Path Workbench, Contour Path: Base Geometry Editor Missing.

[earlye]

With most of the path workbench tools, there is an option for Base Geometry.

For Contour Path, however, this is completely missing.

According to this documentation, it should be there: https://wiki.freecadweb.org/Path_Contour

This makes it nearly impossible to produce CAM for anything other than a single contour.

Is this intentional? I'll try to make some time to download and build the code, but if anybody has any pointers on where to dig in, I'd appreciate it.

Version: 0.18-16146, Mac

[GeneFC]

The solution is to switch to 0.19.

Look at https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/releases

There have been many, many improvements to the Path WB over the past 18 months.

Gene

[Russ4262]

With most of the path workbench tools, there is an option for Base Geometry.

For Contour Path, however, this is completely missing.

Welcome to the forum.

In version 0.18 you will need to use Profile Faces or Profile Edges tools in order to contour specific features(faces or edges) on a model. These two tools will allow specific Base Geometry selection to which you refer based upon the tool chosen. In version 0.19 that Gene suggests these three tools have been merged into a single Profile tool that maintains the functionality if all three.

[chrisb]

And even in 0.18 it was correct. Contour was always the complete outer contour. There is nothing to select.

[earlye]

The solution is to switch to 0.19.

Look at https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/releases

There have been many, many improvements to the Path WB over the past 18 months.

Gene

Looks promising, and does bring the UI up to date w/ the Base Geometry documentation, though very unstable.

For example, if I choose Path Pocket from the toolbar, the application crashes. It's very consistent, looks to be a reference to a NULL pointer. Just the sort of thing that I could fix (or at least get it to avoid by translating to a C++ exception) if I can make the time to get this thing building.

Code: Select all

Process:               freecad [29132]
Path:                  /Applications/FreeCAD 0.19-22411.app/Contents/Resources/bin/freecad
Identifier:            ???
Version:               ??? (0.19-22411)
Code Type:             X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process:        ??? [29127]
Responsible:           freecad [29132]
User ID:               501

Date/Time:             2020-09-14 07:53:39.171 -0500
OS Version:            Mac OS X 10.14.6 (18G6020)
Report Version:        12
Bridge OS Version:     4.6 (17P6065)
Anonymous UUID:        AE92E47C-A957-2B45-D672-934F8AF1A946


Time Awake Since Boot: 780000 seconds

System Integrity Protection: enabled

Crashed Thread:        0  CrBrowserMain  Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type:        EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes:       KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note:        EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY

Termination Signal:    Segmentation fault: 11
Termination Reason:    Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0xb
Terminating Process:   exc handler [29132]

VM Regions Near 0:
--> 
    __TEXT                 000000010885a000-0000000108862000 [   32K] r-x/r-x SM=COW  /Applications/FreeCAD 0.19-22411.app/Contents/Resources/bin/freecad

