[Fab] FreeCAD : Thursday, 5/02, 8PM, at Noisebridge : Open Source Parametric CAD Modeler. A forum to discuss, discover, and design its potential.

Wed May 1 04:37:51 UTC 2013

Hey all,

Lots of time pressure this month, on me, personally, and as make faire
draws near, probably many of you as well.  I am thinking the next meeting
should be after maker faire.

Thanks for your excitement and involvement!

On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 9:58 PM, Corey McGuire <coreyfro at coreyfro.com>wrote:

> 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 Thursday, the 25nd, was spent authoring a document for actual
> fabrication.  There was a good deal of tangential usage demonstrations and
> we did not complete the document, but we had a great dialogue among the
> group.
>
> This Thursday, May 2nd, I would like people to demonstrate, in
> their preferred tools, their usual usage.  Simultaneously, we'll talk about
> how usage might work in FreeCAD.
>
> Details!
>
>
> SAN FRANCISCO, Noisebridge (2169 Mission), Thursday, May 2nd, 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?
>
>>

-- 
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler - Albert
Einstein <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein>
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo Da
Vinci<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_Da_Vinci>
Perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there
is nothing left to take away - Antoine de Saint
Exupéry<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint_Exup%C3%A9ry>
Keep It Simple Stupid - Kelly
Johnson<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Johnson>
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