User hub

From FreeCAD Documentation
Revision as of 16:57, 22 November 2019 by Vocx (talk | contribs) (Installing help files: how to install the offline documentation which is based on this wiki.)


150
150

This is the main help area for newcomers to FreeCAD.

These pages are in continuous development, so there may be missing or outdated information. If you cannot find the information that you need, don't hesitate to ask in the FreeCAD forum.

If you'd like to contribute to FreeCAD, see the Help FreeCAD page. If you'd like to edit this wiki, request a wiki account with editor permissions in the forum, and read the WikiPages for the general guidelines that you should follow.

If you would like to know how FreeCAD started years ago visit the History page.


Using FreeCAD

Introduction

Basic application

Workbenches

Workbenches are collections of tools that are used for a relatively specific task.

These are the base workbenches bundled with every installation of FreeCAD:

  • Std Base. This is not really a workbench, but this category serves to collect all "standard" commands and tools of the system which can be used in all workbenches.

Macros

macros are relatively small snippets of Python code that perform a simple or a complex task that is not available in the base FreeCAD system.

Power users have written various macros to enhance FreeCAD with more capabilities.

Since FreeCAD 0.17, many macros can be installed using the Addon Manager. For a list of the macros refer to the macros recipes page. For manual installation see How to install macros.

External workbenches

When many macros or functions are developed together, and are organized in toolbars and menus, they can become a new workbench.

External workbenches are collections of functions that are not part of the base FreeCAD system, usually developed by experienced users, and targeting a particular need.

Since FreeCAD 0.17, many workbenches can be installed using the Addon Manager. For manual installation see How to install additional workbenches.

Reference

Online Help

This is the official FreeCAD online help. Please note that the whole online help system is currently being reworked. It will be used to generate a .CHM file, that will be distributed with the binary packages of FreeCAD. At the moment the online help summarizes some of the most complete sections of this wiki.

More

  • The Power users hub is the place to go if you would like to see more advanced use of FreeCAD
  • The FreeCAD Community Portal lists projects made by community members around FreeCAD.
  • Don't understand a term or phrase as used in FreeCAD? Try the Glossary page.