FreeCAD - Intro to Parametric Modelling
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 พ.ค. 2024
- Learn how to use parameters in FreeCAD to make your 3D models customizable.
FreeCAD has an incredibly powerful and easy to use parameter system that allows you to model something once, but create infinite variations.
If you're struggling with FreeCAD or are coming over from Fusion360, check out my Intro to FreeCAD Video. • Fusion360 to FreeCAD -...
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Good work Brodie. You have a talent for both narration and formatting your knowledge in a way that's easy to take on board and understand. Your videos are not full of "umms and ahhs", you speak at a good pace without the monotone that puts people to sleep, and putting in your own brand of humour sets you apart from the "dry as toast" tutorials I skipped over on the way here. I don't know how many videos in general I have abandoned because they spoke too slowly and I could feel my life ebbing away waiting for them to get to the point. It's also unique to find an Aussie accent doing tutorials. I see you've already taken that audio suggestion on board to improve what you're doing in the same way you revamped the previous video. Don't get too hard on your own work, mate. It was your first. :-) Looking forward to seeing more of your work.
Totally agree on your comment DM. Good entertaining teacher is hard to find. You can't fix bad content, but speeding up TH-cam videos work quite well for slow speakers. I've trained myself that I now can watch most videos at 2X speed and still understand them. Use the < and > keys to control playback speed.
@@HariWiguna Hey, thanks for the tip Hari. I'll give that a try.
So far this, and your Fusion 360 to FreeCad, videos are the best that I have run across for FreeCad. Looking forward to more as you roll them out!
Very clear and easy to follow! Thanks for taking the time to share.
Great video, subbed and looking forward to more FreeCAD videos from you!
I'm so glad I subscribed to you on your last video. I knew this feature existed, but had postponed figuring it out. 9 minutes of my life well spent. Thanks!
would love to see more freecad videos from you, thanks for your time and efforts.
This is the video I was looking for, a clear explanation about what I wanted to know! Thanks!
Someone FINALLY explained parametric modeling in a way that I can grasp. TYVM!
I really like your videos. Very informative and a entertaining as well. Please keep explaining FreeCAD. It has so much potential.
Birb! ❤️
Great video Brodie, thank you so much! Hadn't yet gotten around to checking out the spreadsheet stuff, glad to see things are as easy as that to get fully parametric models!
Thank you for OctoPrint - you're a star!
Your videos are the best FreeCAD videos on TH-cam. Keep it up
Excellent video Brodie - I have not yet looked at your videos page, but I am crossing my fingers that you have more FreeCAD videos available. Thanks for making this. Cheers, Craig (in Tassie)
Really nice job of demystifying parameters and showing how to get started actually using them. The NEMA stepper motor example was great.
Thanks a lot. Been trying to learn how to set these up. Watched other videos but wasn't working for me. Your simple box was a perfect choice. You presented the lesson simply, clearly and I got it. So again thank you and you gained a new subscriber.
Thank you for the primer about parametric modelling. I hope more people get into open source and FreeCAD.
This was a very well made tutorial video for FreeCad! Thank You!
Great intro that was paced well. Appreciated the places where you had a picture of the icon you clicked remain on screen, as well as chapters
Your video came out in the right moment for me. I'm designing cutters and folding molds for cardboard boxes. And I was looking for this exact thing. Thx! Great videos btw.
You've communicated precisely what needed to be communicated without extra verbosity. Me and my woefully short attention span are immensely grateful. Liked and subscribed with notifications!
Thanks Sean!
That really means a lot.
Great Tutorial Brodie. Looking forward to more such tutorials.
This was an absolutely incredible short vid to watch for breakfast. I'm just getting started with FreeCad and stepped through a similar video that did a good job but didn't explain in the same fashion. I guess it all comes down to teaching style. Spot on awesome. I just got started 3D printing about five months ago and the next step is designing my own parts, enclosures, etc... The parametric nature of this tool with the spreadsheet allows me to create many different variations off of one core via spreadsheet modifications of an base model. GREAT STUFF! THANK YOU! Going to dig into the other vids you've created and see what I can learn!
Everyone that makes instructional videos should model your delivery method.
Informative, relevant and at the perfect speed.
Excellent work mate.
I've subscribed and now consider myself your student. Cheers :)
Wow, this will help me greatly. I often have to create models of tapered plates for machining CAM purposes. I can now do this parametrically! I was going to try to create a generic STP file and modify some node coordinates but it never worked out. Pretty impressed with FreeCAD now.
thank you Brodie, you've just literally saved my job
Thank you for the video, contains lots of useful informations - symetry around diagonal, referencing aliases - until now I was always using references based on individual cells, but this is much more convinient. Looking forward to "topological naming issue" video and keep up the good work 🙂
The biggest thing for me to switch from F360 was I was making a spoil board and in FreeCAD all I had to do was draw a rectangle then create path from face. This technique on parametric modeling is a huge new tool for me. Thanks Brodie.
