topic Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable in Fusion Manufacture Forum

2D contour selection not easily identifiable

mmilleratticus — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 21:07:00 GMT

I cannot figure out which arrows belong to which contours. How can I change this?

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

seth.madore — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 21:13:42 GMT

Could you share your Fusion file here?
File > Export > Save to local folder, return to thread and attach the .f3d file in your reply

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

mmilleratticus — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 22:03:07 GMT

No, I cannot. I see hovering over the contour highlights the arrow or some thing like that. Maybe make it so the arrows appear on another screen even further from the selected contour. Sorry to be frustrated and sarcastic, but after 50 updates/patches in a 12 month period I'm getting weary of the the "Latest and Greatest".

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

seth.madore — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 22:38:40 GMT

Can you share it privately, then? If so, you could DM me an A360 link to the file. Right click on the file in the Data Panel and select "Share Link".

I get your frustration, a lot of people are feeling it right now...

😞

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

mmilleratticus — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 14:52:18 GMT

I see this is a new feature. Once again, the user is clotheslined with new features. Is it a helpful feature? I'm sure it is, but is it helpful to me? In a word, no. I scrapped a part because I missed the one path that was on the wrong side of the contour. Habits developed in the past were no help to me and...This new position of the contour arrow is problematic at best and outright confusing sometimes depending on the density of contours selected. No one will convince me otherwise.

What used to be a great feature of Fusion 360 cloud based with regular updates has now officially transistioning to an annoyance at best and more accurately described as destablizing to the users. Established workflows are constantly being upended. As a user in the back of my mind with everything new or unexpected I encounter with Fusion 360is this a new feature or a bug? I don't have time to sift through and figure that out...I just want it to work and work well.

Using the openly users as bug finders is seems short sighted. It seems to be being baked into the Autodesk business model, at least for Fusion 360.

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

seth.madore — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 00:30:28 GMT

Dilbert never fails at getting a chuckle out of me, good stuff 😂

You might be glad to know that we're quickly working on improving the experience with the new selection methods. It had a bumpy start (putting it mildly), but it gives us a better platform to iterate on and refine as needed. I've played around in the Development build and I think a lot of the concerns are going to be addressed in short order

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

mmilleratticus — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 14:46:06 GMT

It's important to be a critic when appropriate. And I know I can be a harsh critic. BUT! I will be at the head of the line to defend my choice of using Fusion 360 and talk about what a VALUE it is. Find me another platform that provides such an incredible array of tools for the price point. Yeah, I know of better INDIVIDUAL platforms for each of the 6 or 7 things Fusion does (Modeling, Rendering, PCB Layout, FEA...etc) . But not for the price and not with the simplicity that Fusion provides.

On any given day I will run sophisticated FEA simulations, program a CNC machine and design solid model assemblies. I provide good results using those different engineering techniques and more. Doing all that without leaving the software by leveraging the seamless relationship between molules. I do this so frequently I have forgotten how convenient it is. I have multiple methods to access to outstanding tech support...QUICKLY. AND, oh by the way, for all that I still pay a fraction of the price that the Solidworks, NX, Mastercam, Cosmol or Ansys users pay.

So yeah, I'm critical, because it's our job (daily professional users) to make sure you guys know when you're hurting our productivity by releasing a feature before it's ready. BUGS are more than when something happens unexpectedly. They are when the expected behavior is not thought out completely or just plain old stupid. Not sure in which category this "bug" (poorly thought our or stupid) falls into or maybe there's another? What I do know in a busy program you have made the perfect way to create CONFUSION!! That wasn't ready to be released into the wild but you did it anyway. I was clotheslined by it and it pissed me off (I'm over it now). Programming takes me longer now because I cannot trust what I see and I have to simulate to find errors I never made before this better feature was added. I'd bet the farm on me not being the only one who got stung by it either.

If you want to add a great feature, add the ability to export and 3D print an Event Simulation prediction. I did that 15yrs ago with another FEA software and it should be available in Fusion 360. Even in 2023 there are people who think a sim isn't as accurate as a lab test. There is nothing in the world like holding a printed prediction next to a lab test and struggling to find the differences...it really is amazing. FEA to lab test correlation is the brass ring in the simulation world, any simulation anaylist with tell you that. One of the simplest and best tools for that is 3D printing a prediction for comparative anaylsis. Yet you don't give us that, why?

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

HughesTooling — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 15:36:35 GMT

@seth.madore In the past the offset of the arrow seemed to be controlled by the radius of the cutter? Looks like now it's a fixed offset, so OK with bigger cutters no so good with smaller ones. The new offset actually works better in 2d Profile (Fabrication tab) where in the past it was fixed at quite a big offset and caused a lot of confusion like the pictures in the first post.

If this is tuned up to work as before, can the 2d Profile toolpath use the nozzle radius rather than the fixed offset. I complained about this a long time ago but there didn't seem to be much interest or understanding of the problem.

Thanks Mark

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

seth.madore — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 15:37:57 GMT

@HughesTooling this is good feedback and something I'm more than happy to raise with the developers!

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

HughesTooling — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 15:40:58 GMT

@seth.madore Here's an example where in the past using a 0.4mm cutter the offset for the arrow would be 0.2mm and easy to figure out but now doesn't work at all!😞

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

mmilleratticus — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 15:45:36 GMT

Amen brother!

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

rasmus.pedersen — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 18:44:58 GMT

We hear you and we have raised CAM-42978 for this particular issue. Thanks for being candid with us about this pain point. Would you be willing @HughesTooling to share the example part from the image you made, it might be handy for us as we try to improve this.

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

mmilleratticus — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 18:51:52 GMT

Hi Rasmus,

Sure I can share privately as long as the file never makes into the wild.

I'm confused if you're an Autodesk guy or and private business guy.

Matt

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

rasmus.pedersen — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 18:56:49 GMT

Hi @mmilleratticus I work for Autodesk. My e-mail is rasmus.pedersen@autodesk.com
Any parts/data you share in private with me wont be shared outside of Autodesk.

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

mkulikow — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 14:57:42 GMT

I agree, these updates totally BREAK my workflow as I cannot see the direction on trace toolpaths. I am cutting EVA foam which requires a climb and conventional cut, but I don't know which paths are which until I simulate EVERY SINGLE ONE! There are hundreds and hundreds per job, totally sucks now.

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

mmilleratticus — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 16:17:45 GMT

I'd say welcome to the club, but this is one club I know no one wants to belong to.

Dwell on the contour and it highlights the arrow. Unfortunately, dwelling on the arrow does not highlight the contour. That helps a little bit, but I agree, this is NOT a helpful feature.

Re: 2D contour selection not easily identifiable

mmilleratticus — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 16:18:43 GMT

Hi Rasmus,

I sent an email to figure out how to get my file to you. If you still want it, let me know.