FreeCAD plug-in

[HughAJ 0]

This is my first post, so I hope I am sending it to the correct part of the forum.  I wanted to tag it Cura+Plug-ins, but could not find the Plug-in tag.

I have installed the FreeCAD plug-in on Cura3.4 and the *.FCStd files are now selectable in the Open File box, but when I open one, I get an error message saying that the file is unreadable.

Anyone know why, or had the same problem?

HughAJ.

[Lampje 0]

Same problem here.

[SandervG 1,521]

@thopiekar, perhaps I should tag you in this ?

[thopiekar 46]

Thank you @SandervG for mentioning me.

 

First of all, which operating systems are you using?

The plugin has been tested with Windows and Linux. For macOS I can't give any support, because I don't own Apple hardware and thus can't do any development or provide help.

[HughAJ 0]

Thanks for your reply. I am using macOS High Sierra 10.13.5, so that may be the problem. Can anyone help on this, or can I try to modify the plugin code myself?

[Lampje 0]

I am using Linux Debian 8

[thopiekar 46]

On 7/2/2018 at 12:15 AM, HughAJ said:

Thanks for your reply. I am using macOS High Sierra 10.13.5, so that may be the problem. Can anyone help on this, or can I try to modify the plugin code myself?

Yes, you could. Alternatively, you can use Brew to install FreeCAD. This should provide the needed commandline application, which the normal installation via .app doesn't provide. However, I'm not an expert, but feel free to hack around!

 

On 7/2/2018 at 9:43 AM, Lampje said:

I am using Linux Debian 8

Just to be sure: I guess you have FreeCAD installed, right?

[Lampje 0]

I have not really installed FreeCad, I use the AppImage.

[thopiekar 46]

On 7/13/2018 at 8:41 AM, Lampje said:

I have not really installed FreeCad, I use the AppImage.

But you need it. What the plugin does is calling FreeCAD in the background and performs the conversation of the file into a readable format for Cura for you.

This principle is the same for all the other CAD plugins.

[Lampje 0]

I installed FreeCad, but I  still get the error message saying that the file is unreadable.

Maybe the problem is that Debian install an old version of FreeCad (0.14)

 

 

Update, compiled and installed the newest version of Freecad (0.18) and the problem of unreadable file is not solved.

Edited July 16, 2018 by Lampje

[thopiekar 46]

If you are typing in "FreeCADCmd" into the terminal, what happens?

Does it work?

If so, what does "which FreeCADCmd" say? Does it point to the location where you installed 0.18?

 

Thanks!

[HughAJ 0]

When I type FreeCADCmd to the Mac terminal it says "-bash: FreeCADCmd: command not found".  Presumably, this means that I have not installed a command line interface for FreeCAD. How would I do that?

 

Thanks.

[thopiekar 46]

No idea for Mac. Officially I don't give support for macOS, because I can't test it, but if you figure out how to get this working, then the plugin should start working, too.

 

That's basically the problem on Mac. Each installed does not get fully registered to the users environment. Instead, you have bundles of software, which are running independently.

Edited July 23, 2018 by thopiekar

[Lampje 0]

I typed FreeCADCmd and nothing happens.

Now I created a PATH to the FreeCad bin and when I now type in the terminal FreeCAD the program start, that s oke.

But in Cura I still get the error message saying that the file is unreadable.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Lampje
Problem solved

[Lampje 0]

Update.

First time I created a temporary Path and that is not working.

Now I make the Path permanent and the problem is solved.

Thanks Thopiekar for helping me to find the solution.

 

[thopiekar 46]

No Problem.

I also noticed some bugs today, which I will fix in the following days.

One thing I need to figure out on Windows is the new place in the registry where file types are registered. Therefore you need to add the binary directory of FreeCAD to PATH, too.

I made an upgrade from 0.16 to 0.17, but had some leftovers in the registry and the new installer registers filetypes in the "new" way.

This is something special which comes with Windows 10 or a bit earlier.

However, that shouldn't be too difficult to implement. ?

[thopiekar 46]

As posted on the SolidWorks thread I managed to find the reason why projects are named "unknown".

Also here for FreeCAD (incl OpenSCAD and Blender) I added additional functions to look up the installation directory on modern Windows installations. Just don't know exactly since when there is this new method of registering file types as I found on my Windows 10 machine.

 

PS: For the macOS users here: If you like support like this for Windows, then you either need to find a way to contribute and add the functionality or see how to get me an Apple device ?

 

Enjoy your weekend

Edited July 27, 2018 by thopiekar

[thopiekar 46]

Hey!

 

I've updated the FreeCAD plugin and added more algorithms to determine where the FreeCAD installation is.

Especially Windows 10 users will profit from it since these conventions are new since then.

 

Version 0.2.1 should appear in Cura 3.5 BETA, but also in prior versions if I'm not wrong.

 

Your feedback is as usual welcome!

[RobyRob 0]

Hello.

I have a question about Freecad Plugin. I am using Freecad 0.18 (but also tried with v 0.17) and Cura v. 3.5.1 end Freecad integration plugin 0.2.1

If in FreeCad I cut 2 objects ( say a cubic and a cilinder - hole in cubic) and import it in Cura I have the union of two object and not the cut.

 

Thanks Roberto

test.zip

Edited October 26, 2018 by RobyRob

[WielGeraats 0]

Got exactly the same problem.

Have tried almost everything.

 

schijf_met_gat.zip

[thopiekar 46]

Hello @RobyRob and @WielGeraats,

 

I don't know why, but I either overlooked the notifications about your posts in this thread in my inbox or I never got them.

Anyway, I added an official thread as for all the other plugins.

Now something that might be interesting for you: I also faced the problem in the meantime and fixed it for me.

It would be great if at least one of you could test the unreleased plugin.

The download link and an (updated!) installation guide can be found in the official thread soon!

 

Regards

- Thomas

[RobyRob 0]

Hello @thopiekar. I just tried the new Cura plugin for import Freecad files and now it works all right. Thanks for your work.

 

I'm just a little confused (my mistake) in finding the right files to install. the right place is https://thopiekar.eu:5443/cura-cad-integration/CuraFreeCadPlugin/-/jobs/1024/artifacts/browse but I tried https://thopiekar.eu:5443/cura-cad-integration / CuraFreeCadPlugin / by mistake. The version number is the same (0.3.0) and is the same in the Freecad marketplace.

 

Personally,so far, I had solved with a macro in Freecad that generates the stl file and launches Cura, but the Cura plugin should be better

Edited April 21, 2019 by RobyRob

[thopiekar 46]

Yes, it is the same, but it is a nightly build. In short: The package has been built automatically without increasing the version. It will be 0.3.1 in the future if nothing comes in between.

If someone else could also confirm that everything works great, I'll care about uploading it to the marketplace as soon as possible.

 

If there is anything else like other remaining problems or missing features, please share them in the other thread I mentioned above! 😉

 

Regards

- Thomas

[RobyRob 0]

@thopiekar Thank for your answer.

 

Another question / clarify: which is the Freecad object that is import in Cura? From my test it is the last body created in Freecad before saving it, not the active body or selected body: So if I have more body I need to fuse all toghether as last operation before save. Is this right?

[thopiekar 46]

That is correct. In the object tree (where you see all steps, which have been done to build your body) you will see the active object in bold letters. Normally, this is the state which you can see in the 3D view at the same time.

So what you see after opening FreeCAD, should be what you get in Cura. 🙂