Sketching Constraint Menus

[thomasstrong]

While starting the training in Sketching, I see the constraints menu looking different than mine (see image). I have no option for vertical and horizontal constraints seperately. It shows in the menu as "Horizontal/Vertical". Is this a preferences setting or has it just changed since the video tutorial?

Thanks in advance.

[O.Tan]

Horizontal/Vertical is the latest version, it'll now go either horizontal/vertical depending on how far is the geometry in relative to each other.

[thomasstrong]

If it goes Horizontal and I want it to go Vertical, how do I change that?

[TrippyLighting]

I don't think there is currently any direct way to convert the constraint.

You'll have to delete the constraint, move the highlighted line in your sketch closer to vertical and then re-apply the horizontal/vertical constraint

[herzinj]

Hi Thomasstrong,

As mentioned already, the easiest way to change this constraint would probably be to delete it and move your line closer to vertical. 

How would you like to see the horizontal/vertical constraint option work?  Perhaps there would be an option for you to click "flip direction" or something like that added to the interface for situations like this?  

I think the majority of the times you wouldn't encounter this problem, but if you seem to run into it a lot, please feel free to share one of your models with us and we could try and give you some tips on your workflow specifically.

James

[TrippyLighting]

A menu antry for just flipping the direction would need at least two options.

Vertically up or vertically down.

Horizontal righr or horizontal left.

[Jon.Dean]

I think that when you apply a Horizontal / Vertical constraint, you are going to have the geometry close to the desired position, you are just pinning it down.

So it is going to be very rare, that you want to switch a vertical to horizontal or vice-versa.

Deleting and re-applying is an acceptable workaround.

Jon.

[WoodTech28]

I have not worked with Fusion much yet, so I may be jumping the gun. However, I agree with you when sketches and geometry are simple.  However, there are times that I have a more complex sketch, or surrounding geometry may make it more difficult to determine which way on the sketch plane is horizontal/vertical. If I apply the H/V constraint, and I assume that it went one way, when I want it to go another. It could cause problems downstream, and we all know downstream problems are expensive.

When I am designing, I want my use of my tool (ie Fusion) to be like it was when I was on a drafting board.  I never had to think about what direction the line went. I don't want to have to take a moment and determine for sure that it went one way and not the other.

I know the instance I am talking about should be rare, but it is possible.  Also, what is gained by making it one command instead of two..   A small amount of real estate on the screen?  I would rather it be direct.

Last, as I work with Fusion more, if I determine your right, I will come back and say so!

Ed

[O.Tan]

Well the previous split h and v constraint has a problem where sometimes it'll function not as intended and then the user will have to do more debugging to get it to properly h constraint for example, the unified h and v solved that

[markusbarnes]

I cannot understand how this is an improvement. If the split command didn't do what I intended, hit undo and try it again.

 But now, if I want to constrain one point vertically or horizontally to another point, I have to guess which one it will choose for me depending on the distance. If I guess wrong, I have to delete it and move my geometry closer or further to the other point using another guess. If I am lucky, I will only have to hit undo once, if not several times. If your geometry is sufficiently complicated, then you have to cleanup afterwards.

What is going on here?  The split version way was way simpler and easier to use. The new way is counterintuitive and doesn't work like the other constraints. It also doesn't work like any other existing CAD program. You realize little problems like this cause users to uninstall and try a different application. Why are you fixing something that isn't broken?  Spend the time fixing features that are broken or spent it improving existing ones. I just wasted a whole bunch of time trying to figure it out and writing this.

[luapsake]

A couple comments on this:

1) As mentioned in a previous response, for complex designs it is easier to add a new shape away from the intended point in the drawing and then align it using vertical/horizontal constraints.  This does not work as well with the new setup.

2) An alternative is to add a sketch dimension and set its length to zero.  However, Fusion 360 does not allow zero length sketch dimensions.