FreeCad blunder

[ddmckee54]

Being a COMPLETE newbie to FreeCad, I have somehow managed to turn my navigation cube inside out. It sure looks inside out anyway. I thought I had just somehow greyed it out, but I discovered last night that if I move the nav cube to just the right position, it looks like there's text on the inside of the cube. I'm gonna try and get a screenshot tonight to show that I'm not making this crap up.

Any clue how I can correct this? (I think I'm running FreeCad ver. 0.19 on Windoze 8.1. No I don't have all of the rest of the info on that machine, and I'm about 50 miles away from it right now.)

I have tried toggling this, and changing that, so many times that I am afraid I have hopelessly screwed up my configuration. When I try following along with the various tutorials, most of the time all I can say is that "My screen looks NOTHING like that."

I've been Googling various combinations of FreeCad and nav cube, and I stumbled across information about deleting the configuration files and starting over, but that would be like using a nuke to swat a fly.

I would REALLY like to find out just what I did, so that I can undo it in the future, without having to resort to nuclear weapons. BUT, I'm about ready to try the nuclear approach tonight, I can't make things too much worse.

Don

 

[dnalot]

I think you have opened the gate to the upside down world. The Upside Down is an alternate dimension existing in parallel to the human world. I hope I am wrong, its a dark and forbidding place.

Mark T

 

[lee webster]

It would be interesting to see a screen shot. FreeCAD has an odd way of doing things.

 

[ddmckee54]

I think you have opened the gate to the upside down world. The Upside Down is an alternate dimension existing in parallel to the human world. I hope I am wrong, its a dark and forbidding place.

Mark T

Well, at least it wasn't Bizzaroworld, that would have been really bad.

Don

 

[ddmckee54]

It would be interesting to see a screen shot. FreeCAD has an odd way of doing things.

Ask and ye shall receive, this is my Nav Cube.

Sorry about the resolution, last night I forgot the secret handshake for turning a screen-print into a picture. I had to jump through a couple hoops to get to this point, and I lost some resolution along the way. In real life I can ALMOST read the black text that is visible through the cracks. I THINK that's the text labels of the faces, the labels that are supposed to be on the outside.

I did apply the nuclear option last night - twice. The first time I applied the "Fat Man" option. I deleted the configuration files, the Nav Cube didn't change appearance. Then I applied the "Tzar Bomba" option by un-installing FreeCad and re-installing. This screenshot was taken AFTER the "Tzar Bomba" option.

At this point I'm thinking that somehow I managed to change something in the Registry - something that obviously DIDN'T get removed by the un-install. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought an un-install was supposed to get everything, but I know crap gets left in the registry at times.

There's a FreeCad Add-on that allows you to tweak at least some of the registry entries for the Nav Cube. This add-on gives you a "Nav Cube" workbench, that workbench lists the Nav Cube registry item and allows you to modify it. I tried that a couple of days ago, and none of those items cured my Nav Cube's wows. Up until this add-on I had never touched any of FreeCad's registry items. Whatever I did, it was NOT through any conventional registry editor.

Don

 

[awake]

Don, it looks to me simply like you are facing the back side of the model, and the cube is trying to show you that. Have you tried clicking on the buttons that select the front, side, top of the cube? If not, see what happens to the nav cube when you do any of those.

Yes, for better or worse, Registry data often gets left behind. This is great when you want to come back to the old configuration ... not so much when you want to start fresh. You can use the regedit utility to search for entries with "FreeCAD" in them, and delete them - a little tedious, and I don't know if there is a quicker way to delete ALL "FreeCAD" entries at once. My primary machine has been Linux for so long that my Windows tweaking experiences are few and far between.

 

[lee webster]

Well, even though I gave up trying to do anything important on FreeCAD, I have to say the FreeCAD forum is the best place to go. I couldn't replicate what you show. Good luck!

 

[ddmckee54]

Have you tried clicking on the buttons that select the front, side, top of the cube? If not, see what happens to the nav cube when you do any of those

Andy:

I've tried using the various buttons on the navigation toolbar, they all give me a variation on the nav cube I posted. There just aren't any gaps to peek through, it's just a grey face. The model rotates to the correct face though, so the nav cube is trying to tell me something.

If my theory about the nav cube being turned inside out is correct when I try looking in through the opening in the corner of the Front, Top and Right faces on the nav cube I should be able to either see Rear, or it's mirror image.

I may try the Tzar Bomba option again tonight, but this time I'll make sure that the FreeCad directory and all its' contents get blown away before reinstalling FreeCad. I should probably do some more research into totally deleting FreeCad. I may also just have to put on my big boy pants and use regedit to see how much more damage I can do.

Don

 

[lee webster]

I don't know if this might help. From the FreeCAD forum.
https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewto...0384&hilit=navigation+cube+inside+out#p600384

 

[ddmckee54]

Hmmmm..... Lee, there seems to be a common theme in a lot of the replies in that link - you need to re-start FreeCad.

Maybe some of the crap that I've been trying actually WOULD have worked, IF I'd re-started. I was just assuming I'd get instant gratification. When my changes didn't appear to have any effect I'd always change them back.

Tonight, or this weekend, I'll try the slow and steady approach... Make a change, restart, if it didn't work - undo that change and try something different, restart...repeat as needed.

Don

 

[awake]

Looking forward to hear how it goes!

