[Fab] FreeCAD : Thursday, 4/25, 8PM, at Noisebridge : Open Source Parametric CAD Modeler. A forum to discuss, discover, and design its potential.

[Corey McGuire]

Hello illustrious hackers, geeks, artists, engineers, architects, and
otherwise "parametric modeler, inclined",

This is an invitation to join me for an informal discussion and exploration
of the state of "FreeCAD", a parametric modeler in the style of Solidworks
and Inventor.  We'll be meeting for 3D Printing Thursday at Noisebridge, a
weekly event that we avoided last week because of Noisebridge's monthly
"Five Minutes of Fame".


Last Wednesday, the 17th, was spent getting people familiar with the
capabilities of FreeCAD (and some of the in-capabilities ;-) and sending
them off with a feel of how to get investigating.  This week, I'm hoping to
get people working in tandem to experiment with the usability of the tool;
Hacking away and making simple parts.  I'll pair up people who made it last
session with people who weren't there.  I want people to focus on the way
they use parametric tools because each of you are unique snow flakes, and
we want all of your input.


SAN FRANCISCO, Noisebridge (2169 Mission), Thursday, April 25th, 8:00PM.
 Entry is free, you DO NOT need to be a member.  Noisebridge is free to all!

This discussion is open to all but I highly recommend that people have
considerable experience with parametric modelers.  What we will be
discussing is:
:-) Hey! Look! A free parametric modeler!
:-) How is it like or unlike Solidworks and Inventor?
:-) What are the unique nuances/vocabulary differences between this and
other programs?
:-) Can we complete a series of simple models using basic features, and if
not, where does the overall picture fall apart?
:-) Can we begin describing in tutorial form the basics of part development?

And the ultimate question!

:-D Can we make something?!?!?!?!!!!!

I am excited by this tool.  This opens up CAD to anyone with a computer.
 We may be months away from the first tool that can bring this
functionality to new users for FREE!

I'm already doing research to this end with the tool so I can lead the
discussion, but instead of being a simple, by the books instructional
process.  We will have experienced engineers, architects, hackers, and
artists.  I want to execute from your skill sets.

I look forward to seeing you!

Join us!



Further event description:


There is a new tool in town.  A free tool, an opesource tool, a powerful
tool, a tool that is designed to compliment and facilitate the creation and
fabrication of things.  This tool is FreeCAD, and it is a project (as
opposed to product) that is showing massive potential to break us free of
expensive, closed, cumbersome, tools that don't play nice with the rest of
the industry.

What this tool promises is an end...to the seemingly endless...battle with
software for designing and building our world.

The nuts and bolts of this tool are in place.  It's like a BMW, in all
its precision .. just without the sporty interior, the fenders, the
windows.  We can expect it to do what we need it to do, but the interface,
which is very intuative, is also not complete.

Which is where we come in.  Not to design the interface, but to explore the
interface and view the interface with the eyes of a new user.

We will find the interface very familiar because it borrows from the
solidworks/inventor paradigm.  But neither of these tools are terribly
intuitive to a new user.

This software is designed to be as powerful as the tools we are used to,
but to be more approachable.

My goal, our goal, it to see if it is.  Our goal is to try a couple "hello
world" parts of our choosing and find out where we get snagged along the
way, and report this back to the developers.

The ultimate goal being, guide this tool to becoming the open access to
industrial design and engineering software package the DIY community
deserves, and to build a common language for people to use to share design
intent so that the domain of design is not encumbered by cost.

Following this meeting, I hope to design hardware and platform agnostic
curriculum to get the DIY community up to speed with CAD!

So, who would like to join me?
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