The FreeCAD Development community is proud to announce the release of FreeCAD 0.20.
Over the past year, many developers, testers, and users have worked on improving nearly every aspect of FreeCAD, adding dozens of new features and fixing hundreds of bugs.
FreeCAD 0.20 is available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux and can be downloaded from freecad.org.
Explore the release notes for an in-depth look at what's new. Highlights include:
- A completely rewritten Addon Manager.
- A new type of add-on called a Preference Pack allows user preferences to be saved and distributed via the Addon Manager.
- A new section cut tool enables solid, persistent cuts of parts and assemblies.
- Arch now supports 2D data when importing from and exporting to IFC files.
- The new Draft Hatch command creates hatches on the faces of a selected object.
- The FEM workbench now fully supports the Elmer solver for performing electrostatic calculations, and the Calculix solver can now perform buckling analysis.
- Interoperability with OpenSCAD has been improved to more fully support import of SCAD and CSG files.
- The Part workbench now supports tapered extrusion of inner structures.
- Part Design lofts, pads, and pockets have many new options including tapered pads and pockets, and an improved user interface.
- The Path Workbench features a number of interface refinements, as well as improved stability and language translations.
- Sketcher features a new split tool, rounded and centered rectangles.
- Spreadsheets now incorporate a built-in option to create a "configuration table" for simplified parametric design.
- TechDraw includes more than 30 new tools, offering new cosmetic features to enhance drawings.
-----------------
Preparations for the next release of FreeCAD - FreeCAD 1.0 - have already begun. Most exciting is a new development branch specifically for addressing the so-called "topological naming problem." In this branch, code created by FreeCAD contributor Lei Zheng (a.k.a. "realthunder") is being tested and incorporated into FreeCAD. This code will greatly improve the geometric stability when changing a design.
This page holds more info about the development goals.