Birth of Design456 Workbench

[mariwan]

Hi,
I would like to share my attempt to make a workbench that should behave like 123D Design and bring some functionalities from 3D Wings and tinkercad also.
This is just a beginning. Nothing is released yet as I am working on the basic commands at the moment.
The goal is to bring several functionalities which are existing in Draft, Part and other workbench and adding them to one workbench and making the usage of primitives easier.
Easier to make, modify, move, align, combine, subtract, create face, ..etc
Please look at some videos of 123D Design, 3d Wings to understand what I am talking about.

FreeCAD is great but the Part and Draft workbench is not easy as it should (IMHO).
I asked the forum before .. and the answers was not so great. Anyway .. Unfortunately, OBS Studio didn't capture the inputBox I have to give FreeCAD length of the extrusion. That should be changed to be more mouse - interactive action (length size).

Please watch the video .. and I love to hear what you think.

phpBB [video]

Suggestions and help are greatly appreciated.
Regarding DRAFT and PART:
I don't know at the moment if I copy the code and modify their names or I just make custom icons.
I am not an expert in licenses and how to treat them. Do I need to untouch them, or add my name in the list ..etc.
All these questions should be answered. You are experts and can help in that.

Thanks.
Mariwan

[drmacro]

There's a quick and easy way to make Draft much easier...

Don't use it for creating geometry.

At least that's my solution.

Nice work on the workbench!

Is it available in github?

[mariwan]

Thanks.
But please when you answer, write down in details what you mean. I am new in the world of FreeCAD.

[aapo]

Suggestions and help are greatly appreciated.
Regarding DRAFT and PART:
I don't know at the moment if I copy the code and modify their names or I just make custom icons.
I am not an expert in licenses and how to treat them. Do I need to untouch them, or add my name in the list ..etc.
All these questions should be answered. You are experts and can help in that.

Hi, please be aware that core Part module is written in c++, and it's quite a deep core component of FreeCAD (and it'd be difficult to replace). https://wiki.freecadweb.org/Part_Module Thus, it'd be much easier to write your new workbench as a new Python interface to the existing Part module, as even copying it would be enormously difficult. Interfacing the core Part module with Python for your external workbench would offer several advantages:

• No need to compile code, nor distribute binaries for different operating systems
• No need to persuade the core developers to take your changes into the core app
• It'd be easy to offer your new workbench to users as a downloadable addon, preferably through the integrated Addon Manager

The core Draft workbench is already written in Python, so there it'd be easier to either copy or interface, whichever you prefer.

[drmacro]

Thanks.
But please when you answer, write down in details what you mean. I am new in the world of FreeCAD.

I don't know if this refers to my previous reply...

But, is it available? Can I get it from github?

[bitacovir]

Mariwan

Interesting work.
The suggestion of aapo is right. For instance, BIM workbench is an external addon written in Python, an it has an experimental approach, with many changes and feedback by the community. It is the work of one of the veteran developers and he thought it would be a very good and practical approach for new workbench developments. Currently there are several workbenches with python (draft, Arch, BIM, etc). And Yorik (the author) could help you more than a project using C++.

[carlopav]

Nice, check also out this draft PR. https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/pull/3716
I didnt have the time ti work further on It, but It seems It could be integrated in your workbench as It has a similar approach!
Feel free to take from It the code you Need.

[mariwan]

I appreciate all of your answers
Yes I am writing it in Python. And would be as you suggested.
Yes please I would like to use all available written code. And I have no problem to write down who did what .. but the comments of the license will be huge if I include all in one standard format.
Please let me know what I should write in the header part.

I plan to sum the functionality in Part, Draft, and other available workbench in one workbench. Easy to use and simple. I would like to bring the MAKER community to FreeCAD.
Please don't laugh at my code.. I am a beginner in FreeCAD.
I would definitely share with you the Github. Let me clean up the code and I will publish it.
I will make another branch (Develop) to separate it from code working. And I will be adding more and more code to it.
Please feel free to contribute.
thanks again

[mariwan]

HI everyone,
Please feel free to download, test and use the workbench
Hope you find it useful and get some ideas how I am planing to work.

One of the biggest problem for me is how to make the length of the extrusion made by mouse movement.. I must think and think and think

Code: Select all

https://github.com/MariwanJ/Design456

[mariwan]

Nice, check also out this draft PR. https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/pull/3716
I didn't have the time ti work further on It, but It seems It could be integrated in your workbench as It has a similar approach!
Feel free to take from It the code you Need.

It is exactly what I will try to do .. in 123D Design it is called Tweak.
I wish to take that and modify it in the same way I am thinking to do the other parts. Mouse should do the job .. not textboxes, comboboxes ..etc..
Okey you can write numbers also .. but the goal must be the mouse.
If it is OK for you please send me a pull .. I will added to my workbench , at leas as it is now and when I implement the mouse mechanism I will add it to your code.
thanks for your suggestion.