Thanks for this video - this was very helpful.
Excellent!, well done!
Excellent tutorial.
Keep em coming!
I'm very convinced that I was lossing my time learning others softwares. Thanks for share
Very good explanation. And I loved the part where you said this was THE correct way to avoid a broken model. I had not picked up the offset idea already. Thanks.
Thanks for good explinatition, I'm converting from sketchup since it's last 2017 version started getting buggs with newer windows versions and desktop free version is no longer supported and developed. I started looking at fusion 360 as alternative but also they give new limitations with free versions as they gain popularity. So I desided to make a run for free CAD. Hoping to see more tutorials of the thought prosess of creating 3D modells through Parametric design from you. I'm now subscribed and patiently waiting for more content, best regards from Sweden
Great explanation !!
Brilliant. Subscribed.
Great content on FreeCad Brodie. Your narration, pace and content is spot on. I'm an 55 year old Chemical Engineer who has decided to learn CAD to help me in my hobby of FPV drones. I learned FreeCad last weekend after looking at all the current TH-cam videos and everyone seemed to leave out 1 or 2 things that made me realize why I was getting certain errors. I wish I came across your content earlier...this video explained those errors pretty quickly, so kudos to you. I was able to design and 3D print my first drone frame since it all in one plane. Now, I'm wanting to create 3D designs for a drone canopy which requires working in multiple planes and curves and I keep getting more errors. It would be great if your future content can explain how to create these more complex shapes.
Thanks! Really helpful stuff
Very helpful 👍 Thanks a lot!
Awesome narration!!!
I find those spreadsheets more useful than what F360 offers.
Great video btw. very helpful.
Beautiful content!!!
Very good video! Thanks for sharing
legend
You had me at... "complain in the comments when your box breaks" . In for a subscribe. Great content, thanks for sharing.
excellent!
Thank you so much for the so much needed introduction to this topic. I am a firm believer in open source software, but FreeCAD still needs a lot of renovations that make it intuitive to use.
You'll be pleased to know there is a lot of development work going on in that area.
Thank you
Spreadsheet it's something, how I tired of constraints params loop and inheritance!
Thanks!
This is good stuff. A well put together video with content and humour. Whilst I haven't worked out how to transfer this knowledge into what I do in CAD, I am positive you are a teacher to go forward with. I've never used the diagonal constraint to centre a box in my life. Do you know how daft I feel? Thank you for that time saver if nothing else.
One of the off-putting things for me in FreeCAD is the lack of a smart dimensions, so I guess my way forward is to use dimensions smarter (or a spreadsheet..... wait a minute :D ). Thanks for the video, can't wait for the next.
Thanks!
thanks
Unrelated to the video but I have a pineapple green cheek conure (who gets into my work) too! Oh, and good tutorial!
Great. A replacement for Fusion 360 FREE
Way better perams than fusion good series please keep it up
Good video man. And do u know how to change the value of spreadsheet from python?
Good video it's only the right way as there is a bug in freecad hope it will be fixed soon
I've got a whole video on that too
👍 Speaking of "custom", will you explain your UI configuration at some point in time? It's nice looking. TiA. 😃
Have a look at his previous video
@@byoung255 👍 Thx.
08:15 That's exactly what I was looking for! :)
It's such a fantastic feature, I can't wait for it to end up in the mainline source!
The next challenge - to figure out how to make the same thing as in example.
Thank you for spreadsheet explanation - now I know how that one works here in FreeCAD. - BTW you added a lot of extra things like the datum plane instead of working on the top face and why didnt you use the expressions for the pocket command ? Is that became of the naming topology issue I read about FreeCAD?
You called it, it's the topological naming problem.
This explains why in a lot more detail.
th-cam.com/video/6p2vqEEmWq4/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for the video, is there any possibility to trigger the model outside freecad through cmd and also change the parameters outside the freecad(i.e;through python or cmd)
There absolutely is, you can use FreeCAD in headless mode. I've not done much with it in the last few years, but there is plenty of information in the documentation
is there a way you can change the length in sketcher? I'd like to be able to move a point on a line and have it instantly update
Marvales.. I come from inventor because licence will go:).. But where we could download that spreed sheet with nema17 drawing?
thanks for the good explanation, in Fusion 360 I can make a complete bookcase that adapts to the newly entered dimensions
is it possible to get the same result in FreeCAD?
