Updated Fusion 360 Learning Section

[brianrepp]

Based upon feedback we've been receiving from many of you over the last few months, we're continuing to evolve our Fusion 360 learning experience.  We just rolled out an updated Learning section; take a look and let us know what you think!  Specifically, if you frequented this section before, what do you think of the changes?  And, what would you like to see next?

http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/learn-training-tutorials

[PhilProcarioJr]

In my opinion your moving in the right direction, one thing I would like to see in the documentation area is a small picture showing an example of use with the text.

Currently it looks like this without any picture reference. The saying is "a picture is worth a thousand words". Without a picture reference someone new to CAD might not understand what these tools and settings are for.....

Boundary Fill dialog box

Boundary Fill combines solids, work planes, and surfaces to create cells.

Tools are the selected objects. Cells are the enclosed volumes where the objects intersect. Use a cell to add or subtract material, or to create a component.

Model Create Boundary Fill

Patch Create Boundary Fill

Model and Patch Boundary Fill Select Tools Specifies the planes, surfaces, and bodies that define the cells. Select Cells Specifies the areas to use to affect the model. Operation Specifies the affect on the model.

• Join adds material.
• Cut removes material.
• Intersect removes all material from the solid that does not overlap the new feature.
• New Body creates the extrusion as a new body.
• New Component creates a child component in the active component.

Parent topic: Create panel

Prime example: In my 25+ years of CAD I have never seen the word "cell" used to describe anything in a solid or surface model. Granted I'm not saying it is not used just that I have never heard it. The Fusion team seems to use a lot of their own terminology which makes little sense if you want people to understand your methods and products. At the very least people should be able to read your documentation and know what everything means when they are done reading it. Currently I catch myself scratching my head when I read through the documentation. Given my background I know what the tools do, but someone new would be lost, and I know this because I am currently teaching a friend how to use Fusion 360 right now and he is constantly asking for a description / explanation to your description / explanation......

[TrippyLighting]

Definitely a step in the right direction!

I would really enjoy the ability do deep link to specific sections in the written docmentation, for example I can link to Function->Function Overview->Build Assemblies but I cannot link to the last step "Bodies and assemblies'. I've stopped counting how often I have refered new users to that on specific section 😉

IMHO before you learn sketching you need to understand the difference betwen a body and a component. Since the last update a newly created  component is also directly activated (A truly appreciated change!) signifying the importance of first creating a component and activating it. The browser tree in the  1st tutorial video shows a component structure but nowhere is explained why that is necessary. This does not need to be in depth but a brief primer should be given right in the first video before moving on to sketching. A reference to a more detailled video could be made.

I really like that now the videos, tutorials and written documentation available for one topic are accessible from the same page.

What is needed now and Phil's excelent suggestion leeds toward  is indexed, searchable reference documentation for more experienced users. Something that explains every nook and cranny of Fusion 360. Even here some animation can often help to explain a concept. For example the double arrow on the the new offset tool can be explained with an animated gif in about 3 seconds and becomes immediately clear. Some users here on the Forum put animated gifs to excellent use.

[PhilProcarioJr]

@TrippyLighting

"What is needed now and Phil's excelent suggestion leeds toward  is indexed, searchable reference documentation for more experienced users. Something that explains every nook and cranny of Fusion 360. Even here some animation can often help to explain a concept. For example the double arrow on the the new offset tool can be explained with an animated gif in about 3 seconds and becomes immediately clear. Some users here on the Forum put animated gifs to excellent use."

I couldn't agree more with this statement.

[PhilProcarioJr]

In my previous example a picture like this would help:

[daniel_lyall]

it is very close to bang on for noobs.

couple of thing that are hard to find http://cam.autodesk.com/posts/, and https://camforum.autodesk.com/index.php?topic=8207.0 the 101 doc's.

and links to the git pages.

above is advanced stuff but a section at the bottom of the page with the ADSK links to the advanced stuff

[daniel_lyall]

another thing I just ran into it was from a link from another website   http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/features this page is good it seems to have everything on it from nob to advanced 

[brianrepp]

Thanks Phil, Peter and Daniel for all of the great feedback!  Glad to hear we're headed in the right direction, but also some specific suggestions about what more we can do.  Others, please keep the feedback coming!

[dstevenslv]

I didn't see how to link to another post so here's a cut and paste of a post I just made to Stephen Hooper in https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/design-validate-document/learning-fusion-is-like-riding-a-bike-backwa...

The lack of depth of traditional reference material is an issue.  The learning screencasts are a step in the right direction but when experienced users from other tools come to the program a reference similar to how the "Bible" or "Mastering" titles for other tools are structured would help.  The issue isn't so much a change in workflow though that change is substantial, it's that there are functions and interface elements that use F360 specific names or methods and aren't fully documented or explained.  One example would be the having to capture positioning prior to creating a joint on an assembly.

The approach Amazon uses for reference docs with AWS is excellent as the docs are not only live online, but available as a pdf or Kindle.  The "Bible" or "Mastering" series books I haven't bought in print for a few years now, all ebooks.  When I went to Inventor from Solidworks I never bought a hardcopy at all.  It can be done electronically, updated on the fly and available on a few different platforms.  O'Reilly is similar and even offers pre release editions, mostly unedited, prior to the release of the doc.  Back in the first dot com boom I had over 100 titles on a bookshelf.  These days I have as many titles but they are available to me on whatever device or platform I happen to be using at the time.  I've even got both Shigley and Mott in Kindle format and Machinery's Handbook in PDF.  It doesn't have to be Kindle, it just needs to be portable.

The current docs aren't very mobile friendly at this point.  For example I entered the Autodesk site to try and get to  the learning page.  The UI was mostly branding and interface elements rather than content.  The Autodesk logo shouldn't take up a third of an iPhone6s screen.  What content I did get were search results lacking in specfic context.  Rewrite the URLs to be human readable, for example fusion360.autodesk.com/learning/sketching instead of the server generated URI or query token.

To recap,

Deeper, more comprehensive reference content.

Portable formats, searchable, with bookmarks.

Wide variety of devices.

Dave

roaddoglabs.io