https://wiki.freecadweb.org/Release_notes_0.19 Release notes 0.19 From FreeCAD Documentation Jump to navigation Jump to search Other languages: Deutsch * English * espanol * francais * italiano * polski [ ] Contents * 1 Highlights * 2 General + 2.1 Python 3 and Qt5 + 2.2 Some issues + 2.3 Development + 2.4 Documentation + 2.5 Known Limitations * 3 User interface * 4 App::Link and assembly * 5 Core system, App, Base, and Gui namespaces * 6 Addon Manager * 7 Arch Workbench * 8 Draft Workbench + 8.1 Further Draft Improvements * 9 FEM Workbench + 9.1 Further FEM Improvements * 10 Import * 11 Material handling * 12 Mesh + 12.1 Further improvements * 13 Part Workbench + 13.1 Further improvements * 14 PartDesign Workbench + 14.1 Further improvements * 15 Path Workbench * 16 Render Workbench * 17 Sketcher Workbench * 18 Spreadsheet Workbench * 19 Start Workbench * 20 Surface Workbench * 21 TechDraw Workbench + 21.1 Further TechDraw Improvements * 22 Web * 23 Macros * 24 Additional modules + 24.1 3D Printing Tools + 24.2 A2plus + 24.3 Assembly3 + 24.4 Assembly4 + 24.5 ArchTextures + 24.6 BOLTSFC + 24.7 CurvedShapes Workbench + 24.8 Dodo (formerly Flamingo) + 24.9 Fasteners + 24.10 MeshRemodel Workbench + 24.11 MOOC Workbench + 24.12 NodeEditor (PyFlow) + 24.13 Trails, PyTrails, Turns, pivy_trackers, and Geomatics FreeCAD 0.19 was released on March 20th, 2021, get it from the Download page. This is a summary of the most interesting changes. The complete list of changes can be found in the MantisBT bugtracker FC 0.19 changelog. Older FreeCAD release notes can be found in Feature list. FreeCAD release 0.19 main.jpg Simpson and Shipton short stroke steam engine circa 1845, using horizontal rotating piston, by "un1corn", Users Showcase. Highlights FreeCAD highlight Horizontal 4 cylinder rotary valve steam engine, 1 0.19.jpg by "un1corn", Users Showcase. Preliminary design of MAORY, an adaptive optics (AO) module for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT); here it is mounted on the E-ELT Nasmyth platform. FreeCAD This assembly was made by "Zolko", author of the new highlight Assembly4 Workbench, which uses the new powerful App Link 2 0.19.png object to import thousands of different parts and subassemblies, arranging them in specified positions by means of mathematical expressions. See Users Showcase. For this model, the parts were not designed in FreeCAD, they were just imported in STEP format, and subsequently arranged with Assembly4. Constant velocity joint M. GECIK, by user "ppemawm", see Users Showcase. The model is reversed engineered from the individual STL files from Thingiverse by the original author, NOP21. Please notice the license of the original files. FreeCAD The STL files were downloaded, saved, and imported into highlight FreeCAD, and they were manually assembled using the Std 3 0.19.jpg Transform tool; this mesh assembly was used as reference to create solid bodies with PartDesign and subsequently assemble them using the new Assembly4 Workbench. The model was started with Assembly4, and each part was created in-context referencing the STL model for sketch dimensions; sketches were created 1:1 scale with the STL model in the background. The Workbench TechDraw.svg TechDraw Workbench, which replaced the Workbench Drawing.svg Drawing Workbench in v0.17, has been upgraded in an important way. It has many new features with respect to v0.18, which make it much more useful to produce technical illustrations of 3D solids. Among many small improvments, new features include: dimensions are now compliant with one of ISO 129-1 or ASME FreeCAD Y14.5M standards; new balloon annotations to include text highlight inside a circle or polygon shape; new rich text 4 annotations to include big paragraphs formatted as bold or 0.19.png italic; cosmetic vertices and cosmetic edges that are not part of the original model but which can be used to create custom dimensions; basic support for welding symbols; new active view mode to take a "snapshot" of the 3D view; new basic templates for ISO sizes (A0 to A4), as well as Russian and Chinese language templates; new horizontal and vertical dimensions that measure the full extent of the projections; SVG face hatches are now available when the page is exported to SVG; the new App Link object is now also supported as a source for creating views, which is useful when working with assemblies. General With more than 8128 commits in the master branch since the 0.18 release, this is one of the most extensive releases ever, with several new components like the new "App::Link" object, as well as many new tools in the TechDraw Workbench that make FreeCAD even more powerful for 3D solid modelling and assembly. Beside that, the FreeCAD ecosystem has continued to grow with more specialized external workbenches. Python 3 and Qt5 The effort to migrate from Python 2 and Qt4 to Python 3 and Qt5 is essentially complete and most developers have moved to the Python3/ Qt5 toolchains. Undoubtedly there are unforeseen bugs; these will be addressed as they are reported. Any existing dependence on Python 2 or Qt4 will not be supported beyond 1st January 2020 when Python 2 officially became unsupported by the Python Foundation. Please note that certain addons have not been ported yet to Python3/Qt5. This may be due to several reasons including lack of time by their developers, or broken dependencies that may not be easily fixed, or simply because the addon is considered obsolete. Individuals interested in the migration of a particular workbench or tool are encouraged to participate in the FreeCAD forum; see also, Python3 and Qt5 Compatible Addon Workbenches (in preparation for 