April 17, 2018 Product Update - Fixes and Improvements

[keqingsong]

2.0.4116

In addition to major stuff we highlighted in our blog post, we also have been busy at improving the stability and performance of the software. Many bugs are squashed before they even make out to the real world, but nevertheless, there are those slippery ones that squeeze through the cracks. Your participation here in the forums has been (and continues to be) enormously invaluable. When you look back at Fusion 360 five years from now, you can feel proud that you have played an integral part of its development. Here are the key fixes and improvements included in this update.

Fixes and other improvements

Latest fix in 2.0.4116:

We fixed a high priority crash issue in modeling, and another nasty one in Sculpt. 

Apparently you were also crashing when you tried to share a rendering to the Fusion 360 gallery. It should now go through smoothly. 

Latest fix in 2.0.4114: 

We fixed an issue where cloud renderings weren't able to be downloaded. Our bad, something was clogging up the pipes. Now it's working smoothly again.

Usability

• Here’s one that we’ve been hearing a lot about on the forum: cases of unselectable view cubes, to UI layer appearing all wonky, to Mac trackpad problems when you were toggling between windows. As we dug deeper, we found that these cases were all intertwined, like one of this epic mysteries. We think caught the culprit behind all of this, that the issue has been resolved. Keep us posted if you still see this happening.
  
• We’ve been seeing a good amount of success around the new “Start here” page under the support and learning tab of our homepage. There are some really good tutorials there of how you can get started with Fusion 360, so we updated the “Learn Fusion 360” link in the help menu to take you right to it.  
  
  
• There was a weird issue where if you had the Text Command window turned on, you couldn’t resize to be smaller because it literally covered a third for your Fusion 360 window. Oh, you weren’t even aware of that? Good. Carry on.
  
• We’ve fixed some “more info” links in a bunch of different commands that took you to the wrong page. This is an ongoing task since we’re also working on updating our help pages with better content, so you’ll see changes like this continue to trickle in. 
  
  
• Speaking of usability improvements, you’ve probably heard that we’re working some major UI improvements and the much anticipated custom keyboard shortcuts. On the UI improvements front - we’re really excited and are making good progress. Look out for a blog post in the near future where we’ll do a deep dive into the specifics of what we’re doing.
  
• As for custom keyboard shortcuts: no, it did not make this update, and yes, we’re still working on it. We’ve finalized the design, and we’ve got the backend figured out - now we have to build the front end. We’re close. We’re so close.  

Modeling & Sketching

• Apparently there was some funny business going on with how DXFs were being exported. Some of them weren’t coming out correctly, so we cleaned up the code and now it’s exporting just fine. As part of this effort, we also updated the Export DXF command in Sheet Metal to say “Export Flat Pattern as DXF” in the Sheet Metal workspace.
  
• Dbostream reported an odd behavior where he was trying to extrude a body with hexagon shaped holes but ended up with just one hole. This uncovered a “leaking bucket” issue with how the modeling engine is tracking different geometry profiles. We replaced the bucket with a new one and now the issue is gone.
  
• Tima123d noticed that when editing an existing sketch pattern instance, Fusion 360 weirdly disabled the ability to turn on or off individual created pattern entities. Apparently Fusion ate a bug during lunch that made it forget what tools to give you when you wanted to edit a pattern. We gave it an antidote and now it remembers again.
  
• We fixed a hiccup in the sketch engine that was causing sketch dimensions to disappear willy nilly when you were trying to rotate the sketch after a copy and paste. Now it’s running smooth.
  
• Dkorchagin was using the interference tool to look for model interferences when he suddenly noticed areas of interference where they were clearly no interferences. Yuck. Inaccurate interference results defeats the whole purpose of the tool. We sorted out the code now the interference tool is working as it should.
  
• Nnikbin discovered that within the Scale command, the Non Uniform scale type gave you x, y, z “distance” parameters, which really should say Scale, since you were in the Scale command afterall. Good catch - we made it so.
  
• Crashing Fusion 360 when trying to align parts is bad. So we made it good again.
  
• Have you ever thought: “man, it would be good if Fusion 360 was better at letting me know which sketch vertex failed to project when i try to project a sketch?” If so, we totally hear you! Now when a sketch vertex fails to project, you’ll see it highlighted so you can dig into what is going on.
  
