00:00Let's start with the first FreeCAD tip.
00:04When you are inside a sketch, you can draw shapes quickly with the Polyline tool.
00:09Each time you click, a normal line will be created.
00:13But when you press the M key one time, a perpendicular line can be sketched.
00:18When you press the M key two times, you can extend a previous line.
00:23When you press the M key three times, a tangent line can be sketched.
00:34After that, a tangent line will be connected to the arc.
00:39When you press the M key four times, a perpendicular arc can be sketched.
00:44A tangent line will be connected to the arc.
00:49When you press the M key five times, you're back to normal sketching mode with straight lines.
00:56This is ideal for sketching more difficult shapes in one move.
01:06The second FreeCAD tip is about orthographic and perspective view.
01:11You can switch between orthographic and perspective view here.
01:14Click on Edit and select Preferences.
01:21Go to the Sketcher tab and select Display.
01:27Uncheck the Force Orthographic Camera option here to see what this means.
01:35Click on OK to apply.
01:40When you are in a perspective view and edit a sketch, model parts are not flat but also in perspective.
01:47This will result in a less clear sketching experience.
01:52Now switch to an orthographic view.
01:54All objects will remain flat.
01:57Click on Close to exit the sketch.
02:03Click on Edit and select Preferences.
02:10And go to the same tab again.
02:12Check the Force Orthographic Camera option and click on OK to apply.
02:16Now edit a sketch when you are in a perspective view.
02:22It will automatically switch to an orthographic view to improve the sketch experience.
02:31Click on Close to exit the sketch.
02:33And you see it automatically switched back to a perspective view.
02:37The third FreeCAD tip is about Navigation Style.
02:45Click right mouse button and select Navigation Styles.
02:48Then select Gesture as the Navigation Style.
02:53Holding down the left mouse button allows you to quickly look around your model.
02:58And if you hold down the right mouse button, you can pan the view.
03:07This is a very natural way to navigate through smaller models in FreeCAD with a regular mouse.
03:16When you scroll away from yourself, you can zoom in.
03:19And when you scroll towards yourself, you can zoom out.
03:26The fourth FreeCAD tip is about modeling threaded holes.
03:30The holes you see here are made with the Pocket feature as a circular cut.
03:35Select the pocket and press Delete.
03:38Now click on the sketch with the circle and select the Hole tool.
03:45Make sure the sketch is inside the active body and click on OK if you see this menu.
03:52For Profile, select Isometric Regular Profile for example.
03:57For the size, let's select M10.
04:01A depth of 10mm will be enough in this example.
04:05Select the Threaded and the Model Thread boxes.
04:09When you want to see threads instantly, also check the Update Thread View box.
04:14Click on OK to apply.
04:17Bonus tip!
04:18In Perspective View, zooming in may be difficult.
04:22Switch to an orthographic view to zoom in properly.
04:25And here you see the Thread is modeled.
04:30The perspective view won't let you zoom in that far.
04:42The fifth and final FreeCAD tip is about new documents.
04:46Here you see when FreeCAD is opened, a new document is created automatically.
04:51Click on Edit and select Preferences.
04:57Go to the General tab and select Document.
05:02And make sure Create New Document at Startup is checked.
05:06Let's uncheck it now to see what this will do.
05:09Click on OK to apply and restart FreeCAD.
05:12It will now open with an empty screen.
05:14And you have to click this button each time you want to create a new document.
05:21So those are 5 FreeCAD tips you should never forget.
05:25You might also want to check out my 3D printing channel.
05:28See you there!
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