Freecad Intro

Freecad is an open-source sketch-based modeling program used for design and architecture. It allows for inherent parametric relationships. Here is a theatre BIM project set up in Freecad

Getting Started

Here is a quick getting-started video guide that should help you get comfortable with starting to use Freecad.

Inherent Parametricism

Some in the architecture community have been making a big deal about parametricism. In Industrial design sketch-based modeling programs like Catia and Freecad, parametric relationships have been around for a long while. This means that it is easy to generate geometry that’s related, for example, to a sketch of another part of the geometry without any code.

Here are a few examples that show what’s possible with parameters that control multiple copies.

Here is an example of a sketch-based parametric set-up that allows the geometry to become easily adjusted.

Another example, thinking about an initial building massing with a shared podium. The file is set up in such a way that, adjusting the size of the overall image would adjust the overall massing.