Thoughts from a desktop publisher on Fusion after two weeks of playing

[digital_dreamer]

As a newbie in the CAD field, I can say Fusion is brilliant in its ability to allow you to work directly in the modeling environment. I've learned quiet a bit in the last two weeks. But, there's much more to learn, as usual.

Speaking as someone who had been in the publishing/printing industry for some 20 years, wearing numerous hats as IT, network admin, plant technician, composition, prepress, press, and post-press, this CAD field is a dream that always eluded me. Now, I'm getting my feet wet. Well, toes, actually. Tip of toenails?

I have a few thoughts regarding this software (Mac):

Man! Is it buggy! I know it's just a preview. I've relaunched 50 times, I'm sure. The developers, likely more. 

There's lots of lag, even though I'm using a quad-core i7 (920) CPU @ 3.2Ghz with a Nvidia GTX 680 GPU. The lag exists particularly during joint placement (you need to really wait for the Joint Origin to stabilize before clicking), which is odd, as processor usage is rather low. It appears to be only single-threaded and not optimized at all.

There are lots of inconsistencies - things that work one time and, then, don't another time:

• Workplanes disappear at certain viewing angles or distances, making it incredibly difficult to use.
• "Snap to" surface only works when you don't need it.  It appears that everytime I need the Snap to" feature when moving, it's not available. Why is that? Am I missing something?
• "Snap to" doesn't work on Workplanes.

As someone who has used page-layout and Illustrating software for decades (Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and QuarkXpress) I'm puzzled as to why some some "simple" features as not present.

• When working in page-layout, you can duplicate a object, move and constrain its movement in one simple click - Command+Option (to duplicate) + Shift key (to constrain movement). Presto, I have a duplicated object perfectly aligned on one plane. When I needed to create spokes on a flywheel, this would have made adding the holes much easier. Currently, there's no easy way to keep the hole aligned/constrained to the center shaft without using other techniques.
• Most software today have Smart Guides that provide hints when the moving object is aligned with a nearby object, whether that be the edge/face or center of body. This would greatly speed up placement. Forcing one to create workplanes for this task seems cumbersome, especially when "snap to" isn't working. I do know workplanes do far more and offer more flexibility. But, for simple move and align task, Smart Guides would be better. This would need to be optional and easy to turn off, because there are times I find it annoying when I don't need it.

There doesn't appear to be a way to easily create duplicate parts that have no link or relationship to its parent. This is a great hindrance. If one needs to make a similar part that is modified independently (beyond moving), he's better off  importing/placing a new part. If my solenoid project is any indication, mirrored or copy/pasted parts create too many restrictions. Is there a way to break this link and create independent parts?

Looking at the tutorials, I've seen that the interface of current version of Fusion has really been streamlined, compared to the 2009 version. Makes much more sense. Keep up the great work. I wish this project could progress much faster, though. Would love to see a Mac version of Autodesk Inventor/Fusion.

best of wishes,

MAJ