Workbenches: Difference between revisions

From FreeCAD Documentation
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The following workbenches are available on every FreeCAD installation:
The following workbenches are available on every FreeCAD installation:


===Workbenches===
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{{workbenches}}
These are the base workbenches bundled with every installation of FreeCAD:

* [[Image:Workbench_Arch.svg|24px]] The [[Arch Module|Arch Workbench]] for working with architectural elements.
* [[Image:Workbench_Complete.svg|24px]] The [[Complete_Workbench|Complete Workbench]] hold all commands and features from all the modules and workbenches which met certain quality criteria.
* [[Image:Workbench_Draft.svg|24px]] The [[Draft Module|Draft Workbench]] contains 2D tools and basic 2D and 3D CAD operations.
* [[Image:Workbench_Drawing.svg|24px]] The [[Drawing Module|Drawing Workbench]] for displaying your 3D work on a 2D sheet.
* [[Image:Workbench_FEM.svg|24px]] The [[FEM Module|FEM Workbench]] provides Finite Element Analysis (FEA) workflow.

* [[Image:Workbench_Image.svg|24px]] The [[Image Module|Image Workbench]] for working with bitmap images.
* [[Image:Workbench_Inspection.svg|24px]] The [[Inspection Workbench|Inspection Workbench]] is made to give you specific tools for examination of shapes. It is still in development.
* [[Image:Workbench_Mesh.svg|24px]] The [[Mesh Module|Mesh Workbench]] for working with triangulated meshes.
* [[Image:Workbench_OpenSCAD.svg|24px]] The [[OpenSCAD Module|OpenSCAD Workbench]] for interoperability with OpenSCAD and repairing Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) model history.
* [[Image:Workbench_Part.svg|24px]] The [[Part Module|Part Workbench]] for working with CAD parts.

* [[Image:Workbench_PartDesign.svg|24px]] The [[PartDesign Workbench|Part Design Workbench]] for building Part shapes from sketches.
* [[Image:Workbench_Path.svg|24px]] The [[Path_Workbench|Path Workbench]] is used to produce G-Code instructions. It is still in a stage of development. Only basic functions in 0.16
* [[Image:Workbench_Plot.svg|24px]] The [[Plot Module|Plot Workbench]] is used to edit and save output plots created from other modules and tools.
* [[Image:Workbench_Points.svg|24px]] The [[Points_Module|Points Workbench]] for working with point clouds.
* [[Image:Workbench_Raytracing.svg|24px]] The [[Raytracing Module|Raytracing Workbench]] for working with ray-tracing (rendering)

* [[Image:Workbench_Reverse_Engineering.svg|24px]] The [[Reverse Engineering Workbench|Reverse Engineering Workbench]] is intended to give you specific tools to convert shapes/solids/meshes into parametric FreeCAD-compatible features. It is still in development.
* [[Image:Workbench_Robot.svg|24px]] The [[Robot_Workbench|Robot Workbench]] for studying robot movements.
* [[Image:Workbench_Ship.svg|24px]] The [[Ship Workbench|Ship Workbench]] FreeCAD-Ship works over Ship entities, that must be created on top of provided geometry.
* [[Image:Workbench_Sketcher.svg|24px]] The [[Sketcher Module|Sketcher Workbench]] for working with geometry-constrained sketches.
* [[Image:Workbench_Spreadsheet.svg|24px]] The [[Spreadsheet Module|Spreadsheet Workbench]] for creating and manipulating spreadsheet data.

* [[Image:Workbench_Start.svg|24px]] The [[Start_Workbench|Start Center Workbench]] allows you to quickly jump to one of the most common workbenches.
* [[Image:Workbench_TechDraw.svg|24px]] The [[TechDraw Module|TechDraw Workbench]] is the more advanced and feature-rich successor of [[Drawing Module|Drawing]]
* [[Image:Workbench_Test.svg|24px]] The [[Debugging|Test Framework Workbench]] is for debugging FreeCAD.
* [[Image:Workbench_Web.svg|24px]] The [[Web Workbench|Web Workbench]] provides you with a browser window instead of the 3D-View within FreeCAD.


== External workbenches == <!--T:11-->
== External workbenches == <!--T:11-->

Revision as of 17:02, 29 May 2018

FreeCAD, like many modern design applications such as Revit or CATIA, is based on the concept of Workbench. A workbench can be considered as a set of tools specially grouped for a certain task. In a traditional furniture workshop, you would have a work table for the person who works with wood, another one for the one who works with metal pieces, and maybe a third one for the guy who mounts all the pieces together.

In FreeCAD, the same concept applies. Tools are grouped into workbenches according to the tasks they are related to.

When you switch from one workbench to another, the tools available on the interface change. Toolbars, command bars and possibly other parts of the interface switch to the new workbench, but the contents of your scene doesn't change. You could, for example, start drawing 2D shapes with the Draft Workbench, then work further on them with the Part Workbench.

Note that sometimes a Workbench is referred to as a Module. However, Workbenches and Modules are different entities. A Module is any extension of FreeCAD, while a Workbench is a special GUI configuration that groups some toolbars and menus. Usually every Module contains its own Workbench, hence the cross-use of the name.

Built-in workbenches

The following workbenches are available on every FreeCAD installation:

Workbenches

These are the base workbenches bundled with every installation of FreeCAD:

  • The Arch Workbench for working with architectural elements.
  • The Complete Workbench hold all commands and features from all the modules and workbenches which met certain quality criteria.
  • The Draft Workbench contains 2D tools and basic 2D and 3D CAD operations.
  • The Drawing Workbench for displaying your 3D work on a 2D sheet.
  • The FEM Workbench provides Finite Element Analysis (FEA) workflow.

External workbenches

FreeCAD workbenches are easy to program in Python, there are therefore many people developing additional workbenches outside of the FreeCAD codebase. The External workbenches page has some information and tutorials about some of them, and the FreeCAD Addons project aims at gathering them and making them easily installable from within FreeCAD.

New workbenches are in development, stay tuned!

Property editor
PartDesign Workbench