topic Re: Surface Lines & Smoothing in Fusion Design, Validate & Document Forum

Surface Lines & Smoothing

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 15:59:56 GMT

Hi Everyone.

I am fairly new to Fusion 360. Watched a bit of tutorials, read quite a few Fusion Forums but I am struggling to find an answer to my design dilemma.

I am trying to construct components that need to be smooth when finished. As a summary, I started off with rectangle sketches and creating box shapes. From each axis / viewing angle, I then drew "smoothed" profiles using 'Fit Point Spline' and 'Lines' and from the Front, Left and Top respectively. I then extruded these "smoothed" sketches using the Intersect Operation (picture with yellow shade shows a sample of what I did). This helped me to create a housing profile close to what I need, however the surfaces now have these lines where the intersection occurred (please see attachments), which I expected, however I am not able to find a way to smooth this. I watched tutorials, read some forums (this one stood out in particular - https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-design-validate/cleaning-up-unwanted-lines/m-p/8362680#M172965 ) but only solves my problem up to a degree where the geometry starts breaking.

Please advise me if there is a better way to model / work in Fusion. I am used to programs like 3DS Max etc, but the company I am working for requires me to design new housings / fittings using Fusion to prepare for 3D printing and Die-Casting.

Thank you everyone.

Re: Surface Lines & Smoothing

TheCADWhisperer — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 16:04:46 GMT

Can you File>Export your *.f3d file to your local drive and then Attach it here to a Reply?

Re: Surface Lines & Smoothing

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 16:17:26 GMT

Thank you for your response. I have attached 2 files for you. The one file, MSLv1, will give a a better idea of the light housing I am designing, it will also show the ugly lines etc in shaded and render that I was referring to. I also attached MSL_Test which is the pictures I used for my forum post. Both of them suffer from the same line issue so I am clearly doing something wrong or using the wrong tool for my intended result.

Thank you for your help.

Re: Surface Lines & Smoothing

TheCADWhisperer — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 16:25:40 GMT

I don't think you will get anywhere with the technique that you are using (but unfortunately I do not have time to show how I would model the geometry - hopefully someone else will jump in here).

I can tell you - I would fully define my sketches and make use of obvious symmetry about the Origin.

I would not have any Moves and most likely not any Delete faces.

I certainly wouldn't have any unresolved issues hightlighted in the timeline. Good luck!

Re: Surface Lines & Smoothing

TrippyLighting — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 17:04:27 GMT

Before continuing, my recommendation would be to go through one of the tutorial courses in the Learn & Support section of this forum. This will serve to provide you with a basic understanding of how parametric CAD modeling works.

It is indeed very different from modeling in a Sub-D and polygon modeler such as 3DSMax.

You could model this with T-Splines similar to what you are used to, but if molds need to be created, being able to define a precise split line, etc. from a T-spline isn't exactly trivial.

In essence, the approach in CAD modeling is not dissimilar to recommendations in Sub-D molding. You first define your large shapes, and only when you are fully satisfied with the overall shape and proportions, then you add detail.

While that is more important in Sub-D m modeling, it is also a very good approach to model in CAD.