
FreeCAD 0.16 release notes - buovjaga
http://freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Release_notes_0.16
======
bhouston
Freecad is an amazing tool. It is based on the open source CAD kernel
OpenCascade: [http://www.opencascade.com/](http://www.opencascade.com/)

If you want to do CAD directly you can use OpenCascade directly or if you can
use its various wrappers. The Python OCC wrapper is quite nice:
[http://www.pythonocc.org/](http://www.pythonocc.org/)

We use both Python OCC and FreeCAD to help with handling CAD data
import/export in [http://Clara.io](http://Clara.io)

Although if you are interested in create CAD online, I recommend
[http://onshape.com](http://onshape.com)

~~~
gene-h
I worked on a project that used the OpenCASCADE CAD kernel, and our conclusion
was that it still has a ways to go. We often got errors with boolean
operations and the speed of operations was generally slow.

~~~
jononor
Are there better CAD kernels available as open source? What did you go with in
the end?

~~~
gene-h
OpenCascade is pretty much the only open source CAD kernel. There is brlcad,
but that can only do CSG.

We tried parasolid, then we got forced into using ACIS. We didn't really end
up with much of a complete product in the end as this was government funded
research.

~~~
salamanderman
Wow, was this Darpa's iFab? I don't recognize you from your username but I
wouldn't be surprised if we worked together in some indirect way. I had
literally the same experiences and explored all those same kernels. ... We
concluded that the issues with OpenCascade's Boolean operations were so baked
into the code that they'd probably be better off with a total rewrite. From
what we could tell digging in the code, they tesselate the BRep, do a boolean
on the tesselations, and then try to match the results back to the input
surfaces. This ended up with all kinds of nonmanifold surfaces, edges, and
vertices, in addition to taking minutes to hours to return an answer, if it
ever did return. One guy took a pretty deep dive into that code to try to
figure if he could optimize it, and it was bad in so many ways, like it was
doing something that required tons of triangles to be copied and reconstructed
over and over. ... I'll give OpenCascade credit for one thing though, which is
that an STL generated from a manifold input STEP or other file format will
actually be a manifold STL (i.e. crack free etc to the level of assuming
"identical" vertices will be bit for bit identical in the STL file). Try
making even a trivial part into STL with Solidworks and I virtually guarantee
that "identical" vertices will not be bit for bit identical. There will be
cracks and you'll have to correct for them. I've never had that problem with
OpenCascade. Whatever there tesselation algorithm is, it at least makes crack
free results.

~~~
gertjanzwartjes
Interesting to read about some real world experiences with Open CASCADE 'in
the wild'.

What version of Open CASCADE did you look into the Boolean operations? The
experience I have is also that they are not very fast, but more in terms of
minutes not hours. From what I know there are 'old' style and 'new' style
Boolean operations in the recent (6.9 and 7.0 beta) versions of Open CASCADE
and the experience I am talking about is the 'new' style Boolean operations.

How big were the typical shapes you used, in terms of number of
vertices/edges/faces? And for these shapes what was the comparative speed in
Parasolid or ACIS kernels?

------
frik
FreeCAD is a 3D CAD tool with features and UI similar to Catia, SolidWorks or
Solid Edge.

With CATIA being the gold standard tool that is used in aerospace, automotive,
etc industries.

So FreeCAD is on a very great path.

(It also highlights how important the UI is. Everyone who every used a 3D CAD
tool, can use FreeCAD in no time. On the other hand, everyone who used a
polygon based 3D modeling like 3DMax or Maya will have a really hard time with
the Blender and its very non-standard UI.)

~~~
JTxt
I just started to dive into FreeCAD as an Inventor alternative.

(Are you talking about pre-Blender 2.5? If so, I agree.

It was a challenge going from 3ds r4 and 3ds Max 2... Had to memorize hot keys
and get used to a tile based layout. But once I did, I was fast.

The ui was very different, but in a good way, IMHO. The 3D concepts are mostly
the same.

But post 2.5, everything is much more discoverable. You can search for
commands, pie menus, change hotkeys... and there's great learning resources
now.

