topic Re: dwg from Fusion360 in Fusion Support Forum

dwg from Fusion360

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 21:36:30 GMT

I have a drawing from Fusion360 which I've output as a dwg. It opens in LT just fine.

I need to edit what I've imported - geometry, not dimensions. The drawings appear in paper space, so I understand I need to get the views into model space for editing.

Using chspace, I cannot select the views. I get the message "Select objects: 1 found" followed by "1 was filtered out, 0 total."

I'm new to LT. I can't tell if the views I want to edit are blocks, groups, viewports, or whatever else they could be.

Thanks,

David

Re: dwg from Fusion360

pendean — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 21:56:57 GMT

To use CHSPACE you first must have a scaled viewport that looks into modelspace.
That probably does not exist.

You could just do the old copy/paste from the layout into modelspace then scale it to a 1:1 scale.

Re: dwg from Fusion360

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 22:00:07 GMT

"Cannot copy that object"

Re: dwg from Fusion360

sthompson1021 — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 22:39:20 GMT

If you select the object and open the properties pallet, what does it say it is?

Re: dwg from Fusion360

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 22:44:05 GMT

I believe it says they are drawing views.

Re: dwg from Fusion360

steven-g — Sat, 20 Jan 2018 07:44:17 GMT

It would be much easier if you posted a drawing file, then someone could see what you have.

A couple of other things to try would be exportlayout which would create another dwg but in model space (hopefully depending on what is going on)

create a viewport using mview and see if chspace will work then

copy anything in paperspace using Ctrl+shift+C give a basepoint then go to model space and use Ctrl+v

but these may not work as it sounds a bit odd from your descriptions

Re: dwg from Fusion360

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Jan 2018 20:20:17 GMT

Here's the file I'm talking about.

EXPORTLAYOUT does not work, as the file it saves is empty.

MVIEW may work, as I got it to do something, but I'm not sure what! I'll keep looking at that approach. **EDIT** Nope, using this approach, I still can't select the view I want to work on. MVIEW appears to create a viewport, but I can't select the view using CHSPACE.

Re: dwg from Fusion360

steven-g — Sat, 20 Jan 2018 20:40:05 GMT

Interesting, I couldn't do anything with it either, so I did a bit of digging, the dwg's produced by Fusion are not editable they remain related to Fusion there is a screencast showing how you can get a normal dwg file

Re: dwg from Fusion360

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Jan 2018 23:21:40 GMT

Thanks for the link to the screencast, but it's showing use of the EXPORTLAYOUT command, just in a different way than entering the command.

When I try to do that, as shown in the screencast, the export of the layout fails. "** EXPORTLAYOUT failed to generate a new drawing **"

Well, well, well, as I was typing this, I tried it again, and got it to work on the wings, but not the fuselage. I'll keep trying and see what happens.

Thanks again,

David

Re: dwg from Fusion360

steven-g — Sun, 21 Jan 2018 10:13:00 GMT

Yeah sorry I don't use Fusion 360, but it does point out where the problem lies, maybe you could ask here or try this

Re: dwg from Fusion360

pendean — Mon, 22 Jan 2018 14:16:52 GMT

Thanks for the file: it appears Fusion only exported 2d static pictures, no actual model.

The folks in the Fusion360 forum might be able to offer you other export options if any exist https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360/ct-p/1234

Re: dwg from Fusion360

john.vellek — Mon, 22 Jan 2018 21:14:09 GMT

Hi @Anonymous,

Is it possible to share your Fusion 360 drawing with me (the original one)? I would like to see if I can get this to behave in AutoCAD LT for you.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: dwg from Fusion360

john.vellek — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 15:52:28 GMT

Hi @Anonymous,

Thank you for access to your Fusion model. It is interesting that when I download it and then export from Fusion as a SAT file, I can bring it into full AutoCAD without any problems. I can edit and successfully export the layout.

To get this into AutoCAD LT, I used the web link and created a downloadable DWG. When I open the file in LT, it sees hundreds of errors. I still do get geometry in modelspace (by default) and I can modify it too.

