Translations:Simple Box Cover/11/en

Creating the sketch

 * 1) Start FreeCAD, create a new document and using the workbench selector, switch to the Workbench_PartDesign.svg PartDesign Workbench.
 * 2) Click on the Sketcher_NewSketch.png Create new sketch icon in the toolbar.
 * 3) In the "Choose orientation" dialog, select the XY-Plane and click OK.
 * 4) Click on the Sketcher_CreateRectangle.png Create a rectangle icon.
 * 5) Click somewhere in the 3D view to pick the first point of the rectangle, drag your mouse then click again to select the second point, which corresponds to the opposite corner of the rectangle. When clicking, loosely center the rectangle on the red and green axes.
 * 6) We will now center the rectangle on the origin. I have found by experience that it is almost always a good idea to center your geometry to the axes. Click on two opposite vertices (corner points) of the rectangle, for example the upper left point and the lower right point; thirdly click on the origin point (the point at the center of the green and red axes). With the three points selected (they now should be green), click on the Constraint_Symmetric.png Constraint Symmetric icon. The rectangle is now centered to the origin of the sketch. If you pick either a corner or a side and drag the mouse, you will see that you can resize the rectangle, but it will always remain centered.
 * 7) The rectangle should actually be a square, as the length and width have equal values. Select a vertical line of the rectangle, and a horizontal line of the rectangle, then click on the Constraint_EqualLength.png Equal Length Constraint icon.
 * 8) If you look at the Solver messages text box in the Tasks panel, the message reads: "Under-constrained sketch with 1 degree of freedom". Picking and dragging the contour of the rectangle gives us a hint as to what that degree of freedom may be: we have not set the size of the square. So select the top line of the square, and click on the Constraint_HorizontalDistance.png Horizontal Distance Constraint. If you select a vertical line, you will then use the Vertical Distance Constraint. Note: many people make the error of using the Constraint_Length.png Length Constraint instead. The length constraint should only be used if you need to constrain a diagonal length, as it requires more calculation by the solver.
 * 9) The sketch should now be fully constrained, with the Solver messages box saying so. The sketch geometry also turns entirely green.
 * 10) We can now exit the sketch by clicking on the Close button on the Tasks panel, or on the Sketcher LeaveSketch.svg Leave sketch icon on the toolbar. Notice that there is now a new Sketch object listed in the Model tree view. Tutorial_Simple_Box_Cover_02.png