FreeCAD v1.1

https://blog.freecad.org/2026/03/25/freecad-version-1-1-released/

100•sho_hn•3h ago

Comments

sho_hn•3h ago

Highlights reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9biWv_M8p8

Release Notes: https://wiki.freecad.org/Release_notes_1.1

bartvk•1h ago

To add to this. MangoJelly offers very good tutorials, as well as a full course on Udemy. He released a 4 minute overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSwvnZ1jsXg

DeltaHedra, another great YouTube channel, also released a good video that shows the previous and this version next to each other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYdobpjTypg

ChristianJacobs•1h ago

Thumbs up for both of them, but I must say that DeltaHedra has become my new favourite FreeCAD content creator. Especially after he started using his own voice. His old content was good, but his current his magnifique! The quality of the content he pushes is above and beyond.

GaggiX•2h ago

I was not expecting so many improvements in this version alone, I'm impressed. I was already using it for 3d printing but now it seems it's getting actually good, makes me wonder how I was able to use the previous version.

vjvjvjvjghv•1h ago

I am also impressed by how much they are improving things. It just sucks that they are stuck with the OpenCasacade kernel so making stability improvements are hard to make in areas like fillets and others.

sho_hn•1h ago

I don't follow Open CASCADE very closely, but it looks like they're on the verge of a new major release (v8.0) themselves that looks like a lot of refactoring and cleanup.

I don't know hat version FreeCAD is actually bundling, but from GitHub it looks like a fork of 7.8.1?

jepj57•1h ago

This is awesome! Kudos to the developers, they really went above and beyond for this release.

_whiteCaps_•1h ago

I post this in every FreeCAD thread: If you're going to start designing something with it, use the spreadsheet tool to make everything parametric. You'll save yourself a ton of time as your designs get more complicated.

Maybe this isn't anything new to experience CAD users. I don't know if other CAD tools do this as I started using FreeCAD after playing with 3D printing.

sho_hn•1h ago

It's very common (Fusion calls it User Parameters, etc.) and indeed nice practice. FreeCAD has a few ways to do it, Spreadsheets but also free-form properties on objects. It's very flexible in this regard.

gligorot•53m ago

The Fusion implementation sucks. A spreadsheet is a far more natural way to do this, Im surprised FreeCad is doing it better than the paid variant.

sho_hn•50m ago

The Fusion implementation is awful - you can adjust one variable, one time, then you have to reopen the dialog to do another. At least for me it's always become non-responsive after a single edit, for years now. I've always assumed I'm just holding it wrong, but I don't know. I've moved on.

Lukas_Skywalker•41m ago

The only issue I have with the Spreadsheet is that I need to add an alias for every value I want to use in the Sketch or Part Design workbench. In practice, this usually looks like

    A       B
    width   2mm
    length  3mm

and for every cell in B I add an alias with the same value as in column A. Is there a way around that?

_whiteCaps_•34m ago

https://wiki.freecad.org/Macro_EasyAlias

EasyAlias macro maybe?

Lukas_Skywalker•9m ago

Oh. I didn't even know there were macros. But that looks very useful!

jjkaczor•34m ago

Hmmm - I seem to recall there was at least 1-2 scripts or macros available to help with aliasing.

_whiteCaps_•47m ago

Super flexible. I love being able to use Python to manipulate spreadsheet data.

acrophobic•11m ago

You can also use VarSet[0], which I think is easier than spreadsheet since you don't have to switch the workbench.

[0]: https://wiki.freecad.org/Std_VarSet

IshKebab•10m ago

Other cad tools do support this but in my experience it's always pretty awkward to use. I haven't tried the FreeCAD implementation.

lagrange77•6m ago

Some CAD systems, i think NX for example, let you give it a reference to an actual Excel (or csv?) file, that you edit in Excel.

Alupis•1h ago

Recently one of the magnet holders for my window shutters broke, and I thought I'd take a crack at designing a replacement to 3D Print. I'd never designed anything in CAD software before, so I had no real reference.

I found FreeCAD extremely easy to use and intuitive. I watched a couple videos and followed-along with the tutorials, then started on my own item. It's a relatively simple 3-part component. I took measurements with digital calipers, and in a few hours was printing the first prototype.

A couple prototypes later (small measurement adjustments to account for plastic shrinkage, etc), I had the final model. Replaced all of the magnet holders since they were sure to go soon, too.

I had fun, and finally used my 3D printer for something "real". Pretty cool.

cgearhart•50m ago

Slightly unrelated to this story, but I’m curious if anyone has good resources for learning FreeCAD. I have quite a lot of experience with SolidWorks, AutoCAD, OnShape, and similar software, but FreeCAD has always been hard for me to pick up.

Alupis•38m ago

YouTube was very effective for me to learn FreeCAD. I just searched for some FreeCAD tutorials and followed-along. I had zero prior CAD experience though, so I was a "blank slate" in a way.

jjkaczor•32m ago

MangoJelly on YouTube was my primary learning source, and a few other channels - but his "gelled" with me the best.

mft_•13m ago

I often recommend https://youtube.com/@deltahedra3d - some good tutorial videos and other excellent FreeCAD content.

mentalgear•19m ago

Congrats - the release video is very impressive !

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FreeCAD v1.1

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