FreeCAD 1.0 Release - Ultimate Complete Beginner Tutorial

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Start your 3D modeling journey with FreeCAD! This tutorial is specially designed for beginners. You'll discover the essential features of the software and create your first project in no time.
How I made the realistic animation : • FreeCAD 1.0 x Blender ...
Download FreeCAD 1.0 : www.freecad.or...
Chapters :
Introduction 00:00 - 00:45
Interface 00:45 - 03:30
Part 1 03:30 - 09:26
Part 2 09:26 - 11:35
Part 3 11:35 - 15:12
Part 4 15:12 - 18:23
Part 5 18:23 - 20:52
Part 6 Symmetry 20:52 - 21:12
Part 7 21:12 - 22:04
Part 8 22:04 - 23:03
Part 9 23:03 - 24:50
Part 10 24:50 - 26:23
Part 11 26:23 - 28:13
Part 12 28:13 - 29:06
Fasteners Workbench : 29:06 - 31:41
Assembly : 31:41 - 34:56

[@Kurchec]

While sitting in the cave, scratching my head how to haul animal carcasses I came with an idea of a new device. If only I can draw the design and send it for production, I thought. And here this video drops

[@alonyouval3452]

Good luck

[@Slab_City_or_Bust]

The algorithm reads minds, didn't you know that?

[@luksio8811]

First CAD tutorial that doesn't treat viewer like an idiot. Thank you

[@AndrewSpiehler]

I'm an idiot and need a slower tutorial. Got any recommendations?

[@raizr4331]

what if im an idiot?

[@watynecc3309]

@@raizr4331 then git gud bcs a idiot won't look at a tutorial video

[@Nowalon]

@@AndrewSpiehler sure. it's pretty easy - use pause (spacebar), rewind (< , J keys). I often use it - it really helps. also you can try x0.5 speed ). do not thank, you're welcome ))

[@todologic]

@@AndrewSpiehler Reproduce this tutorial as 0.5. (Not kidding). This is one of the best tutorial I've seen in my life. And you can just reproduce step by step and you will almost touch 85% of your freecad needs. I just started myself... so I am a complete newby for freecad, and parametric cad in general... but this tutorial is, without doubt, one of the best tutorials I've ever seen related to 3D.

[@GreyandTheGirl]

Caveman here as well, FreeCad will work far better than scratching drawings in the cave wall with a burnt stick. Many thanks

[@EvenTheDogAgrees]

You purchase stick from apple seller? He tell me I hold stick wrong!

[@rikmasasso]

@@EvenTheDogAgrees you killz me man ;]

[@PKristianCZ]

as fellow cavaman i would like to point out that instead of creating pockets and then holes for screws you can do both in hole operation, where you can select countterbore/ countersink

[@PrinceWesterburg]

I've got 30 years in 3D, over 10 on Blender and grew up making things with my engineer dad - 2025, time to learn CAD; Thanks, this is a great intro and makes total sense!

[@brixtongun]

Your knowledge and ability to articulate the basics of freecad is beyond real. I came from tinkering thinking cad apps were too complicated but you've taught me it's tinkercad that's complicated. A whole world of 3d printing just opened up to me thanks to you.

[@tiagomatos5195]

Caveman here on a journey to get out of F360 and into FreeCAD and this for sure was the best introduction ever! Caveman thanks and subscribes!

[@CatMeowMeow]

Great tutorial, got me started feeling like I understand what's going on! Do you have any tutorials that go through managing constraints? I'd love to learn about constraints more in-depth to the point that I can confidently fix a "accidental constraint" without deleting and recreating it.

[@deltahedra3D]

@CatMeowMeow Thank you for your Super Thank, it means a lot to me. Regarding the constraints, I am working on something that can help. I will let you know when it's done.

[@CatMeowMeow]

@deltahedra3D awesome, thank you!

[@JoaKarle]

There is a PDF titled "A Sketcher Lecture" which may cover things for you, made by the user "chrisb" in the FreeCAD forum!

[@trader891]

I have to watch these in Super Slo Mo to digest what is happening and what tools you're clicking. hehe Enormous amount of useful information packed into each great video.

