I patched FreeCAD with 3ds Max-style navigation (C++ source + guide)

Hey r/FreeCAD, for us old timers who still miss 3ds Max viewport navigation, I patched it in.

I’ve been revisiting FreeCAD lately and quickly realized I’d grown too accustomed to 3ds Max’s controls. I actually opened an issue on GitHub about it, and the devs mentioned they might eventually make navigation styles pluggable via add-ons. But since people have been asking for this for years, I decided to dive into the open-source code myself.

After a bit of C++ hacking and following FreeCAD’s official build docs, I got it working. The viewport now responds exactly like 3ds Max (orbit, pan, zoom, etc.).

📦 Modified source files:
https://bracercom.neocities.org/freecad/max_header_and_cpp_file.zip

🎥 Quick demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h2ZVFeCz4Y

📖 Official Windows build guide:
https://wiki.freecad.org/Compile_on_Windows

I also compiled a ready-to-run version (~1 GB), but I’m not sure where to host it long-term. Would you guys prefer a direct download, or is compiling from source fine for most people?

Happy to take feedback, improvements, or just hear if it works on your setup. Thanks for reading!