I can also glue separate parts here, or restrict parts to movements in a single direction?
I am going to learn everything all over again, I cannot print my plans in Fusion 360 without paying a lot of money!
You can do all of those things in FreeCAD!
I come from working years with Blender (2.8) and today is the first time I touch FreeCAD as I am looking for a way to design with parameters. This is soooo abracadabra to me. I do not even understand why the view does not change when I select between Part Design or Sketcher... No criticism here though, great video. I guess mesh modeling is just so different.
You couldn't be more correct, Blender and FreeCAD are about as different as you can get when it comes to 3D modelling but both are incredible tools.
If it helps you can change the navigation style to blender mode so you can use the same mouse and keyboard combinations for panning, orbiting, zoom etc.
If you're still having issues getting comfortable, Flowies corner and joke engineering have some amazing tutorials and my fusion360 to freecad videos are a bit of a light intro to how it works. Also, make sure you're using FreeCAD 0.19_dev and not the one from the download page (0.18.4), there are some huge quality of life improvements.
waw spreadsheet is integrated with software........cool!
Nice video, can you show us more about the last part? How to setup the motor 'types' by input in the dropdown menu. Thanks
This functionality is called "Configuration Tables" and it's from an experimental dev build which has another release due very soon. When it's released I'll make a video about it and the features it has.
If you want to have a look at Configuration Tables or anything else from the experimental build, you can get it here
github.com/realthunder/FreeCAD_assembly3/releases
And here is a post with a little information on the tables
forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=42183
@@BrodieFairhall I haven't succeeded in creating a switchable table of configurations attempting to follow realthunder's forum post using the latest version of his fork. Could you post your working example somewhere that I could use as a template? I enjoyed your video - even though I'd already understood the content from the markster's series.
@@edwilliams1638 I'm working on an open builds v-slot extrusion file with configuration tables, I'll upload that when I'm happy it's working and I'll reply with a link for you.
There is a little bit more required than what is in RealThunder's forum post to get it working, but nothing crazy.
@@BrodieFairhall Sounds good. Thank you. I have a pantorouter template constructor in OpenScad that I could do much cleaner in FreeCad - but I'd like to centralize all my working parameter sets in a single file. Configuration tables would be a good way to keep the tweaked parameters in one place.
Hi Brodie,
is it possible to make a midplane to put your sketch there, and then make your part there?
thank you for getting to know us FreeCAD ;-)
I want to thank the people who make these open source programs, and also all people who are committed to teaching them!
I'm not going to pay for everything I design for home use like with Fusion 360.
and my main thought the Cloud, where is this China? is it a safe place for non-proprietary designs?
I think that anyone who wants to change or improve something at home on a machine will want to pay annually for a Cad program!
You definitely can create planes anywhere to sketch on or directly offset a sketch in any direction and orientation. The location and orientation of a plane or sketch can also be linked to a spreadsheet.
FreeCAD can do pretty much everything that Fusion 360 can do but a lot of things just have to be done in different ways.
I'd been looking everywhere to find how to map a datum plane to one of the origin planes. That information was unobtainable until this video.
I'm glad I could help!
great video - a quick jump into params. Can you please work on audio quality?
I've already started getting help with that, it's definitely not great.
Hi, quick question, how could we check the parameters that are no longer in use in our model?
I Have just today viewed FreeCad WOW great stuff. Not sure on the computer limits to run were will i find the details please.
FreeCAD runs on a huge variety of hardware and operating systems.
You can find requirements here wiki.freecadweb.org/Online_Help_Toc
I absolutely recommend installing the 0.19 version from here github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/releases/tag/0.19_pre
instead of 0.18
hi,
i am looking for the feature tat mentioned at the end of your video, the drop down menu/option. do you know a link or keyword to search for it ?
maybe something similar like CATIA is already exist, in catia, user can select between different rows or column of the design table, to automatically switch between the values. but there is no drop down menu, only a number. useful thing, theat number can be read from an excel as well, so for changing the desing, the user doesn't need to know anything about the CAD or even have that program, only opening an excel file, changing number, and forwarding the excel file to others.
is there anything like this change and control in real thunder ? i mean changing one input in an excel file, and then freecad can read tht data and then select the corresponding row/column, ad the model the file .. ????
The drop down menu is a custom parameter, how I manage to get the text in the dropdown is through how the configuration table is bound. If you look up configuration tables in FreeCAD, that step will be included.
