Open source CAD/CAE software: FreeCAD 0.20 released

Open source CAD/CAE software: FreeCAD 0.20 released.

FreeCAD 0.20 has been released. FreeCAD is a general-purpose parametric 3D CAD modeler, equipped with FEA tools, experimental CFD, CAM/CNC workbench, robot simulation modules, etc., released under the LGPL license.

Like most CAD modelers, it has many 2D components for drawing flat shapes or creating production drawings.

In addition, FreeCAD makes extensive use of open source libraries for scientific computing, including the powerful CAD kernel Open Cascade Technology (OCCT), the Open Inventor-compatible 3D graphics development toolkit Coin3D, the well-known UI framework Qt, and the scripting language Python. In addition, FreeCAD itself can be used as a library by other programs.

FreeCAD is licensed under the LGPL and runs on Linux, Unix, Windows and Mac OSX systems, with the same look and functionality on all platforms.

Notable changes in the new version:

Improved Navigation Cube

Major changes include: support for rotating the 3D view by 45°, quick switching to the back view of the current scene by clicking the new circular button in the upper right corner, resizing the cube by using the Cube size preference.

Tooltips show the command name to the title

New section cutting tool Section Cut

This tool is used for non-hollow & persistent cutting of parts and assemblies.

In addition to the above, there are many UI/UX improvements. FreeCAD 0.20 also adds “Preference Packs” for saving and distributing user preferences, several new Python API functions, and various other improvements.