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FreeCAD is a basic 3D CAD with advanced motion simulation capabilities.
It is suitable for anyone interested in learning 3D CAD and motion simulation for free before using more sophisticated packages. Educators, students, and new engineers will find it ideal for the teaching and learning of geometry, kinematics, dynamics, vibrations, mechanisms, linkages, cams, machine design, and physics.
The program runs on Windows, Macintosh PPC, Linux PC, and other Unixes. Assembly data are unchanged across platforms.
FreeCAD allows users to create and manipulate assemblies, which are collections of parts. The parts are simple 3D solids, which can be connected by joints, constraints, contacts, motors, actuators, springs, dampers, forces, torques, or gravity. The parts and connections define the structure, mechanism, or machine of interest. Both open and closed 3D loops are permitted. FreeCAD performs full multibody dynamics analysis on the assembly to predict the motion according to Newton's Laws. Animation using the simulated data produces realistic dynamic behavior of the system. Users can also study the mechanical dynamics in the form of plots and tabular output. XY plots can be zoomed and set to equal scales. There are many more features.
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