0.18). Some issues Fixed issue with Std Part containers visibility when the viewport is displayed in full screen in Qt5: * Set Qt::AA_ShareOpenGLContexts for Qt 5.9 and above; forum discussion, commit 2a1dd8415, and commit 57b3ca6f77. * Disabled ESC button support in View3DInventor::keyEvent() for Qt5 to avoid MDI view mode-related rendering artifacts; forum discussion, commit 960d612547. * Fixed bug in MainWindow::setActiveWindow to avoid a crash when returning from full screen; forum discussion, commit c4e34ed9b. * Fixed issue #4088 about the visibility of the origin of a Part changing when undocking the 3D view; forum discussion, commit 1e19ef5be. * Fixed issue #3130 about Qt5 bugs when using a high resolution external monitor; forum discussion, commit 2f2d505359. Development To compile FreeCAD under Windows, there are different Libpacks (prepackaged libraries) available: * Libpack for Windows with Qt 5.12, OCC 7.3, and Python 3.6; forum discussion. * Libpack for Windows with Qt 5.12.6, OCC 7.4; forum discussion, pull request #2944. * Libpack 12.5.1 for Windows with Qt 5.15, OCC 7.5, and Python 3.8; forum discussion Other development news: * There is a new Docker container to build FreeCAD, see Compile on Docker; forum discussion. * The infrastructure of the bug tracker as well as wiki was moved to a dedicated server, so that it is easier to manage by the project administrators; forum discussion. Documentation * The Compile on Linux page was reviewed to better explain the requisites to compile on different Linux distributions. As many developers use Debian based systems, this section received the most attention. Users of other Linux distributions are encouraged to maintain the documentation for their particular distribution. * Compile on Windows was also rewritten to explain how to use the "LibPack" for compilation. * Compile on Docker was created to describe the compilation in this system. * The Source documentation page also received a clean-up to better explain how to produce the programming (API) documentation from C++ and Python sources. * The Doxygen page was reviewed and extended to give more details about the syntax that is used in C++ files to produce the programming documentation. * The Source code management page was also reworked with better descriptions and examples of using git to manage branches and contribute code. * The External workbenches page was re-organized, so that all feature-rich, publicly available workbenches are listed. If you'd like to add a workbench to this page, showcase it in the forum, and provide supporting information like user manual, wiki pages, and a link to its repository. Then push for it to be included in the Addon Manager. * There have been improvements to the Tutorials and Video tutorials pages. In particular, it has been stressed to readers that they should consider only video tutorials that are made with versions 0.17 and above. Known Limitations * Black screen due to video card drivers, while running FreeCAD inside a virtual machine; issue #3939. * Logitech Wingman USB joystick can cause erratic behavior when spinning and zooming in the view; forum discussion. * Gesture navigation is fully supported for Windows but yet to be maintained in Linux and MacOS. Problem: the developer, DeepSOIC, doesn't have a MacOS machine with its special trackpad, and hasn't tested it on Linux either; forum discussion. User interface The navigation cube got a few retouches; now it uses transparency to be easier on Navi Cube 0.19.png the eyes, and the arrows are bigger to improve clicking on them. Forum discussion, pull request. The navigation cube can be augmented by the CubeMenu addon, which allows configuring the menu that pops up, as well as the size of the cube itself. This is helpful particularly for very FreeCAD CubeMenu.png high resolution screens, in which the default size is too small. This is an external tool that can be installed from the Addon Manager. Forum discussion; CubeMenu repository (LGPL 2.1). There is a new preferences option to display selection checkboxes in front of FreeCAD every document tree item. This is for DocumentTree-Checkboxes.png example useful to select several items via a touchscreen. Forum discussion; pull request. New COIL icon theme developed by user 1D_Inc. This is a minimalistic icon set inspired on Blender's 2.8 outline-style icons (a coil of threads or strands alludes to the appearance of the icons). The intention is to have COIL Icons.png professional-looking icons that can be used with different color themes, including light, dark, and monochrome. Forum discussion 1 (old thread), discussion 2 (main thread), 1D_SVG_Tools repository. New icon theme management developed by IconThemes.png user triplus. Forum discussion. New dark stylesheet developed by user Dark theme1.PNG userzmp2000. Forum discussion, BlenderLike-dark.qss. Dark themes by user pablogil. Blue, green, and orange variations, which are Darker.png darker than previous templates. Forum discussion, pull request #2433, # 2920, #2933. The Std ViewScreenShot tool now supports transparency. Options are available by clicking the Extended button and View ScreenCapture.png changing the Image Properties section. Wiki, forum discussion, commit 8e5151002 . App::Link and assembly Link.svg AppLink.png The "App::Link" object allows lightweight linking of objects in a document and from external documents. After 2.5 years in development, the "Link" object, or more formally App Link (App::Link class), was introduced in FreeCAD. This is a special type of App DocumentObject with certain properties that will hopefully allow for doing assemblies easier. An "App Link" allows objects to use