topic Re: 2 New plug-ins for testing in Fusion Design, Validate & Document Forum

2 New plug-ins for testing

terry_fusion — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 20:21:28 GMT

Parameter Assistant for Autodesk Fusion

Managing design parameters shouldn't slow you down. Parameter Assistant is a persistent, always-on panel that lives inside your Fusion workspace, giving you instant access to every user parameter in your design — no digging through menus, no dialog boxes that disappear the moment you click Apply.

Select any parameter from a drop-down, see its live value update in real time, type a new expression, and hit Apply. The panel stays open so you can iterate freely — tweaking dimensions, testing ratios, and exploring design variations without breaking your workflow. Star your most-used parameters in Fusion's parameter table and load them instantly with the Favorites filter, keeping the controls you care about front and center.

Why engineers and designers choose it:

Persistent panel that never interrupts the modeling flow
Live current values that always reflect the parameter table
Expression support — enter formulas, not just numbers
Edit multiple parameters simultaneously in a single apply
Favorites filter for fast access to frequently tuned values
Adapts to Fusion's light and dark themes with a remembered preference

On the roadmap: future versions aim to bring parameter grouping by component, slider-based value scrubbing for real-time model feedback, import/export of parameter sets for reuse across designs, and a search bar for projects with large parameter libraries. The goal is to make Parameter Editor the go-to companion for any parametric design workflow in Fusion — from concept exploration to design-for-manufacturing iteration.

SketchPlus for Autodesk Fusion

Autodesk Fusions native sketch tool puts you on one of three origin planes or a face you click — and that's it. SketchPlus changes that. It adds eight purpose-built sketch placement commands directly into the Design workspace, giving you precise control over where and how a sketch is created before you draw a single line.

Offset a sketch a parametric distance from any face. Hinge one at an exact angle. Drop a sketch tangent to a cylinder, perpendicular to a surface, equidistant between two faces, through three points in space, normal to a sweep path, or spanning two coplanar edges. Every command opens the new sketch in edit mode immediately, with the construction plane grouped alongside it in the timeline as a single clean step. Parameter table variables flow through — change a value and the plane updates with it.

A live translucent preview shows exactly where the plane will land as you make selections and adjust values, so there are no surprises when you click OK.

On the roadmap: adaptive preview scaling that fits the geometry you've selected, a point-on-face placement mode for arbitrary surface normals, and direct sketch-on-curve support for complex swept shapes. Longer term, SketchPlus will expand into sketch management — renaming, reordering, and batch operations — to bring the full sketch workflow up to the standard the modelling side of Fusion already enjoys.

These are still in development so use carefully and please report back any anomalies, or requests.

There is documentation inside the zips and install scripts, if the install script fails use the plug-in manager.

Note: Updated Parameter Editor, now sees derived values. 04022026 16:21

Re: 2 New plug-ins for testing

jhackney1972 — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 20:21:34 GMT

I downloaded your SketchPlus.zip, expanded it to a folder, closed Fusion and then ran the Install.bat as an administrator. I get this return.

Re: 2 New plug-ins for testing

terry_fusion — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 20:29:43 GMT

See if it is installed regardless of the error? Also, try to install it directly from the plugin manager.

Thanks,

I feel the install scripts are going to be a headache, maybe for now I'll remove them and simply provide directions for install. 😉

Re: 2 New plug-ins for testing

jhackney1972 — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:45:50 GMT

I did check, it did not install. I used the old method of removing the previous Add-In and then added it using the Add-In panel. Works after that. I love the addition of the Preview Plane, just what it needed. There is a problem, which you can get around, but I think you need to look at it. If you used, for example the Sketch at Angle selection the preview plane appears but disappears as soon as you type in a new angle. You can get it to preview the plane again if you "reselect" the Reference Plane but I know this is not what you intended. The Animated GIF will show this.

Edit: Did you have a chance to look at your code and correct what is causing this problem?

Re: 2 New plug-ins for testing

Drewpan — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 23:06:02 GMT

Hi,

I can see these will be useful tools. I am a little confused about the SketchPlus.

I know that a Sketch defaults to the Primary Planes and various created Faces. I

am confused about placing Sketches on other non-default Planes. I can create a

Plane with 3-points and place a sketch on that plane. I used this function frequently

on my last Project along with Planes at an Angle and others. What is different with

your new tool? Extra Default Planes would be useful but there will still be situations

where I need to create a custom Plane which I can already do.

Cheers

Andrew

Re: 2 New plug-ins for testing

terry_fusion — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:26 GMT

Rather than having to create a plane first on three points you just create the sketch on three points and the planes created automatically and it's entered into the timeline with the sketch it just saves a few keystrokes.

Re: 2 New plug-ins for testing

terry_fusion — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 23:47:34 GMT

It takes the one step out of the manual process, you simply create a sketch instead of the construction plane (that is created automatically).

