The first step is to create this spreadsheet with all the dimensions. In the same way we could also change the material thickness and create tiny boxes as well as large storage containers. We only have to change the parameter in a spreadsheet and the box becomes square. The big advantage of FreeCAD is that it is fully parametric and you can change dimensions after finishing the design. For a more detailed comparison of different software solutions tale a look at our CAD for makers article.Īs an example we use this Japanese Toolbox design we use in a variety of sizes. A lot of the details are clearly more oriented towards products that have few but rather complex parts – not so much a woodworking project that mainly consists out of simple boards. The article contains quite a few fixes and workarounds that make the work with FreeCAD easier and more comfortable.įreeCAD is an open source software that is mainly geared towards mechanical engineers. And don’t forget to subscribeįor more videos on different ways of woodworking.In this article we give an overview on how we design woodworking projects in FreeCAD. Please leave a comment if there are otherįreeCAD topics you would like to be covered in a video. Hopefully this video was helpful for you. You can find a simple blender file here to start with you own experiments. You canĬreate three dimensional textures, animations and become quite creative. After exporting the toolboxĪs OBJ file we can open it in Blender. If this is still not good enough we have to leave FreeCAD. When you have everything setup the right way creating such a rendering is literally a click This also works for the Japanese toolbox. Rendering button we get a quite nice cube that looks vaguely like wood. So if we add the WayofWood template, set the cube color to magenta and then hit our new The webside we can see for example that magenta corresponds to a Cherry-like texture. When looking at the colormatching chart from This macro is converting colors in wood textures. Then create a new group and add the macro to this group with the blue arrow. In the Toolbars tab select Macros on the left hand side and Raytracing on the right hand Go to Tools,Ĭustomize, Macros and select the Macro we just added. Just save the Macro file in your FreeCAD settings folder.įor Linux: ~/.FreeCAD/ For Windows: C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\FreeCAD\Īfter restarting FreeCAD we add the Macro to the Raytracing workbench. Next trick you have to download a small Python Macro from the website in the description. The first improvement is to use a different Povray template.ĭescription you can download the WayofWood.pov file that should be placed in the followingįor Linux: ~/.FreeCAD/data/Mod/Raytracing/Templates For Windows: C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\FreeCAD\Mod\Raytracing\TemplatesĪfter restarting FreeCAD we can add the new template, add our cube and create the image. Given the lighting and the overall setup of the default template the output doesn’t look that nice. We then mark our cube and add it to the raytracing object and create the output. In the workbench we add a new Povray object. The +P makes Povray pause after the rendering until youĬlick on the window and +A turns on the anti-aliasing. Make sure that Povray is installed and the path to the executable is correct and use a meaningful height and width. Start the workbench and then go to Edit Preferences. This brings us to the raytracing workbench. The texture goes across all parts and hides a lot of the details. With the right texture this looks actually quite nice for a simple shape.įor more complex shapes like our Japanese Toolbox from the last part of the tutorial the texture mapping doesn’t work. With this option we can take a photo and wrap it around the entire object. While this is not a perfect option you can get a n idea how darker and lighter woods could be combined on a workpiece.įreeCAD also supports texture mapping. Sometimes it is good enough to just give individual parts a sightly different color. There are a few limited options within FreeCAD to get a better impression of a piece. But sometimes your spouse, your client or someone else who is finally going to buy or use a piece would like to get a better impression of it. Sometimes the grey look of the plain CAD model is all you need to get going. In this article we are going to look into Rendering in FreeCAD and go through a variety of options to improve the look of your CAD work.Ĭoloring and texturing Options in FreeCAD
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