App_GeoFeature.md

App GeoFeature

Introduction

An App GeoFeature object, or formally an App::GeoFeature, is the base class of most objects that will display geometrical elements in the 3D view because it includes the Placement property.

*Simplified diagram of the relationships between the core objects in the program. The App::GeoFeature* class is the base class of essentially all objects in the software that will display geometry in the [3D view](3D_view.md).

Usage

The App GeoFeature is an internal object, so it cannot be created from the graphical interface. It is generally not meant to be used directly, rather it can be sub-classed to get a bare-bones object that only has a basic Placement property to define its position in the 3D view.

Some of the most important derived objects are the following:

• The Part Feature class, the parent of most objects with 2D and 3D topological shapes.
• The Mesh Feature class, the parent of most objects made from meshes, not solids.
• The Fem FemMeshObject class, the parent of finite element meshes created with the FEM Workbench.
• The Path Feature class, the parent of paths created with the Path Workbench for use in CNC machining.
• The App Part class, which defines Std Parts that can be used as containers of bodies to perform assemblies.

When creating this object in Python, instead of sub-classing App::GeoFeature, you should sub-class App::GeometryPython because the latter includes a default view provider, and Proxy attributes for the object itself, and its view provider. See Scripting.

Properties

An App GeoFeature (App::GeoFeature class) is derived from the basic App DocumentObject (App::DocumentObject class), therefore it shares all the latter's properties.

In addition to the properties described in App DocumentObject, the GeoFeature has the Placement property, which controls its position in the 3D view.

See Property for all property types that scripted objects can have.

These are the properties available in the property editor. Hidden properties can be shown by using the Show all command in the context menu of the property editor.

Data

{{TitleProperty|Base}}

• Placement|Placement: the position of the object in the 3D view. The placement is defined by a Base point (vector), and a Rotation (axis and angle). See Placement.

-   
    **Angle**
    
    : the angle of rotation around the **Axis**. By default, it is {{value|0°}} (zero degrees).

-   
    **Axis**
    
    : the unit vector that defines the axis of rotation for the placement. Each component is a floating point value between {{value|0}} and {{value|1}}. If any value is above {{value|1}}, the vector is normalized so that the magnitude of the vector is {{value|1}}. By default, it is the positive Z axis, {{value|(0, 0, 1)}}.

-   
    **Position**
    
    : a vector with the 3D coordinates of the base point. By default, it is the origin {{value|(0, 0, 0)}}.

• Label|String: the user editable name of this object, it is an arbitrary UTF8 string.

Hidden properties Data

• Proxy|PythonObject|Hidden: a custom class associated with this object. This only exists for the Python version. See Scripting.

• Label2|String|Hidden: a longer, user editable description of this object, it is an arbitrary UTF8 string that may include newlines. By default, it is an empty string {{value|""}}.

• Expression Engine|ExpressionEngine|Hidden: a list of expressions. By default, it is empty {{value|[]}}.

• Visibility|Bool|Hidden: whether to display the object or not.

View

{{TitleProperty|Base}}

• Proxy|PythonObject|Hidden: a custom view provider class associated with this object. This only exists for the Python version. See Scripting.

{{TitleProperty|Display Options}}

• Bounding Box|Bool: if it is True, the object will show the bounding box in the 3D view.

• Display Mode|Enumeration: see the information in App FeaturePython.

• Show In Tree|Bool: see the information in App FeaturePython.

• Visibility|Bool: see the information in App FeaturePython.

{{TitleProperty|Object Style}}

• Shape Color|Color: a tuple of three floating point RGB values light gray .

• Shape Material|Material|Hidden: an App Material associated with this object. By default it is empty.

• Transparency|Percent: an integer from {{value|0}} to {{value|100}} that determines the level of transparency of the faces in the 3D view. A value of {{value|100}} indicates completely invisible faces; the faces are invisible but they can still be picked as long as Selectable is True.

{{TitleProperty|Selection}}

• On Top When Selected|Enumeration: see the information in App FeaturePython.

• Selectable|Bool: if it is True, the object can be picked with the pointer in the 3D view. Otherwise, the object cannot be selected until this option is set to True.

• Selection Style|Enumeration: see the information in App FeaturePython.

Scripting

See also:

FreeCAD Scripting Basics, and scripted objects.

See Part Feature for the general information on adding objects to the program

A GeoFeature is created with the addObject() method of the document. If you would like to create an object with a 2D or 3D topological shape, it may be better to create one of the sub-classes specialized for handling shapes, for example, Part Feature or Part Part2DObject.

import FreeCAD as App

doc = App.newDocument()
obj = App.ActiveDocument.addObject("App::GeoFeature", "Name")
obj.Label = "Custom label"

This basic App::GeoFeature doesn't have a default view provider, so no icon will be displayed on the tree view, and no View properties will be available.

Therefore, for Python subclassing, you should create the App::GeometryPython object.

import FreeCAD as App

doc = App.newDocument()
obj = App.ActiveDocument.addObject("App::GeometryPython", "Name")
obj.Label = "Custom label"

For example, the Arch BuildingPart element of the Arch Workbench is an App::GeometryPython object with a custom icon.

{{Document objects navi}}

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