Can you tell me how you are going through the translation from Fusion 360 to AutoCAD LT? Please also tell me what you are trying to do in AutoCAD LT that you are not able to do in Fusion 360? It would be nice to keep it all in one application if possible.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: dwg from Fusion360

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 18:03:57 GMT

John,

Again, thanks for looking at this for me!

I had created the drawing in Fusion360 then used "Output as dwg." When you exported as an SAT, you exported directly from the 3D model, correct?

The main reason I got LT was for creating the laser cutting files in dxf format. I can get most of that done in Fusion, but there are a few finishing touches that seem to work better with LT. The big thing is the only program I found that would properly read Fusion's dxf output was AutoCAD LT. The laser cutting houses I found use a wide variety of programs, and LT gives me the ability to save back many versions, both as dwg and dxf, to hopefully get them files that work. Fusion can't do that.

Now I need to create the plans that customers will use to assemble this kit. The wings are usually built directly over the plans, while the fuselage and tail surfaces don't need to be due to the design approach I've used. Plans of this nature don't need to show ALL the hidden lines, and showing all of them can actually be confusing. For example, in the view of the wings, you can see the strut in hidden lines underneath the sheeting. This doesn't need to be there. Right now to remove it, in the 3D model I would have to place it into a component outside of the wing component.

There are some conventions used with RC models that I want to apply. Often there are cutaway sections to show more clearly what's underneath a section of sheeting - I have no idea how to do this with Fusion. There are standard hatching approaches to show balsa wood and sometimes plywood, and end grain vs. edge or surface grain, that I want to use.

So, I was hoping to be able to output a simple 2D drawing from Fusion360, then do my relatively simple edits and get the job done. Instead, I've run smack into model space vs. paper space issues, and a whole lot more complexity than I was expecting. It does show me that LT is a lot more powerful than I expected, but if I don't know how to harness that power it does me no good.

David

Re: dwg from Fusion360

john.vellek — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 18:12:22 GMT

Hi @Anonymous

Yes, once I had your Fusion 360 model, I exported from there to SAT format. I am not sure why it came in clean as opposed to the export to DWG. In either case, when I brought into AutoCAD/LT, they came into modelspace. If you save your model as a DWG, can you insert it directly into modelspace as if it were a block?

I am also wondering if DWG Trueview would give you the DWG and DXF options without having to buy something.

I would like to move this thread to the Fusion 360 board as they might be able to give you options for cut away or exploded views. Please let me know if that is acceptable. Or, you could start a new thread there too.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: dwg from Fusion360

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 18:24:59 GMT

Feel free to move this to the Fusion360 board. I'm active there as well.

No, I can't seem to insert the dwg directly into model space.

I have DWG Trueview and used it extensively with three different respected license-free 2D CAD packages to try to get files that would work before finally purchasing AutoCAD LT.

I'll try exporting as an SAT as you suggested and see if that works.

Thanks,

David

Re: dwg from Fusion360

john.vellek — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 18:28:07 GMT

Hi @Anonymous,

Just so we are on the same page, can you make a quick Screencast video of how you move to DWG format and then into AutoCAD LT? I am not sure why it performs differently for me.

Re: dwg from Fusion360

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 18:37:37 GMT

Unfortunately Screencast conflicts with my mouse driver! I had to uninstall Screencast to get my mouse working again.

@john.vellek wrote:
Hi @Anonymous,

Just so we are on the same page, can you make a quick Screencast video of how you move to DWG format and then into AutoCAD LT? I am not sure why it performs differently for me.

Re: dwg from Fusion360

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 22:23:05 GMT

John,

How did you import the SAT file? According to the documentation I've found, LT doesn't support that.

David

Re: dwg from Fusion360

john.vellek — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 22:27:34 GMT

HI @Anonymous,

Yes, I believe I mentions (if I didn't I apologize) that I did that in AutoCAD. That is why I wanted to see how you were doing your process. Can you give me screen captures at each step?