[@andersjjensen]

Which is sooo much better than someone who keeps yapping for ages. Pause/play and ,/. for frame-by-frame works just fine :P

[@AndrewWorkshop]

Best tutorial, always had trouble with the constraints. All the tutorial videos I've watched they just say make sure it's constrained but they don't actually explain what each constraint does properly. Thanks!

[@Pickpac]

Caveman here, I have been working with Freecad for a year and just downloaded 1.0 two weeks ago. I have learned more today using your tutorial than in the last two weeks. I like your style. Thanks

[@kokodin5895]

That was actually a very good toutorial introduction. 3 years ago when i started with previous versions i had no idea what i was doing. I had to watch several toutorials to bend freecad to what i wanted to do. And i still made it "wrong way". This kickstart into right mindset from the start and keep you want more caverman adventures like this.

[@manicooore]

True caveman. Also, mad props. This is legitimately the first freecad tutorial that managed to get this all across properly! Really wanted to give it a new try with the 1.0 release and this is probably the reason to make me stick with it.

[@TheAzazzExperience]

This caveman has an associate's Solidworks cert and no longer has his school giving him access to a dang license. Just one watch of this video brought me to the modern age. Much thanks.

[@FnD4212]

I'm Caveman. I done with this tutorial. Well done. Easy to understand, and the key stroke viewer make it easier. Thank you

[@JoaKarle]

Thank you for your great contribution to an open world

[@RohitBanerjee]

As a caveman, I aspired to evolve, by learning CAD. FreeCAD was never my first choice (I dabbled with Inventory, Fusion360, SketchUp, etc.), but few years back I decided to actively choose FOSS alternative. Hence, FreeCAD became an obvious choice, to hone my CAD skills. This video helped me get some of most basic concepts clarified, so that I can look forward to learning more. Hopefully, I shall watch more informative videos from this channel. Keep up the good work! Subscribed.

[@scrout]

Caveman tooling included with high speed bone or tusk?

[@camecasi8796]

Same here. I work in my Jobs with Catia V5 for over 10 years and in the last two years with Siemens NX. At home I always struggling with Fusion360 because some operations are different and for my mind not logical (in compare with Catia/NX). And yes I know FreeCAD from previous versions but I think I should give them a new chance and I hope I can delete Fusion360 in my private projects.

[@eyeballdude]

"still here after almost 30min..." What are you talking about? I've been caveman'ing myself thru this for almost 6 hours and I'm not done yet! 😄 I've been wanting to learn CAD for almost 2 decades. Now I finally had the oppertunity! This is an awesome tutorial! Feels great to create a pretty complex part! I'm excited to learn and explore more! Thank you good sir! Edit: It took me 8 hours to complete but I did it! I had so much problems with the screws at 32:00 as it looked completely different for me (ver 1.0.0). Finally I managed to figure out that I had to connect the screw face mentioned in the video to the screw-hole-path! AWESOME!!

[@iamjessieray]

As a caveman who was confused by the new features and slightly different workflow from versions prior, thank you for this video. Watching someone go through building a part fixed some of my confusion.

[@GrahamJones]

This is a very good overview, thank you. I particularly liked the fact that you showed that if you accidentally constrain a line you have to delete it and re-draw it - I would have spent a long time looking for how to delete the constraint.

[@PS77787]

Thanks for this video! Caveman here! I have been installing FreeCAD for a long time without ever actually modelling it since I found it so cumbersome compared to Solidworks. Today was the day that changed and I'm really starting to understand the workflow of FreeCAD.

[@choissu]

Thank you for the great intro for newcomers! I'm a hobbyist and for 5 years in a row I'm reevaluating my tools every year as a yearly license comes to the end. Years ago I moved from Eagle to KiCad for electronics design. But FreeCad before 1.0 was just too scattered across the workbench plugins (especially assembly workbenches those are crucial at the same time), and this year I'm finally switched. Even being a long time CADs user I still find myself confused or just empirically discovering features and "right ways" to do the things. For example, my biggest discovery from this video is VarSet! Doing a parameterized models last couple of weeks I used a spreadsheet workbench just to keep a list of reference values for the model and the assembly. Such a relief that it can be done in a much more accessible way! I'll be very glad to see more tutorials like this in the future!

