Folders !!! FOLDERS !!!!! FOLDERS!!!!
Hi,
Sorry to hear of your trouble. I care and hope to show you some tools that exist today in Fusion to help you. I also want to encourage you to use the Idea Station for your ideas.
The way you describe the folder light bulbs is the way it works. The top level folder bulb is like a power switch for a building. If the building has no power, none of the lights inside work, as you have noticed.
Managing Visibility of many objects:
For components you can right click and use Isolate on the browser node. When you are done with the isolated component, right click on it again and pick Unisolate. The previous model view returns.
But since you mention folders, you must be using mostly bodies. For bodies there is no isolate, but you can somewhat automate the process.
Here is the simple on the fly method:
1. Select all the bodies in your bodies folder.
2. Right click and pick Show/Hide.
3. The bodies all disappear all at once, which solves your problem of needing to turn off 150 individual light bulbs.
4. Now find the body you wish to work on, select the light bulb next to it. Now you can work on the one body.
5. When you are done, reverse the process to toggle visibility of all bodies, and then manually turn on only the one you were working on (which would now be off)
Setting up body folder Selection Sets: for repeated use of a body visibility mode.
1. Select all the bodies you wish to toggle visibility.
2. Right click and create a Selection Set.
3. Now you have a Selection Set in your browser.
Using the Selection Set:
1. Hover your mouse over the Selection Set, two buttons appear next to it.
2. The first one is Select. It will select the bodies in the set.
3. Right click in the canvas and pick Show/Hide.
If you want to try out the color coding in Fusion, find the Component Color Cycling Toggle under the Inspect menu. This adds color swatches to timeline and browser, and will temporarily color your components to match. If you just want color coding in the timeline and browser, find the Component Color Swatch toggle in the timeline settings control (little gear icon lower right side).
I've attached a document I made for AU 2015 regarding large model management and these tips are all in it. Also you will find attached a related class paper about workflows in Fusion which you might find useful.
Here are links to the videos of those entire class sessions:
http://au.autodesk.com/au-online/classes-on-demand/class-catalog/2015/fusion-360/cp10167#chapter=0
http://au.autodesk.com/au-online/classes-on-demand/class-catalog/2015/fusion-360/cp9991#chapter=0
I hope this helps. Before I go, here is the link to Idea Station. You can post these ideas there and other people can vote on them.
http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/ideastation-request-a-feature-or/idb-p/125
Thanks for posting, please let us know if you have more questions or concerns.
Regards,
Phil Eichmiller
Software Engineer
Quality Assurance
Autodesk, Inc.
Given the time you must have spent on your design I am wondering how it is possible that you've missed some of Fusion 360's key concepts that, frankly, are not that hard to understand or to discover.
While Folders certain can help organizing some things, you should have worked from the beginning with components, assemblies, sub assemblies, sub-sub-assemblies etc. You can create as deep a structure as you need to.
Another key concept that I've posted now over 80 times on this Forum have explained in detail many times and that I am also discussing in the screencast embedded in this post is:
Fusion 360 R.U.L.E #1
When in doubt, before doing anything, create a component and make sure it's activated.
All objects created after activating the component such as sketches, bodies, construction geometry, joint origins, etc. are created in that component.
This has several advantages:
- On activation the timeline is filtered to show only those items in the timeline that pertain to that component. That will make the quickly growing timeline much easier to work with.
- If a component is exported to the data panel with "save as" this will also export the complete parametric design history.
- The joints in the "Assemble menu only work with components.
- Drawings can only be created from components
- Only components show on the BOM
When another component needs to be edited for example to add geometry, or to it should be activated before doing so.
Assemblies should not be structured like this:
—+— Assembly
!—— Sketch
!—— Body
|—+—Component
|— Sketch
|— Body
|—+—Component
|— Sketch
|— Body
But like this:
—+— Assembly
|—+—Component
|— Sketch
|— Body
|—+—Component
|— Sketch
|— Body
|—+—Component
|— Sketch
|— Body
or like this
—+— Assembly
|—+—sub-assembly
|—+—Component
|— Sketch
|— Body
|—+—Component
|— Sketch
|— Body
|—+—sub-assembly
|—+—Component
|— Sketch
|— Body
|—+—Component
|— Sketch
|— Body
Or like this
A structure of components can be created, for example by dragging one component onto another as shown in this little animation:
You can simply create a component by right clicking on a the browser root or an existing components and select create component.
@Anonymous
First thing I would like to say is what makes you think that cursing and talking down to the development team is constructive in any way?
They have already talked about what they are doing with the folder situation.
I want to see folders for organizational purposes also but honestly if your using components properly it's not a huge issue.
Instead of coming onto the forum and cursing you could have simply asked the question and gotten an answer.
Just my 2 cents...
Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations
Here is another link to an older blog post outlining best modeling practices.
While Fusion 360 has change since this post was written, the general workflow recommendations still very much apply.
Two things:
1. You need to undestand the difference between bodies and components in Fusion 360.
2. You should familiarize tyourself with Fusion 360's R.U.L.E #1