another object's data, such as geometry or even their 3D visual representation, in the same or different files. It can be thought of as a thin, absolute clone, or as the same object living into two different "instances". Some functionality offered by an "App Link" is already present in some workbenches like Arch and BIM (clones, external references), but the "App Link" implementation is at the core level, and thus can be used by all workbenches in different ways. The "App Link" component was thought and developed almost single-handedly by user realthunder. The motivations and design implementations behind this project are described in his GitHub page, Link. In order to accomplish this feature, several core changes to FreeCAD were made; these are also extensively documented in Core-Changes. The history of "App Link" can be traced to some essential forum threads: * Why an object can only be inside one App::Part? (March 2017) * Introducing App::Link/XLink (March 2017) * Links (May 2017) * Realthunder Link implementation: Architecture discussion (June 2017) * PR #876: Link, stage one, context aware selection (July 2017) * Preview: Link, stage two, API groundwork (July 2017) * Assembly3 preview (December 2017) * Merging of my Link branch (June 2018) Finally, the pull request and merge happened: * App::Link: the big merge, old thread (July 2019), pull request # 2350 (the BIG merge), LinkMerge branch. * App::Link: the big merge, main thread (July 2019) * A simple path description of Link, 019, Link stage, Asm3, merge? (August 2019) * PR#2559: expose link and navigation actions, an introduction to the Link feature in 0.19 (September 2019). The "App Link" object prepares FreeCAD for the phase that was scheduled to happen after the redesign of PartDesign in FreeCAD 0.17, which is working with assemblies. Assembly3 is an assembly workbench written in Python by realthunder, that makes use of the "App Link" functionality. The workbench served as a testbed for this component during its development. While Assembly3 is still not officially part of FreeCAD, with the inclusion of "App Link" in the master branch, it is a matter of time for Assembly3 to be provided as an installable add-on, just like A2plus and Assembly4 are provided currently. Core system, App, Base, and Gui namespaces Beside the introduction of App Link, the "LinkMerge" branch also introduced some changes visible to the user with regards to object properties, expressions, visual selection, and the tree view. These are described in the Core-Changes page. Dynamic properties can be added to any C++ or Custom property Python object. This can make macros such as Macro 0.19.png PropertyMemo obsolete. Forum discussion, animated GIF example. Custom property These dynamic properties were added in the App 0.19 property Link merge; pull request #2350. editor.png Selected elements hidden by other elements are highlighted to indicate their position within the Selection.png model. These selection enhancement were also introduced in the App Link merge; pull request #2350. After two years being stalled, there have been improvements in the way the program handles backup FreeCAD backup files. Now they can include a timestamp in the timestamp.png.png format %Y%m%d-%H%M%S, instead of a simple number. This can be set in the preferences editor. Forum discussion, pull request #1148. FreeCAD Parameter New input field to quickly search for parameters editor quick in the parameter editor. search.png Forum discussion, pull request #3173. The Macro menu now shows a shortcut to recently used macros, which can be called with a key Macro recently combination, for example, Ctrl+Shift+1. This can used.png be configured in the Macro preferences. Forum discussion, pull request #3616. * Added support for existing Python virtual environments; pull request #2021. * Pre-select name filter in the import/export dialog; forum discussion, commit e239994, * Fixed missing application ID and icon on GNOME/Wayland; pull request #2466. * Added support for Hertz as a physical unit, and added the Frequency property; forum discussion, commit 3500451a0, commit d7ca604c9. * Added Std TextDocument tool to insert an object to store arbitrary text in the document; commit 13db5b0560, commit 53b01f08f9. * Added support for further units, Gauss, Weber, Oersted; forum discussion, pull request #2863. * New commands to get information on the graphical commands, and the shortcuts; Gui.getCommandInfo(...), Gui.getCommandShortcut (...), Gui.setCommandShortcut(...); forum thread, pull request # 3710. * New glTF support (requires OCC 7.5.0) commit * New WebGL exporter pull request #4025 Addon Manager The Addon Manager was upgraded; it is now able to Addon display more complete information on all external Manager workbenches and macros, and show an icon for each of update them. It also allows checking for updates on start, and 0.19.png using custom repositories. Forum discussion. Addon It will also show information on whether the addon is manager ui obsolete, already installed, or available for update. tweak.png Forum discussion, pull request #2605. Arch Workbench Keep with the latest developments to the Arch Workbench, and the BIM Workbench that depends on it, by following the main author of this workbench, at Uncreated. The updates are also posted to the forum, BIM/Arch development news articles from Yorik's blog. The developers of Draft, Arch, and BIM Workbenches also collaborate with the greater OSArch community, with the ultimate goal of improving building design by using entirely free software. The Arch Site tool once more is able to produce sun path diagrams if the given latitude, longitude, and declination