Support multiple components per drawing

[CarlM89]

Some of us have large plotter printers and we can fit drawings of multiple parts on a single large sheet. Currently, we can pick only a single part or assembly per page. This really throws a wrench in my workflow and is a big waste of printing resources. Aditionally, it would be really nice if we could have multiple pages in a single drawing document. This way we could prepare all of the drawings for a project and export them all into a convenient multi page PDF document for printing or emailing.

[TwistedLogic]

I need this feature not to fill empty space on a plotter, but to generate assembly documentation.  This was my primary purpose in purchasing this software.  😞

[CarlM89]

 As of yet the drawing features in F360 are realy primitive. If I were you, I'd export dxf files and assemble your assembly documentation in a vector art software like Illustrator or Inkscape. This is really the only aspect of the software I find deficient and have high hopes it will be enhanced down the road.

[TwistedLogic]

I can only export my drawings in DWG format, not DXF.  I also cannot get Visio 2007 to import the exported DWG files.  I even tried downloading a trial version of Visio 2013, but still no dice.  I then tried converting the DWG files to an older version with DWG TrueView 2016, and Visio was able to import the converted files but only the borders and text were visible, not the model.  This is becoming a cost prohibitive pursuit from a labor perspective.

[CarlM89]

Try saving it out as a PDF. You can open PDF files in Illustrator and use illustrator to save to DXF. I'd just use illustrator though to assemble all your drawings in an atractive layout rather than exporting to DXF. I tried this workflow and it works relatively effortlessly. If you don't have Illustrator I belive you can get it free for a trial period. It's worth a try.

[TimeraAutodesk]

We are working on this feature this year, so keep a look out for it!

[brianrepp]

 @CarlM89 - would you be ok if we were to change the title of this idea to something like "Support multiple components per drawing" for easier searchability?

[CarlM89]

@brianrepp Yes, Please do.

[TimeraAutodesk]

Hi @CarlM89,

I just wanted to follow up with you and everyone on this thread to make sure you're aware that we added a new feature in the July 22nd update of Fusion 360 that allows you to insert multiple assets of a design on a drawing sheet. For example, you can show a full assembly view and a part view, or an assembly view and an exploded view from Animations on the same sheet. We are continuing to work on enhancing this experience by adding multi-sheet capabilities later this year - but I hope that the ability to add multiple assets on a sheet is also helpful in the meantime. 

For more information on this new feature, check out the help section: http://fusion360.autodesk.com/learning/learning.html?guid=GUID-90A70B85-653B-4D0C-8AD5-1215A829692F

Let us know your thoughts / questions / concerns, and thanks for contributing to the community!

Best,

Timera

[CarlM89]

@TimeraAutodesk This is excellent. I didn't realize this was added. Perhaps a more intuitive way could be added where the next part could be added from the drawing space, rather than the model environment. In any case, thanks for following up!

[TimeraAutodesk]

@Anonymous, You're absolutely right! We are working on a much more intuitive way to manage and create these views from within Drawings as the next "phase" of this project, so I'm happy to hear that's what you're looking for. 

Would you be interested in meeting for a quick call / screenshare in the next week or so? I'd love to hear more about how you're using Drawings and get your feedback on some pre-release projects. Shoot me an email at timera.hart@autodesk.com if so and we'll get it set up.

-Timera

[Anonymous]

@TimeraAutodesk Any news regarding finding a more intuitive way for this? It took me a lot of googling yesterday to find this way, I really think there should be an approach from within drawings.

Easiest I can thank of would be a right mouse click on a component in the drawing view, e.g. "add base view of component"

Thanks!

Lennart

[TimeraAutodesk]

Hey @Anonymous, thanks for following up with me on this. We did some work to make it easier to point to unique assets of a design (i.e. from the model or from a storyboard), but we haven't refined the "create base view of single component" workflow from directly in drawings. The best way to go about doing that is to create a base view from your model reference, and then right-click on the component you want isolated and select "Suppress all except selected". This will isolate that component in your base view. Hit me up if you've got any questions about this - in all transparency, this is a workflow that we won't get to polishing for some time since the team is heads down on finishing the title block authoring environment and parts list enhancements. 

[Anonymous]

we need that and we need to change the measures of drawing components (line weight, arrows size etc..)