Learning from scratch how to create custom features in FreeCAD

This will give you an overview on how to get started with developing custom FreeCAD features. To get started follow the Create a FeaturePython object part I tutorial on the FreeCAD wiki. The examples in this blogpost are from the tutorial in the FreeCAD wiki.

Setting up the folder structure for the custom feature project in VS Code

Quickstarting you into FreeCAD features with a hello world project

import FreeCAD as App

def create(obj_name):
    """
    Object creation method
    """

    obj = App.ActiveDocument.addObject('App::FeaturePython', obj_name)

    box(obj)

    return obj

class box():

    def __init__(self, obj):
        """
        Default constructor
        """

        self.Type = 'box'

        obj.Proxy = self

Adding properties to the custom FreeCAD object

import FreeCAD as App

def create(obj_name):
    """
    Object creation method
    """

    obj = App.ActiveDocument.addObject('App::FeaturePython', obj_name)

    box(obj)

    return obj

class box():

    def __init__(self, obj):
        """
        Default constructor
        """

        self.Type = 'box'

        obj.Proxy = self

        obj.addProperty('App::PropertyString', 'Description', 'Base', 'Box description').Description = ""

        obj.addProperty('App::PropertyLength', 'Length', 'Dimensions', 'Box length').Length = 10.0
        obj.addProperty('App::PropertyLength', 'Width', 'Dimensions', 'Box width').Width = '10 mm'
        obj.addProperty('App::PropertyLength', 'Height', 'Dimensions', 'Box height').Height = '1 cm'

Adding automatic recompute after the creation of the custom FreeCAD Feature

import FreeCAD as App

def create(obj_name):
    """
    Object creation method
    """

    obj = App.ActiveDocument.addObject('App::FeaturePython', obj_name)

    box(obj)

    App.ActiveDocument.recompute()

    return obj

class box():

    def __init__(self, obj):
        """
        Default constructor
        """

        self.Type = 'box'

        obj.Proxy = self

        obj.addProperty('App::PropertyString', 'Description', 'Base', 'Box description').Description = ""

        obj.addProperty('App::PropertyLength', 'Length', 'Dimensions', 'Box length').Length = 10.0
        obj.addProperty('App::PropertyLength', 'Width', 'Dimensions', 'Box width').Width = '10 mm'
        obj.addProperty('App::PropertyLength', 'Height', 'Dimensions', 'Box height').Height = '1 cm'

Doing something on document recompute with the custom FreeCAD object

import FreeCAD as App

def create(obj_name):
    """
    Object creation method
    """

    obj = App.ActiveDocument.addObject('App::FeaturePython', obj_name)

    box(obj)

    App.ActiveDocument.recompute()

    return obj


class box():

    def __init__(self, obj):
        """
        Default constructor
        """

        self.Type = 'box'

        obj.Proxy = self

        obj.addProperty('App::PropertyString', 'Description', 'Base', 'Box description').Description = ""

        obj.addProperty('App::PropertyLength', 'Length', 'Dimensions', 'Box length').Length = 10.0
        obj.addProperty('App::PropertyLength', 'Width', 'Dimensions', 'Box width').Width = '10 mm'
        obj.addProperty('App::PropertyLength', 'Height', 'Dimensions', 'Box height').Height = '1 cm'

    def execute(self, obj):
        """
        Called on document recompute
        """

        print('Recomputing {0:s} ({1:s})'.format(obj.Name, self.Type))

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• Learning from scratch how to create custom features in FreeCADApril 21, 2022
  This will give you an overview on how to get started with developing custom FreeCAD features. To get started follow the Create a FeaturePython object part I tutorial on the FreeCAD wiki. The examples in this blogpost are from the tutorial in the FreeCAD wiki. Setting up the folder structure for the custom feature project… Read more: Learning from scratch how to create custom features in FreeCAD