All workbenches at a glance
One of the biggest difficulty for new users of FreeCAD, is to know in which workbench to find a specific tool. The table below will give you an overview of the most important workbenches and their tools. Refer to each workbench page in the FreeCAD documentation for a more complete list.
Four workbenches are also designed to work in pairs, and one of them is fully included into the other: Arch contains all the Draft tools, and PartDesign all the Sketcher tools. However, for clarity, they are separated below.
Part
The Part Workbench provides basic tools for working with solid parts: primitives, such as cube and sphere, and simple geometric operations and boolean operations. Being the main anchor point with OpenCasCade, the Part workbench provides the foundation of FreeCAD's geometry system, and almost all other workbenches produce Part-based geometry.
Tool | Description | Tool | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Box | Draws a box | Cone | Draws a cone |
Cylinder | Draws a cylinder | Sphere | Draws a sphere |
Torus | Draws a torus (ring) | Create Primitives | Creates various other parametric geometric primitives |
Shape Builder | Create more complex shapes from primitives | Fuse | Fuses (unions) two objects |
Common | Extracts the common (intersection) part of two objects | Cut | Cuts (subtracts) one object from another |
Join Connect | Connects interiors of walled objects | Join Embed | Embeds a walled object into another walled object |
Join Cutout | Creates a cutout in a wall of an object for another walled object | Extrude | Extrudes planar faces of an object |
Fillet | Fillets (rounds) edges of an object | Revolve | Creates a solid by revolving another object (not solid) around an axis |
Section | Creates a section by intersecting an object with a section plane | Section Cross | Creates multiple cross sections along an object |
Chamfer | Chamfers edges of an object | Mirror | Mirrors the selected object on a given mirror plane |
Ruled Surface | Create a ruled surface between selected curves | Sweep | Sweeps one or more profiles along a path |
Loft | Lofts from one profile to another | Offset | Creates a scaled copy of the original object |
Thickness | Assign a thickness to the faces of a shape |
Draft
The Draft Workbench provides tools to do basic 2D CAD drafting tasks: lines, circles, etc... and a series of generic handy tools such as move, rotate or scale. It also provides several drawing aids, such as grid and snapping. It is principally meant to draw the guidelines for Arch objects, but also serves as FreeCAD's "swiss army knife".
Tool | Description | Tool | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Line | Draws a line segment between 2 points | Wire | Draws a line made of multiple line segments (polyline) |
Circle | Draws a circle from center and radius | Arc | Draws an arc segment from center, radius, start angle and end angle |
Ellipse | Draws an ellipse from two corner points | Polygon | Draws a regular polygon from a center and a radius |
Rectangle | Draws a rectangle from 2 opposite points | Text | Draws a multi-line text annotation |
Dimension | Draws a dimension annotation | BSpline | Draws a B-Spline from a series of points |
Point | Inserts a single point | Shape String | The ShapeString tool inserts a compound shape representing a text string at a given point in the current document |
Facebinder | Creates a new object from selected faces on existing objects | Bezier Curve | Draws a Bezier curve from a series of points |
Move | Moves or copies objects from one location to another | Rotate | Rotates objects by a certain angle around a point |
Offset | Offsets an object to a certain distance | Trimex | Trims, extends or extrudes an object |
Upgrade | Turns or joins objects into a higher-level object | Downgrade | Turns or separtes objects into lower-level objects |
Scale | Scales objects in relation to a point | Shape2D View | Creates a 2D object which is a flattened view of another object |
Draft2Sketch | Converts a Draft object to a Sketch and vice-versa | Array | Creates a polar or rectangular array from an object |
PathArray | Creates an array from an object by placing copies along a path | Clone | Creates linked copies of objects |
Mirror | Mirrors objects across a line |
Sketcher
The Sketcher Workbench contains tools to build and edit complex 2D objects, called sketches. The geometry inside these sketches can be precisely positioned and relationed by the use of constraints. They are meant primarily to be the building blocks of PartDesign geometry, but are useful everywhere in FreeCAD.
