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FreeCAD 0.20 released

by Yorik on 16.06.2022 in linux , opensouce

Please welcome the new release of FreeCAD, version 0.20! Installers and images available for Windows, MacOS and Linux on the FreeCAD website and on GitHub.

different screenshots of recent works made by FreeCAD users

This version is very much a continuation of the work done on the 0.19 version. It is fully backwards-compatible with it, which means the files you produce with 0.20 are still openable with 0.19 (without some new features, such as tapered holes). Your settings, configurations and add-ons will be kept when you upgrade from 0.19 to 0.20 (Add-ons might need to be moved on Linux)

The FreeCAD development team decided to issue this release as a milestone to have a clean path to undertake some bigger changes forward, namely merging big works done to attack the famous toponaming problem, which is undoubtedly FreeCAD's number one bug. So it can be considered as a kind of "stable release". But that doesn't mean it's not packed with new stuff!

Below is a short overview of some of the most interesting points. Check the full release notes for more!

  • Tree view improvements: The Tree and Properties views have seen a number of new features and fixes. With a right-button click, you can now add and remove custom properties, or select group contents or dependent objects.
  • Multiple edit modes implementation: Although FreeCAD supported multiple edit modes since the start, it was never used a lot. Now, you can choose which edit mode to use, which one is the default one, and workbenches are progressively implementing support for it too.
  • A shiny new section cut tool allows you to make gorgeous, solid-based section views of your models.
  • The add-ons manager has been almost completely recoded, and shows a much better preview of add-ons. It also allows to search and bulk-update your addons. A new structure now also allows addons to provide preference packs, which can set many FreeCAD preferences at once. This also allows you to easily export your preferences settings.
  • The documentation system of FreeCAD has also been completely recoded. Although it is still based on the FreeCAD wiki, it prepares the way for a possible migration to a markdown-based system. It also gives much more flexibility, such as offering you to choose between an online or offline version, or to use a specific translated version of the documentation.
  • An improved BIM-to-2D workflow, as I documented earlier, with support for hatches, section marks, and much more.
  • Support for 2D elements in IFC files. This is done in collaboration with BlenderBIM devs, I still need to blog about it
  • Many FEM workbench improvements, such as improved support for the Z88 solver and finer tuning of meshing algorithm, as well as a series of new constraints types.
  • Many, many PartDesign improvements: New tools, new workflows, threaded holes, subtractive/additive lofts, and much more...
  • Many new Sketcher tools such as rounded rectangle, centered rectangle, finer curve controls, split tool and more.
  • The Spreadsheet workbench also gained many interesting tools to work with groups of cell, and the ability to pilot enum (drop-down) properties from a spreadsheet.
  • The TechDraw workbench gained more than 30 new tools to place different kinds of symbols and features on your pages, and more convenient tools to manage, move and copy views on different pages.
  • We gained the freecad.org internet domain, which was generously gifted to FreeCAD by the KiCAD team. So now everything works on both freecad.org and freecadweb.org domains. The latter is still the default, but we'll invert that soon.
  • FreeCAD now has a proper non-profit association that gives the project an official juridical existence, and allows it to manage money. More to come soon!

There is much more than that, check the full release notes to know it all!

I hope you'll be as happy as we are with this new version! Go there and grab yours!

different screenshots of recent works made by FreeCAD users

As always, thanks to everybody who keeps sponsoring me on Patreon, Liberapay or GitHub! Sorry for the lack of posting and feedback here recently, admin tasks have taken more and more time. I miss BIM coding a lot, though, now that many things are out of the way I'll do my best to get back to it and keep you guys fed with news

Cheers

Yorik

by Yorik on 16.06.2022 in linux , opensouce

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