are Freecad-solar-diagram.jpg provided. This requires Pysolar 0.7 or above, and only works with Python 3. Forum discussion, commit 2177f4437, commit c05bc0990. The Arch Site tool now can display a compass to show the direction of the "true North" (declination) in the model. By the default, North is aligned to the Y axis. Arch Site Compass.png This is useful when working in real world coordinates. Forum discussion, pull request #2111, commit ff1fb11af, pull request #2360. The Arch SectionPlane tool now has the Arch SectionPlane ability of clipping the view, to act as a ClipView.png camera. Forum discussion, commit 9a64f3fad9. The Arch Fence tool was added to produce fence objects starting from a post and a path. Arch Fence example.png Forum discussion, pull request #2151, pull request #2173, pull request #2263, pull request #2270. Arch Fence in action. Improvements in the Reinforcement Addon, which extends the Arch Rebar tool. Automated reinforcement graphical user interface: the intention is to facilitate BeamReinforcementDialog the automatic creation of simple and Stirrups.png complex rebars. This development was carried out as a Google Summer of Code 2019 project: Suraj_Dadral/gsoc_proposal. Forum discussion, FreeCAD-Reinforcement (master code), SurajDadral/ FreeCAD-Reinforcement (development fork). New rendering modes for Arch SectionPlane that can be selected when using TechDraw ArchView, DataRender Mode, Coin and Coin mono. The section plane generates an SVG that is simply displayed in a TechDraw page; with these new modes, the SVG generation is performed by Coin, so it is FreeCAD Arch Coin faster than using Wireframe and Solid, rendering.png which use the internal OCCT kernel to calculate the SVG projection. The tradeoff is between speed and precision; the Coin modes are faster but less precise, while the original modes are more precise but relatively slow. Forum discussion, commits f93a986b5a, ed0eff0248. New Arch CutLine tool to cut solid objects, like Arch Walls and Arch Structure, using an edge, like a Draft Arch CutLine example Line. This works similar to the existing 1.png Arch CutPlane. Forum discussion, pull request #2701, # 2870. Arch now includes a Shapefile importer, which is commonly used in GIS applications. The importer uses the shapefile.py library from the pyshp Arch Shapefile importer project; this library should be downloaded example.jpg on first run. Forum thread, commit 916a42397c. Image of a site shared by @HnsaCAD for @gemeentearnhem. New Arch Truss tool to create a variety of trusses. Like Arch Walls they are constructed from a baseline, and different properties define the shape of the truss, its height, and the intermediate elements. Arch Truss example.png It also supports Arch MultiMaterial to assign different materials to the bottom, top, and intermediate elements. Commit 0c96f77184. New Arch CurtainWall tool to create various types of walls. This tool needs a base surface to work on. If none is selected, you can simply draw a line Arch CurtainWall between two points, like the standard Arch example.png Wall. The surface is then subdivided into rows and columns, and four points extracted from the surface subdivisions, forming quadrangular facets. Commit e42a26fba1, commit 7c12c8688c. Draft Workbench The Draft Edit tool was upgraded to allow editing many Draft objects at the same time, and also display better trackers. Forum discussion, pull request #1968, commit V0ODfsN9nY.gif 272a8dfcc9, commit 7de2248bb, pull request # 2108, pull request #2430; animated GIF example. The tool was also moved into its own module: commit a4e2df115d, commit c351b9094. New Draft SubelementHighlight tool to highlight the nodes and edges of certain objects, like Draft Wires, in order to edit them using modifiers like Draft Move, Draft Rotate, and Draft Scale. It allows you to select multiple objects to edit instead of just one. Once the objects are highlighted, you can select specific sub-elements, vertices Draft and edges, and transform (move, rotate, scale) SubelementHighlight only these. example.png This tool was particularly developed to help edit the shape of Arch Walls that are based on Draft Wires. When various walls are selected, and the tool is used, the base wires automatically become visible, and display their nodes prominently. Forum discussion, pull request #1975; video demonstration 1, 2. New Draft CubicBezCurve tool, to create 3rd degree Bezier curves in a way similar to Draft CubicBezCurve Inkscape. example.png Forum discussion, pull request #2072; animated GIF example. New Draft Arc 3Points tool, to create circular arcs by specifying three points through which the arc passes. Originally developed in the BIM Workbench and then migrated to Draft. Draft Arc 3Points Forum discussion, commit 4f19a65559, commit example.png 0b905fade0, pull request #2286. A proper command line interface as well as unit test are also provided. Pull request #3004, #3005. New Draft Layer tool that replaces the seldom used Draft VisGroup, providing a true layer system as it exists in other CAD systems. Draft Layer supports adding objects by Draft layers.png drag-and-drop, controls object visibility and, optionally, object color. Forum discussion (development), forum discussion (announcement), commit 5ee99ca4ee, commit 36bc48c9bf. Improvements in the Draft SVG routines to improve inclusion of 2D projections in TechDraw pages. This benefits tools like Draft Shape2DView and Arch SectionPlane, when used with TechDraw DraftView and TechDraw ArchView. Draft-TechDraw integration.png A new DataOverride Style property is added to TechDraw DraftView, in order to choose whether the appearance of Draft