Tool | Description | Tool | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Point | Draws a point | Line by 2 points | Draws a line segment from 2 points |
Arc | Draws an arc segment from center, radius, start angle and end angle | Arc by 3 points | Draws an arc segment from two endpoints and another point on the circumference |
Circle | Draws a circle from center and radius | Circle by 3 points | Draws a circle from three points on the circumference |
Ellipse by center | Draws an ellipse by center point, major radius point and minor radius point | Ellipse by 3 points | Draws an ellipse by major diameter (2 points) and minor radius point |
Arc of ellipse | Draws an arc of ellipse by center point, major radius point, starting point and ending point | Polyline | Draws a line made of multiple line segments. Several drawing modes available |
Rectangle | Draws a rectangle from 2 opposite points | Triangle | Draws a regular triangle inscribed in a construction geometry circle |
Square | Draws a regular square inscribed in a construction geometry circle | Pentagon | Draws a regular pentagon inscribed in a construction geometry circle |
Hexagon | Draws a regular hexagon inscribed in a construction geometry circle | Heptagon | Draws a regular heptagon inscribed in a construction geometry circle |
Octagon | Draws a regular octagon inscribed in a construction geometry circle | Slot | Draws an oval by selecting the center of one semicircle and an endpoint of the other semicircle |
Fillet | Makes a fillet between two lines joined at one point | Trim | Trims a line, circle or arc with respect to a clicked point |
External Geometry | Creates an edge linked to external geometry | Construction Mode | Toggles an element to/from construction mode. A construction object will not be used in a 3D geometry operation and is only visible while editing the Sketch that contains it |
Coincident constraint | Affixes a point onto (coincident with) one or more other points. | Point On Object constraint | Affixes a point onto another object such as a line, arc, or axis. |
Vertical constraint | Constrains the selected lines or polyline elements to a true vertical orientation. More than one object can be selected before applying this constraint. | Horizontal constraint | Constrains the selected lines or polyline elements to a true horizontal orientation. More than one object can be selected before applying this constraint. |
Parallel constraint | Constrains two or more lines parallel to one another. | Perpendicular constraint | Constrains two lines perpendicular to one another, or constrains a line perpendicular to an arc endpoint. |
Tangent constraint | Creates a tangent constraint between two selected entities, or a co-linear constraint between two line segments. | Equal Length constraint | Constrains two selected entities equal to one another. If used on circles or arcs their radii will be set equal. |
Symmetric constraint | Constrains two points symmetrically about a line, or constrains the first two selected points symmetrically about a third selected point. | Lock constraint | Constrains the selected item by setting vertical and horizontal distances relative to the origin, thereby locking the location of that item |
Horizontal Distance constraint | Fixes the horizontal distance between two points or line endpoints. If only one item is selected, the distance is set to the origin. | Vertical Distance constraint | Fixes the vertical distance between 2 points or line endpoints. If only one item is selected, the distance is set to the origin. |
Length constraint | Defines the distance of a selected line by constraining its length, or defines the distance between two points by constraining the distance between them. | Radius constraint | Defines the radius of a selected arc or circle by constraining the radius. |
Internal Angle constraint | Defines the internal angle between two selected lines. | Snell's Law constraint | Constrains two lines to obey a refraction law to simulate the light going through an interface |
Internal Alignment constraint | Aligns selected elements to selected shape (e.g. a line to become major axis of an ellipse) | Map sketch to face | Maps a sketch to the previously selected face of a solid |
Merge | Merge two or more sketches | Mirror | Mirrors selected elements of a sketch |
Part Design
The Part Design Workbench contains advanced tools to build solid parts. It also contains all the tools from the sketcher. Since it can only produces solid shapes (the rule number one of Part Design), it is the main workbench to use when designing pieces (parts) to be manufactured or 3D-printed, as you will always obtain a printable object.
Tool | Description | Tool | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Pad | Extrudes a solid object from a selected sketch | Creates a pocket from a selected sketch. The sketch must be mapped to an existing solid object's face | |
Revolution | Creates a solid by revolving a sketch around an axis | Groove | Creates a groove by revolving a sketch around an axis |
Fillet | Fillets (rounds) edges of an object | Chamfer | Chamfers edges of an object |
Draft | Applies angular draft to faces of an object | Mirrored | Mirrors features on a plane or face |
Linear Pattern | Creates a linear pattern of features | Polar Pattern | Creates a polar pattern of features |
Scaled | Scales features to a different size | MultiTransform | Allows creating a pattern with any combination of the other transformations |
Shaft wizard | Generates a shaft from a table of values and allows to analyze forces and moments | Involute Gear wizard | Allows you to create several types of gears |
Arch
The Arch Workbench contains tools to work with BIM projects (civil engineering and architecture). It also contains all the tools from the Draft workbench. The main use of the Arch Workbench is to create BIM objects or give BIM attributes to objects built with other workbenches, in order to export them to IFC.
