Assembly 4 workbench

Discussion about the development of the Assembly workbench.
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dspmathguru
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Joined: Thu Apr 22, 2021 4:06 am

Re: Assembly 4 workbench

Post by dspmathguru »

Hi,

I've tried to go through the 2nd tutorial several times and every time I try, the Model disappears sometimes and unpreditably. Once the model is gone, I do not know how to get it back.

The model disappeared when I added disk (the second link) and I tried to make it visible.

If there is a place to submit the FCStd1 file to look at, I can do that to help with the discussion.

I'm using 0.19.1 and the latest version of Assembly 4 (today is 4/21/21).

I'm not sure this is the correct place to ask questions on Assembly 4 usage, and if not, please point me to the correct forum place, etc.

Any help is welcome.
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Zolko
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Re: Assembly 4 workbench

Post by Zolko »

dspmathguru wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 4:23 am Any help is welcome.
not enough information
try the Assembly4 workbench for FreCAD — tutorials here and here
kcleung
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Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2011 11:56 am

Re: Assembly 4 workbench

Post by kcleung »

I have just installed Freecad 0.19.1 on my computer, and like to play with the assembly 4 github code.

Suppose if I check out the main branch into a directory, then how can I make FreeCAD uses the github directory assembly 4, instead of the stock plugin?
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Zolko
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Re: Assembly 4 workbench

Post by Zolko »

kcleung wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:23 am I have just installed Freecad 0.19.1 on my computer, and like to play with the assembly 4 github code.

Suppose if I check out the main branch into a directory, then how can I make FreeCAD uses the github directory assembly 4, instead of the stock plugin?
1) thank-you for your interrest in this code

2) if you intend to modify it, please do so in the "development" branch, and not in the "master" branch. This also means that you should check-out the development branch onto your local directory

3) if you want to use your modified (local) code, make a link from wherever you extracted the archive to the standard Addons directory, which depends on the platform you use:
  • ~/.FreeCAD/Mod for Linux
  • C:\Users\********\AppData\Roaming\FreeCAD\Mod for Windows
You must delete the regular Assembly4 directory if you have installed it via the AddonsManager (yoy can't have the same WB installed twice).
try the Assembly4 workbench for FreCAD — tutorials here and here
zisoft
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Re: Assembly 4 workbench

Post by zisoft »

I like to give my LCS's descriptive names, especially when using lots of them. I use the object's label as part of the LCS name, i.e.:

"LCS_Bottom_FL" for the part "Bottom" on the Front Left
"LCS_Side_left_FR" for the part "Side_left" on the Front Right

This makes it much easier for me to see at once what LCS to use when assembling a part.

To automate this I would suggest to add the part's Label to the name of the new datum object on creation.
Bildschirmfoto 2021-05-02 um 10.00.21.png
Bildschirmfoto 2021-05-02 um 10.00.21.png (651.53 KiB) Viewed 6110 times
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Zolko
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Re: Assembly 4 workbench

Post by Zolko »

Hello all,

after some months of little activity, I've got some time/motivation to put out a new version of the Assembly4 workbench. These are various small fixes, including contributions from others, thank-you for your help. Among the more visible changes is the possibility to export an animation directly:

https://github.com/Zolko-123/FreeCAD_Assembly4/pull/187
Animation.png
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This will be the last version of the 0.9 family, the next upgrade 0.10 will include deeper changes for the FreeCAD v0.20 release cycle, so please test and report bugs.
try the Assembly4 workbench for FreCAD — tutorials here and here
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Kunda1
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Re: Assembly 4 workbench

Post by Kunda1 »

Thank you!
Alone you go faster. Together we go farther
Please mark thread [Solved]
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kcleung
Posts: 162
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2011 11:56 am

Re: Assembly 4 workbench

Post by kcleung »

Zolko wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 6:25 pm
kcleung wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:23 am I have just installed Freecad 0.19.1 on my computer, and like to play with the assembly 4 github code.

Suppose if I check out the main branch into a directory, then how can I make FreeCAD uses the github directory assembly 4, instead of the stock plugin?
1) thank-you for your interrest in this code

2) if you intend to modify it, please do so in the "development" branch, and not in the "master" branch. This also means that you should check-out the development branch onto your local directory

3) if you want to use your modified (local) code, make a link from wherever you extracted the archive to the standard Addons directory, which depends on the platform you use:
  • ~/.FreeCAD/Mod for Linux
  • C:\Users\********\AppData\Roaming\FreeCAD\Mod for Windows
You must delete the regular Assembly4 directory if you have installed it via the AddonsManager (yoy can't have the same WB installed twice).
Thx heaps! just checked out the development branch on my local directory and linked the mod/Assembly4 to it

Now I can play with the code and get very good feeling of the data structure and algorithm of the code :)
run_the_race
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Re: Assembly 4 workbench

Post by run_the_race »

I really like the ethos of workbench 4. I am however hitting some difficulities where I feel its a case of "you're doing it wrong".

E.g. I attach it to a circle (Concentric), then rotating the LCS in 3D... the attachment axis is referenced to the attachment, but soon as you rotate it, you no longer know what is the X/Y/Z axis, how do you guys calculate/keep track which axis it should rotate about once you start trying to rotate it?

And with regards to the topological naming issue, one must should attach LCS to sketches, and not 3D geometry, would be great if one could attach a LCS to a sketch in one of the bodies.

Additionally sometimes when attaching a LCS, I spent 10 mins with the attachment dialogue rotating the LCS so its in the right orientation, using 100% brain capactiy to rotate it in 3D space of unknown axis orientations, it looks good, I then click OK, and it just jumps back to how it was before I started calculating the 3D rotations... BEEP BEEP!

I have read the very good wiki attachment tutorial and the assembly 4 tutorial but still struggle. Would of been great if the assembly 4 tutorial used objects that needed to be positioned and orientated exactly. The bearings and shaft are not much trouble attaching, as the rotation does matter, as long as the plane is right.

But great workbench, very good idea and concept!
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Zolko
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Re: Assembly 4 workbench

Post by Zolko »

run_the_race wrote: Sat May 08, 2021 5:09 pm And with regards to the topological naming issue, one must should attach LCS to sketches, and not 3D geometry, would be great if one could attach a LCS to a sketch in one of the bodies.
It is possible, but dangerous (thus forbidden by Asm4), because of a core FreeCAD feature: the "attacher" attaches objects to the local coordinate system of the chosen feature (edge, vertes, circle...) inside its containing container (Body or Part). But these container also have their own Placement property, meaning that if you attach an object outside a container to a feature inside the container, then that object will not "know" whether the container has been moved or not, and FreeCAD will output the dreaded "Links go out of the allowed scope".

This is a core FreeCAD limitation.
try the Assembly4 workbench for FreCAD — tutorials here and here
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