sketch constraints

[kellings]

I'm really not a fan of sketch constraints in Fusion 360. For instance when drawing a slot shape, I want to see when my arc and line are tangent when creating the arc, not after I have created the arc. 

I also find the sketch to look kind of clutted with all of the sketch constraints being visible. I'm not sure we need to see them all the time. If I see what they are while I create them that should do the trick. Should I need to investigate or change just turn the visibility on and make the changes. 

This still reminds me of constraints in Autocad vs. Inventor. Nothing I hate worse than constraints in Autocad. 

[kellings]

And I understand that you don't want to constrain your free from t-splines stuff (yet...haha) but why not for the model environment? 

Simple example. I wanted to do a circle to slot loft. I would like the slot sketch to be centered about the circle sketch. Drawing the circle shape at the origin is no problem. Drawing the slot shape and then then trying to center that shape with respect to the origin/circle was difficult. I thought i could just draw a line between the 2 center points of the slot shape and then add a coincident constraint between that line and the projected orign point in that sketch. Coincident doesn't seem to understand midpoints? Seems as if that should work. 

[haughec]

Great feedback.  My answers:

"I want to see when my arc and line are tangent when creating the arc, not after I have created the arc".

• I agree.  We display a tangent glyph when sketching a line from an arc, but apparently not when sketching an arc from a line.  I've logged a defect.

"I also find the sketch to look kind of clutted with all of the sketch constraints being visible.".  

• Would a simple toggle suffice?  If the toggle was off, you would see the constraint previews while sketching, but they would disappear as soon as the sketch object was created.
• Another option we've considered is to display the constraints only for selected objects.  Let's say that you've used the (theoretical) option above to hide all constraints.  From there, each time you select sketch objects, we would temporarily display the constraints for those objects and allow you to interact with them (or ignore them).  The constraints would then disappear again when the sketch objects weren't selected.  Thoughts on this approach? 

"Coincident doesn't seem to understand midpoints?"

• You should be able to use a Midpoint constraint to accomplish the same result, but I agree that it would be nice to handle this with a Conincident constraint.  I'll look into this.
  

Thanks!

[kellings]

I really try hard not to be "that Inventor guy", but can't you just use Inventor as the basis for how constraints should work? That program has been tested and used for many years now.

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@haughec wrote:

Great feedback.  My answers:

"I agree.  We display a tangent glyph when sketching a line from an arc, but apparently not when sketching an arc from a line.  I've logged a defect."

• Great, thank you.

"Would a simple toggle suffice?  If the toggle was off, you would see the constraint previews while sketching, but they would disappear as soon as the sketch object was created."

• Yes, this would be perfect. For reference: launch Inventor, sketch stuff, take notes

"Another option we've considered is to display the constraints only for selected objects.  Let's say that you've used the (theoretical) option above to hide all constraints.  From there, each time you select sketch objects, we would temporarily display the constraints for those objects and allow you to interact with them (or ignore them).  The constraints would then disappear again when the sketch objects weren't selected.  Thoughts on this approach?"

• Yep, I don't mind that either. It is a similar option that is currently offered in Inventor. Although, Inventor does do a terrible job displaying the individual constraint boxes depending on your zoom level. I'll see if I can attach an image of what I mean.

"You should be able to use a Midpoint constraint to accomplish the same result, but I agree that it would be nice to handle this with a Conincident constraint.  I'll look into this."

• I'm not sure why we would need a Midpoint constraint if this was just built into the coincident constraint. We've made it for 10+ years in Inventor without the need for a midpoint constraint. Is the purpose of this constraint to make it more clear that there is an option for this where is might be a little more hidden in the coincident constraint? I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I didn't even notice the midpoint constraint option when I originally posted my comments on this.

I'm really not trying to turn Fusion 360 into Inventor, but for the places the two programs are similar, can't they be made to work the same? It seems like the wheel is being reinvented here.

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[kellings]

Here are a couple of images showing what I mean about the sketch constraint boxes. I drew kind of a complicated sketch just to get my point across. You can see from the two images of the same sketch with the constraints displayed at different zoom levels, one is useable and the other isn't.

[FranzVeits]

The lack of knowing if a part is constrained or not is killing me. I'll be super far into a drawing and then I notice the dimension is 24.9999954" instead of 25 like I intially put. Then I spend hours trying to fix it and find what is not constrained. SolidWorks does this with a blue or black line letting you know if your lines/arcs are constrained or not. F360 often makes me want to throw my computer out of my window. I'm trying to machine parts, not spend all weekend trying to correct a simple drawing that takes me 20min in SolidWorks. No, I have no affiliation with SW. I just want affordable software that works as smooth as SW. 

[Maowen_Zhang]

@FranzVeits, we have new feature that check constraint stauts of sketch geometries, but current is a preview feature and need turn it on manually, could you please give it a try and notify us how does it work ? Thanks for reporting the issue!

[daniel_lyall]

@Maowen_Zhang

thats a complet **** to use it`s to easy to make a drawing go wonkey and only works half the time I had to redo 4 drawings today I did with that turned on they changed shape by them self. 

[daniel_lyall]

@FranzVeits

deleting the constraints can help that, if you change it to how you wont and it goes stupid undo and delet the constraints and try again. haveing dementions in the wrong place can make drawings go stupid aswell.

[Maowen_Zhang]

@daniel_lyall, thanks for sharing the issue! We're actively improve the feature, very appreciated for any comments or detailed image or case that could help us improve it. Thanks a lot! 

[jjurban55]

Hi Franz, do you mean that a driving dimension you entered, as apposed to a driven dimension, actually changed its indicated value?  Or did it show 25, but by going to Inspect > Measure you determined it was actually slightly different?  I can't remember ever encountering a driving dimension actually changing its indicated value by itself.

Thanks for any info!

Jesse

[daniel_lyall]

@Maowen_Zhang I all ready have 

[FranzVeits]

Thanks for the replies! Yes I will try that and get back to you!

[FranzVeits]

@Maowen_Zhang Thank you and yes I will try it.

[FranzVeits]

@jjurban55 when drawing a line I will enter in the values,  25" @ 90* , then after making other lines and arcs ill go and inspect it. When I inspect it, the dimension will be slightly off and the line is also at a slight angle.  It's more than likely just me not properly constraining the line, which is why I was talking about making it easier to know if something is constrained or not.  

[jjurban55]

Hi Franz, if you have driving dimensions for length and angle, that are showing, it should maintain the precision shown in those.

What I remember doing a while back was increasing the default precision under Preferences > Unit and Value Display, then adjust general precision and angular precision values as desired. 

I'd be interested to know if that solves your issue.

Jesse

[FranzVeits]

So I manually turned on the preview. It does not show anything different. And my hole locations moved again and im very heated right now. After I moved my hole locations I saved it and now it's acting like I never saved it. Thats awesome because I just machined a flange based of the wrong numbers. Not off enough to affect the fit but it's just frustrating. The CAM software has crashed on me several times so that could have something to do with it not saving properly. So now I get to move my holes for the 3rd time and hope it saves.

[FranzVeits]

I lied, my drawing is way worse than I thought. Like half my drawing shifted. Even if I have stuff with dimensions and constraints things will shift as I progress through the drawing. This is extremely frustrating.

[daniel_lyall]

where parts of you drawing`s go funny removeing constraints or mesurements can help

[Maowen_Zhang]

@FranzVeits, I'm very sorry about the issue that you meet, could you help to share your related file (or simple screencast/video) to help us check the case and improve it, Thank you!