So I have to ask people that had a difficult time using blender, if they tried
it in the last few years.)

~~~
valine
I agree. Blender has made a lot of progress with its UI recently. The
nonstandard 'right click to select' is still a bit wonky for new users. I've
tried teaching blender to a few people and they -always- have trouble getting
used to the right click thing. I've been using blender for so long I could
never make the switch to left click, but I still think a new default option
would help grow the community.

------
Htsthbjig
Great tool. Years ago we started teaching kids Openscad(we volunteer teaching
kids to make things with 3d printers, cnc mills, laser cutters, drill
machines...), but right now we teach mostly to use freecad.

Openscad only for the most advanced kids for making parametric design.
Parametric design(and other tools like blending or assembly) in Freecad is
getting shape fast.

Not solidworks but totally free and without artificial constraints(pay for
important features). We are convinced our kids will do amazing things when
they grow up.

~~~
tmptmp
How old are these kids? What age group? Curious to know and what kind of math
do you expect them to know?

------
eggy
I have used FreeCAD for years, and I am looking to use it in an application I
want to create. It is based upon 'Portable Generative Design for CAD
Applications' [1]. I wish to create the front end for FreeCAD, so I can use
the research's abstractions to create generative architecture, structures or
art in FreeCAD. I have been a Blender3D user, since before it first went
opensource .I contributed to the free Blender campaign in 2002. I can't
remember if it was a donation < $50 USD, or I gave as a foundation member $50
USD? I've played with scripts that do the same for Blender and written a few
of my own, but the Blender Python API will always be attached to Blender; you
cannot run it headless, so I will try to do it with FreeCAD, since the API can
be used in Python without the FreeCAD gui. I have also used FreeCAD in the
past to design a kayak, when Delftship free wouldn't cut it. Great piece of
free software. Congrats to all of them at FreeCAD!

    
    
      [1] http://cumincad.architexturez.net/doc/oai-cumincadworks-id-acadia11-196

~~~
rubber_duck
>but the Blender Python API will always be attached to Blender; you cannot run
it headless

You can start the blender executable with a startup script parameter and no
gui and you can compile blender as a python library - shared library that you
import in to your cpython instance - I've used both to create a resource build
pipeline although building on Windows was a huge PITA (for eg. gigs of binary
dependencies you need to clone) so I just tried building as a library on
linux. I developed with library on linux and just used binary on windows to
run the script.

------
gntech
FreeCAD development have really picked up the pace lately. There is also a
major overhaul of the partdesign workbench merged and underway for release
0.17. It brings user created datum points, axis and planes. It also brings
advanced modeling features such as draft angles, shell and swept profile cut!
Much to get excited about! :)

------
StavrosK
Can anyone elucidate to someone not familiar with CAD software what this is
for? Is it parametric CAD? Is it suitable for making things like cases for
hardware projects?

~~~
dekhn
It's great for hardware projects. I built a number of parts for a microscope
and other projects, export as STL, and 3D print them.

~~~
chris_wot
STL? What's that?

~~~
StavrosK
I think it's the standard file format export for CAD stuff, like gerbers are
for hardware.

~~~
taneq
Yep, from what I gather STL : 3D printing :: gerber : PCB manufacture.

------
maxfurman
How comparable is this tool to AutoCAD?

~~~
brandmeyer
FreeCAD's constraint-based sketching is more of a competitor with SolidWorks
and Pro/E.

~~~
pkaye
When I used AutoCAD 20 years ago I know it had a constraint based add-on.
Maybe all integrated in by now.

~~~
triggercut
AutoCAD still has constraint functionality, but it's a watered down version
compared to Inventor. As well as that - I could be wrong - but I think it's
limited to two dimensions.

------
stefanix
I am a huge FreeCAD fan and use it quite a bit. For simple 3D printing
projects I like it better than Rhino for example. Used it for the case of this
oxygen system
[http://nortd.github.io/WaveGlide/](http://nortd.github.io/WaveGlide/)

The thing to keep in mind when using it is that not all parts are equally
usable. For a stable workflow you have to stick with what works. When you
start using less polished corners FreeCAD tends to crash. It takes a bit of
testing to figure this out.

Keep up the good work.

