FreeCAD’s TechDraw workbench lets you automatically generate center marks for holes and arcs. There are two main ways to manage this: a per‑view setting and a global preference.
🎯 1. Enabling Center Marks for a Specific View (The Most Common Method)
This method turns on center marks for a single drawing view, like “Front” or “Top”.
- In the Model tree, select the drawing view you want to add center marks to (for example,
Front). - Go to the Property panel below the tree.
- Click on the View tab (this is important – it’s not the Data tab).
- Find the property called Arc Center Marks and set its value to
true.
This will display a small cross at the center of every circular arc and hole in that specific view–.
Why this is important: Without these center marks, you won’t be able to place dimensions on holes or other circular features. TechDraw simply won’t let you select the center point for dimensioning-.
⚙️ 2. Global Auto‑Center Mark Setting (Preference for All New Views)
If you want all future drawing views to have center marks enabled by default, you can change a global preference.
- Go to Edit → Preferences.
- In the left panel, select TechDraw.
- Click on the Annotation tab.
- Check the box labeled Show Center Marks-.
After this, any new view you insert onto a drawing page will have Arc Center Marks automatically set to true. Please note, this setting only affects new views – you’ll still need to manually enable the property for any existing views.
I hope this helps you get the center marks you need for your drawings! If you have any other questions about TechDraw, feel free to ask.
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