Release notes 0.20

FreeCAD 0.20 was released on DD Month 202x, get it from the Download page. This is a summary of the most interesting changes. The complete list of changes can be found in the MantisBT bugtracker FC 0.20 changelog.

Older FreeCAD release notes can be found in Feature list.

Development
To compile FreeCAD under Windows, there are different Libpacks (prepackaged libraries) available:
 * Libpack for Windows with Qt xx, OCC yy, and Python zz

Lowest supported Python version is 3.6.9 according to https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=62701

Supported Operating Systems:
 * Windows 7, 8 and 10
 * Linux Ubuntu Bionic Beaver (18.04) and Focal Fossa (20.04)
 * MacOS minimum version 10.12 Sierra

Other development news:

Further user interface improvements

 * Two new mouse navigation styles have been added. One based on OpenSCAD, the other on TinkerCAD. Forum discussion OpenSCAD, Forum discussion TinkerCAD, commit 1, commit 2, commit 3.
 * It is now possible to pan the view of the dependency graph with the mouse. Forum discussion, pull request #4638.
 * Fixed an issue where using a tablet pen devices (e.g. Wacom tablet) was slow to the point of being completely unusable. Forum Discussion, pull request #4687.
 * The coordinate system in the 3D view can be resized in the preferences in the section Display→3D View. Pull request #5182

Core system, App, Base, and Gui namespaces
A new type of add-on called a Preference Pack was added, allowing a subset of a user preferences (user.cfg) file to be distributed and applied.

Draft Workbench

 * A checkbox was added to the task panel of many drafting commands. Checking it allows input of coordinates in the global coordinate system even if the working plane is not aligned with the global XY plane.


 * The Draft_Hatch.svg Draft Hatch command was introduced. It creates hatches on the faces of a selected object using patterns from AutoCAD PAT files.


 * The Draft_AddNamedGroup.svg Draft AddNamedGroup command was introduced. The Draft_AddToGroup.svg Draft AddToGroup command was extended with the same functionality.


 * Work on the Draft_SetStyle.svg Draft SetStyle command, still in progress in FreeCAD version 0.19, was completed.


 * A double-click edit option was added for Draft_Text.svg Draft Texts. It opens the same edit task panel used when creating a text.


 * For Draft_Dimension.svg Draft Dimensions the  for imperial architectural dimensions was introduced.


 * Draft_Shape2DView.svg Draft Shape2DView objects now have an property. Setting it to  can be useful if there are many Draft Shape2DViews in a document or if they are complex.


 * It is now possible to reverse a Draft Wire via the Draft_Edit.svg Draft Edit context menu. Forum discussion, pull request #4811.

Further Draft improvements

 * Fixed Draft Snap Grid when the cursor is over a face. Forum discussion. Git commit.


 * New Draft Texts are now aligned with the working plane, pull request #5092.


 * Support for two DWG converters was added: LibreDWG and QCAD pro. See Import Export Preferences and FreeCAD and DWG Import for more information.

Further FEM improvements

 * A new solver was added: . Multiple commits.
 * A new constraint was added: . PR #4982
 * The element order of Gmsh meshes can be changed via the mesh dialog. PR #4660
 * Material cards can now contain values for the electrical conductivity. PR #4647
 * Material cards added for Nitrogen and Argon. PR #4649
 * Support for the Gmsh mesh algorithms "HXT" (3D) and "Packing Parallelograms" (2D) added. PR #4654
 * Allow to set for the Gmsh property High Order Optimize a certain algorithm. PR #4705
 * Nonlinear solid materials with simple hardening can now have an arbitrary number of yield points. PR #5024

Improved support for NASTRAN GRID elements
The Mesh import tool now supports the high-precision "GRID*" element. The standard-precision "GRID" element was also improved, now supporting both space-delimited numeric input as well as fixed-field-width input, per the NASTRAN95 format documentation.

Further Mesh improvements
Fixed false negatives during self-intersection tests when facets are coplanar: PR #5002.

OpenSCAD Workbench
Interoperability with OpenSCAD has been improved, adding support for several operations missing from earlier versions (linear extrude with rotations, rotational extrusions). Several operations are modified to provide improved FreeCAD object equivalents, particularly for twisted extrusions. Surface generation from discrete data was modified to give more OpenSCAD-like results, rather than splined surfaces.

Add OpenSCAD element - now has additional options Load   - load a scad file Save   - save a scad file Refresh - Update FreeCAD view Clear  - Clear text input

There is also a text box for feedback of OpenSCAD errors.

Further Part improvements

 * The dialog to edit Cylinders allows now to specify an angle in respect to the normal of the chosen attachment plane. This way one can create skew cylinders. Pull request #4708

Further PartDesign improvements

 * The Helix feature has the new mode Height-Turns-Growth to create flat spirals. Forum thread PR #4590
 * The Sprocket feature can now create also ISO-normed sprockets. Forum thread PR #4478
 * The Loft and Pipe features now allow using the body's faces for sections. PR #5155
 * It is now possible to select several faces before calling the Pad or Pocket dialog. In this case the first selected face will be used to determine the default padding/pocketing direction. commit d34a5616

Further Sketcher improvements

 * Refactored Trim support. Pull Request Forum discussion <-- Needs screencasts
 * The behavior of the Sketcher_CreateSlot.svg Slot tool has changed. Slots can now be created by defining the center of both semicircles. Pull request Forum discussion
 * Visibility automation allows to open Sketcher in Section mode when entering edit mode. Pull request Forum discussion
 * Visibility automation allows to force camera in Orthographic mode when entering edit mode. Pull request Forum discussion
 * Option to display the dimensional constraint name and use a custom format for it. Pull request Forum discussion
 * When sketching a 3-point arc with Autoconstraint enabled, tangent constraint is proposed for all 3 points when hovering a line/curve. Pull request Forum discussion
 * Radius/diameter constraints are displayed using an angular rotation to ease visualization. Angle and optional randomness are user settable through parameters documented in Fine-tuning Pull request Forum discussion
 * It is now possible to fix the angle of the direction when using the Rectangular array tool. commit Forum discussion
 * It is now possible to fix the angle of the direction when using the tools Clone, Copy and Move. commit Forum discussion

Sketcher bug fixes

 * Fix 'Reference' option not working for radius/diameter at creation time PR for radius PR for diameter Forum discussion

Spreadsheet Workbench

 * It is now possible to select in the row/column context-menu at what positions new rows/columns will be inserted. Pull request #4704.

Further Spreadsheet improvements

 * Import XLSX (used by Std Import): Added support for floor and ceil functions. Pull request #5015.

External workbenches
these are the new workbenches created in this development cycle, or older workbenches that received updates. See external workbenches for more workbenches that can be installed, and which cover a wide variety of topics. If you want to see your workbench added, join the forum and present your code.

FCGear
The FCGear Workbench received a couple of improvements


 * For involute gears, the outside (aka tip) and root diameter are exposed as properties (details)
 * Gear objects are now attachable (details)
 * Gear objects can now be used as additive features in PartDesign Bodies (details)
 * The creation of gear objects now appears in the undo stack (details)