• Smallfavor shared a problem he was running into where the Mirror command was not capturing all of his pre-selected parts, leaving some of them out of the selection. Fusion 360 getting it’s wired crossed, so we straightened it out and now pre-selections are remembered correctly.
  
• The title of phoeve’s post said it all: “Creating midpoint plane makes model vanish”. Poof, like a candle in the wind. Evidently, a bug has been nibbling away at the midplane logic. The tool is now all patched up, the bug is gone, and all is right with the world.
  
• We made an effort to tidy up how 3D patterns are computed, so that they are more robust, more predictable, and less susceptible to nasty bugs creeping crawling into them. You’ll be seeing less wonkiness with correct previews and incorrect results in your patterning workflows.
  
• Blowhise noticed that when he was in an unfolded state of a part in Sheet Metal, there wasn’t a copy option in the context menu when he right-clicked on a sketch entity. Yeah, Copy wasn’t feeling well. We gave it some good vibes and now it’s back feeling 100%.  
  
• A discussion back in January around Fusion 360 performance and how it’s able to handle complex PCB assemblies spawned a project for us to investigate how we can boost the software’s performance. After we spent some quality time with the code, and now you can move your PCB parts around in space without any noticeable latency. Keep in mind that it is still best practice to simplify your designs and strip away any unneeded details for optimal performance.  

2D Drawings

• We sorted out a weird issue that was occuring on MacOS where parts of the UI would turn red or black after you tried to resize the application window, or if you tried to switch between open drawings in the Drawings workspace.
  
• Nick.vanegmond reported an issue where Fusion 360 didn’t play nice with you and would freeze when you tried to dimension a specific area of a part in the 2D Drawings workspace. Apparently this had something to do with the text height and how Fusion was interpreting the code. We had a stern chat with Fusion and now it knows how to better behave.

Simulation

• DanStroschine found an issue issue where the Isolate command was not available when looking at Results. We simply added the Isolate command to the Results view and now we are consistent with the Model workspace.
  
• We fixed an issue where solves would fail in models using forces with a limit target when the limit target was extending off of the target face. Now limit targets can extend off the target surface and only the area of the target on the surface will have the load applied and solves will not fail.
  
• Some of you found an issue in Event Simulation where specific integer increment result steps were blank, even though there were results for all of the non-integer steps. Now the results show up as they should.
  
• So let’s talk about our pre-check warnings we were showing you when a bolt connector was used between two parts in contact. Yeah, we can see how they can be confusing and a bit too vague. Now Fusion 360 will only warn you when bolt connectors are used between two parts in contact when the contact types are bonded or offset bonded.
  
• Another area of confusion was around the Results Details dialog and how it was not updating as the visibility of parts changed. Previously, the Results Details would only show feedback based on the entire design. Now the dialog is updated based on what is visible in the canvas, making it easier to understand how well each part is designed based on the defined safety factor targets.
  
• We heard you ran into a problem where your thermal simulation setup was failing. Part of this is because you didn’t have your study set up correctly, which in-turn revealed a flaw in our pre-checks, which should have caught this. We made our pre-checks more robust so that it catches any wonkiness in your study, before you tell Fusion 360 to go solve for it.

 CAM

• Over on the HSM forums, Aadithya01 reported a issue with his Fanuc 4 axis post processor where the tool is not always taken to the limits of the rotary axes when a rewind is required. Now it does.
  
• Ovisopa caught a serious bug where, unseen during the toolpath simulation, the gcode made the tool occasionally cut multiple depths from the bottom-up instead of top-down. This result in some collisions and broken tools. We immediately jumped on this and were able to put an end to this issue before it wrecked any further havok. This is now fixed.
  
• We noticed a lagging issue when you were navigating through options in the Linking tab for 2D and 3D Adaptive operations. Apparently our animated GIFs were causing a delay in the UI, so we got rid of them and now the Linking tab is just as snappy as the rest of them.
  
• There were multiple reports of an issue found in Turning Groove operations where they ended up gouging a part. We sorted out some code in the backend, and now it’s working fine.
  
