When completed, you should have a solid box similar to the one shown below: Set your desired length and direction in the task panel under the pad parameters.Select the sketch in the tree view and press ‘PartDesign Body’.Then go to the workbench selector and select Part Design workbench.Press the ‘Close’ button, the Leave sketch icon on the toolbar, or press the ESC key on your keyboard twice to exit the Sketch editing.Press ESC on the keyboard to exit the selected square tool.You can edit the dimensions of the sides of the square to the desired length in the task panel. Move your cursor towards the origin of the sketch, when the coincident constraint icon appears, click and move your cursor to draw your square.It is important to note that the combo view will switch to the task panel in the Combo view. In the toolbar, select the square tool.Click OK and start constructing your sketch.For this guide, we shall use the default plane and options.Choose if you want an inverted orientation, and an offset from the base plane.Choose the sketch orientation plane you want to use, either XY, XZ, or YZ.Go to the workbench selector and scroll down to the sketcher workbench and click on it.We shall then open the Part Design workbench and use the 2D sketch drawn using the Sketcher workbench. We shall set the size of the sides by defining the length constraints. We shall start by using the Sketcher workbench to draw a 2D part.

To build a 3D object, you would need to use the Sketcher and Part Design Workbenches. In this guide, we shall start with the ‘Part’ and ‘Part Design’ workbenches which are the most commonly used for designing components. The start center is a welcome screen and it has three tabs namely document, help, and activity. When you open FreeCAD, you will be presented with the FreeCAD start center that looks like the screenshot below. The only new button is probably the ‘Macro’ button, which we shall look at later in this guide. If you are familiar with other CAD software, you shall realize that the main buttons of ‘File’, ‘Edit’, ‘View’, ‘Tools’, ‘Windows’, and ‘Help’ will be found where you expect them to be. With practice, the features shall stick and you shall find it easier with time. That way, you shall know where to get the specific tools for performing certain tasks or where to look for certain things as you draw/model.Īt the start, the interface may seem complicated, but with the help of this guide, we hope you shall be able to grasp most of the basic features of the interface. Common tools in various FreeCAD workbenches and their workĪfter installing the FreeCAD software, you shall need to understand the FreeCAD interface before starting to draw or model.

Freecad contour shuttle