Complete newbie stuck on tutorial

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onekk
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Re: Complete newbie stuck on tutorial

Post by onekk »

pauljurczak wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 3:49 pm ...

Which part of my question in initial post was unclear? Have you read it carefully before posting? That rule applies to both sides.
No you can't modify a tutorial and pretend it is working as expected.

And probably you are not aware that the tutorial is for Part Design so Sketcher is not the right WB to be used.

Do not blame helpers if they tell you are wrong, if you want quality answers you should make good questions.

Tutorial was made on 0.20 and checked on a clean FreeCAD installation with a clean user directory.

I doubt that @Roy_043 has not checked the workflow.

Regards

Carlo D.
Last edited by onekk on Fri Mar 24, 2023 4:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Grub
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Re: Complete newbie stuck on tutorial

Post by Grub »

calm down, there is no problem.
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rich61
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Re: Complete newbie stuck on tutorial

Post by rich61 »

It is my opinion that is not a good 'first tutorial'.

My impression is that it is your first, in a long time anyway.
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Roy_043
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Re: Complete newbie stuck on tutorial

Post by Roy_043 »

I have tested the tutorial's workflow multiple times. The tutorial is valid for version 0.19 and above.

For clarity I have already made 2 edits:
https://wiki.freecad.org/index.php?titl ... id=1215906

I'll add a note about the visibility of the toolbars.
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onekk
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Re: Complete newbie stuck on tutorial

Post by onekk »

rich61 wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 5:01 pm It is my opinion that is not a good 'first tutorial'.

My impression is that it is your first, in a long time anyway.
Thus tutorial was a collaboration between various authors, I have simply set up the page and make a preliminary work, then more skilled people have take the work and revised it making some changes to correct my bad English and to make better images.

But this not the point you can't completely mistake a WB for another, You are using Sketcher when it is advised to use Part Design WB and this is clear from first sentences.

Plus if you follow a tutorial changing things, you invalidate all the tutorial as a tutorial is meant to be followed "as is", changing things will obviously complicate things, as example triangle has 'very different' requirements in term of constraints than a rectangle.

Thanks to Roy_043 for having improved some unclear things, so your post has done however a good service to FreeCAD users.

Regards

Carlo D.
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rich61
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Re: Complete newbie stuck on tutorial

Post by rich61 »

It is a great tutorial. Absolutely. I wouldn't change a thing. Thanks for creating it.

It exercises many FreeCAD tools and concepts.

However it is like getting a drink from a fire hose. It is a complicated solid and not something I'll find at my local hardware store.

I opined that it is not a great "FIRST' tutorial.

Tutorials that get a newbie past some fundamentals are better for introduction. Then exercise all the functions.

Its a little like people who ask, where is the midpoint function? FreeCAD generally uses the Symmetry constraint, its not just a different tool, its a different concept, a different way of doing things. FreeCAD concepts are initially hard to understand if you've never used a CAD system, and sometimes if you've used a different type of CAD system.

I bet there are some tutorials like that somewhere. I played with constraints myself at an early stage just to see how constraints work, using a circle placed off-axis so no automatic constraints are set. With a couple of circles you can exercise almost all the constraints, then UNDO, and try a different one. Fast.

I vaguely remember just learning FreeCAD. There were many stumbling blocks. I still know only 10% of FreeCAD which is about all I need for the simple parts I deal with, but at first I recall being confused by PART and PART DESIGN. Which should I use? Do they work together ? I didn't know the workflow, first create a BODY, then the sketch. For some reason, I had no idea. These are blocking items that create frustration and impede progress.

Having a definite workflow to start a project is a big help.

Some people like the youtube videos, sometimes I watch those but the resolution is poor, some don't have audio explanations, or there is a language barrier. I find myself pressing pause all the time or rewind.

Written tutorials are my personal preference. Its almost too bad that one doesn't know FreeCAD well enough to document all the confusion you have before actually learning it. Because once you learn it you can't remember the confusion.
pauljurczak
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Re: Complete newbie stuck on tutorial

Post by pauljurczak »

onekk wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 1:32 pm But this not the point you can't completely mistake a WB for another, You are using Sketcher when it is advised to use Part Design WB and this is clear from first sentences.

Plus if you follow a tutorial changing things, you invalidate all the tutorial as a tutorial is meant to be followed "as is", changing things will obviously complicate things, as example triangle has 'very different' requirements in term of constraints than a rectangle.
I verified that I'm using Part Design as directed by "First make sure you are in the Workbench PartDesign.svg Part Design Workbench. If required select it from the Workbench dropdown list."

However, in Step A #3 "FreeCAD automatically switches to the Workbench Sketcher.svg Sketcher Workbench.", so that's what you see in screen capture.

I verified missing dialog by creating a rectangle. This was the last step I made. Up to this point, it doesn't matter whether I created a rectangle, triangle or another polygon. It doesn't invalidate the tutorial.
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Roy_043
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Re: Complete newbie stuck on tutorial

Post by Roy_043 »

If you find any other issues with the tutorial, please report them. But, as you have seen, it confuses the helpers if you do not follow the tutorial exactly.
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onekk
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Re: Complete newbie stuck on tutorial

Post by onekk »

pauljurczak wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 5:37 am ...
However, in Step A #3 "FreeCAD automatically switches to the Workbench Sketcher.svg Sketcher Workbench.", so that's what you see in screen capture.
...
Thanks for reporting, check if now is more near what you obtain, Roy_043 has added a couple of notes to remark the things you have noted (Sketcher WB activation in Step A#3, and Toolbar visibility)

Note that there is a dedicated thread to report further errors.

Regards.

Carlo D.
GitHub page: https://github.com/onekk/freecad-doc.
- In deep articles on FreeCAD.
- Learning how to model with scripting.
- Various other stuffs.

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