What's your usability/workflow tip a beginner should know?

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wakyct
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What's your usability/workflow tip a beginner should know?

Post by wakyct »

Hello FreeCAD community, I've started learning FreeCAD the last few days with no experience in CAD, and the breadth and depth of videos, tutorials, docs, and threads in this forum have been great and greatly appreciated.

I've been searching this forum for any and all threads by/for beginners and newbies containing general advice on how to use FC more effectively. It made me curious: if you were to tell a beginner something they should learn early on, what would it be?

Anything from as general as "read everything in the wiki", to more specific like "you can create your own keyboard shortcuts by going to the menu Tools -> Customize -> (select workbench, select Keyboard tab)".

I was watching a video today where they right-clicked on an object in the tree and selected the Transform tool -- very handy. Things like that.

Thanks in advance and thanks for FreeCAD!
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freedman
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Re: What's your usability/workflow tip a beginner should know?

Post by freedman »

This might sound a bit rude but it might work out, "search for beginner". The experts have answered this many times, sometimes with lengthy responses. Welcome.
wakyct
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Re: What's your usability/workflow tip a beginner should know?

Post by wakyct »

freedman wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 4:09 am This might sound a bit rude but it might work out, "search for beginner". The experts have answered this many times, sometimes with lengthy responses. Welcome.
Not at all, and thanks. I have been searching with "beginner" and many other variations on that, but I haven't found a thread where the focus is as I described in the OP -- but if you know of some any links are appreciated.

edit: just to expand on what I mean, in the first 200 or so search results of a search on "beginner" there are threads like:

Beginner Advice - specific review of someone's first project.

Learning to learn - advice for newcomers... - more general/conceptual advice rather than specific tips

Would you contribute to "requesting facts to help new users" thread, pinned for a few months, for wiki FAQ - more of a meta discussion of what docs are needed than tips

I was actually surprised I didn't find a thread like this one, which is why I started it.
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Shalmeneser
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Re: What's your usability/workflow tip a beginner should know?

Post by Shalmeneser »

Study files from this forum : bad or good.
You'll get ideas for new construction methods and new (use of) tools.
chrisb
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Re: What's your usability/workflow tip a beginner should know?

Post by chrisb »

wakyct wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:21 am if you were to tell a beginner something they should learn early on, what would it be?
I would recommend to learn sketching. Good sketches are the basis for good models.
A Sketcher Lecture with in-depth information is available in English, auf Deutsch, en français, en español.
drmacro
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Re: What's your usability/workflow tip a beginner should know?

Post by drmacro »

You mention Tools>Customize.

An important, IMO, part of that is being able to add tools you use regularly to other toolbars.

For instance, I added create sketch to Part and Curves workbench, very handy.

I also have a variety of macros and other tools like Validate sketch and Check geometry added to the global toolbar.

My global bar also has the set view to face, great for aux views in TechDraw.

And ShapeString on both Part and Part Design.
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wakyct
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Re: What's your usability/workflow tip a beginner should know?

Post by wakyct »

drmacro wrote: You mention Tools>Customize.

An important, IMO, part of that is being able to add tools you use regularly to other toolbars.
For sure, I also have found working on a small laptop that moving the toolbars around helps a lot to get a better size for the 3D view. Many of the tool buttons are easy to access with keyboard shortcuts and so you can hide them in the menu View -> Toolbars. Then after laying out global toolbars vertically, it's mostly workbench-specific toolbars on the top.

chrisb wrote:I would recommend to learn sketching
Thanks, reading your guide :)

Shalmeneser wrote:Study files from this forum : bad or good.
Good idea -- do you know if there is a page on the forum that lists uploads? I know I've seen some phpbb forums like that but they might have been plugins. Otherwise easy enough to look in threads.
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freedman
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Re: What's your usability/workflow tip a beginner should know?

Post by freedman »

If your in PartDesign:
To start a sketch on a plane: Expand the Origin and select the plane you want and click new sketch. Then learn to offset the sketch with the sketch attachment offset.
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Re: What's your usability/workflow tip a beginner should know?

Post by chrisb »

Shalmeneser wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 5:04 am Study files from this forum : bad or good.
I can highly recommend this from my own experience.
First step: look at existing models
Second step: try to find solutions to questions and compare them to the solutions of others power users
Third step: now being a power user yourself, help others with their models.
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ppemawm
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Re: What's your usability/workflow tip a beginner should know?

Post by ppemawm »

wakyct wrote: Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:21 am if you were to tell a beginner something they should learn early on, what would it be?
It would be helpful if we knew what your primary CAD interest is, i.e. mechanical, electrical, architectural, 3D printing, etc., and whether you want to dabble in it or be serious about it. Then, we could give more specific advice

If you are interested in serious machine design I would say start with Sketcher, PartDesign, and an assembly workbench in that order.

Learn every tool in the toolbar by experimenting until you understand what each is for. That way you will quickly learn the language and the GUI.

Build 100's(!) of simple models for which you can find CAD exercises (drawings) by searching the net for beginners, intermediate, and expert levels. You need to be able to "read" drawings as they define design intent and constraints for sketches.

Think through how you are going to model something before ever starting on it. It will make a huge difference. You must be able to see each feature in your mind before creating the first sketch of a typical model.

Try to reproduce other user's models you can find by skimming the Help forum. Pay attention to why/where the sketches are placed.
Work your way through Chrisb's excellent guide for Sketcher especially concentrating on how and why of constraints.

Read and understand about Placement and Attachment in the wiki, they are key to more complex and robust models. Experiment!

Learn the workflow of an assembly workbench early on if you want to design/model machines. I prefer Assembly4 which is a bit esoteric but simple enough. Then move on to Variables and Expressions which are important for parametric models and assembly(4) constraints.

Other than that, it takes a lot of grunt work, homework,and practice, practice, practice...CAD is not supposed to be easy. After all, it is an engineering tool so you have to learn to think like an engineer.

The Forum is a great place to get help when you get stuck.
"It is a poor workman who blames his tools..." ;)
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