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Ondsel’s contributions to upstream FreeCAD and 3rd-party addons

This page lists major patches submitted to the upstream FreeCAD project. For a policy on collaborating with the upstream project, please see this part of the handbook.

FreeCAD core​

Variable sets, or VarSets — a new system for custom properties (data elements) that can be used to create customizable parametric models.

General UI improvements​

  • TabBar workbench selector (idea loosely based on the SelectorToolbar addon by triplus)
  • Quick Measure: displays useful data in the status bar about selected geometry features, e.g. lengths, angles, areas, etc.

Assembly workbench​

Developed a brand new integrated assembly workbench based on Ondsel’s own kinematic solver (LGPLv2.1). Features implemented by Ondsel:

  • Inserting parts from existing files.
  • Joint types: fixed, revolute, cylindrical, slider, ball, rack and pinion, screw, gears, belt, angle, parallel, purpendicular.
  • Solving constraints imposed by various joint types.
  • Testing motion by dragging parts in accordance with degrees of freedom defined by joints.
  • Multiple exploded views.

Sketcher workbench​

  • UI cleanup:
    • Improved grouping of toolbars
    • Reduce amount of tools by introducing tools with options in the Tasks panel
  • Constraining improvements
    • Floating input widgets for drawing constrained sketches
    • Smart dimensions tool
    • Automatic horizontal/vertical constraint tool
    • Automatic midpoint constraint
  • Better design tools:
    • More sketching tools: Translate, Rotate, Scale, Offset
    • Continuous mode in the Trim tool
    • Symmetry tool rework
    • Fillet tool rework
    • New Chamfer tool
    • Copying and pasting in Sketcher
  • Geometry visualization improvements to help distinguishing features from each other

TechDraw workbench​

  • Smart Dimension tool
  • Snapping for dimensions
  • Toolbars cleanup, incl. integration of multiple view insertion tools into one

CAM workbench​

  • Improved sanity reports

Sheet Metal workbench​

  • Code refactoring for cleaner logic and UI separation
  • Task panel for the New Flange tool based on a proposal by the upstream design working group