SOLID MODELING 101A Solid introduction....

Why FreeCAD?

1. surprise...it's free2. it's supported on all OS's, currently: OSX

(Lion 64bit), *nix(ubuntu 32/64 bit), windows(32bit)

3. it's parametric4. it's open source and interface was built with

QT. so if there is something you don't like...don't cry, go and fix it.

5. did i mention it's free...

What is FreeCAD?FreeCAD is a general purpose 3D CAD modeler. The development is completely Open Source (GPL & LGPL License). FreeCAD is aimed directly at mechanical engineering and product design but also fits in a wider range of uses around engineering, such as architecture or other engineering specialties.FreeCAD features tools similar to Catia, SolidWorks or Solid Edge, and therefore also falls into the category of MCAD, PLM, CAx and CAE. It will be a feature based parametric modeler with a modular software architecture which makes it easy to provide additional functionality without modifying the core system.As with many modern 3D CAD modelers it has many 2D components in order to sketch 2D shapes or extract design detail from the 3D model to create 2D production drawings, but direct 2D drawing (like AutoCAD LT) is not the focus, neither are animation or organic shapes (like Maya, 3ds Max, Blender or Cinema 4D), although, thanks to its wide adaptability, FreeCAD might become useful in a much broader area than its current focus.Another major concern of FreeCAD is to make heavy use of all the great open-source libraries that exist out there in the field of Scientific Computing. Among them are OpenCascade, a powerful CAD kernel, Coin3D, an incarnation of OpenInventor, Qt, the world-famous UI framework, and Python, one of the best scripting languages available. FreeCAD itself can also be used as a library by other programs.FreeCAD is also fully multi-platform, and currently runs flawlessly on Windows and Linux/Unix and Mac OSX systems, with the exact same look and functionality on all platforms.

 

Installing FreeCAD

Stable FreeCAD installers

The FreeCAD team provides ready-to-install packages for Windows (XP, Vista and 7, 32 and 64bits), Mac OS X (Lion 10.7), and Debian-based Linux systems (Debian, Ubuntu, 32 and 64bits). Below are links to the Stable installation files for the various systems. Also available on the FreeCAD Files page are unstable packages, that provide the bleeding-edge new features being worked on, but might crash more often or contain features that are incompatible with earlier versions.

Development VersionsIf you want to install FreeCAD with more in-development features, and are willing to accept that these versions have a higher chance of bugs and crashes, then you can check the official FreeCAD Files page to download 64 bit, older, or unstable releases. Of course, if you want to stay even more on the bleeding edge of development, you can compile FreeCAD, or use the Ubuntu daily build updates.

Notes for Windows usersThe windows installer should also work on older Windows platforms, but has not always been tested. You need Windows Installer V1 on your system (msiexec.exe). See Installing on Windows for details about different installation options. Download the latest .msi file for windows systems, or the appropriate .deb file for your version of Ubuntu or Debian.

Notes for Linux usersOn most recent distributions such as Debian, Ubuntu or Arch, FreeCAD is included in the official distribution's packages repository, and you are advised to preferably get FreeCAD from there, to make sure you have a version that is 100% compatible with your system. The pivy python module (usually named python-pivy) is needed by FreeCAD from version 0.9 or above. If it is not available on your system, you must download it from here too.

Notes for Mac usersWe rely on very few people to help building Mac OSX packages, so it doesn't get updated as often as the other platforms. The version available on this site might be slightly outdated. (To compile the most up-to-date version from source see CompileOnMac)

 

Assumptions....

1. You have an ability to learn mo' quickly...2. You know what a folder is......3. You have taken geometry, i.e. I won't be

explaining what a square is4. The term Cartesian coordinate is not alien

to you5. You have nothing better to do.....

What can we do with modeling?

What are we going to do?

The workspace: File dropdown

nothing tooexciting here

The workspace: Edit dropdown

This one is about as exciting as the last one...       Except the last 2 entries.

Edit dropdown: Placement

Placement allows you to translate and rotate your model in the workspace.

Edit dropdown: Preferences

You guessed it

The workspace: View dropdown

The workspace: Tools

Tools dropdown: Customize

This is where FreeCAD gets crazy

      The workbench selected controls the layout of your workspace....

FreeCAD default workbench

Let's draw something

Planes....right hand rule

Finally

Solid Modeling 102

Next week...● Extrudes● Revolves● Constraints● Dimensioning● Attempt to make a drawing