[@JJFX-]

Took me a couple of months back in the day to realize Confusion360 had parameters since they have it hidden behind the shortcut menu for some reason. I feel you.

[@quattrocity9620]

Me too. Been using Spreadsheet. Going to start doing this to have to keep from going back and forth between the spreadsheet and part design.

[@haysoos123]

I think varsets are a promising new feature and will be improved soon. Just know that there are limitations right now, like not being able to rename them and have them update throughout the model. Hopefully this will be addressed sooner rather than later.

[@JJFX-]

@haysoos123 That should be a fairly straight forward feature to program so I'd expect it'll come sooner than later but I can see why it wasn't a priority.

[@Gwaboo]

"Ug! Great video! Caveman brain understand FreeCAD now. Your tutorial is great - like big stone wheel! Thanks, smart toolmaker!"

[@jaskaranmatharu6664]

Caveman here! Absolutely loved this tutorial. Your teaching makes learning FreeCAD much more easier. Really appreciate the effort gone into making this, thanks.

[@Pijuli]

After some years doing small (I mean really small and simple) pieces as a hobby, this is the first time I follow a tutorial from start to end. A lot of concepts, utilities... Thank you! Subbed!

[@luiscarlosguerrerovelazque9847]

Caveman here, that was the best FreeCAD tutorial I've watched, finally i can start leaving solidworks and windows :D. Thanks

[@damiana.9472]

I designed three cabinets (2.45x4.2x0.6 and 2.35x0.6x0.4 and 2.35x1.3x0.4 meters) from laminated board in earlier versions of FreeCAD. It allowed me to make changes on the fly and I always had a ready list of board dimensions to order. It saved me a lot of manual calculation and mistakes, because I could quickly check the details of the project and analyze whether certain ideas and solutions would work. Learning FreeCAD for this task required only a few hours. It may not be as intuitive as SketchUP, but it was so simple and helpful that I can't imagine designing it on a piece of paper.

[@majormojo]

This is a really good teaching format. Something that would be a welcome improvement is if the beginning of the lesson featured a diagram of the part with dimensions so one could attempt the model before viewing the full lesson. Cave Man!

[@fellipec]

Great video. I already moved on from Fusion 360 to Onshape, because now I'm on Linux, now I'm more confident to try FreeCAD

[@r0sal3sr]

With FreeCAD 1.0, and this GREAT tutorial, I think this caveman might have an MCAD tool that doesn't need to run in the cloud! Thanks :)

[@w0ode198]

FreeCAD 1.0 is really something else. Your tutorials are absolutely appreciated !!! Thank you ! Finally , I don;t need to keep hopping, I can now settle in with FreeCAD 1.0 , the older versions were very frustrating

[@juang.garcia7390]

Why on earth you don't have more subs????? This was fantastic. The pace and information was on point for someone that has a bit of exposure to FreeCAD in the past

[@deltahedra3D]

Thank you so much for this comment :)

[@patrickcamp8076]

My first play with FreeCad. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I've been at this for 6 hours and have only got 13 minutes into the video! Will press on though. It took me a while to get fluid with using Sketchup, so I know I'll get there eventually!

[@fog1257]

Hmm, coming with 10 years of experience in Solidworks I must say that Freecad really has gotten up. I've only used it without the GUI for making iterative scripts before but after seeing how similar it is to SW now I might start using it. Thanks for a great tutorial!

[@stephangromer]

Very helpful as an introduction to FreeCAD to a newbie like me. Went through it several times. Just a short recommendation for further improvement. You sometimes pressed keys without telling. They show up in the video but only very briefly, so for an ignorant like me, they are sometimes hard to catch, so I had to repeat these steps over and over again. But again, thank you!

[@JosephSaintClair]

Thank you for the playlist 🙏🙏 A former caveman for GraphiSoft (software engineer) trying to learn CAD again after not doing anything CAD for a couple of decades.

[@cachecaver]

What a great tutorial. Thanks for designing a real part. This helped a caveman like me figure out enough to actually do something useful.

[@robinraineri8429]

Before getting to the screws part, I was thinking like a complete caveman lmao. Please keep these videos coming :) lots of learning!

