FreeCAD 3D Modeling Tutorial 1: The Basics 

FINALLY! SOMEONE WHO ISN'T GERMAN DOING A TUTORIAL ON THIS!

I've been watching another tutorial, and I'm 3 videos in (much longer than yours) and have yet to create a part. Thanks for getting to the freaking point so quickly! This is what I needed to get started.

This tutorial is best suited for those who already have an idea of how the application is supposed to work conceptually. I imagine if you've played around with the easier-to-use programs like Tinkercad or 3Dbuilder and get that there are ways to change viewing perspectives, add/subtract objects, and manipulate them, then it'll be easier to follow along this tutorial as it shows more or less where to go to do the same thing using FreeCAD. Anyone else who has not played with 3D modeling software and is quite new (and can be hard if you're also not very strong in math and spatial awareness) will more likely be lost. So for those of you who are lost: @0:25 Introducing "Part" and "Part Design" in the "Start" section to get to your basic shapes you can pull in to work with. @0:45 Inputting a cylinder - pointing out basic attributes you can manipulate to modify the cylinder's shape under the "data" tab at the bottom left of the window. @1:17 Viewing angles; number keys as shortcuts for viewing angles; zoom with scroll wheel. @1:28 Rotate viewing angles by clicking on scroll wheel, then click and drag. @1:58 Axis orientation awareness @2:07 Adding a shape, modifying shape @2:20 Modifying shape's position in work/space @2:51 Subtracting one object from another. 1) Select object to keep, 2) select object shape to erase, click on proper subtraction command (in the middle of this, he goes into "unioning" multiple objects if want to subtract one piece from multiple objects, or multiple pieces from one object) @4:17 Modifying edges of shapes @4:37 Rotate feature; how to specify which axis to rotate on @5:20 Another example of resizing, rotating, modifying, and repositioning shapes in order to subtract one piece from the other. End video. Don't look at this video as a full-blown tutorial on how to use FreeCAD for a beginner. Instead, look at it as a quick guide to doing what you already know you want to do. For example: you know there's a way to subtract one object from another, you just need to know the actual process for FreeCAD because the controls are not the same on 3DBuilder or another program you previously used.

nice tutorial for lads that have been using solidworks in school, really helped getting comfortable for a new user

Thank you! I tried watching another popular RU-vid video on learning FreeCAD and was totally lost (despite having a little EasyCAD experience from a LONG time ago). After five minutes of watching your video, I designed exactly what I needed. Good job!

Thank you! This was the quick tutorial I needed to get into actually making something in FreeCAD

Obviously, you are not new to CAD 3D drawing but I am. I'd like to see a video that shows a complete beginner how to make simple drawings. Like a radio knob for example.Thanks for this video regardless.

90% of "tutorials" seems to be people just showing off what they know, they have no clue how to transfer that knowledge to another person.

Thanks for this tutorial. i just bought the ender 3 and want to start designing my own parts.... much appreciated!

freecad is by far the most non user friendly cad ever! I took engineering in college and even autodesk fusion isnt this hard.

I just installed 0.16, and have no CAD experience. I was having trouble seeing where your cursor was when you were clicking on stuff. I had a hard time keeping up.

This was a nice video, easy to understand, already learned about the basics in solidworks software years ago, so this video was the best one to help me learn basics in FreeCAD

Thanks, this is quite a good tutorial for a beginner I reckon. One small correction: @1:00 "don't mess with angle coz it's just going to flip it" - when I tried it actually changes the cylinder to a part cylinder...like a pie slice. I suggest you DO try it! :)

Wow, let me pause the video for a sec while I cancel the download for the software :DD

I had tried to learn "free" blender for a room interior design....but I can't finish everything even just walls...and give up.. then I think there may be some free 3d programs like blender.. actually I just wanna to do a simply job. ..finally I found "free cad" and yr video is my first time to meet about freecad..it seem more logic and easy to build ..thank you for share!

5:25 this dude trying to make airpods

Thanks for the tutorial! I managed to pick up the basics quite quickly from this video :)

legit didn't know, now I do, thx!

thank you! always wanted to learn freecad and I kinda lost on my own. i'm used to tinkercad but it is limited in functionality. watched your video for 5 minutes and now I can make my own 3d printed item easily!

Fast to the point and easy to understand. Thank you! :)

Like it, but yeah, you might want to slow down a bit for us complete noobs, the way you fly around the screen shows you definitely know your stuff, but it is hard to follow without pausing every 3 seconds which really messes with the flow of learning. Thanks!

First useful FreeCAD tutorial! Thanks!

