the views do not update after modifying the 3D model, click the Redraw Page icon in the TechDraw toolbar.