As for using an excel file, FreeCAD can import XLSX files and the spreadsheet workbench can directly open CSV files. I don't know of a nice easy way to keep an excel file linked to a design. You can however keep your FreeCAD spreadsheet in a different file to the rest of the design (I do this with assemblies) and share the FreeCAD file containing the spreadsheet.
This seems to be a nice video
A few people will have a problem. Some people have poor eye sight and can not follow the small fast moving pointer. Is it possible to make the pointer bigger. This will help us a lot.
Thank You
I will absolutely do a few things to help with this, I can make the pointer bigger and make it a lighter colour for contrast.
@@BrodieFairhall Thank You very much. Easy to see color for us is red.
I wonder if you can add and remove parts with parameters. Like in OpenSCAD where I created an object where I can add a number to stack that many object and calculate other parts.
th-cam.com/video/Yp6cIMA7LsI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=n8gcYfSqONBai86v
This video (rather long, but it was a presentation rather than a tutorial) may have some of what you're looking for.
Is there a way to create a snap lid in FreeCAD? The Fusion360 Tutorial by Adafruit uses a tapered extrusion for this. I tried looking for a similar approach in FreeCAD but found none.
I know FreeCAD the extrusion (called 'padding') on the PartDesign bench does not taper, but there is another extrusion on the Part bench. However, that does not accept parametric input and only extrudes outward, creating a cone and not a pyramid.
Messing about with singular chamfers on the Part Design bench does not return nice results.
I also tried the "additive wedge", but that one is even more unintuitive to work with...
For future reference, I found a workaround with padding/hole from the two other planes. However, sometimes the proper solution is not WHAT to do, but HOW to go about it. Most tutorials seem content with the first, this tutorial is a fine example of the second.
Honestly for this I would use a loft, not a pad.
You can use parameters in the part workbench extrude, but, my advice is;
Use part design OR use part, don't mix and match them in the one project until you really understand FreeCAD or you'll end up creating problems for yourself
This is parametric distance , how the parametric wavy wood wall design it can be done , i cant find a way
'It is a cnc wood working design '
Hi Brodie,
I would like to make 10-15 variants of a simple model as your box exaple an export them for 3d printing. Is there a way to automate this process?
You can make a macro to do this for you. You can record a macro then look at how it works and modify it to suit your needs.
@@BrodieFairhall thx. a nice idea. anyway, in the intro of this video you showed an example where it seems that already recorded a video about this. If yes, please upload it. I am interested in a 5min-box-example :)
Can free cad be used for CNC programming?
It absolutely can be, I'm planning to do a video on that soon
1:57 I don't get any form, mine just says "Units string" without being able to set anything.
Hmm, I'm not sure what is up there, the main thing is to make sure you have selected cells that are either empty or have only numeric data in them. You can still work without having the unit string set and you can just type "mm" (or any other unit type) after a number to set its type.
Brodie Fairhall, the file either doesn't exist at RealThunder's GitHub, or it's buried under a seemingly insurmountable heap of "Bug Fixes" gripe. It would be super useful to see a walkthrough of how to set up the drop down list and how to link it to the model. I suspect macros are involved. Showing how useful FreeCAD can be without showing how to achieve that level of usefulness is not very helpful. I can definitely see myself using that drop down technique to capture design iterations in one convenient table. Can you show how to set up that super useful looking table for NEMA motors? Thank you very much, indeed.
This is a constant annoyance with Github and it almost seems random. Under each release on the Linkstage3 Branch, there will be the word "Assets" arrow next to it, click on it and the files for the release will drop down there. Normally, the latest release should have them all shown. There is not installer for the dev versions, for Windows you need to download the 7z file and decompress it, then the FreeCAD.exe file will be in bin directory.
As for how to make configuration tables, there are no macro's required, it's all done just using standard tools and the final link to the dropdown box is made with a simple formula in a spreadsheet cell. It's one of the features I am most looking forward to seeing in the main branch. I've got a backlog of videos I need to finish, I do want to do a video on configuration tables, but in the mean time, Oficine Robotica has a good video on it th-cam.com/video/PqARo51D4E0/w-d-xo.html
@@BrodieFairhall Thank you very much, indeed! My experience:
1) I downloaded FreeCAD-asm3-Win64-Py3-Qt5.12-20210328.7z, from following your link to RealThunder's GitHub
2) I downloaded 7-zip for windows 64-bit, which I used to extract the file, per your instructions above
3) I ran the FreeCADLink (NOT FreeCAD) application (.exe) in the "bin" folder, per your instructions
4) I followed OfficineRobotica's instructions for setting up and using configuration tables:
th-cam.com/video/PqARo51D4E0/w-d-xo.html
5) Very much thanks to you and OfficineRobotica :)
@@geirthieussbimkravahl I'm glad you were able to work it all out!
