Add "rotational" iteration type to extrude and sweep

[AvihooI]

Please allow a "rotational" iteration in the extrude and sweep tools so that along an axial iteration the face that is iterated upon will also rotate given a certain "twist-rate" or "angle per distance" value.

This operation will allow the creation of many useful shapes that would otherwise be impossible or difficult to make.

[roambotics_scott]

Funny - a few weeks back this would have been hugely helpful. I ended up trying 3D sketches with splines and although I was able to get a passable twist, it wasn't nearly precise enough for my application so I finally gave up. 

Very closely related but I'd also love to see sine-wave displacements along a path where we can adjust the phases, frequencies, and amplitudes of each (and even more generally - go a step further and let us specify functions to define all of those things).

[AvihooI]

@ roambotics_scott:

I think in essence there should be a more powerful tool for "integrating" a sketch surface into a solid body where you simply define what happens for every infitisemal step (very much like integrating in math). Imagine for instance not only displacement and rotation, but also resize and other linear transformations.

Of course, this is more encompassing and more advanced - one thing at a time 🙂

[cekuhnen]

a math base twist is a must have!

[herzinj]

I'm surprised there are so many people that are looking for this functionality!  This isn't something that I would be using often in anything that I have worked on, but I'm glad to see it here.  If this many people are looking for it, let's see what we can do about getting it into the software! 

I would have to guess that it would be its own option outside of the extrude menu.  Perhaps we would be able to just have the value typed in as number of revolutions over total distance?  Or input as degrees as well?  Could you let me know what you think the easiest option for you to understand is, as this is the first time I have thought about it.

[AvihooI]

 herzinj :
Here's my opinion about it from my observation (and correct me if I'm wrong):

The way the sweep tool currently works is by "integrating" (like in math) the surface along the path and thus it's creating a solid body... it also rotates the surface for each infitisemal iteration by "looking" at the change of rotation along the sweep path. If we look at it from a linear-transformation perspective - there are three elements at play: 1) translation (displacement) 2) rotation 3) scale. At the current mode, there's no scaling and the translation and rotation are both influenced by the path. If you use a "revolutions over distance" value, the rotation would not be influenced by "looking" at the path but rather applying rotation in direct proportion to the displacement (i.e. theta = constant * displacement).
This idea would also solve the issue proposed here: http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Help-and-Support/Sweep-along-path-gets-twisted/td-p/5152558

I think a more advanced tool should allow the designer to directly edit the rotation and scaling matrices (2D matrices, since we're dealing with surfaces) with the displacement (or iteration) being a variable in the respective transformation matrices. Such a tool would allow sweeping while also rotating and scaling in not necessarily a directly proportional manner.

On another note, if those tools can be scripted and there's documentation that covers what's required for scripting, maybe the community can help create those tools and take the pressure off from developers? I know I could contribute a lot being a programmer myself.

[admcovey]

The ability to have a profile stay "normal" (not twist) along a swept path would be a huge improvement for Fusion. I wanted to use a coil's curve to create a custom thread and it cannot be done because the profile twists along the path when swept. If anything, the ability to create a custom sketched profile when creating a thread would be great.

[koraybirand]

Satus has changed to Future Consideration.. When is future ?

[Mr.Fields]

This would still be great to have. Sweeping a circle as often shown in tutorials is no big deal, but anything other than a circle needs this.

[JohnSays]

For me, this is the second time I have needed a tool to add a twist. Right now I need to simply twist my material evenly for an, as yet, undertermined number of degress -- most like around 720 degrees. My prior design needed to have an increasing rate of twist and taper (Golden Mean) as the apex came closer. Neither of these is possible right now with the built in tools. I would like to see a mathmatically derived spiral, twist, helical -- whatever it should be called. I would also like to be able to manipulate the diameter of the twisted object precisely in order to produce an object that varies as the golden mean does for example.

[willgibbonsdesign]

The fact that this isn't a feature is killing me. Every time I get excited for the future of Fusion 360, I feel handicapped when I go looking for a feature as simple as this to find it hasn't been implemented. I expect it to be there since I know I can find it in SolidWorks, which I hate using because it's such a dinosaur. 

Why have this feature? I find myself needing to model cables and cords for electronics all the time and for other visual graphics. The fact that I can't specify a twist along a sweep sucks. Braided cables etc... c'mon guys!

[seth_gil]

Even more practical than making visual effects, Fusion cannot currently model a helical gear - a critical, real-world component! Here's an example of the CATIA forum answering this basic question: http://www.3dcadforums.com/threads/6977-How-do-I-extrude-and-rotate-to-make-a-helical-gear How would this be done in Fusion?

[seth_gil]

A friend of mine showed me how to do this.  It's a super clunky work around, but you can make a helical gear, should you want to.

<fuggly example>

1. Create your profile in a sketch
2. Create > Coil. You will be using a part of this as a sweep guid
3. Create a centerline of your gear
4. Create > Sweep (path + guides).  Select the coil guide as your guide.

</fuggly example>

 

[willgibbonsdesign]

Updates...? Anyone. Anyone from Autodesk... So far, here's a 2+ year old thread where users are asking for what seems like a rudimentary feature enhancement. Rather than asking for why and how we might implement this, we get some clunky workaround at best. Am I missing something? Whether it's loft, extrude, sweep... I don't really care, but to not be able to specify degrees of rotation of a profile along a curve within a CAD application is silly... 

[DrFraylich]

A friend made a high angle impeller for me in SolidWorks a couple of weeks back, using pretty much the feature that we are discussing, and was embarrassed that I couldn't replicate it in fusion in a simple way. In fact, I struggled to even do it with workarounds. This feature is needed for helical gears, worms, and custom screws and I will be disappointed if I have get a SolidWorks license to do these things in a time period adequate to job shop machining and without having to search the web for workarounds.

[lucasproko]

Thank you all for your activity on this thread and for your patience with this feature. Our team is currently working on this and will release the functionality in the sweep command in the next few months. Thanks!

[willgibbonsdesign]

It's great to see that this finally made its way in!

Unfortunately the lack of communication from Autodesk is frustrating for users. Even if it was an occasional (every 6 months or so), 'we're working on it..' or 'we can't do this right now, so it'll be at least another year'... would be improve the overall feel of community on the form. Just my thoughts. 

[lucasproko]

Hey @willgibbonsdesign,

Communication with our users is something we take seriously and do our best at. In this instance, are you referring to the lack of comments on this Idea from an Autodesk perspective? The way we handle the Idea Station is to mark Ideas that we currently do not have the resources to achieve immediately as "Future Consideration" as Colin did nearly 2 years ago, and then to mark them as "Accepted" once we have a more firm development plan. I understand this gap can be longer than you'd like, but it is difficult for us to go through every Idea Station post and give updates periodically because we have so many awesome ideas coming from our users.

In terms of other communication, we try to stay active on the forums and we also post a roadmap every 6 months or so that you can see here: https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/spring-2017-roadmap-update/. Have you seen that before? Is that the level of communication you're looking for, or do you have further expectations?

Thanks, as always, for posting your thoughts :).