objects is kept (new) or is overridden by the TechDraw page (old behavior). Forum discussion, commit 3e323fee14. New Draft Fillet tool that creates a fillet Draft Fillet (rounded corner) or a chamfer (straight line) example.png between two simple Draft Lines. Forum discussion, pull request #2441, #2492. The introduction of the App Link object made it possible to create arrays which have many exact references to an existing object instead of shape duplicates (simple copies). This results in more memory efficient arrays. This is possible with the new Draft LinkArray and Draft PathLinkArray tools. Draft LinkArray works in three modes, "ortho", "polar", and the new "circular" mode, which was introduced in a separate commit. Pull request #2350. Draft LinkArray example.png After the creation of the Link arrays, a new command called Draft OrthoArray now replaces both Draft Array and Draft LinkArray. This Draft OrthoArray is used to create exclusively orthogonal arrays. It shows a task panel similar to Draft PolarArray and Draft CircularArray. Therefore, from the toolbar it is now possible to create "orthogonal", "polar" and "circular" arrays from separate buttons. Moreover, the array buttons are collected in a group so that they are organized. Forum discussion, pull request #2988, #2972. New Draft PolarArray tool to create polar arrays directly. Previously, the same could be done by using the old Draft Array command, and then modifying the properties of the created Draft PolarArray object. example.png This Draft PolarArray tool can create the new App Link objects or the traditional copies. Forum discussion, pull request #2824. The Array object has a new "circular" mode. This is controlled by new properties: Data RadialDistance, DataTangentialDistance, Data NumberCircles, and DataSymmetry. Draft CircularArray Forum discussion, pull request #2585. example.png Moreover, a new Draft CircularArray tool was developed to create these circular arrays directly. This tool can create the new App Link objects or the traditional copies. Forum discussion, pull request #2824. The unit tests of the workbench were rewritten and expanded, so that now it is easier to test for errors and regressions when new code is merged. Forum discussion, pull request #2668, #2727, # 2881, #3005. Draft test objects.png Also, a script is provided in Mod/Draft/ drafttests/draft_test_objects.py, that produces a test file with most objects of the workbench. This file is useful to learn scripting in Draft, and can also be used to test regressions in the underlying code of the objects. Forum discussion, pull request #3012. New icons were provided for the Draft objects in the tree view. The objective is to more quickly distinguish the objects at a glance, particularly if the default label is changed. This makes it easier to recognize objects which are lines, curves, geometrical elements, linear, radial, or angular dimensions, or Draft tree icons.png other objects. In addition, all icons were converted to the new standard pixel resolution of 96 dpi, and were saved as Plain SVG, so that we don't introduce non-standard SVG tags. Forum discussion, pull request #3051, #3058, # 3060, #3070, #3170, #3402. Undergoing efforts to split tools into their own module files to ease maintenance of the codebase for the future, and facilitate the addition of new tools. Forum discussion, overall structure. Some of the functions and classes that have already been moved: commit 5ee99ca4ee (Draft Layer), commit 16c26cb3b1 (Draft Edit), commit 9fb6aec313 (Draft SelectPlane), pull requests #2823 (GuiCommandBase), #2829 (utilities), # 2830 (GUI utilities), #2831 (ToDo class), # 2832 (translate function), #3091 (Draft Snap), #3092 (Draft Trackers), #3094 (Draft Draft SelectPlane), #3095 (Draft ShapeString task architecture.svg panel), #3096 (Draft Scale task panel), #3097 (Draft Edit), #3157 (Draft WorkingPlaneProxy), #3182 (various Gui Commands), #3291 (base classes DraftTool, Creator, Modifier), #3299, (Creator tools), #3308 (Modifier tools). For an overall view of the pull requests, see #2429. This is a work in progress that requires advancing carefully as we aim to maintain compatibility with previous versions of Draft. Most refactoring is complete, but there is still room for improving many aspects of the workbench. We invite enthusiastic developers to join the effort. New Annotation style editor tool to create styles for annotations. These styles can define things like text font, size, color, and arrows, which can be applied to any of your Draft texts, dimensions or labels. We started by AnnotationStyleEditor implementing an editor and a system to store example.png the styles in the document. Next steps will be adapting the different annotation objects to support the styles. Forum discussion, commit 1b887fa0f5, commit 4555a77663, commit 5b3fea59e0. Further Draft Improvements * The Draft Wire tool now is called "Polyline" in the menu, instead of "DWire"; all options and functionality remain the same, so this doesn't break compatibility; commit 39e748229e. * A "DraftEditPickRadius" preference was added to control the area of influence of the pointer when picking vertices in edit mode Draft Edit; forum discussion, pull request #2642, issue #4162. * Undergoing efforts to document the Python source code (adding complete docstrings), in order to produce better programming documentation that can be used by both users and developers. See Source documentation for instructions on generating the documentation with Doxygen. * The "Toolbar mode" when launching the Draft tools has been removed. This was an interface that was used in the past but became obsolete as the task