Thread 0 Crashed:: CrBrowserMain  Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0   libTKMesh.7.dylib             	0x00000001144207a7 BRepMesh_IncrementalMesh::Perform(opencascade::handle<IMeshTools_Context> const&) + 295
1   libTKMesh.7.dylib             	0x00000001144205de BRepMesh_IncrementalMesh::Perform() + 78
2   libTKMesh.7.dylib             	0x000000011442042d BRepMesh_IncrementalMesh::BRepMesh_IncrementalMesh(TopoDS_Shape const&, double, bool, double, bool) + 205
3   Part.so                       	0x00000001176f5cd1 Part::TopoShape::getFaces(std::__1::vector<Base::Vector3<double>, std::__1::allocator<Base::Vector3<double> > >&, std::__1::vector<Data::ComplexGeoData::Facet, std::__1::allocator<Data::ComplexGeoData::Facet> >&, float, unsigned short) const + 113
4   Part.so                       	0x00000001175d926c Part::TopoShapePy::tessellate(_object*) + 172
5   Part.so                       	0x00000001175c4bcb Part::TopoShapePy::staticCallback_tessellate(_object*, _object*) + 75
6   libpython3.8.dylib            	0x0000000109829160 cfunction_call_varargs + 224
7   libpython3.8.dylib            	0x0000000109828317 _PyObject_MakeTpCall + 167
8   libpython3.8.dylib            	0x000000010995f794 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 45444
9   libpython3.8.dylib            	0x000000010995282d _PyEval_EvalCodeWithName + 557
10  libpython3.8.dylib            	0x00000001098299da _PyFunction_Vectorcall + 426
11  libpython3.8.dylib            	0x000000010995f539 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 44841
12  libpython3.8.dylib            	0x000000010995282d _PyEval_EvalCodeWithName + 557
13  libpython3.8.dylib            	0x00000001098299da _PyFunction_Vectorcall + 426
14  libpython3.8.dylib            	0x000000010995f539 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 44841
15  libpython3.8.dylib            	0x0000000109829928 _PyFunction_Vectorcall + 248
16  libpython3.8.dylib            	0x0000000109828ce9 PyVectorcall_Call + 121
17  libpython3.8.dylib            	0x000000010995ff37 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 47399
18  libpython3.8.dylib            	0x000000010995282d _PyEval_EvalCodeWithName + 557
19  libpython3.8.dylib            	0x00000001098299da _PyFunction_Vectorcall + 426
20  libpython3.8.dylib            	0x000000010982d62d method_vectorcall + 349
21  libpython3.8.dylib            	0x0000000109828ce9 PyVectorcall_Call + 121
22  libFreeCADApp.dylib           	0x0000000109d7aa1b App::FeaturePythonImp::execute() + 363
23  Path.so                       	0x000000019af751c3 App::FeaturePythonT<Path::Feature>::execute() + 19
24  libFreeCADApp.dylib           	0x0000000109cf09fe App::DocumentObject::recompute() + 174
25  libFreeCADApp.dylib           	0x0000000109c6433e App::Document::_recomputeFeature(App::DocumentObject*) + 830
26  libFreeCADApp.dylib           	0x0000000109c629bb App::Document::recompute(std::__1::vector<App::DocumentObject*, std::__1::allocator<App::DocumentObject*> > const&, bool, bool*, int) + 3355
27  libFreeCADGui.dylib           	0x0000000108bb43c6 Gui::PropertyEditor::PropertyEditor::closeTransaction() + 118
28  libFreeCADGui.dylib           	0x0000000108bb6bad Gui::PropertyEditor::PropertyEditor::buildUp(std::__1::vector<std::__1::pair<std::__1::basic_string<char, std::__1::char_traits<char>, std::__1::allocator<char> >, std::__1::vector<App::Property*, std::__1::allocator<App::Property*> > >, std::__1::allocator<std::__1::pair<std::__1::basic_string<char, std::__1::char_traits<char>, std::__1::allocator<char> >, std::__1::vector<App::Property*, std::__1::allocator<App::Property*> > > > >&&, bool) + 93
29  libFreeCADGui.dylib           	0x0000000108ac995d Gui::PropertyView::hideEvent(QHideEvent*) + 93
30  libQt5Widgets.5.12.9.dylib    	0x000000010a30c37c QWidget::event(QEvent*) + 2120
31  libQt5Widgets.5.12.9.dylib    	0x000000010a2e58b4 QApplicationPrivate::notify_helper(QObject*, QEvent*) + 214

[earlye]

And even in 0.18 it was correct. Contour was always the complete outer contour. There is nothing to select.

Then the documentation is wrong. Also, the behavior I was seeing yesterday suggests this isn't true regardless. It chose all geometry, not just the outermost. The resulting gcode was basically gibberish.

The 0.19 behavior around contour, FWIW, is better. You choose the geometry you want a contour for.

Also, the dressups seem to do a better job. I'm able to create a helix with tabs and not have the bottom of the helix shift in XY like it was doing in 0.18.

[GeneFC]

If you are just making comments, fine.

If you want any sort of help, then it is essential to include a copy of the "About FreeCAD" info and some sort of test file. Not necessary to do anything, of course, but nobody can say much more without those basic items.

Gene

[earlye]

Sample file link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JrmaDw ... sp=sharing

To reproduce, open the file, go to path work bench, select "Path Pocket" tool.

Code: Select all

OS: macOS Mojave (10.14)
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.19.22411 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: master
Hash: d4519d5aec15bc08f029da5ed15410a494b57b2c
Python version: 3.8.5
Qt version: 5.12.9
Coin version: 4.0.0
OCC version: 7.4.0
Locale: English/United States (en_US)

[chrisb]

I can confirm only partially. I understand why the pocket operation fails: the model is only a 2D object, but it should not crash.

- I have no problems opening the pocket tool. It says in report view correctly "Please select faces from a single solid".
- If I confirm the Pocket dialog without having selected a BaseGeometry, then FreeCAD crashes here too.
- If I select a face such as the mouth then I get an error message but no crash.
- I can create a path for the mouth using a profile operation.

[earlye]

Ah yes, I probably should have mentioned that I'm skipping most of the modeling process, since my immediate goal is to replace Inventables' Easel cam package with something open-source. As usual, I find myself as an edge case, but I am willing to make up for that by paying with some sweat equity into the product.

I had been presuming that a 2D face placed higher than the bottom of the stock would be good enough for the pocket operation since that's basically what you reference from a 3D pocket that's cut into a 3D model. But I understand that the underlying type system probably has interfaces that are incompatible.

My current workflow is draw-in-inkscape, import-svg-as-geometry, go straight to path workbench. This worked fine with a simple outline, but now I'm trying to get a bit more complex.

I've found that adaptive clearing works fine with closed shapes like the mouth in the example, and have started trying to familiarize myself with the code so I can at the very least put a stop to the crashes I'm encountering.