The chosen projects of Google Summer of Code have just been announced, and we are excited to announce that, although it is the first time FreeCAD is participating on its own to the program, we have been awarded no less than 4 slots this year!
The four projects that will happen this summer are:
UI tool for fetching online content, by Amulya Paritosh: A library management add-on for managing Different online-offline FreeCAD components is a utility application for FreeCAD which allows an easy and structured management of components/models available online or offline and to easily be inserted into the FreeCAD document.
Upgrade the documentation system, by Gauri Maheshwari: The project aims to migrate the FreeCAD documentation system to a file-based, versioned system based on Git and Markdown so that it supports multiple languages for users globally and allows switching between offline and online versions. The current system is at constant risk of losing data due to the MediaWiki software used to support it. The project involves community interaction to research solutions and then upgrade the entire system to new software.
Unified Measurement Facility, by hlorus: FreeCAD currently has several ways of measuring objects, causing confusion for users and making the learning curve steeper. The proposed project aims to implement a generic measurement command that can be extended by workbenches, refactor and port existing commands to use the new system, and polish existing measuring commands for a consistent user experience.
On-machine Inspection for FreeCAD by Tanausú Hernández Yanes: On-machine Inspection (OMI) is a valuable tool used in CNC commercial manufacturing to ensure proper tolerances of the manufactured piece. This is done by attaching a probe to the tool head of the machine and scanning the surface of the finalised product to see if there are discrepancies between the expected result and actual measurements. Including such a tool on FreeCAD, which already has a dedicated set of tools for CNC milling in the Path Workbench, will not only bring it closer to proprietary solutions but even surpass some of them that don’t have this feature.
These are four awesome projects, and we are looking forward to see what will come out of it!
Students will be able to count on at least two mentors each, who can orient them and help finding the info and the feedback they need. Students will also be encouraged to interact and post updates as much as possible on the FreeCAD forum .
Be sure to follow the GSoC 2023 forum thread for more info and the individual project threads!