panel became the predominant interface; forum discussion, pull request #2973. * Draft.copy now works with any document object, thanks to the new Document.copyObject() method introduced with the LinkMerge; pull request #3658. FEM Workbench After half a year in development and testing the "femconcrete" branch was added to the FEM Workbench. This provides tools to estimate the level of reinforcement required in a concrete structure to prevent brittle failure under tension or shear. In essence, it is a post processing Femconcrete Wall 3D rx routine for the CalculiX solver, which PSS.png calculates the principal tensile stresses in the concrete from an elastic analysis and uses those to determine the minimum reinforcement in the three coordinate directions required to prevent failure. Forum discussion, pull request #2267; Analysis of reinforced concrete with FEM (tutorial). After a few months in development the "fcFEM" macro was published. It implements a finite element solver entirely in Python. Its author designed it to overcome the limitations of other external solvers, like CalculiX and z88. Some of the intended improvements include creating mixed mesh analyses, improved beam and shell elements, arc-length control for overcoming limit points in elastic-plastic FcFEM Plate with Hole analyses, implementation of zero-thickness 2.png interface elements for different applications, and others. In due time this solver could be distributed together with the FEM Workbench, meaning that the FreeCAD project would have its own finite element solver for doing mechanical and structural analyses. Forum discussion; fcFEM repository (LGPL 2). Topology optimization has long been a feature desired for those working with FEM. In 2016 the BESO (Bi-directional Evolutionary Structural Optimization) project was started, implementing an iterative method with the CalculiX solver FEM Beso topology that removes ineffective elements from a optimization.png mesh in order to optimize the mass of the design. In the 0.19 development cycle, a simple graphical interface has been developed to facilitate generating the beso configuration files. Forum discussion; beso repository (LGPL 3). Similar to beso, the ToOptix project also provides a macro to perform topology FEM ToOptix topology optimization; it currently only works in optimization.png structural and heat transfer studies. Forum discussion (just a mention); ToOptixFreeCADAddon repository (GPL 2). The FEM workbench has now a browsable set of example simulations: They are available FEM Example gui.png via the menu Utilities - FEM Examples.svg Open FEM examples. commit ff3ce49139 There are two new constraints available: menu Model - Geometrical Constraints - FEM ConstraintSectionPrint.svg Constraint Section Print menu Model - Mechanical Constraints - FEM FEM ConstraintTie.svg Constraint Tie, tie-constraint-dialog.png one new solver: menu Solve - FEM EquationElectricforce.svg Electricforce equation and a possibility to overwrite a constant: menu Model - Overwrite Constraints - FEM ConstantVacuumPermittivity.svg Constant vacuum permittivity. Further FEM Improvements * The Elmer project has developed a library for handling batch type pre-processing for the ElmerSolver, using the FEM Workbench. This includes creating mesh objects for FreeCAD, manipulating the mesh sizes of solids, creating finite element meshes using Gmsh, running ElmerGrid and exporting the mesh for ElmerSolver, and selecting and naming bodies and boundaries for ElmerSolver; forum discussion, elmerfem repository (Elmer main repository), FreeCADBatchFEMTools repository (library to interact with FEM Workbench, LGPL 2.1). * The integration of the OOFem solver, which started in 2018, is progressing, so it is now another option that can be used for structural analysis in FreeCAD. This solver is interesting in that it has interface elements, as well as arc-length control, in addition to many non-linear material models. The integration of OOFEM into FEM has been carried in various commits that together serve as documentation on how to integrate similar solvers; forum discussion, femoofem branch, OOFEM main website, oofem repository (LGPL 2.1). * Updated coding standards that strive for PEP8 compliance with Python; forum discussion, commit ad03ee9bdf, commit 27cb54009b. Import * Improved import/export compatibility with proprietary CAD systems, when using compressed STEP, or STPZ; forum discussion, pull request #2323, commit 7de89cf62e. Material handling None Mesh Mesh FromPartShape is now able to create meshes using Gmsh. This mesher is an external program that must be installed in the system before it can be Mesh used. Gmsh was already one of the options to create FromPartShape finite element meshes with the FEM Workbench. Gmsh.png Moreover, now the Mesh FromPartShape dialog will remember the settings that you used the last time. Commit 1cb4625bf. The mesh workbench has now several toolbars to Mesh quickly access the different features. AllToolbars.png Forum thread, Pull request #4462 Further improvements * It is now possible to take an OpenInventor mesh file (.iv), and export it to STL; forum discussion, commit 601ac707b2. * It is now possible to export a Mesh to Asymptote format (.asy ); forum thread, commits 4badaba5, 50bbd522, 58a92681, dd7afa72, b0f78f5a. * Most tools of the Mesh Workbench now have a proper icon so it is easier to recognize the function in the menu and toolbars; forum thread, pull request #3816, #3864. Part Workbench New command Part PointsFromMesh to create an object made of points from an imported mesh. Then the points can be used as reference objects to do Part PointsFromMesh further