Hi I noticed mt FreeCAD looks different... The dropbox you went to is not in mine and tour top bar layout is different. I have version 0.36, what is yours?

That was so fun! I want to earn a 3D printer from my parents by learning free cad and I cant wait to use ur amazing tutorials!!!!!!! Im totally subbing and i'm totally gonna continue watching ur tutorials you really did teach us the basics! Thanks bro! :)

Very helpful. Now I can do something. Thanks man.

Good stuff, thanks for the intro. I've got a fair amount of experience on ProE, and your video helped me get started with the UI, thanks! Interface seems quite familiar, so I'm hoping investing a little time using it will be worth it for 3D printing projects.

Learning to make things using solids is ok, as far as that goes However, my view, for what it's worth, is that FreeCad works much better if you start by learning sketcher and move onward from there. If you just want to fiddle with solids, then Tinkercad is your thing. If you learn how to use sketcher, then your abilities to build complex solids will develop much more quickly, once you understand just how powerful and flexible the sketcher app in FreeCad is.

Every informative. Plan on majoring in manufacturing technology so this will definitely help me learn the basics.

Many thanks! It helped me to start.

Fillet is pronounced "phil-et" not "phi-lay" one is a noun the later is a verb. Like a fillet on a crankshaft where the rod pin blends into the throw. The radius in the corner of this join is a fillet (phil-et). Thanks for the great tutorial.

Nice tut and I'm looking forward to many more tutorials from you. I was wondering if you could possibly show me the best way to transfer pockets done on one side of my part to the opposite side (mirror) if it is possible I would very much appreciate that

nice. I just want to make simple plans for my woodworking hobby but this will be cool once I get a CNC

There is great information in this tutorial. All in all i gained a lot of knowledge from this. Thank you for spending the time on it. I appreciate that. I have some points for you that may be help in subsequent videos. For example, near the beginning you accidentally changed the diameter of the cylinder to from 3 to 310mm, then in a later cut it was magically back at 3mm. Those kind of things need to be acknowledged so that the student isn't left wondering why their model doesn't match the one you are showing. Also you have a tendency to go to some features very fast without explaining exactly what you're doing. And at 6:40 you explain how to union objects, then say "however that's not what we want to do right now" then backtrack to the cut. These deviances add up to a very confusing tutorial to follow. It took me over 20 minutes to follow this 6 minute video. The content would be so much better if you slowed down, explained absolutely everything and stayed on track.

Thank you for the tutorials!

Finally someone who uses the same software as me.

Thanks, that was useful.

I notice that when I create a unison of two shapes, one of the shapes ends up with a mask of some kind and I want to know how to get rid of this.

Good, fast, and simple!

amazing free cad sir if possible can show me how to do knuckle joint on freecad

I got a 3d cylinder following your lesson even though yours is 2d. Somehow closed that menu section on the left where data is and can't get it back. send help

I'm using a Linux version of this, and the toolbar is arranged slightly differently, but more irritating is the rotate via middle mouse click does not work. If there's a Linux person in the house after all these years, I welcome your help.

you are working with a modified, (not freshly installed) interface configuration. even as an autocad pro, i had issues following your guide, since you dont explain these quick places you are clicking, such as data tab.

At 2:00 when you selected the cube, how did you change the radius of the cylinder from 310 mm to 3?

can i export 3d .Obj files and 3d animations with this tool to create 3d animations for my games and apply textures to the models?

I guess the basics were a bit too advanced for me. But it did help me to ateast start something

Thank you for the tutorial. It was very useful even though I'm still having trouble with some of the bugs in the user interface but that's to be expected when the release level is 0.17. Still I'm able to use it for my simple needs at this point.

how to use zoom, rotate and pan using apple trackpad...I don't have a mouse

0:48 I feel you hahahahha

Is is possible to sketch out of surfaces like Solidworks? Otherwise it seems like a nightmare to make a complex part, if you need to calculate translation and rotation of bodies you want to compose into your piece.

I wanted to make an object that’s kind of hourglass shaped. I know how to make straight stuff. But how do you add curves

Thanks for the video, but the cad is useless to me, I cant stop it from spinning by in order to even start doing anything

I cannot use the fillet tool when following this tutorial. It's all grayed out and I can't click on it. Am I doing something wrong?

Great video. thank you so much for this :) i do have a problem, when i push the middle button to rotate my view it zooms away from the object so fast i have to center-zoom back to the object. can i rotate in another way?

Where's the link to the FreeCAD Program? Lot's of other links like the wiki page of the Manual But no link to the freecad program download?

