Technical drawings

A drawing is a black-on-white sheet for printing. A document can hold any number, each collecting views — a body shown from a chosen direction.

CAD → New Drawing creates a drawing and opens the drawing pane. Its toolbar holds the drawing tools; Back returns to the 3D model.

Removing views and elements

Remove a view with the × on its card, or select any element and press Delete. Reopen a drawing from its Elements pane row.

Exporting

Export saves a vector PDF or SVG. Both are WYSIWYG at the page's configured size.

Right-click the sheet background to set page size and margins (default landscape 11 × 8.5 in, 0.5 in margins).

Scripting

bearcad.rect{ width = 40, height = 20 }
bearcad.extrude{ polygon = {0, 1, 2, 3}, distance = 10 }

local d = bearcad.drawing{ name = "Plate" }
bearcad.drawing_view{ drawing = d, body = 0, orientation = "top" }
bearcad.drawing_view{ drawing = d, body = 0, orientation = "iso" }
bearcad.drawing_view{ drawing = d, sketch = 0 }  -- a sketch projects too

-- Dimension an edge of view 0 by its two world endpoints.
bearcad.drawing_dimension{ drawing = d, view = 0, a = {0, 0, 0}, b = {40, 0, 0} }

-- Toggle a circle's diameter dimension by its world centre.
bearcad.drawing_circle_dimension{ drawing = d, view = 0, center = {20, 10, 10} }

-- Edit a view's caption label: hide it, move it, or set custom text ("" = automatic).
bearcad.drawing_view_label{ drawing = d, view = 0, pos = "bottom-center", text = "Plate {w}" }

-- Show the angle between two edges of a view.
bearcad.drawing_angle{ drawing = d, view = 0,
  edge1 = { a = {0, 0, 0}, b = {40, 0, 0} },
  edge2 = { a = {0, 0, 0}, b = {0, 0, 15} } }

-- Page size and margin, in millimetres; omitted keys keep their current value.
bearcad.drawing_page{ drawing = d, width = 297, height = 210, margin = 12 }

-- Export the drawing as a vector PDF, or as an SVG.
bearcad.export_drawing_pdf{ drawing = d, path = "plate.pdf" }
bearcad.export_drawing_svg{ drawing = d, path = "plate.svg" }

bearcad.drawing{} returns the drawing's index. orientation defaults to "front"; accepts front/back/left/right/top/bottom/iso or a diagonal like front-right. bearcad.count("drawing") returns the number of drawings.