Fewer mouse moves and less clicking is a bonus for large projects (100s of operations) Every little bit helps.

Hope that helps?

Re: 2 New plug-ins for testing

terry_fusion — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:45:17 GMT

I am working on the third plug-in for this trio.

I'm calling it a Timeline organizer.

Its taken weeks to get to the point where it can read and update to Fusions timeline

What it does is copies Fusions timeline into a virtual timeline manager that allows the user to group, nest groups, change group themes, and more when I'm done.

Re: 2 New plug-ins for testing

jhackney1972 — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 19:21:46 GMT

Have you had a chance to update SketchPlus add-in to overcome the problem shown in Message #4 of this Forum Thread? If so, has it been posted?

Re: 2 New plug-ins for testing

terry_fusion — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 21:08:55 GMT

Jack,

Hi, yes I did see that.

I thought I responded, guess not? 🤔

I will take a look and check to make sure' I remember the issue and working on it, ( oldness on my part).

I'll make sure to run through and review any open issues.

Thanks for the reminder 👍

Re: 2 New plug-ins for testing

Drewpan — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:09 GMT

Hi,

Thinking that this is a dangerous tool to have available and maybe defeats the purpose of

having a good workflow as you design. I do get it that there are times we don't plan ahead

as we should and have to go back in time and fix our oversights. I also get that sometimes

it is too late to do that.

I think that my biggest problem is that some people usually want to "edit the timeline" for

all of the wrong reasons. The timeline is not just about recording what a designer has done

and in what order they did it. It is also there to show the design intent and the workflow

method of how they achieved the end result. I don't have an issue with going back in time

for minor corrections or additions, but a full re-write and edit will destroy the story of what

the timeline is supposed to be telling you.

One of the major uses of the timeline is to tell the story of how a Design was put together.

While it is frustrating when you make an error sometimes it is better to go back and create

a new Component and use the techniques that do work to do it again than try to fix the mess

that you have created with the first one. The issue comes about when you delete the mess,

including from the timeline. Now there is no record of what you have done and no way to

follow the story of how you got to the end result. In my experience personally and with

helping out on the forum, whenever I hear someone say "but I will simply remember I did

that six months down the track" they are usually delusional. They will NOT remember what

they did, and if you have edited or deleted the timeline story then the hints to actually

remembering will be gone.

One of the reasons that the Gurus will sometimes tell people to start again from scratch with

their badly wounded design is that it gives them an opportunity to make a clean timeline that

is logically planed and built the way they should have done it the first time. Many people will

baulk at this suggestion because they think that it will take the same amount of work to get to

where they are now. This is not the case. Restarting gives you the opportunity to plan the

design the way you should have done before starting initially. It also is way faster because

the time spent working out a method of how to do something you have already spent. The

second time you simply do it the right way first. Similarly you don't need to go and work out all

of your calculations as you have already done it.

A tidy timeline is not and should not be required for any design. It might be the way we want

the design process to go but the reality is different. Editing out the "bad stuff" removes important

information that you will use much time later if and when you need to revisit a design.

Take a design that you had to re-do several times to get right that used some complex techniques.

Since you did this design you have done quite a few other designs with much different techniques.

A couple of years later you need to revisit the design and make some changes. If you leave the

embarrassing drivel that didn't work in the design, at least you can see what didn't work. And some

of those techniques may actually be useful again now for the changes and with the knowledge you

now have two years later. Except you deleted all that stuff by editing the timeline to make it clean

and less embarrassing. Now the design might work but there is a heap of information missing and

even though you thought "I will remember that stuff" you don't. This now makes it very difficult

because you now have to work all this stuff out again. What is worse is that it is not your Project

any more and you have to work out all this stuff so you can explain it to the new person who is

now responsible for it.

We all make mistakes and that is a good thing because we can learn from those mistakes. Hiding our

mistakes might be less embarrassing but doesn't really help in the long run. Even Einstein made

errors when working out Relativity. It is one of the reasons there are two versions, Relativity and

Special Relativity.

Learning the Fusion API will be very useful to you I am sure. I would think long and hard about the

amount of time you are spending on this project and ask if a Timeline Editor will be more useful

than it will be dangerous. I am not saying don't do it. I just don't think it is a very good idea.

Cheers

Andrew

Re: 2 New plug-ins for testing

terry_fusion — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:34:41 GMT

This has zero to do with anything you stated.

What TimelineOrganizer Does
TimelineOrganizer is a persistent palette panel add-in for Autodesk
Fusion 360. It reads the active design's timeline and allows users to
create unlimited nested virtual groups around those timeline items
without modifying the Fusion timeline itself.

Think of it as an organizational overlay: custom names, colors, and
labels applied to a parallel hierarchy that lives entirely within the
add-in. The Fusion timeline is never modified — all virtual groups are
saved to a local JSON file per document and reload automatically on
the next Fusion session.

See the attached videos for clarification.