The standard menu, which holds basic operations of the program. The workbench selector, where you select the active workbench. The toolbar area, where the toolbars are docked. The status bar, where some messages and tooltips appear. The Python console, where all the commands executed are printed, and where you can enter Python code. The report view (or output window), where messages, warnings and errors are shown. The selection view, which indicates the objects or sub-elements of objects (vertices, edges, faces) that are selected. The property editor (part of the combo view), which allows viewing and modifying properties of the selected objects. The tree view (part of the combo view), showing the hierarchy and construction history of objects in the document it can also display the task panel for active commands. The 3D view, showing the geometrical objects in the document. The main view area, which can contain different tabbed windows, principally the 3D view. As FreeCAD is open-source, you can also grab the source code and compile it yourself. A standalone AppImage executable is also available, which will run on most recent 64-bit Linux systems. FreeCAD is available from the package managers of many other Linux distributions. There are install packages ready for Windows (.msi), Debian and Ubuntu (.deb), openSUSE (.rpm), and Mac OSX. See the Download page for information on current versions and updates, and the installation instructions for you operating system ( Windows, Linux or Mac). Don't forget this when using FreeCAD if you like it, you can donate and help FreeCAD in various ways, such as writing documentation and making translations.įirst of all, download and install FreeCAD. Like all free software projects, FreeCAD depends on its community to grow, gain features, and fix bugs.
There is a fast-growing community of enthusiastic users who participate in the FreeCAD forum, and you can find many examples of quality projects developed with FreeCAD there. Capabilities are still missing but it is powerful enough for hobbyist use, and small workshops. It is primarily made for mechanical design, but also serves all other uses where you need to model 3D objects with precision and control over modeling history.įreeCAD has been under development since 2002, and it offers a large list of features. 8 Addons, Macro and External workbenchesįreeCAD is a 3D parametric modeling application.7 Working with the Draft and Arch workbenches.6 Working with the PartDesign and Sketcher workbenches.