How to manually load RT's Assembly 3 workbench into 0.19

[LHC]

I'm struggling a bit here -

I've been wanting to learn the assembly 3 workbench and realthunder tells me that there's problems with the baked in assembly 3 workbench in 0.19. He says I can just manually load the workbench from his git account, and use that within 0.19 if I don't want to jump into the linkstage 3 branch just yet (I'm relatively new to FreeCad and want to stay with 0.19 for the moment).

I downloaded the zip archive of his assembly 3 workbench, and tossed it into the MOD folder on my windows machine, but I can't see anything when I open up FreeCad and start to dig around the settings etc. as to how to actually enable it. Perhaps there is some issue with the fact that there's already an assembly 3 workbench that came included with the 0.19 I am using, but I can't see how to remove that one either.

Anyone able to set me on the right course of action here ?

Thanks !



OS: Windows 10 (10.0)
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.19.24267 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: master
Hash: b2ca86d8d72b636011a73394bf9bcdedb3b109b7
Python version: 3.8.8
Qt version: 5.12.5
Coin version: 4.0.0
OCC version: 7.4.0
Locale: English/United States (en_US)

[Kunda1]

Mod edit: Moved to Assembly subforum

[adrianinsaval]

Can you show me the contents of your Mod folder? you shouldn't need to do anything to enable it, it should just be available in the workbench list, do you see any message in the report view when opening freecad?
You might want to update to the latest stable as it has some bugfixes: https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/releases/tag/0.19.1 and I think they might have updated the workbench in the conda images

[LHC]

Can you show me the contents of your Mod folder? you shouldn't need to do anything to enable it, it should just be available in the workbench list, do you see any message in the report view when opening freecad?
You might want to update to the latest stable as it has some bugfixes: https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/releases/tag/0.19.1 and I think they might have updated the workbench in the conda images

I'll have a look when I'm back at the house. But to be clear- I just place the zip file in the mod folder yes ?

I've been meaning to download the 0.19.1 release but this brings up another question you might be able to enlighten me on. Do I have to save the config files etc before installing the new stable release ? I've been so used to grabbing the. 19 pre for so long and unzipping and poking it in a folder that I'm just scared that an installer might clobber something on me.

Thanks for your feedback.

[adrianinsaval]

No, you have to extract the contents of the zip to the mod folder so you en up having a FreeCAD_assembly3 folder inside mod, however it seems that isn't actually enough to get this specific workbench running as the solver is not included and it's not clear to many how to get it and where to place it. I asked realthunder to give updated instructions here: https://github.com/realthunder/FreeCAD_ ... issues/550

As for installing 0.19.1 there's no need to do anything with your config it should just work all the same, if you use stylesheets I would actually recommend that you use the portable conda package just like you did with the pre version because the installer has a bug with the buttons when using a stylesheets: https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 78#p492678

[LHC]

Ok sounds good - I'll await realthunders update on this. I don't use stylesheets (yet) but I'll get the Conda image as you've mentioned anyway.

Thanks again for your help with this.

Where do I find the portable Conda images ? Just on the weekly build link on the main freecad page ? Looks like there is a Conda there for Windows but it's the .20 pre.....

[realthunder]

I have updated the readme of asm3. Please check.

[LHC]

I have updated the readme of asm3. Please check.

Thanks very much for the rapid response to this.

I've followed your instructions for the official prebuilt image I have on my windows machine - it was an image just before the official release. When I start FreeCad, it all looks the same and appears to function properly but I must admit the already included version looked to operate to me as well even though there were bugs under the hood. Is there a way that I can be sure the latest assembly 3 is in fact implemented now?

[adrianinsaval]

Where do I find the portable Conda images ? Just on the weekly build link on the main freecad page ? Looks like there is a Conda there for Windows but it's the .20 pre.....

There is a conda package for the stable release on the same page where the rest of the assets are: https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/releases/tag/0.19.1
Howerver it seems the conda package has some bugs that are worse than the one I mentioned so it will actually be better to just use the installer.

[LHC]

Where do I find the portable Conda images ? Just on the weekly build link on the main freecad page ? Looks like there is a Conda there for Windows but it's the .20 pre.....

There is a conda package for the stable release on the same page where the rest of the assets are: https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/releases/tag/0.19.1
Howerver it seems the conda package has some bugs that are worse than the one I mentioned so it will actually be better to just use the installer.

Good to know - thanks ! It's a minefield of bugs by the sounds of things. Not good for keeping the rage at bay for a relative newcomer to the FC world. I think I will probably just keep plodding along with my 0.19 pre image that I've been using. I did make an initial assembly 3 after following RT instructions and it sort of worked which was encouraging. Great software in general though - Fusion 360 is becoming a distant memory lost in the mists of time the longer I study and learn FreeCad.