Tool | Description | Tool | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Wall | Creates a wall from scratch or using a selected object as a base | Structure | Creates a structural element from scratch or using a selected object as a base |
Reinforcement Bar | Creates a reinforcement bar in a selected structural element | Floor | Creates a floor including selected objects |
Building | Creates a building including selected objects | Site | Creates a site including selected objects |
Window | Creates a window using a selected object as a base | Section Plane | Adds a section plane object to the document |
Axes | Adds an axes system to the document | Roof | Creates a sloped roof from a selected face |
Space | Creates a space object in the document | Stairs | Creates a stairs object in the document |
Panel | Creates a panel object from a selected 2D object | Frame | Creates a frame object from a selected layout |
Equipment | Creates an equipment or furniture object | Set Material | Attributes a material to selected objects |
Schedule | Creates different types of schedules | Cut Plane | Cut an object according to a plan. |
Add Component | Adds objects to a component | Remove Component | Subtracts or removes objects from a component |
Survey Mode | Enters or leaves surveying mode |
Drawing
The Drawing Workbench handles the creation and manipulation of 2D drawing sheets, used for displaying views of your 3D work in 2D. These sheets can then be exported to 2D applications in SVG or DXF formats, to a PDF file or printed.
Tool | Description | Tool | Description |
---|---|---|---|
New sheet | Creates a new drawing sheet | Insert view | Inserts a view of the selected object in the active drawing sheet |
Annotation | Adds an annotation to the current drawing sheet | Clip | Adds a clip group to the current drawing sheet |
Browser preview | Opens a preview of the current sheet in the browser | Ortho Views | Automatically creates orthographic views of an object on the current drawing sheet |
Symbol | Adds the contents of a SVG file as a symbol on the current drawing sheet | Draft View | Inserts a special Draft view of the selected object in the current drawing sheet |
Export | Saves the current sheet as a SVG file |
Other built-in workbenches
Although the above summarizes the most important tools of FreeCAD, many more workbenches are available, among them:
- The Mesh Workbench allows to work with polygon meshes. Although meshes are not the preferred type of geometry to work with in FreeCAD, because of their lack of precision and support for curves, meshes still have a lot of uses, and are fully supported in FreeCAD. The Mesh Workbench also offers a number of Part-to-Mesh and Mesh-to-Part tools.
- The Raytracing Workbench offers tools to interface with external renderers such as povray or luxrender. Right from inside FreeCAD, this workbench allows you to produce high-quality renderings from your models.
- The Spreadsheet Workbench permits the creation and manipulation of spreadsheet data, that can be extracted from FreeCAD models. Spreadsheet cells can also be referenced in many areas of FreeCAD, allowing to use them as master data structures.
- The FEM Workbench deals with Finite Elements Analysis, and permits the performing of pre- and post-processing FEM calculations and to display the results graphically.
External workbenches
A number of other very useful workbenches produced by FreeCAD community members also exist. Although they are not included in a standard FreeCAD installation,they are easy to install as plug-ins. They are all referenced in the FreeCAD-addons repository. Among the most developed are:
- The Drawing Dimensioning Workbench offers many new tools to work directly on Drawing Sheets and allow you to add dimensions, annotations and other technical symbols with great control over their aspect.
- The Fasteners Workbench offers a wide range of ready-to-insert fasteners objects like screws, bolts, rods, washers and nuts. Many options and settings are available.
- The Assembly2 Workbench offers a series of tools to mount and work with assemblies.
Read more
- The complete list of workbenches: http://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Workbenches
- The Part Workbench: http://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Part_Module
- The Draft Workbench: http://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Draft_Module
- The Sketcher and Part Design Workbench: http://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=PartDesign_Workbench
- The Arch Workbench: http://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Arch_Module
- The Drawing Workbench: http://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Drawing_Module
- The FEM Workbench: http://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Fem_Workbench
- The FreeCAD-addons repository: https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD-addons