F r e e C A D A hackable design platform Yorik van Havre FOSDEM - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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F r e e C A D A hackable design platform Yorik van Havre FOSDEM - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Mar 10, 2023 131 likes •843 views

F r e e C A D A hackable design platform Yorik van Havre FOSDEM 2015 Please tweet with #FreeCAD Interrupt me when you want PDF of this talk on http://yorik.uncreated.net This presentation is shamelessly copied from a talk by

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F r e e C A D

A hackable design platform Yorik van Havre

FOSDEM 2015

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  • Please tweet with #FreeCAD
  • Interrupt me when you want
  • PDF of this talk on

http://yorik.uncreated.net

  • This presentation is shamelessly

copied from a talk by Ryan Gordon

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Yorik van Havre

  • Architect (houses, not information),

and one of the main FreeCAD devs

  • http://yorik.uncreated.net
  • yorik@uncreated.net
  • @yorikvanhavre
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Self-promotion moment

(You can skip in 5...4...3...) http://www.uncreated.net http://www.uncreated.net

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http://www.freecadweb.org

  • Homepage with download info, etc
  • Documentation wiki
  • VERY active forum (← go there)
  • Bug tracker
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What is FreeCAD

  • Made to model “anything that will be

built in the real world”

  • Parametric (3D objects are

controlled by parameters, for ex. Height or Length, or another object)

  • LOVES standards
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core

Modularity

mech design architecture ship design

GUI GUI GUI GUI

...

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Multi paradigm

  • Core provides only a container for

modules and a 3D viewer

  • The type of objects that can be

contained in a FreeCAD document are defined in modules

  • Any kind of stuff can coexist in a

same document

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Heavy dependencies

  • Qt (interface)
  • Python (scripting & more)
  • OpenCasCade (geometry kernel)
  • OpenInventor/Coin3D (3D display)
  • Many more, each module has its
  • wn: KDL, IfcOpenShell, matplotlib,
  • penSCAD, etc...
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Python everywhere

  • The “glue” between “core” and GUI
  • Some modules fully written in python
  • The user can access just anything,

and therefore gain the powers of a GOD full C++ developer

  • Learn while doing
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Recording? wait... that means...

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Your work can be replayed

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Separation between “core” and GUI? wait... that means...

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Yes.

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>>> import FreeCAD

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  • FreeCAD runs fully without the GUI
  • It is embeddable in other apps with
  • ne line of code
  • All its modules still work (without

their GUI too)

  • It can then act as a (web) server
  • It could have other GUIs
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The web!

  • Web applications that use FreeCAD

in the background

  • WebGL interfaces for FreeCAD
  • Anything that has not yet been

imagined

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Why python, after all?

  • Powerful C API, very easy to embed

and make dialog with the C++ core

  • Almost every lib has python bindings

nowadays

  • The open-source community is fond
  • f it, easy adoption
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Useful apps that use python

  • pensource
  • Blender: yes
  • Inkscape: yes
  • OpenSCAM: yes
  • GRASS: yes
  • Salome: yes
  • OpenSCAD: yes

... proprietary

  • Autocad: yes
  • SolidWorks: no
  • Catia: yes
  • Rhino: yes
  • SolidEdge: yes
  • Revit: yes

...

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Why would users want it?

  • Making objects in real-life already

involves a lot of tinkering

  • Technical and precise 3D modeling

quickly becomes very complex (lots

  • f ways to do things)
  • Paradigms evolve constantly
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Now for some serious stuff...

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Access the geometry kernel

via FreeCAD's own API

>>> import Part >>> l = Part.makeLine((0,0,0),(2,2,0)) >>> Part.show(l) >>> c = Part.makeBox(2,2,2) >>> Part.show(c)

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Access the geometry kernel

directly

>>> import OCC >>> from OCC.BRepPrimAPI import BrepPrimAPI_MakeBox >>> c = BrepPrimAPI_MakeBox(10,20, 30).Shape() >>> p = Part.__fromPythonOCC__(c) >>> Part.show(p)

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Access the interface

via Qt's own python libs

>>> from PySide import QtGui, QtCore >>> mw = FreeCADGui.getMainWindow() >>> d = QtGui.QDockWidget() >>> d.setWidget(QtGui.QCalendarWidget()) >>> mw.addDockWidget(d)

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Access the OpenGL 3D view

via Coin3D's python lib

>>> from pivy import coin >>> win = FreeCADGui.ActiveDocument. ActiveView.getSceneGraph() >>> win.addChild(coin.SoCube())

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Root Separator Position xyz Color red Cube Separator

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The user can

  • Quickly record a couple of actions
  • Tweak it afterwards
  • Create highly complex GUI elements
  • Create the needed screen behaviour
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Typical learning path

  • Start by recording some actions: my

first macro!

  • Publish it on the FreeCAD website
  • Tweak it, add some salt
  • Man, I need a dialog...
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The community usually

  • Suffocates cool new users with help
  • Guides through the complex world of

technical 3D

  • Provides a lot of feedback and

testing

  • Decides about anything
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The FreeCAD development

  • No goals, no schedule, no law
  • No release plan. No plan at all,

actually

  • No typical “user-to-developer” thing
  • Most of the problems get solved

directly on the forum

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And the developers?

  • Just 3 people with write permission
  • General knowledge of the whole app
  • Very tight attention to the structure

and the principles

  • Promote FWD (FreeCAD World

Domination)

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“We're moving into this future where the factory is everywhere, and the design team is

  • everyone. That is an industrial

revolution” Alastair Parvin (TED talk) http://www.wikihouse.cc

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Thank you!