 

[lee webster]

Another well known problem when changing/deleting the FreeCAD configuration files is that they don't alter the file on disc. Those in the know suggest hunting down the config file deep in the FreeCAD vaults and manually deleting it. I never went that far, but it is one of the reasons I don't trust FreeCAD to do anything nice. I don't know if you've tried un-installing FreeCAD but if you do it will offer you the option of deleting your config settings.

 

[awake]

I've not had that problem ... but I'm running on Linux, on which config data usually is much easier to deal with.

 

[ddmckee54]

This whole escapade started when I wanted to learn another 3D CAD program. I currently use the freebie version of Designspark mechanical when designing parts for 3D printing. It does OK, but sometimes it leaves a lot to be desired. Some time ago, maybe a couple of years ago, I toyed around with both F360, and FreeCad - just enough to determine that they both seemed mind-bogglingly complex. Apparently my install of F360 didn't phone home enough, and the license expired - I have not been able to get it updated. I downloaded the latest and greatest FreeCad on my other computer and started playing with it, which brings us to my current dilemma.

I did try un-installing FreeCad - actually I did it twice. The first time around I missed the checkbox for deleting the config settings, so nothing really changed when I re-installed FreeCad. The second time I un-installed FreeCad, I DIDN'T miss the checkbox. That time when I re-installed, for the most part the configuration had reverted back to the out of the box set-up. That is EXCEPT for that stinkin' nav cube! That rotten little SOB still looks like it's turned inside out.

At this point I'm beginning to think that the only way to get a completely fresh install of FreeCad will be to un-install it, including the config files, then do a manual Search and Destroy of the registry looking for any reference to FREECAD. That should get me back to square one. However, I'm about as anxious to try THAT option as I am to try juggling running chainsaws and lit torches - inside a powder magazine.

I am able to use FreeCad ver. 0.19, but I might as well not even have the nav cube visible - do to all the information it's NOT giving me. I have FreeCad ver. 0.18 installed on another computer, and I am using that older version to slowly claw my way up the FreeCad learning curve. I'm being WERY-WERY careful which buttons I push in that version.

Don

 

[awake]

Don, I hate that you've had so much trouble. FWIW, I rely very little on the nav cube, which may be part of why I don't know how to manipulate its appearance. It seems to me that I vaguely remember seeing something about the nav cube settings, long ago ... might be worth searching the FreeCAD forums.

Meanwhile, you might consider installing FreeCAD .20 - it is prerelease, but it is "really really close now" from what I am seeing and hearing, so should be pretty stable.

 

[gadabout]

Ok dumb answer time…. Have you tried right clicking on the cube to see if there are options? Never seen Freecad so just stabbing in the dark
Mark

 

[skyline1]

Good news and bad news on FreeCAD

The good news
Version 0.20.0 has now been officially released with many improvements and features Including " Corner on " views in the view cube.

The bad news
Sadly the infamous topological naming problem is still there. FreeCAD users will have to wait for the 1.0 release which is under development now but no firm release date has been announced. It is expected some time next year and will attempt to fully address the TN problem.

This may be of interest.



Best Regards Mark

 

[JohnBDownunder]

Don, For what it's worth. I do use FreeCAD and rarely use the cube. Just updated to V20 and so far so good.
You could try uninstalling FreeCAD with something like Geek Uninstaller [ Geek Uninstaller - Download] or something like JetClean [JetClean | Improve PC Performance and Protect Your Privacy, Free Download]
These, in my limited experience do a great job at cleaning the rubbish from the registry.
Geek does the uninstall then registry where Jet will go through the registry after the normal uninstall.
John B

 

[ddmckee54]

John - I'm just starting to learn how to use FreeCad, and what I've seen it do on some of the tutorials is impressive.

I assume that both Geek and Jet go through the registry looking for references to programs that no longer exist?

RE updating to v20, call me an old fuddy-duddy, but I'm a little leery of trying to use such a recent release. The FreeCad learning curve is bad enough by itself, but then you throw in a possibly still buggy software.... If I was already familiar with FreeCad, that would be a different story.


Mark - Right clicking on the nav cube brings up a menu that allows FreeCad to mimic the mouse functions of various other 3D CAD packages, OpenInventor, CAD, Blender, etc. for 3D navigation.


I think my next step will be to get Jet or Geek, try un-installing v19 one more time, and flushing FreeCad from the registry. THEN I will try loading v19 - again. They say the third time's the charm - we'll see. If that doesn't fix this issue... Well, I can live without a nav cube, Designspark doesn't have one and I've managed to muddle along.

Don

 

[JohnBDownunder]

Don, The problem with Freecad that they are working on fixing in the next release is an internal naming problem that can cause problems in later changes you may make to your model. This has been a pain for as long as I have played with FreeCAD but once you know it exists you work a bit differently.

A good learning place is here https://www.youtube.com/c/Adventuresincreation Or he has another channel Mango Jelly. He really explains stuff well (Sometimes in too much detail after you get into it) also he usually tells you which version he is using. I started with 18 and plodded along through 19 after being allowed to use Solid Works for a year or so but $$$ for hobby use. Nah!

Hopefully the next release which by the way will be V1 all will be well.

As for Geek and Jet, Geek actually does the uninstall then cleans the junk from registry. Jet does a clean up of the registry etc after you have uninstalled the app using the app's uninstall function.

Either way I hope you get the cube back the right way round, tho to be fair I rarely use it as the Icons in the Sketcher tool bar work best for me.
John B