[@MarcelBrouillet]

Excellent tutorial that brings many things together. It's worth studying thoroughly this video, getting back to moments, pausing, etc. It does contain most of the typical uses and pitfalls to be aware of, but requires you to analyse and reproduce each minute until you master it. Viewing the video is 1/2 hour, but invest at least an afternoon to follow it personally and learn. Thank you for such a clean and thorough video. To be honest though, it's not for a Complete Beginner. I remember being quite destabilized by the UI : workbenches, using CTRL-click to select multiple things, clearing the selection, hiding or displaying things in the tree structure and how those elements are organized (each one resulting from a previous element on which an operation has been applied), merley moving the part around using the mouse and mouse buttons, changing viewpoint and zooming, pan, tilt, etc... But there are plenty of tutorials to prime you to the beginners level of this video.

[@TheBiggerNoise]

Nice introduction to FreeCAD’s parametric modeling. This caveman was able to recreate a simple design (previously done in F360) and later on do a model with about six parameters (first prototype is printing now). Thanks!

[@SgtSly]

From one caveman to another, thank you. It's been over 22 years since I've used any CAD, and a lot has changed. I'm basically starting from scratch. This tutorial is a little too fast paced for me, so I'll have to watch it a couple of times and follow along to really get my head around it.

[@x0vg5hs1]

caveman, How do i switch between select tool (normal cursor while sketching?) Sometimes when defining the constrains all i have to do is to click empty space. Now when sketching this places element and rightclicking which i use in every other case to get select tool doesn't work. In solidworks i was just pressing escape to deselect aktive tool.

[@HandleShandle]

I was about to ask other cavemen about a similar video with the new version features, but here it is, thanks!

[@cekuhnen]

This is a really good summery of how the part design module works. Fun fact when I switched from Rhino to Fusion360 I initially did not understand the sketch engine. It was a FreeCAD bicycle tutorial that helped me to grasp it.

[@zane003]

I'm starting to understand FreeCAD thanks to your tutorial. they are certain steps that you keep repeating. easy a caveman can do it!

[@DornAlien123]

Now I'd be modeling fasteners from scratch, like a caveman ;) Great tutorial, thank you for showing, how to model properly and organize everything in a elegant way.

[@bamhm182]

Thank you for this tutorial. I no longer feel like a caveman when it comes to FreeCAD 1.0! This was a great project to quickly refamiliarize myself with all the various parts of FreeCAD after not having touched it for a long time.

[@CarstenWolfram]

That was a super cool tutorial. I don't feel like a caveman anymore. Thanks mate!

[@tkandhisnameisjohnshazam3583]

Caveman thanks for the lesson had a few bumps trying to catch up but like they say you got to break a few eggs to make an omelet. I will continue with more of your lesson to improve thanks for taking the time to make these videos 👍

[@wilmotomliw]

Caveman achievement unlocked! Took way more than 1/2 hour to watch, since I was copying the steps along the way. Made lots of mistakes, which I think means I learned a lot! 🙂 And it worked in the end. FreeCAD crashed several times along the way, so don't forget to save frequently.

[@mikeprice820]

FreeCad has come a long way since i looked at it 10 years ago or so. Its actually pretty good now.

[@423chriscampbell]

Ugha dugga proves captain caveman’s video… thanks this is almost exactly what I wanted would love to see more complex videos in the future.

[@jeremyntan]

Great video! As a new Caveman to CAD software, this was extremely helpful and definitely gave me a lot of contextual understanding of what different components of the workbench do! As a side note, I understand there are circumstances that necessitate an AI script reader that may be personal, but several words being mispronounced can be immersion-breaking or confusing. Not a big deal though, and I will definitely check out more videos from you in the future! Thank you!

[@AlexLogvin99]

Best FreeCAD tutorial I've ever seen!

[@tringtroll]

this tutorial was really helpful! i found out about free cad today and created my first project within hours! thanks buddy! ❤

[@SimonSlothindianer]

Your content is next level with the clean appearance and high quality models; top professional. Thank you so much for this one! Amazing.

[@Figworm]

Thank you for the video. Been helping my oldest with her HS fab class. My knowledge was extremely limited to very basic operations on Parts Design from pre-1.0. Which was used heavily for crafting and 3D printing fasteners and braces for broken toys, headphones, etc... when my kids were younger. Your video really helped me move past using only Part Design workbench. Now I have the basics of utilizing Assembly workbench and now add-ons(didn't even know that was a thing) more specifically Fasteners workbench.