• We fixed an issue where the stock simulation was showing additional stock when “No Additional Stock” was selected in the setup.
   
• TJS01 started a thread asking if something in 2D thread (thread milling) has recently changed. As we dug deeper, we uncovered a bug buried in our code that prevented Fusion 360 from throwing a red flag when your thread mill pitch x teeth exceeded your flute length. We worked with you and got this bug squashed.
  
• Alan told us back in January that there was some weirdness going on where there was always a tiny bit of stock left uncut at the start point of his 2D Adaptive operation. Apparently the issue was caused by an incorrect offset calculation made for the input stock. With the updated HSM kernel, this is now fixed.
  
• Makko74 pointed out that the circular-pocket-milling speed and feed values in post process were incorrectly being set to 0. Our bad. This is now sorted and should show the correct values.
  
• curtVJ5LW reached out with an issue where the diameter and length offsets were apparently backwards in the Renumber tools dialogue. Once our development team became aware of this, we got going on the bug bashing and now no longer reverses order.
  
• KRoser_12 reported on the HSM Support forum that the InventorHSM turning operation was incorrectly changing surface speed after tool number change even though the “No” option to update speed was checked in the dialog box. Our software thinks it has a mind of its own sometimes. We made it clear that it doesn’t. No means no.
  
• Fusion 360 is now compatible with MachineWorks 75 Patch 14.
  
• Griptechshop was going crazy trying to figure out why there was a tiny bit of stock left at the end of his 2D Contour operation. Turns out the minimum cutting radius was influencing the operation when it really should have been. We made sure that it doesn’t anymore.  

API

• getCursor will allow you to change your cursor style within a command to something other than the default arrow style, so if you want something more unique to the add-in you are building, you can do it. Here are some ideas for inspiration.   
  
• Kungfumachinist found some wonkiness happening with the API code where it the add-in he’s been developing would lose communication randomly. We found runaway code that left a door open, and which allowed more code to leak across threads on the Mac. This has is now fixed.  
  
• Ross.korsky reported an issue where Fusion 360 dropped the ball and crashed when the API attempted to read "fontName" on a "SketchTextInput. We got this sorted out as well.
  
• Apparently Palette::setPosition() didn’t work well if you were running a dual-monitor setup for Fusion 360. The author of the Bommer add-in found out the hard way. Our bad. This should work fine now.
  
• Speaking of Bommer, we fixed another issue that was causing drop-down menus in tables to behave erratically.
  
• Using the “ExitApplicationCommand” to make Fusion 360 quit itself used to work, but we were told that it asked you to save your documents before exiting, but still stuck around even after the party was over. We don’t like stragglers, so we made sure that it exits from now on.
  
• MichaelT_123 asked us whether there was a way to use our API to lock on unlock joint motion. We liked what we heard, so now we’ve added an isLocked” property to JointMotion. Coincidentally, he also uncovered an issue where “rotationLimits” for a Cylindrical joint was returning incorrect sliders limits instead of the expected rotation limits. We were able to get this fixed too. Hooray teamwork!
  
• A.hervers got a weird error message when he tried to use the API to insert a component from his local machine into a Fusion 360 canvas and constrain the component into a specific location. This is more working properly.
  
• control.addSeperator had one job to do. One job: add separators in the toolbar. JBTechLab found a bug that distracted it from its job. We squashed it and now it’s back.
  
• joao62GJ9 was using our API to create sketch spline curves until he realized that the tangent handles used to manipulator the spline were being shown as legitimate sketch lines. That should have not happened, so we stepped in and fixed it.
  
• Currently, you are able to turn off the visibility of sketch points via the sketch palette, however Ross.korsky noticed this ability is missing in the API. We agree, so visibility toggle for sketch points are now available as: Sketch.arePointsShown.

Thanks you for your patience and continued support of Fusion 360! Your passion and dedication to the software motivates us to make Fusion 360 better and better. On to the next one! 

[cekuhnen]

pretty impressive additions touching many areas like patch drawing and such!

really looking forward to test the new CNC additions over the summer in the shop

[dkorchagin]

Hey, didn't expect to see my name listed here, needless to say how happy I am that now I can use the interference detection tool! Great stuff!