Manipulator Workbench

    From FreeCAD Documentation
    Manipulator workbench icon

    Introduction

    The Manipulator Workbench is an external workbench aimed to help FreeCAD users with Aligning, Moving, Rotating and Measuring 3D objects through a friendly GUI. These series of tools help to Transform the placement and Measure objects and STEP models in FreeCAD.

    Features

    Aligner-ico.png Aligner: a set of tools to move and align 3D parts; it can also align an object (face, edge, point) to the origin in FreeCAD.

    Manipulator Mover.svg Mover: a set of tools to move and rotate 3D parts on different Axis

    Manipulator Caliper.svg Caliper: a set of tools to measure 3D parts, with some Snap facility and Radius, Length, Angle measurements.

    These helpers work with Part, App::Part and Body objects.

    The Tools can be Floating or Docked Left or Right.

    Each Tool has a Help Button Help-btn.png to get some useful tips

    References

    Tutorial

    Manipulator-WB-@Work

    YouTube Tutorial Manipulator WorkBench @Work


    Tools

    Manipulator-WB-Tools.png

    Above: Manipulator workbench dialog. For a more detailed description see README.md on Github.


    Aligner

    Manipulator-WB-Aligner.gif

    Aligner: set of tools to move and align 3D parts; it can also align an object (face, edge, point) to the origin in FreeCAD

    Mover

    Manipulator-WB-Mover.gif

    Mover: set of tools to move and rotate 3D parts on different Axis

    Manipulator-WB-Mover-with-App Part&Body.gif

    Mover: Using App:Part and Body

    Manipulator-WB-Mover-with-External-Reference.gif

    Mover: with External Reference


    Caliper

    Manipulator-WB-Measure-Radius.gif

    Caliper: measuring Radius

    Manipulator-WB-Measure-Angles.gif

    Caliper: measuring Angles

    Manipulator-WB-Dimension.gif

    Caliper: measuring Dimensions

    Manipulator-WB-Dimension-2.gif

    Caliper: measuring Dimensions (cont.)

    Manipulator-WB-Parallel-Planes-Distance.gif

    Caliper: parallel planes distance


    Manipulator

    Manipulator-WB-Assembly-Parts.gif

    Installation

    Automatic Installation

    The recommended way to install the Manipulator Workbench is via the Std AddonMgr.svg Addon Manager under the Tools → Addon Manager menu.

    Manual Installation

    If a manual install is necessary please follow the following instructions:

    • Copying the Manipulator source in to the Mod sub-directory of the FreeCAD application.
    cd ~/.FreeCAD/Mod 
    git clone https://github.com/easyw/Manipulator Manipulator
    
    • Restart FreeCAD

    Supports

    • FreeCAD v0.15 4671
    • FreeCAD v0.16 >= 6712
    • FreeCAD v0.17 >= 11707
    • FreeCAD v0.18+
    • FreeCAD v0.19+

    History

    The workbench evolved out of the Center Align Objects with Faces or Edges macro

    External workbenches

    FreeCAD workbenches are easy to program in Python, there are therefore many people developing additional workbenches outside of the FreeCAD main developers.

    The external workbenches page has some information and tutorials on some of them, and the FreeCAD Addons project aims at gathering them and making them easily installable from within FreeCAD.

    New workbenches are in development, stay tuned!