All the tools are grayed out for me or in some cases don't even show up, how do I get them to be active?

very good, I like it.

please make a complete tutorial of using freecad

really good tutorial thank you

Very helpful, thank you!

Arg, used two different mouses and neither one when "clicking on the scroll wheel" rotates the cylinder

FreeCad doesn't work well in windows 10... mine crashes offten.

Hi, i followed your video step by step but when i try to perform Fillet task as you show in the video it shows me error, the group turn into a exclamation mark icon and shows me this error : Brep_API: command not done Internal name Fillet, the version is 0.18, let me know thanks

Wont install on a mac , despite having a download version for mac . Cannot be verified .

When I selected the edges it didn't allow me to use the fillet option why?

this was a tutorial i could actually follow the other one i watched the dude wasnt really explaining what they were doing

Where Or how did you get your tool bars

So 3mm in freecad is same 3mm in real world? Maybe stupid question but im new to freecad but sometimes i need do design something and i would like to learn it.

Hi, I want to use this SW to design furniture. Can I in the end get drawing of each piece with its dimensions, so I can ask from a carpenter to manufacture all parts?

No matter what I try to do, I can't draw anything. All it does is change the camera angle. What am I doing wrong?

2:05 what happened with that sudden jump?

awesome

My Freecad experience: Install, open, New part, New sketch, CRASH, uninstall

what drugs were they on when making the navigation of middle and click to rotate view as a good idea?

Anyone know the RAM, processor requirements for this software?

won't let me do multiple cuts with 2 shapes onto the screen

if you want to teach you need to slow down not every one has ever done any kind of xyz printing

when i press cut it just makes both of my shapes invisible

Don't move your curser so fast, as a matter of fact slow down your whole presentation.

Thanks!

great

Thanks bud!

greetings, i have installed freecad 0.16 and tried to follow your tutorial... with limited success , some how, when i wanted to use those "icons for "parallel" and others i failed, as those icons are in gray any chance anyone can help me out??? anyone??? i tried toggle ... nothing happened... i also tried on 0.17...same result..i am on win8.1 and have python 3.6.1 installed thanks in advance

angle makes it half of circle if you type in 180 how is that not useful.

hey man:) i just wanted to know how to rotate

wish you woulda made the shape on the thumbnail bro

At 0.45 you said “go ahead and select a cylinder, you click on it, here are some attributes”. I had to wind back twice to see where your cursor went for the cylinder, and having found it I assumed you meant click on the cylinder icon in order to CREATE a cylinder. If you had said “now click on the cylinder to see the attributes” I probably wouldn’t have wasted ten minutes looking for the attributes, because they only appear when you click on the part itself, not the icon. Like many other CAD systems there is a steep learning curve to FreeCAD so if you’re going to make tutorials about it could you please consider that they might be watched by less experienced users, or perish the thought, even beginners! Some of those users might be overwhelmed by the massive array of tools and options at their disposal, some might even give up in exasperation when they can’t find the ‘attributes’ you’re playing with because they misunderstood the full meaning of “you click on it” for example. DOH! You talk like a tobacco auctioneer while your cursor zips around the screen so fast it’s impossible to follow. You are clearly an experienced CAD user but if you really want to teach, then for the sake of your students (and for me) PULEEZE SLOW DOWN. Otherwise this is a good effort. Thanks for that mate.

Does FreeCAD is real free lisence software??

What is this, at 2:05 you completely change what you have on screen..fail

1:31 how you can do that

Not a good tutorial. Need to know how to actually move an object to an exact position, and how to move an object with just the mouse.

People complain a lot it seems, just pause a video and use a brain. At least it's free...

The software could be so good, but it's also so annoying. For example, you edit an object placement but unless you press OK (even though the part moved on the screen) it hasn't actually moved. What the heck guys? Then, you have to do a boolean one by one, but why can't you just drag the part into the section you want it to be in? It's so annoying, I had to buy a new monitor after throwing my keyboard at the old one.

The pointer is too fast...Tip: You can watch it and then re-play it at speed .5 or whatever

My FreeCad installed without the ability to create objects. What is this crap? Nice tutorial, but I can't follow along because the FreeCad I have says it will do 3D objects but completely lacks the ability.

You move the cursor so fast it disappear most of the time. Found other videos where you can follow it all the way.

Thumbs down for adding music. If I wanted to listen to music I'd play a music video. I hate hate hate straining to understand what someone is saying with music playing in the background. Why did you think you needed to do something that stupid in a tutorial video?

What is the frickin point of making a part if one cannot select a surface and make sketch on it???

why are you doing this at 5 in the morning???

its pronounced "FILL" -- "IT"

not bad