------
pinot
How does FreeCAD compare to SketchUP?

Does anyone know of a FOSS 2D drawing tool? I do a lot of pipe drawings (P&ID)
and Visio is not ideal and AutoCAD is prohibitively expensive.

~~~
pkaye
I haven't used it in a while but there is QCAD. It doesn't do everything that
AutoCAD does by no means but they have been working on it for a while.

~~~
dejv
QCAD is great, but I would not consider it free: without paid package is not
that usable. But this package is just 40 bucks, which is really cheap.

------
johnm1019
For an open source tool this release notes log is huge!

~~~
TD-Linux
Yeah, I really like this style, especially for GUI intensive apps. Some other
open source projects with similar release notes:

Krita: [https://krita.org/krita-2-9-the-kickstarter-
release/](https://krita.org/krita-2-9-the-kickstarter-release/)

Blender:
[https://www.blender.org/features/2-77/](https://www.blender.org/features/2-77/)

------
pselbert
So excited to find out about this! I had no idea that this tool existed. For
years I used and taught both Rhino and Solidworks, but I've been away from it
for a while now and working exclusively on OS X.

Recently I've had the need to do some light modeling/drafting work and I'll be
giving FreeCAD a try.

------
johngossman
File formats never die. My first task at my first job in 1985 was to write a
DXF import/export library in C

------
DrNuke
Couple this with Salome-Meca / Code Aster from Electricite de France here
[http://www.code-aster.org/V2/spip.php?article303](http://www.code-
aster.org/V2/spip.php?article303) and you're done with CAE for free.

------
oxplot
Unfortunately every time I installed FreeCAD, it crashed me consistently after
10 minutes of work.

~~~
buovjaga
Quoting from their FAQ:

If you are on a linux system, it is easy to do a debug backtrace, which
provides very useful information about the crash to the developers:

in a terminal, type: gdb freecad (assuming package gdb is installed)

inside gdb, type run

after the crash, type bt to get the backtrace, that you can include in your
bug report.

Guide for submitting reports:
[http://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Tracker](http://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Tracker)

~~~
unixhero
Ooh thanks! I will try this on other apps that might crash in the future.

~~~
optforfon
the software has to be compiled with symbols... which I don't think the
binaries in the default repositories have (I could be wrong)

~~~
buovjaga
You are correct, the FAQ seems to have missed it:
[http://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Debugging](http://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Debugging)

"To do this, you need to be running a "debug build" of the software. "Debug
build" is a parameter that is set at compile time, so you'll either need to
compile FreeCAD yourself, or obtain a pre-compiled "debug" version."

------
DrNuke
Is there a malware into the Win 64bit version file
FreeCAD_0.16.6700.7b925d1-WIN-x64-installer.exe? My download with Chrome has
just been stopped twice by Avast antivirus at 39MB out of 224MB.

~~~
Nutmog
Why not let it download fully and run the virus scanner on it? You won't get a
virus just downloading a file in up-to-date Chrome.

------
chris_wot
Looks like I've got a new CAD program for my dad! Dad downloaded and installed
A9CAD and it absolutely filled up his computer with malware. He loves A9CAD,
but every time he installs it I have to get a copy of MalwareBytes and
disinfect the system.

Looks like FreeCAD might be just what he needs!

~~~
chromaton
A9CAD appears to be a 2D CAD drawing program, whereas FreeCAD is centered
around 3D parametric modeling. They're different approaches to creating
things.

If you want a decent free 2D drawing package, try DraftSight, Or LibreCAD if
you want open source.

~~~
chris_wot
Ah, I didn't realise. Thanks for the recommendations.

------
lliamander
Has anyone done a comparison against BRL-CAD?

------
ilaksh
Is there an open source clone of Sketchup?

------
pietrasagh
It's true. It's amazing. I'm using it at work for years for simple modeling
and assembly. But now I can't. Why you ask? They compiled it with buggy
version of C++11 library ("boost" or something) and it doesn't work at all.
Thank you developers! You ruined my experience with this great software.

~~~
jononor
Has a bug been filed?

And you can still use the older version, presumably.

~~~
pietrasagh
bug was filed, bug is fixed Hail to the Developers!

