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SEPA Information
Please set up your SEPA bank transfer to:
The FreeCAD project association
IBAN: BE04 0019 2896 4531
BIC/SWIFT code: GEBABEBBXXX
Bank agency: BNP Paribas Fortis
Address: Rue de la Station 64, 1360 Perwez, Belgium

If you are not sure or not able to commit to a regular donation, but still want to help the project, you can do a one-time donation, of any amount.

Choose freely the amount you wish to donate one time only.

We call sponsoring the act of donating money recurrently to the FreeCAD project. You can do that as an individual or as a company or institution, through different channels or platforms, depending on your preferences.

Sponsoring FreeCAD allows its developers to count on a steady flow of income, so it allows the FPA to plan things ahead, and the FreeCAD developers to invest themselves more seriously into FreeCAD.

To encourage persons and companies to sponsor the FreeCAD project, we have created different sponsoring tiers. When donating regularly to the project, unless you prefer to stay anonymous, your name, company name and/or logo will be featured on this website, depending on the tier you fit into:

  • ♥ Normal sponsor : from 1 USD / 1 EUR per month. You will not have your name displayed here, but you will have helped the project a lot anyway. Together, normal sponsors maintain the project on its feet as much as the bigger sponsors.
  • 🥉 Bronze sponsor : from 25 USD / 25 EUR per month. Your name or company name is displayed on this page.
  • 🥈 Silver sponsor : from 100 USD / 100 EUR per month. Your name or company name is displayed on this page, with a link to your website, and a one-line description text.
  • 🥇 Gold sponsor : from 200 USD / 200 EUR per month. Your name or company name and logo displayed on this page, with a link to your website and a custom description text. Companies that have helped FreeCAD early on also appear under Gold sponsors.

Instead of donating each month, you might find it more comfortable to make a one-time donation that, when divided by twelve, would give you right to enter a sponsoring tier. Don't hesitate to do so!

Choose freely the amount you wish to donate each month.

Please inform your forum name or twitter handle as a notein your transfer, or reach to us, so we can give you proper credits!

User hub

This is the main help area for newcomers to FreeCAD.

FreeCAD is in continuous development, so there may be missing or outdated information. If you cannot find the information that you need, don\'t hesitate to ask in the FreeCAD forum.

If you\'d like to contribute to FreeCAD, please donate, and see the Help FreeCAD page for other ways to contribute. If you\'d like to edit this wiki, request a wiki account with editor permissions in the forum, and read the WikiPages for the general guidelines that you should follow.

If you would like to know how FreeCAD started years ago visit the History page.

Using FreeCAD

Introduction

  • Application Overview: A general overview of FreeCAD
  • Installing: How to install FreeCAD on Windows, Linux and Mac
  • Installing help files: how to install the offline documentation which is based on this wiki.
  • Installing additional components: how to install additional third-party components that can work together with FreeCAD.
  • Getting started: A quick overview of the available tools
  • FAQ: Frequently asked questions
  • Tutorials covering different parts of FreeCAD

Migrating from other software?

  • Workarounds
  • Migrating to FreeCAD from Fusion360
  • Migrating to FreeCAD from OnShape
  • Migrating to FreeCAD from SolidWorks
  • Migrating to FreeCAD from Revit
  • FreeCAD BIM migration guide
  • BIM applications compatibility table

Basic application

  • Interface: the FreeCAD interface is composed of various graphical elements on the screen, including the 3D view, the tree view, the property editor, the task panel, and the Python console.
  • Mouse navigation: the different types of using the mouse or trackpad to navigate in the 3D view.
  • Selection methods: the different methods of selecting objects in the software.
  • Objects naming: FreeCAD objects have a read-only Name that uniquely identifies them, and a Label which is user editable.
  • Preferences Editor: the system that allows you to control many properties of the base system and of the individual workbenches.
  • File formats: the different file formats that FreeCAD can read and write.

Workbenches

Workbenches are collections of tools used for specific tasks. These are the base workbenches bundled with every FreeCAD installation:

  • [Standard tools](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Std_Base). These commands and tools are present in all workbenches.
  • The [Assembly Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Assembly_Workbench) for building and solving mechanical assemblies. (v1.0)
  • The [BIM Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=BIM_Workbench) for working with architectural elements and creating [BIM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_information_modeling) models. It combines the Arch Workbench and the formerly external BIM Workbench available in {{VersionMinus|0.21}}.
  • The [CAM Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=CAM_Workbench) is used to produce G-Code instructions. This workbench was called \"Path Workbench\" in {{VersionMinus|0.21}}.
  • The [Draft Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Draft_Workbench) contains 2D tools and basic 2D and 3D CAD operations.
  • The [FEM Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=FEM_Workbench) provides Finite Element Analysis (FEA) workflow.
  • The [Inspection Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Inspection_Workbench) is made to give you specific tools for examination of shapes. Still in the early stages of development.
  • The [Material Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Material_Workbench) handles the FreeCAD material system. (v1.0)
  • The [Mesh Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Mesh_Workbench) for working with triangulated meshes.
  • The [OpenSCAD Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=OpenSCAD_Workbench) for interoperability with OpenSCAD and repairing [constructive solid geometry](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Constructive_solid_geometry) (CSG) model history.
  • The [Part Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Part_Workbench) for working with geometric primitives and boolean operations.
  • The [Part Design Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=PartDesign_Workbench) for building Part shapes from sketches.
  • The [Points Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Points_Workbench) for working with point clouds.
  • The [Reverse Engineering Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Reverse_Engineering_Workbench) is intended to provide specific tools to convert shapes/solids/meshes into parametric FreeCAD-compatible features.
  • The [Robot Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Robot_Workbench) for studying robot movements. Currently unmaintained.
  • The [Sketcher Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Sketcher_Workbench) for working with geometry-constrained sketches.
  • The [Spreadsheet Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Spreadsheet_Workbench) for creating and manipulating spreadsheet data.
  • The [Surface Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Surface_Workbench) provides tools to create and modify surfaces. It is similar to the [Part Builder](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Part_Builder) Face from edges option.
  • The [TechDraw Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=TechDraw_Workbench) for producing technical drawings from 3D models.
  • The [Test Framework Workbench](wiki-test2.php?gitpage=Testing) is for debugging FreeCAD.

Macros

Macros are relatively small snippets of Python code that perform a simple or a complex task that is not available in the base FreeCAD system.

Power users have written various macros to enhance FreeCAD with more capabilities.

Since FreeCAD 0.17, many macros can be installed using the Addon Manager. For a list of the macros refer to the Macros recipes page. For manual installation see How to install macros.

External workbenches

When many macros or functions are developed together, and are organized in toolbars and menus, they can become a new workbench.

External workbenches are collections of functions that are not part of the base FreeCAD system, usually developed by experienced users, and targeting a particular need.

Since FreeCAD 0.17, many workbenches can be installed using the Addon Manager. For manual installation see How to install additional workbenches.

Reference

  • Commands Reference: A complete list of the available FreeCAD commands.

Online Help

This is the official FreeCAD online help. Please note that the whole online help system is currently being reworked. It will be used to generate a .CHM file, that will be distributed with the binary packages of FreeCAD. At the moment the online help summarizes some of the most complete sections of this wiki.

  • Online help system - Table of Contents

More

  • The Power users hub is the place to go if you would like to see more advanced use of FreeCAD
  • The FreeCAD Community Portal lists projects made by community members around FreeCAD.
  • Don\'t understand a term or phrase as used in FreeCAD? Try the Glossary page.

⏵ documentation index > Hubs > User hub

This page is retrieved from https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD-documentation/blob/main/wiki/User_hub.md

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