Release notes 0.16

FreeCAD 0.16 was released on XXXXX, 2015. This is a summary of the most interesting changes. The complete list of changes can be found in the Mantis changelog. Older versions at: 0.15 - 0.14 - 0.13 - 0.12 - 0.11



Spark Plug Plane by r-frank

Highlights
Expression support has been introduced, which allows to define formula relationships between properties of objects. Expression support is a major leap forward for making better parametric models in FreeCAD. Expressions offer easy interface for making models controlled by spreadsheets.



Sketcher solver behavior has been majorly improved. Not only it became faster and more stable, it also doesn't hang anymore on unsolvable sketches. And automatic document recomputes triggered after each tiny tweak to the sketch can now be switched off, allowing smooth editing of sketches buried under deep dependencies.



FreeCAD now supports touchscreen 3D navigation. This makes it possible to use FreeCAD without a mouse on a convertible laptop with touchscreen and pen, away from a desk.

Major improvements were made to FEM workbench....

General

 * Support for expressions/formulas
 * Three new navigation styles: Gesture Navigation (with touchscreen support on Windows), Maya Navigation, and OpenCascade Navigation.
 * Customization of workbenches list (list can be reordered, and any workbenches can be made hidden from the list)
 * Recovery tool
 * New save options (Revert, save as a copy)
 * New homepage

Part Workbench

 * New tools for joining walled objects (e.g., pipes): Connect, Embed and Cutout
 * New feature: make face from a sketch (parametric)

Part Design & Sketcher Workbench

 * New Feature: Toggle Mode for Reference/Driving constraints
 * New Feature: Continuous creation mode
 * New Feature: Non-driving constraints (aka Driven constraints)
 * Major speedup
 * Advanced solver control
 * New features: tools for duplication, mirroring and rectangular array
 * Support for expressions/formulas in constraints and properties

Spreadsheet Workbench

 * Added functions: round, trunc, ceil, and floor.

Draft Workbench

 * New DXF importer: The Draft Workbench now features a brand-new DXF importer, fully coded in C++, inherited from HeeksCad, which doesn't need anymore to download external components, and is now much faster and able to load much larger DXF files. An option in the DXF preferences allows to switch back to the old importer if needed.
 * A new Mirror tool allows to do mirroring of objects "the Draft way"
 * Many DXF templates have been added to the corresponding built-in SVG templates, making the export of Drawing pages to DXF much better.
 * Rectangles,wires and lines can now be subdivided, allowing all kinds of new shape combinations.



Drawing Workbench

 * A new spreadsheet view tool allows to place a range of cells from a spreadsheet on a Drawing page.



Arch Workbench

 * Materials support: Arch objects can now have a material attached, which uses FreeCAD's builtin materials framework. These materials are shared among other workbenches. These materials are fully supported by IFC import and export.
 * The Section plane can now do clipping of the 3D view, showing the section in realtime.




 * Several improvements to the IFC importer such as new options for treating large IFC files, better support for extrusions (now detected on import) and curved segments, and support of 2D annotation objects.
 * Better meshing options for DAE and IFC formats.
 * A new Arch Schedule tool allows to create different kinds of schedules from a BIM model.

FEM Workbench

 * FEM: new constraint pressure
 * FEM: better material handling
 * FEM: new materials where added
 * FEM: add Support for loads and supports on edges to CalculiX file
 * FEM: Add preferences dialog
 * FEM: multiple constraints in one analysis
 * FEM: use shape functions for node load calculation of constraint force
 * FEM: drag & drop of analysis member
 * FEM: keyboard short cuts for commands
 * FEM: FreeCAD build-in editor including syntax highligting for CalculiX input files
 * FEM: ViewProvider for shell and beam FEM-Meshes
 * FEM: lots of new Python Methods for working with FEM-Meshes

There is a macro which uses gmsh for meshing. Very usefull for all not able to compile FreeCAD with netgen.

Path Workbench

 * Launch of the Path Workbench

Additional Modules

 * Animation workbench
 * Exporter to Kerkythea (Macro)
 * Pie Menu
 * Addons repo with installer macro