operations, such as define a example.png plane, and draw a sketch. This can be used to reverse engineer or remodel meshes by creating solid objects. Forum discussion (and video), pull request #2450. Existing primitives can now be edited in a dialog that also shows the changes as life preview. To do this, Part Helix-dialog.png click on the primitive in the model tree and the dialog opens. commit 6d831627, commit f23187cd, commit dabf65cc and commit 7251a90f Part When inserting primitives the Placement-primitive-dialog.png location can be set using translation and rotation. The Part CheckGeometry.svg Part CheckGeometry tool has been expanded to include more information about the Part CheckGeometry Part TopoShape that is contained in advanced.png all solid objects of the program, not including Mesh-type objects. Forum discusion, 2, announcement; pull request #3747. A script is provided in Mod/Part/ parttests/part_test_objects.py, that produces a test file with the Part Primitives. This file is useful to Part Primitives example.png learn scripting in Part, and can also be used to test regressions in the underlying code of the objects. Pull request #3078. Further improvements * New Face method: Part.Face.cutHoles(list_of_wires) to cut holes into a face. The face usually needs to be validated after operation. * The App Link merge introduced two new commands, Part TransformedCopy and Part ElementCopy. These commands create non-parametric copies of a body with a transformed placement, and of an element (vertex, edge, or face); commit 6da72b9859. These operations essentially make the Macro Repro Wire obsolete. * It is now possible to set expressions for all parameters of primitives. commit dd4874d2 and commit 7405dd0e. * Fixed broken support for "INCH" units when exporting to STEP/IGES formats; forum discussion, commit 1b26173580. PartDesign Workbench Features that have an "Attachment" property now show when the attachment mode is "deactivated" by displaying a PartDesign Feature not small overlay to the left of the icon attached.png in the tree view. Features that are attached to a plane or other reference don't display this overlay. Forum discussion, pull request #2272. The dialog to edit chamfers allows now to define chamfers also either * using 2 values PartDesign Chamfer-angle.png * a value and an angle These 2 parameters can also be flipped using the dialog. Forum discussion, pull request #3456 The dialog to edit pads allows now to specify a direction in which the PartDesign Pad direction.png sketch is padded. Forum discussion, pull request #3794 PartDesign LinearPattern and PolarPattern now can be used with dress-up features (fillets, chamfers, thickness and draft) and with primitives (Additives and Subtractives PartDesign Dressup ). A new property DataSupport pattern.png Transform in these features, controls whether the feature supports the pattern or not. Forum discussion, pull request #3045, #3155, #3226. The dialog to edit Prisms (additive and subtractive) allows now to specify PartDesign Prism an angle in respect to the normal of direction.png the chosen attachment plane. This way one can create skew prisms. Forum discussion, pull request #3793 It is now possible to create additive PartDesign and subtractive helices. Additive-Helix-Example.png Forum discussion, pull request #4209 It is now possible to select several features in the document tree before executing a transformation. This way several features can easily be PartDesign transformed at once. The order of the Multiple-pattern-features.png features in the transformation dialog can be changed by dragging a feature to the desired position. Forum discussion, pull request #3748, #3760. The dialogs to edit fillets, chamfers, thickness, and draft features were improved to allow selecting several PartDesign Multiple sub-elements (edges and faces) at selection.png once. Forum discussion, pull request #3050, animated GIF example. The hole dialog offers now to select a norm to create cuts for counterbores PartDesign holecut-type.png and countersinks Forum discussion, pull request #3999. Further improvements * The hole dialog has been overhauled to create norm-conform clearance and threaded hole dimensions. * It is now possible to set expressions for all parameters of additive and subtractive primitives. Forum discussion, pull request #3225. * It is now possible to set expressions for the attachment angles of additive and subtractive primitives. Formerly, expressions were only available for the direction offsets. Forum discussion, commit 1cfe6d2cc7. * It is now possible to change the list items in the different dialogs. For example in this forum post there is a god example why the item list matters for transformations. Here is another example for the sketch order for lofts. Forum discussion, pull request #3760, commit 94ca4388e. Path Workbench Added coolant modes for coolant management. CoolantModes.png Forum discussion, pull request #2463. * New Tool Management system (Toolbits) Wiki Page, forum discussion * Added Path DressupPathBoundary for excluding parts of a path * PathPocket: Extensions (For milling open pockets). * New unified Profile operation: The pre-existing Contour, Profile Faces, and Profile Edges of version 0.18.x are now combined into a single Profile operation. The new Profile operation maintains features and capabilities of the three individual source operations. forum discussion, pull request #3443. * Profile Edges: Open Edges support added. Note: The Profile Edges operation is now merged into the Profile operation. forum discussion, pull request #3068. * First attempt of 4th-axis support: Profile (limited to full contour and profiling