[@resumenturco5421]

Thank you for these very useful tutorials I have never used Freecad and I modelled that object with 0 information. I would like to see more contents, thank you again.

[@osbapat1]

Thank you for this wonderful tutorial! This was my first Freecad and Freecad 1.0 tutorial and I could follow along till the end. Maybe no longer a caveman! 🙂

[@zionbressanin]

my first day learning freecad, still a caveman. Thank you for the help.

[@sidnzrael2433]

This CaveMan is impressed too. Thank you for your time.

[@zenographie]

Dense et clair. Merci pour ce bel exercice de vulgarisation. Cela fait 3 ou 4 ans que j'étais bloqué au stade de "construire un cube, percer un trou, exploser un fichier par perte de repères normés " :- ))

[@andersjjensen]

I shit you not. I have been using pen and paper, like a caveman, up until now for all my projects... despite being an IT pro. Fixing complex software issues and using complex software are two very different animals. Anyhow, I recently ended up with a project where only a CNC lathe will do... Which means learning some sort of CAD program. This tutorial was PERFECT: 1) I now have a foundational grasp on how the sketch->basic-shape->select-face->sketch-on-it "thinking loop" works. 2) I understand that it is equally valid to think "in terms of adding" and "in terms of subtracting" and the specific circumstance dictates which is the shortest path. 3) It is now abundantly clear why all points, lines and curves must be constrained to specific origins unless I feel like suffering an eternity every time I want to make even the smallest of changes. 4) I already know that I should be thinking about variables from the get-go, as my project indeed does have a number fixed relationships that will always hold true. If I'm not mistaken I may even be able to make all permutations from a single master drawing.

[@dalarchobby]

This was amazing 👍.. I will do them all after this one, before i start my own projects.

[@FTE99699]

Thanks!

[@deltahedra3D]

Thank you for your Super Thanks, it means a lot to me and motivates to keep going.

[@Liberty4Ever]

I've been using previous versions of FreeCAD for years in less productive professional work because I love open source, and have enjoyed seeing it add features and become more robust, but version 1.0 feels like *real* parametric 3D CAD. Like a caveman, I've been using the STEP files from McMaster-Carr for their fasteners, but the Fastener workbench looks awesome. This tutorial was so good, I added a KZbin FreeCAD playlist.

[@JonesJameson]

Fellow caveman here 😊 Thanks for that amazing and easy to understand tutorial 👍 already subscribed and thirsty to learn more. 🤓

[@hojo70]

Looks like a good refresher for experts. But for beginners, not so much

[@RyKnocks]

This caveman understood every step. I hope you release more tutorials for 1.0!

[@todologic]

Great tutorial. Straight to the point. Clear. Subscribing now. What a delight.

[@Molnihun96]

Just started experimenting with FreeCAD today - like the caveman, I am -, and then this video drops (as well as FreeCAD 1.0). Oh yeah, it's all coming togerher.

[@MrCBBBBC]

Thank you Deltahedra for guiding me caveman out of the dark into the light. Learned so much and FreeCAD 1.0 is such a leap forward. Now I finally can walk straight... Need to work through your other tutorials, as this one was really awesome. Let me just suggest to always keep the mouse operations synchron with the oral explanations. Go on like this and all the best to you.

[@calebplumleeoutdoors]

Wow... i hadn't realized freecad had come this far 👏

[@maebedotme]

Cavewoman here, awesome to see that migration from F360 is super easy!

[@jbreezy3146]

The tutorial for me is too fast-paced for a beginner like me, but I applaud you for taking the time to teach others and share your skillset.

[@TernaryTrout]

Time to have another go at learning Freecad... Made simple brackets etc in the past, need to move on to more complex stuff :) Many thanks !

[@MikkoRantalainen]

Pro tip: you can also remove constrains instead of redrawing the whole line if you accidentally have some kind of constraint for the line. Just click the constraint (marked with red color) and press `Delete` on your keyboard to remove the constraint without removing any drawn lines or arcs like a caveman. The thing that FreeCAD is still missing is ability to click a line or point and have only the constraints that deal with the selected object in the Constraints panel. This would allow easily removing one specific constraint when you have a design where you already have e.g. 6 constraints and need to remove one of those.

