Which FreeCAD workbench should I use for interior and furniture design?

[rhombus]

(I've just built and installed 0.18.3 on my Gentoo Linux system running kernel 4.19.27. Let me start by saying that I am very impressed with what I have seen so far. Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped build this wonderful piece of open source software!)

I want to use FreeCAD to model a room in my apartment and design a piece of furniture for that room, and FreeCAD offers so many possibilities that I don't know where to start. Can you help me?

In the past, I have used 2D drafting software such as QCAD to make floorplans. To design furniture that interacts with the space, I also need a model of the room in 3D. But a 2D drawing of the inside walls of a room is very different from a 2D plane sketch of a 3D model.

Here's how I think it would work: I would draft the walls, doors and windows of the space in the Draft Workbench, create (a) 3D model(s), then draw and model the components of the furniture using the Sketcher and Part Designer, link those components and then have something I can place in the 3D model of the space.

But there are also the Arch and BIM workbenches which sound like they could be appropriate.

I need to get a design done quickly so that I can start building. I don't need to model the entire apartment, just one room for now.

[paullee]

But there are also the Arch and BIM workbenches which sound like they could be appropriate.

I need to get a design done quickly so that I can start building. I don't need to model the entire apartment, just one room for now.

A few posts / user showcase for reference:-

https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=24168 Design for a Staircase. (Impressive drawings and design)
https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=32726 Shoe Cabinet

https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 6&start=60 Architecture Work big thread

https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 36#p336210 Which workbench should I use for designing an office desk


[ EDIT ] - This one just bumped up
https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 7&start=80 Cabinet furniture design tools workbench

[vocx]

...

Here's how I think it would work: I would draft the walls, doors and windows of the space in the Draft Workbench, create (a) 3D model(s), then draw and model the components of the furniture using the Sketcher and Part Designer, link those components and then have something I can place in the 3D model of the space.

This is exactly how it was designed to work. The author of the Draft Workbench is an architect. And he started doing typical floor plans that you can do with more traditional packages like Autocad.

But there are also the Arch and BIM workbenches which sound like they could be appropriate.

I need to get a design done quickly so that I can start building. I don't need to model the entire apartment, just one room for now.

The author of Arch Workbench and BIM Workbench is the same person who developed Draft. Once Draft had enough tools for 2D objects, it was a relatively simple step forward to turn those 2D traces into 3D walls. This is exactly how it works; Arch import all tools from Draft to draw the 2D wall traces, then a single button turns those lines into 3D walls with thickness and height. Then you can add things like doors and windows, and finally make a 2D projection with TechDraw Workbench. This means you can more or less model at the same time in 2D and 3D.

The quintessential presentation of Arch is the Arch tutorial. Or if you want something simpler, you can see Tutorial for open windows.

The BIM workbench is a bit more for complete projects, because it tries to focus on administration of your building design, IFC components, and things like that. It is built on top of Arch and Draft as well. If what you are saying is that you just want to model a simple room, then you don't need BIM. Just hop into Arch, draw a few lines, create walls, and you are done in 10 minutes.

And you are right about the furniture. You can design it with PartDesign Workbench + Sketcher, and encapsulate it inside an Arch Equipment if you want.

[rhombus]

@vocx, @paullee
Sorry for my delayed reply. Thanks so much for this very helpful input!

[pl7i92LCNC]

you can also import lots of files from known manufactuers and modyfi them
also blender3D is a good source

if you only need to visulise them Blender is a better way for Architecture
if you are manafacturing them then it is a good idee to stay FC as the drawing Wb is for the buiders
https://www.blender3darchitect.com/tag/furniture/