Pesquisa:Development of Free Computer Aided Design Tools

This page is also available in Portuguese. Ver também Grupo de trabalho para o desenvolvimento de bancada open source

The world needs a free CAD program for sharing and editing 3D parts and projects that with rich features and is easy to learn and use. Open Educational and scientific endeavors will operate at higher levels with the advent of such a tool, specially after recent developments on CNC milling machines and 3D printing. Researchers at CERN also realized this and are contributing to the development of KiCAD, for electronic designs .

This page aims at organizing efforts for the development of free tools for mechanical 3D drawing that is easy to learn and use. Something that can be regarded as an standard for sharing 3D parts and projects. We aim to gather desirable features of these tools, define development possibilities, find development team, funding, development models, possible platforms (start from scratch or contribute to existing project).

The basic idea is to define features and corresponding priorities, define development model, find developers, estimate costs, get funding, and make it happen.

If you feel you can help in any of the above, please join us and contribute. We are in the very early stages. You can edit this page, add your comments in the discussion page or, joining our e-mail list.

Some limitations of free cad tools have already been published in the web elsewhere .

Project details

The official page is https://pt.wikiversity.org/wiki/Pesquisa:Ferramentas_livres:Desenvolvimento_de_CAD_Livre:en

Discussion list: http://grupos.ufrgs.br/mailman/listinfo/fis_cta_cad-l

It is an initiative of members of the Brazilian Open Science group interested in Free tools.

Tasks

• Detail each feature description; (is the feature available in existing free software tools?)
  • Elaborate feature table. See Comparison of computer-aided design editors
  • http://wiki.polignu.org/wiki/TabelaCADsLivres
  • http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/CAD_tools
• Evaluate feature priorities;
• Evaluate existing projects and development platforms
• Contact FreeCAD, OpenSCAD, LibreCAD development boards
• Define project page and language (it will be very difficult to keep this page updated in two languages)

CAD for mechanical drawing

Basic features

• 2D and 3D work environments
• Import and export dxf, dwg, stl files.

3D environment:

• Quick creation of basic geometrical shapes: box, cylinder, cone, notched collar (?), sphere.
• basic commands: copy, mirror, move, rotate, edit, erase
• drilling: conical, threaded, beveled collar, with recess;
• move assembled parts in 3D with constraints (concentric, parallel, etc.);
• milling;
• boolean solid operations;
• rounding and chamfering edges;
• extrusion;
• total and partial revolution solid;
• loft (create a solid by the evolution of a 2d shape towards another shape);
  • FreeCAD implementation: Part loft
• rotate and extrude shape (create a solid by the evolution of a 2d shape towards another shape, with rotation);
• helix (create a solid by extruding and rotating a 2D shape);
• create pipes and wires through paths and 2D shapes;
• ability to select edges, centers, etc for the use of other actions;
• quick access to orthogonal views;
• solid can be viewed with transparency or wireframe;
• change solid colors;
• grouping management, assemblies management;
• auto creation of 2D orthogonal views from 3D;
• 3D libraries - ability to create new parts;
• calculation of volume, mass, surface area, center of mass, moment of inertia;
• 3D measurement: distance between points and between point and plane; angles.

2D environment:

• Creation of basic elements: point, line, circle, rectangle, trapezoid, ellipse, polygon, arc;
• basic actions: copy, mirror, move, rotate, edit, erase, offset, rescale, cut, extend, explode;
• selection tool: edges, centers, etc for the use of other actions;
• layers, with colors and lines;
• automatic hatching;
• tools for placement of bounds (?) (cotas in Portuguese);
• 2D distance and angle measurement;
• 2D libraries; ability to create new parts;
• printing tools;

Intermediate features

• Rendering and raytracing integration;
• tools to check for collisions;
• possibility to simulate movement (for verification and animations);
• Part manager, bill of parts and materials and their properties;
• parameterized integration of all stages of the project;
• Straightening pf bent parts;

Advanced features

• Finite element modeling: stress tests, heat dissipation, aerodynamics;
  • GNU Archimedes
  • Nanoengineer
  • OpenFOAM
  • Advanced Simulation Library
• G code generation

Platforms

Some available tools can be found at Pesquisa:Ferramentas_livres#CAD (in Portuguese)