All solids are black in 0.17 and 0.18 - Linux

[thephatmaster]

Afternoon all,

After a break from using FreeCAD for 3d printing I've returned to versions 0.17 (desktop machine) and 0.18 (laptop). I'm now really struggling to understand the new way of working (with bodies). I need to find an up to date tutorial for the "part workbench" rather than for "part design". Part of the problem I am having is all my solids seem to be black (invalid).

I was previously reasonably proficient at creating parts for 3d printing with workflows using standard solids (cube, cyclinder etc) in the "part Workbench" and Boolean operations. I have seen lots of people reporting black shapes after boolean operations. However this is not that problem. My shapes are black always. Even in a new file.

To be honest, I have struggled with bodies in the new version and need to look at tutorial. However, my shapes appear black:

- Inside a body;
- Outside a body;
- Inside a part; and
- Outside a part.

I run Linux and have purged my freecad installation and installed the latest 0.18.3 - my about details are:

OS: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
Word size of OS: 32-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 32-bit
Version: 0.18.3.
Build type: Release
Python version: 3.6.8
Qt version: 5.9.5
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 7.3.0
Locale: English/UnitedKingdom (en_GB)

I attach screenshots and my FSCD file.

[chrisb]

Here your uploaded model looks as it should (grey). You can try to reset the configuration with the button in the preferences. Another possibility is to delete your config files or to move them in case you want to restore them.

[thephatmaster]

thanks chrisb:

No change after the following:

- reset preferences via button; and
- moved config files to sub-folder (for backup).

Any other suggestions? If not, I wonder whether I can simply downgrade to 0.16 and continue working the "old" way.

[thephatmaster]

One further thing has sprung to mind - possibly a red herring:

I need to take a look at whether my WM or compositor settings could be messing up rendering of primitives in FreeCAD.

I use i3WM and Compton. You will see from the screenshots there is some transparency applied to the windows on my laptop. I use the same setup on my desktop machine (which, IIRC, renders primitives grey), but maaaaay have some differences in compositor settings.

I will check at home later using LXDE (Openbox-based I think) on my laptop (my battery died around lunch time) and report back.

[bejant]

The model posted isn't the one in the screen grabs but it looks fine for me too.

Any other suggestions?

Simply start over, the model is trivial.

• Open FreeCAD and do Ctrl + N or File > New.
• Change to the Part Design WB and stay in Part Design, don't mix WB's as was common practice in FreeCAD 0.16 and earlier.
• To create your Cylinder, click the symbol to the right of the "Create an additive primitive" tool and from the drop-down list click Additive Cylinder.
  • In the Tasks tab of the Combo View, change the Radius value from 10 mm to 2 mm and click the Ok button.
  • Result: FreeCAD creates a Body container and places the Cylinder inside the Body.
• To Create the Cube, and automatically add it to the Cylinder, click the symbol to the right of the "Create an additive primitive" tool again and this time from the drop-down list click Additive Cube.
  • In the Tasks tab of the Combo View, click the Ok button to accept the defaults.
  • Result: FreeCAD adds a Cube (named "Box" in the history tree) inside the Body container and attaches it to your Cylinder.
• If you don't want to see the edges where Box and Cylinder overlap, in the history tree select Box and from the Data Tab below change the Property > Refine from False to True, then click in the 3D view or click the Recompute button to trigger the change.

If you have GraphViz installed (you can get it from Ubuntu Software, formerly the Software Center) you can click Tools > Dependency Graph and, in the newly created tab, examine the structure of your models. Here's the Dependency Graph for the re-creation of your model:

20190823a.png (20.19 KiB) Viewed 1001 times

I attach screenshots and my FSCD file.

Your entire images seems dark, do you have some theme installed to make them appear that way?

I wonder whether I can simply downgrade to 0.16 and continue working the "old" way.

You can instead use only the Part WB, you just have to do the Booleans manually where in Part Design the Booleans are built-into the tools.

I don't recommend using 0.16, and you'll need a 64 bit version of Linux to use the Appimage, but you can get 0.16 here:
https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/releases/tag/0.16
(scroll down the page a bit and expand the Assets section)

[thephatmaster]

Hi bejant,

I will give your workflow a try from a learning point of view, however I think you are missing the point.

The file / primitives are not an actual project, and no Boolean operations have occured. They are simply an illustration that even a primitive on its own shows as broken (black) for me on 0.17 and 0.18. That simply can't be right.

[kisolre]

Have you tried changing models color/transparency? It might just look black because it is darkened by that transparency...

[thephatmaster]

Colour is set to grey - where would I find transparency?

[kisolre]

View/Appearance, RMB on the object/Appearance. Change the color to Red - if it still shows as Black there is an issue.

[thephatmaster]

On my desktop box (running 0.17) with the same WM (i3) and compositor (Compton) it is grey as it should be.

I'm now in LXDE on my laptop (Openbox WM / no transparency etc) and still black.

Changed to red - still black - interestingly of I choose either Neon GNC or Neon PHC the colour changes to yellow or green respectively. Same applies after a Boolean operation (tried fusion of two Cubes) - but I have to set the fusion's appearance again (it is black initially) - which is annoying.

I think I've found a workaround - setting a different grey as the default shape colour in Preferences/Display/Part colours/Default shape colour (see screenshot with Boolean joined padded hexagon sketch and primitive).

- now to some tutorials to set myself free from doing everything on the "part workbench' and actually using 0.18 to it's potential.

Thanks all for your help.