Workarounds

From FreeCAD Documentation
Revision as of 00:40, 10 March 2022 by NewJoker (talk | contribs) (added missing features in the TechDraw workbench)

Introduction

The goal of this article is to list the most important currently missing features in FreeCAD and provide workarounds for them. It can be helpful for new users who can't find a particular functionality in FreeCAD.

Missing features in the Sketcher

No. Missing feature Workarounds
1 Auto snapping to objects (midpoints, center points, quadrants, extensions, intersections)
  • manually applying constraints and using construction lines
  • drawing in Draft Workbench where snapping to objects is available, then converting with Draft to Sketch tool
2 Chamfer tool
  • making chamfers on part level (after extrusion)
  • adding fillet, turning it to construction geometry and then connecting the points with line to create a chamfer
3 Circular pattern
  • creating circular patterns on part level (after extrusion)
4 Offset tool
  • SketcherOffset macro
  • 2D Offset tool in Part workbench (subshapebinder necessary to pad)
  • Draft Offset tool (subshapebinder necessary to pad)
5 Rotate tool
  • no known workaround
6 Scale tool
  • Scale in Draft module, then Draft to Sketch
7 Adaptive dimension constraint
  • using separate dimension tools – 3 for lines, 1 for angles and 1 for arcs/circles
8 Inputting coordinates and dimensions on go (when drawing an object)
  • dimensioning afterwards
9 Tangency to B-spline edge
  • no known workaround
10 Checking geometric and mass properties of the sketch (area, center of mass, second moments of area and so on)
  • no known workaround
11 Possibility to use the results of the External Geometry tool directly for operations on the sketch
  • outlining the geometry created by this tool
12 Projecting multiple edges at once with the External Geometry tool when face is selected
  • projecting edges individually
13 3D sketches
  • Draft Workbench but 3D drafts can’t be converted to sketches (however, they can be used for spatial frame analyses done internally or externally and for sweep paths)
14 Projection of cut edges when making a sketch on a plane cutting through the model
  • no known workaround
15 View Section tool showing filled cuts (not hollow ones) - directly related to the clipping plane tool issue
  • no known workaround

Missing features in the Part and Part Design workbenches

No. Missing feature Workarounds
1 Checking geometric and mass properties of the model
  • FCInfo macro
  • Part Check Geometry tool – area, volume, mass, length, COM, moments of inertia, radius of gyration
2 Clipping plane that doesn't make the model look like it's hollow
  • changing lighting in part’s view settings to one side (very rough equivalent, problem with multicolored parts)
  • Persistent section cut tool - deselect all planes before pressing Close, doesn’t work for intersecting parts in assemblies
3 Creation of an axis on the intersection of 2 planes and a plane midway between two faces/points, possibly more variants for datum creation
  • more manual datum creation
4 Automated midsurface extraction (for thin-walled parts)
  • Facebinder in Draft workbench and then Scale in the same module to make it actual midsurface
5 Projecting (mapping/wrapping) sketches on non-planar (e.g. cylindrical) faces
  • Sketch on Surface tool in Curves addon Workbench
6 Support for multiple solids within a body
  • creating a separate body for each solid
7 Selecting which part of the sketch to extrude
  • no known workarounds
8 Fillets and chamfers that can consume adjacent faces/edges
  • making fillets with slightly smaller radius (e.g. 6.4999 instead of 6.5 mm)
9 Parametric curves
  • Macro 3D Parametric Curve
10 Cosmetic threads
  • modeling true threads
11 Partitions (splitting surfaces and volumes with sketches and datum planes while keeping the number of parts unchanged)
  • Boolean fragments tool – only splitting surfaces with sketches
12 Guide rails for sweep and loft
  • Curved Shapes add-on workbench - Curved Array
13 Twist for sweep
  • PartDesign AdditiveHelix (pitch=height*360/twist angle)
  • Curved Shapes add-on workbench - Curved Array
14 Bending existing parts
  • no known workaround
15 Pattern along a curve
  • PathArray in Draft module
16 Cut scope - cut affecting only selected part of the model
  • different order of operations and using boolean cut on extruded bodies
17 Merging adjacent faces
  • no known workaround
18 Hole tool using points from sketches
  • drawing circles for the Hole tool
19 Datum points from coordinates
  • basing datum points on existing geometry

Missing features in the TechDraw workbench

No. Missing feature Workarounds
1 Advanced section views (half, broken out, offset and aligned sections)
  • using the Slice apart tool to physically cut the model and creating its view
2 Surface quality annotations
  • importing symbols created in external software (e.g. Inkscape) and saved to svg format
3 Auto diameter dimension on side views
  • manual addition of the diameter symbol
4 Sketching in drawings
  • cosmetic line tools, limited
5 Shaded views in drawings
  • no known workaround

Missing features in the FEM workbench

General missing features