Create External Geometry - how did I miss this?

[AlfromNH]

I'm a newbie to FreeCAD, but I've watched lots of videos and I don't remember seeing this function used.

When I create a sketch on an existing surface of a part, I've been using only the original origin point to reference off of. That means a lot of calculating to locate, say a hole a certain distance off an edge of the sketch surface. Gets very cumbersome.

I just "discovered" the Create External Geometry function, which lets you import the edges of the underlying surface, meaning you can reference off of thos surfaces not just the single origin point. Much better!

I'm sure this is not news to most users, but it's a revelation to me!

Sketcher External - FreeCAD Documentation

wiki.freecad.org

 

[Ken226]

I'm not familiar with freecad, but assuming it works the same as it does in other CAD programs, it should allow you to project underlying part edges onto the current sketch, but also allow you to project previous sketches or partial geometry from previous sketches, into the current sketch.