I just downloaded and installed FreeCAD

[GeneT45]

Agreed. My "problem" is that I know (some) CAD, just not FreeCAD. I'm pretty adept at Alibre. Not a pro, but I have no problem creating most parts or assemblies, cross-sections, exploded views, and manufacturing drawings. There are a few tricky things that can throw a wrench in those works (e.g. holes on tangents to curved surfaces - and some of that I believe to be software deficiencies), but most stuff I can do pretty handily.

FC is a somewhat different paradigm (or appears to be at this point), so there's some new learning, but a lot of it is just finding out where the features I normally use are hidden and how they work in FC.

I haven't gotten to Adventures in Creation yet, but if not today, then tomorrow. After a bit more introductory material I'll probably just start playing with things to see how far my existing knowledge will take me.

Oh, and a HUGE +1 on making a schedule / deadline, whatever. Getting that first toe-hold is all about setting aside enough time, however you do it, to learn *all* the basics - modeling a part, putting parts into an assembly, and creating manufacturing drawings. Until you do that, you will forever be playing "groundhog day" learning and re-learning the same basic bits and never advancing or developing sufficient skills to do anything useful (ask me how I know...).

GsT

 

[Red96]

Search MangoJelly on YouTube.

His channel seems to be considered the best learning resource for FreeCAD.

The MangoJelly series on YouTube really helped me as well. A nice step by step learning style. Some of the concepts took a while to sink in for me, having zero prior CAD experience. Be patient, its not a quick learn nor always intuitive. And like a foreign language, if you don't use it, you'll lose what you gained. Helped me to have a project I already had in mind and sketched out to practice the lessons on. Had some Covid recovery time to focus on the learning process.

edit: spelling error

 

[ltlvt]

Adventures in Creation starts out slow, at least for the 1.0.0 series. I watched the first one. But he's setting the foundation for those that don't know how CAD works. In his previous series, I was nearly over my head for a while after a couple lessons. But I played them over and over again to catch the point that I missed, so I could get the same results as the instructor. Sometimes I played back at 3/4 speed! It was the equivalent of raising my hand in class multiple times, daring to ask a question. It worked.

The best way to learn CAD is dogged persistence. I gave myself a deadline and a schedule to learn it. Glad I did. Because I finally learned it after decades of putting it off. Now I look at CAD as an enabling skill allowing me to do more sophisticated things than ever before. Still, my first concepts are usually on a piece of scrap paper. CAD isn't a substitute for thinking!

Rewind and stop along with Screenshots is something that I love about YT. We are getting close to Cabin Fever weather here. My lungs are in such bad shape even if I use the heater in my shop just the cold air from the house to the shop makes it really hard for me to breathe. Like gasping for breath. Been this way since the heart attack 10 years ago. So, I will try to watch the videos and peck away at the Free Cad when it is too cold to get outside in my shop. Thanks Wobbly for turning me on to the Adventures in Creation video series.

 

[Red96]

+1 on slowing down the playback speed on these tutorials. I had forgotten that I did the same to be able to follow what the presenter was clicking on, as mentioned by @WobblyHand. Also an unintended benefit was the slower playback speed helped me with understanding him better (Aussie ? accent was somewhat difficult to understand at times at full steam)

 

[ltlvt]

well after viewing the first 3 videos I decided to do a simple task with it. Error message says need to upgrade something in my hardware

 

[WobblyHand]

That's odd. Video issue? What does the message say, verbatim?

 

[ltlvt]

That's odd. Video issue? What does the message say, verbatim?

This system is running open GI 1.1 FreeCAD requires Open GI 2 .0 or above. Please upgrade your graphics driver or card.

 

[WobblyHand]

This system is running open GI 1.1 FreeCAD requires Open GI 2 .0 or above. Please upgrade your graphics driver or card.

Go to Preferences > Display > 3DView
Under Rendering: Check the box that says Use Software OpenGL. Click Apply. Then click ok.

It will probably prompt you to restart FreeCAD. Do that.

Should work for you after that.

 

[ltlvt]

Go to Preferences > Display > 3DView
Under Rendering: Check the box that says Use Software OpenGL. Click Apply. Then click ok.

It will probably prompt you to restart FreeCAD. Do that.

Should work for you after that.

Thanks i'll give it a try. I preciate the help.

 

[ltlvt]

Wobbly I clicked on preferences and all I got was a totally blank page.