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985c397 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 | # 🟩 Core Essentials
*Features present or expected in a basic CAM package and necessary to perform the required tasks*
| Feature | Description | Assessment |
| ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Operation Grouping | Group operations into jobs or setups | COMPLETE |
| Operation Ordering | Define the order in which operations are executed | COMPLETE (Workplan) |
| Intuitive Job Creation | The job setup process should help the user set up stock, tools, models, and origin | Current functionality is confusing and weak |
| Input Geometry | The application should be able to work on input geometry that the user has<br>2D (imported SVG/DXF)<br>3D Shapes<br>Images | FreeCAD can work with 2D and 3D base geometry<br><br>Image based CAM (height map milling) not supported at this time. |
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# 🟨 Professional Grade
*Features usually present or expected in the state-of-the art applications*
| Feature | Description | Assessment |
| ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Setup | UI should allow dragging parts within the stock. It should allow selecting planes and elements from the model as reference points.<br>Parts should 'drop' onto the work plane much like placing parts works in a 3D slicer. | Orienting parts within stock is clunky. <br>No automatic bin-packing <br>No. |
| Machine Type Selection | Choose machine type: milling, lathe, multi-axis, or laser/plasma/waterjet | NONE |
| Multi-Setup Workflow | Organize workflows with multiple parts in one job and jobs that process the same part in different setups. <br><br>This item needs more work.<br><br> | Multiple parts are supported in one job.<br>No support for multi-setup jobs. |
| Fixture Selection | Choose WCS for output based on fixture definition | COMPLETE |
| Fixture Configuration | Configure how fixtures are used across operations | COMPLETE |
| Minimize Tool Changes | Optimize across fixtures to reduce tool changes | COMPLETE |
| Stock Clearing/Reset | Allow stock clearing and reset while other fixture is active | COMPLETE |
| Inter-Op Inspection | Allow for inspection between operations | COMPLETE |
| job templates | Work spent configuring a job should be reusable on future jobs | Existing functionality is very good but is not apparent to users.<br>The functionality is under utilized. Good examples are not shipped with FreeCAD. |
| Job Defaults | Experienced users want certain values to always default in particular ways.<br>Example: "I always want my drilling retract depth to be 2mm above the start depth" | opDefaults allow full customization. The functionality is very good but poorly exposed to users. <br>The SetupSheet is confusing and the functionality overlaps with OpDefaults in Job setup.<br>The functionality doesn't appear where users might prefer it - in CAM preferences. |
| Feature Arrays| There are numerous cases where the user wants to create the same toolpath or set of toolpaths in multiple locations. There are several different use cases that overlap. | INCOMPLETE. Some uses-cases can be achieved with Array op. Others with Array dressup and still others with fixtures. The functionality is confusing and buggy.|
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# 🟦 Next-Level CAM
*Features that would exceed industry standard*
| Feature | Description | Assessment |
|--------|-------------|------------|
| *(placeholder)* | *(Add future-facing or experimental features here)* | |
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