[@Cg-fh5re]

thanks for the tutorial. I started with 0 knowledge and could understand everything

[@Mobin92]

Good tutorial. Quickly showed everything important, while creating a realistic part.

[@maezrfulldive2770]

This caveman now knows how to use freecad ❤️

[@asm2750]

This is a great FreeCAD tutorial. You earned my subscription.

[@MikkoRantalainen]

I think explaining workbenches as "plugins" would make more sense for new users. All plugins modify the same underlying model but different plugins allow doing different things with high efficiency. This also nicely explains why new stuff installed from the FreeCAD Addon Manager always add new workbenches, at least one for each installed addon.

[@AnonVideos]

I haven’t used newer CAD software since AutoCAD 12 😂 Interesting to see the use of variables and constraints instead of primitives. I will have to see how these work with keyboard commands vs just mousing. I am accustomed to a digitizer puck with macro buttons and short keyboard commands. Thanks for this intro, I am not through it yet and hope to see how it integrates with slicers. I am new to 3D printing and understand some printers require certain slicers. We sure have come a long way!

[@kiroevdokimov]

Great introduction to the FreeCAD 1.0, would recommend for newcomers! Thank you!

[@leozolt]

Nice Video! On the design side, I would leave more meat between the cutouts and the bore. Something like shown at 12:53. The cutout circle, tangent to the outer radius (by adding helpline-circle) of the borehole strengthening collar set at 10:22.

[@TraianMotfolea]

Professionally done. Congratulations and Thank you.

[@nilslorand]

learning from my cave, thanks for the tutorial, really cool that you went over all basic features with just one object :)

[@donaldwright2426]

Great tutorial. With 1.0 Release, and see how the interface seems to be a lot easier to use, I will try and use FreeCAD. I'm an Alibre fan and their inerface a very similar.

[@fidyculous]

As a caveman i appreciate this video.

[@Skies_08]

As a fellow caveman i appreciate your comment

[@kalblu8885]

Great tutorial! A whole skills set in a singles video.

[@haaahaahahahahaahhaahaa8448]

one of the bests uses of IA voice om yt i saw, nice video.

[@3v3mmo3v3mmo]

First-class tutorial! Very good presentation of the part design and assembly workbenches, add-ons are also included. The model selection is also good, the model has a good level of complexity, so in my opinion everything important is shown for designing at a professional level.

[@garrattfan]

Very similar to Fusion. Downloaded and installed it immediately (and made a donation), cuz' I don't like AutoCad free license policy. Nice, good tutorial

[@1337CodeMaster]

Yeah, I'm also a caveman. Great video, really appreciate the effort!

[@ThantiK]

Lovely that you had to go through like 8 extra steps for a variable, instead of just typing a variable name when you defined the dimension.....or - dimensioning the circle with the reference at the end of the part.

[@Sembazuru]

You can name dimensional constraints in FreeCAD, but AFAIK the named constraints aren't referenced in the tree view so if you want to change the value you have to find that dimension inside the correct sketch. The 8 steps of extra work on the front end saves time searching through multiple sketches to find the named dimension that you want to change. I suppose if you want automatic (or at least automated) conversion of named dimensions you could write a macro that would convert named dimensions to variables and then update all the references from the named dimension to the variable name. But that's on you if someone else hasn't had the same idea and published their macro. (I haven't checked.)

[@tilation3853]

Great. Im using it since 4 year now for private use an at work. FreeCAD isr great!

[@caujka]

Thanks for the excellent walk-through! We're following your cave path with my daughter, both excited about the new instrument on our toolbelt :) Merry Christmas if you read the comments on the Christmas eve :-)

[@GodmanchesterGoblin]

Thank you. I learned a lot from this video. Now I might just go and design some new candle holders for the cave.

[@nschultz100]

Great guide. My first FreeCAD experience was a success! Caveman...

[@eldelacajita]

Very good tutorial, instant subscribe. Thank you for guiding us out of the cave!

[@bogumilpiotrowski]

Caveman, finally some FreeCAD, no browser tool, no paid, just freedom to design.