Download FreeCAD 0.19

Version 0.19 of FreeCAD has been released. FreeCAD is a free and open source Computer Aided Design program and is primarily intended for mechanical design, but can also be used for electronic design or in architecture. In version 0.19, the move from Python 2 and Qt4 to Python 3 and Qt5 is now complete, but a lot more has happened. Extensive release notes can be found on this page are being found; this is the introduction to it:

General

With more than 8128 commits in the master branch since the 0.18 release, this is one of the most extensive releases ever, with several new components like the new “App::Link” object, as well as many new tools in the TechDraw Workbench that make FreeCAD even more powerful for 3D solid modeling and assembly. Besides that, the FreeCAD ecosystem has continued to grow with more specialized external work benches†

Python 3 and Qt5

The effort to migrate from Python 2 and Qt4 to Python 3 and Qt5 is essentially complete and most developers have moved to the Python3/Qt5 toolchains.

Undoubtedly there are unforeseen bugs; these will be addressed as they are reported. Any existing dependence on Python 2 or Qt4 will not be supported beyond 1st January 2020 when Python 2 officially became unsupported by the Python Foundation. Please note that certain addons have not been ported yet to Python3/Qt5. This may be due to several reasons including lack of time by their developers, or broken dependencies that may not be easily fixed, or simply because the addon is considered obsolete. Individuals interested in the migration of a particular workbench or tool are encouraged to participate in the FreeCAD forum† see also, Python3 and Qt5 Compatible Addon Workbenches (in preparation for 0.18)†

some issues

Fixed issue with Std Part containers visibility when the viewport is displayed in full screen in Qt5:

• Set Qt::AA_ShareOpenGLContexts for Qt 5.9 and above; forum discussion† commit 2a1dd8415and commit 57b3ca6f77†
• Disabled Esc button support in View3DInventor::keyEvent() for Qt5 to avoid MDI view mode-related rendering artifacts; forum discussion† commit 960d612547†
• Fixed bug in MainWindow::setActiveWindow to avoid a crash when returning from full screen; forum discussion† commit c4e34ed9b†
• Fixed issue #4088 about the visibility of the origin of a Part changing when undocking the 3D view; forum discussion† commit 1e19ef5be†
• Fixed issue #3130 about Qt5 bugs when using a high resolution external monitor; forum discussion† commit 2f2d505359†

Development

to compile FreeCAD under Windowsthere are different Libpacks (prepackaged libraries) available:

• Libpack for Windows with Qt 5.12, OCC 7.3, and Python 3.6; forum discussion†
• Libpack for Windows with Qt 5.12.6, OCC 7.4; forum discussion† pull request #2944†
• Lib pack 12.5.1 for Windows with Qt 5.15, OCC 7.5, and Python 3.8; forum discussion

Other development news:

• There is a new Docker container to build FreeCAD, see Compile on Docker† forum discussion†
• The infrastructure of the bug tracker as well as wiki was moved to a dedicated server, so that it is easier to manage by the project administrators; forum discussion†

Documentation

• the Compile on Linux page was reviewed to better explain the requisites to compile on different Linux distributions. As many developers use Debian based systems, this section received the most attention. Users of other Linux distributions are encouraged to maintain the documentation for their particular distribution.
• Compile on Windows was also rewritten to explain how to use the “LibPack” for compilation.
• Compile on Docker was created to describe the compilation in this system.
• the Source documentation page also received a clean-up to better explain how to produce the programming (API) documentation from C++ and Python sources.
• the Doxygen page was reviewed and extended to give more details about the syntax that is used in C++ files to produce the programming documentation.
• the Source code management page was also reworked with better descriptions and examples of using git to manage branches and contribute code.
• the External work benches page was re-organized, so that all feature-rich, publicly available workbenches are listed. If you’d like to add a workbench to this page, showcase it in the forum, and provide supporting information like user manual, wiki pages, and a link to its repository. Then push for it to be included in the Addon Manager†
• There have been improvements to the Tutorials and Video tutorials pages. In particular, it has been stressed to readers that they should consider only video tutorials that are made with versions 0.17 and above.

Known Limitations

• Black screen due to video card drivers, while running FreeCAD inside a virtual machine; issue #3939†
• Logitech Wingman USB joystick can cause erratic behavior when spinning and zooming in the view; forum discussion†
• Gesture navigation is fully supported for Windows but yet to be maintained in Linux and MacOS. Problem: the developer, DeepSOIC, doesn’t have a MacOS machine with its special trackpad, and hasn’t tested it on Linux either; forum discussion†