Oficine Robotica is an excellent channel to follow to keep on top of anything new happening in the Linkstage3 build.
Good luck with your modelling and reach out if you ever get stuck!
Do you have a list of your colors?
This was just done using the dark blue theme and standard colour set.
Some variation might be due to my operating system / desktop environment, some things like toolbars etc might look different on Windows or Mac OS.
One exception is the plain background colour I have in this video, which is;
Red - 113
Green - 123
Blue - 138
I now use the pro dark theme with a monokai colour palette for sketches etc.
You video has been referenced on the FreeCad Wiki on a page: '''[wiki.freecadweb.org/Best_Practices_with_SpreadSheets Best Practices with SpreadSheets - FreeCAD Documentation ]'''.
Your or your viewers may want to take a look at that page and read/evaluate/learn from it. It is a wiki so you can change the page, or comment in its discussion tab. You can message me, the guy who made
this comment.
Is there an output to UGS
You can generate and export gcode using the path workbench if that's what you're asking?
Unless there is an add-on for it, I don't thing you can use FreeCAD as the gcode sender / directly control your CNC machine with it.
@@BrodieFairhall Thanks generating the G Code will be great thanks.. I look forward to more videos.
Brodie Fairhall Any chance you could do a video on this topic?
@@TheMowogman I already plan to in a week or two. It has been one of the more requested features to do a video on.
Getting fed up with fusion 360 BS, it's not every day I end up needing a powerful cad program, but when I do I don't want to have to dick around with a license that has changed 3 times since I last used the software haha. I have a 3d printer, a laser engraver, and most recently a cnc router. It looks to me that freecad can do everything I need if I spend a little time to familiarize myself. Have a very simple project I wanted to do parametrically simply because I will need like 10 slightly different variations of it (a jig that will increase in one dimension by 1/8" per iteration)
You need a better mic Master ;)
That clicking is very distracting. Where are you based? i can help by contributing a mic if you like :)
That is extremely generous! But I just bought a mic (I used it on the Fusion 360 to FreeCAD part 2 video) I am still learning / working out how to improve the recording and post processing, but the new mic was a hug improvement.
Oh, also, I am based in Australia.
@@BrodieFairhall I recommend you get a usb sound card then. If your mic is new, since these days the pcs have a lot of noise from the PSU and that usually results in that type of clicking sound. I have a cheap trustmaster 20378 that comes with a usb sound card that I bought specially because of this issue. I returned a couple of "better" mics because all gave me the same issues. Even internal soundcard boards still have me clicking, in only to find out later it was a isolation problem with current pcs
On my laptop i could get better sound but only if I had it running on battery. If I had it plugged to mains the clicking would return
Find me on photonsters facebook page if you want to chat.
Keep up the great work and thanks for taking the time to make these tutorials
"Box Lenght".
I didn't notice that one until after I uploaded it
I wish I could get comfortable with the use of the term "ZED", but so far I can't. Every time I hear it I spend the rest of the day wondering what it is they are trying to NOT confuse "Z" with. Certainly not X or Y. And, who came up with ZED? I first learned a phonetic alphabet when I joined the Army in 1963 and I still remember that Z=ZULU. Makes a lot more sense than ZED and nobody had to re-invent the wheel. Yes, I know I'm a dinosaur so you needn't tell me.
Oh I apologise for any confusion, "ZED" isn't a phonetic thing. Countries who use UK English pronounce Z as "ZED" and not the American English pronunciation, "ZEE".
I'm Australian, so I say "ZED" instead of "ZEE".
@@BrodieFairhall AHHH!!! I feel so stupid. I've never heard that before. Now I'm wondering about other quirks in the Australian version of English. How about pronouncing "T" as "D"? There are a couple of Australian TH-camrs I listen to all the time who drive me crazy with that one. Also, I believe the use of ZED is spreading possibly because of the same ignorance I'm guilty of. I'm sure I hear some Americans using it also.
@RAMTEK not a problem at all, as kids here we are exposed to both pronunciations because we get lots of American TV etc.
As for the 'T' as 'D' thing and also pronouncing a lot or 'r' sounds as 'ah', our accent is pretty lazy, even to the point we blend multiple words together.
I only realised all of this when I started working outside of Australia and I had to use less Aussie slang and more neutral English.
Am I the only one hearing a ticking sound in his audio? its really hard to get through
Your microphone is popping. You can hear it throughout the whole video.
If you saw what I used to record audio for this video, you'd know why.
It gets slightly better with each video.
@@BrodieFairhall Very well.