Mastodawn

what's a good way to accommodate real physical constraints in rough #freecad sketches?
as in, the height of the wall is X but in real life when built with real boards a height of N*Y would be far better
how do you conveniently adjust the reference sketch so that every wall is an exact multiple of certain width?

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Alexis Sophia 🏳️‍⚧️2d ago

@tko you could use a freecad spreadsheet that has rows with the board size, and then either in the sheet or a constraint, use a multiple of a board dimension to set the constraint in the sketch.

For example, a spreadsheet called dims could have a row that specifies N. In the dimension in a sketch, use a formula "dims.N * 5" that will set the dimension to 5 times N from the sheet.

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Michael K Johnson 2d ago

@sophiarose @tko You can also use VarSets; they are a bit more convenient to modify because you don't have to open a Spreadsheet. You can use equations in them.

If you want to design in nominal dimensions and let it adjust, I'd set one parameter for the nominal dimension, and another one referencing it with an equation that rounds in the way you want to an integer multiple of your base unit.

Alternatively, set your base units and then specify how many boards, but that seems harder to conceptualize.

I have a tendency to name my VarSets "p" for "parameters" which makes it really easy to use them in sketches. Dimension, "=" to get into equation editor, "p.foo" will autocomplete my "<

>.foobar", accept the equation and then the dimension, and then you can just tweak from the VarSet parameters to modify the design without opening the sketch or a Spreadsheet.

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Tommi Komulainen

@mcdanlj @sophiarose I know spreadsheet, varsets and equations, can't quite see the workflow to use them effectively.
I guess in most simplistic terms I want a rectangle and then I'll have other things derived from that. And I also want the side of the rectangle to be integer multiple of X. Which in turn affects everything dependent on the side length.
On one hand I'd like to sketch without any limitations to set the stage, OTOH I need the integer multiples to start paddign

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Michael K Johnson 2d ago

@tko @sophiarose p.boardWidth = 10cm / 5.5in / whatever
p.nominalHeight = 3m / 10 feet/ whatever
p.height = equation with the rounding you want

Then just use p.height as your equation in the sketch, and adjust p.nominalHeight to an arbitrary amount in the settings.

That seems straightforward to me.

But you can also just set p.boardWidth and p.boardHeight and then you can basically use it like a custom unit by multiplication. = 20 * p.boardHeight

If that doesn't make sense, it's not clear to me what user experience you really want.

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Iαη 🍺1d ago

@tko @mcdanlj @sophiarose
We often use a skeleton methodology. With a rough wire frame as the centre or inner/outer edge, then add thicknesses, in one or both directions, afterwards. With everything related to the skeleton. So big changes can be made to the skeleton, and everything else follows that.
I use that with 3D, curved skeletons for really complex models.