of faces), PathPocket, and Drilling * Fixed issue #3993, Python 3 memory leak; forum discussion, commit 3c205946e. * Ability to use an arbitrary number of an object as the base model for a Path.Job, each one being positionable individually; pull request #2056. * PathDeburr: Added direction selection. Fixed DressupLeadInOut problem. * MillFace + Clear edges feature added. + Exclude raised areas feature added; forum discussion, pull request #2367. + Added `Face Region` option to boundary options. This allows the cutter to access areas smaller than cutter diameter, but physically accessible within the part geometry. forum mention , pull request #3534. * Adaptive Clearing improvements. + Adaptive can now use feature outline * 3D Pocket: Reduction of air-milling above inclined pockets; forum discussion, pull request #2366. * 3D Surface + Improvements to general surfacing algorithm. + Initial 4th-axis support; forum discussion, pull request # 2114. + Selection of individual faces; forum discussion, pull request #2849. + Fixes to and addition of various cut patterns: Line, Circular, CircularZigZag, Offset, Spiral, ZigZag. pull request #3327 and other pull requests. * New operation: Waterline. + The independent operation was split from 3D Surface; forum discussion, pull request #3268. + Experimental algorithm added using a combination of Path.Area () offsets of model cross-sections. * Post Processing + Update of Post Processors (GRBL, LinuxCNC, Centroid). + Mach3/Mach4 Post Processor; pull request #3195. + Support tool height offset in the LinuxCNC Post Processor; pull request #2479. + Task Panel for LeadInOut Dressup * New operation: Slot. Allows for creation of a horizontal slotting operation based on two custom points; the selection of one or more faces or edges; or the selection of two vertices. forum discussion, initial pull request #3624. [300px-Vcarve] New operation: V-Carve Allows forum discussion, for center-line engraving with initial pull request V-Carve V-bit. #3879. example * General: + Added cycle time calculations to operations and total cycle time to the job; forum discussion, pull request #3378. + Added ability to import Base Geometry from existing operations within the same Job; forum discussion, pull request #3537. + Added icons to section headings in the Tasks Editor window for Base Geometry, Depths, Heights, and Operation; pull request #3631. + Added support for conical entry helix in Adaptive Operation. + Prefernces to enable features which depend on openCAMLib + Prefernces to suppress common warnings * Job: + Added new group in Job to collect all ToolControllers + Support for gcode WCS (work coordinate system) offsets aka 'fixtures' o Gcode can be generated for any or multiple offsets o Output can be ordered by tool, operation, or fixture to minimize toolchanges or transit time. o Gcode can be split into multiple output files Render Workbench Added support for Blender's standalone "Cycles" renderer; commit 759067912f; FreeCAD-render repository. The Cycles standalone renderer usually needs to be compiled from source, as the binary is normally not provided by itself in a complete Blender distribution. Besides this, the Render Workbench already has support for Pov-Ray, Luxrender and Appleseed. Sketcher Workbench In the Sketcher's task panel, in the "Elements" section there is now a "Mode" filter to select "normal", "construction", "external", or "all" geometry. This is useful Sketcher Elements mode filter.png to perform an action with only one type of geometry. For example, one use case is selecting only the "construction" edges, and deleting them after being used. New Sketcher ToggleActiveConstraint tool to temporarily deactivate a constraint without removing it Sketcher ToggleActiveConstraint entirely. This is helpful to example disabled 2.png test the movement of the sketch before fully constraining it. Pull request #2283, commit 159b8e7bdf. It is now possible to make a dimension constraint a reference constraint directly Sketcher Constraint reference in the dialog. dialog.png Forum discussion, 2; pull request #3201, commit 06f479622c. It is now possible to display the weight of B-spline control Sketcher BSplineWeightShow.png points. commit 65c96a3b. Sketches have a new color scheme to indicate parts of the sketch that are already fully constrained. In the image at the left you can see that the triangle and the arc are fully constrained and thus Sketcher displayed by default in light NewColorScheme-PartialConstrained.png green. The fully constrained construction circle around the triangle appears by default in light blue. The colors can be changed in the Sketcher Preferences. forum thread. * It is now possible to decrease the knot multiplicity of B-Splines. commit fc89f4eb0. * The fillet tool preserves now all possible existing constraints of the touched lines. pull request #4296 , forum discussion * New method to get the geometrical index of a sketch, SketchObject.getGeoVertexIndex(index); forum discussion, pull request #3713. Spreadsheet Workbench The introduction of App Link also brought some improvements to the expressions capabilities of FreeCAD, which are visible in the property editor, and the Spreadsheet Workbench. These are described in Core-Changes and this forum thread. * A new expression syntax is introduced to unambiguously reference a property of the owner object, by omitting the object reference and starting with a leading dot (.), similar to Python relative import syntax. So instead of Cylinder.Height, now you can use .Height. * You can refer to an object by its Name or by its Label. In the case of a Label, it must be enclosed in << and >> symbols, such as <