Export multiple sketches into one DXF?

[makermatt]

Can this be done vs. exporting each sketch as a dxf?  

Second question, not as important, is can Fusion nest the parts in the DXF

[Phil.E]

This may be more of a question for the CAM pages.

I'll be brief:

Exporting multiple sketches as one DXF is not currently possible.

Nesting is on our roadmap.

Typically nesting is done for CAM/CNC, and is machine specific. So I would expect to see the improvements on that side of Fusion. I don't have any ETA for you, sorry.

[gwcude]

Will Nesting be a feature of "3D Print" in the future?

[Phil.E]

There are improvements coming for 3D printing, but right now I don't think nesting is available or planned.

So for the time being, you will need to nest your prints manually. Please post back and share the challenges with us. I'm sure we'll be listening. 🙂

[makermatt]

Thanks for the update.  Look forward to seeing some improvements in the future on that.  When we do flat pack items, it can be a bit of a pain to export each individual sketch especially when you have 10's to 100's of them. 

[mike.novello]

Wil exporting multiple sketches into a single dxf with each sketch identified as a separate layer ever be possible?

[Phil.E]

@mike.novello

Welcome to the Fusion forum!

I can't say "never", but I can say 'not any time soon', that I know of.

Can you describe your workflow? I'm curious about why you want this.

The idea station is a good place to post ideas like this too!

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-ideastation-request-a/idb-p/125

Thanks,

[TMC.Engineering]

This may be a helpful work around

I recently did a project for a stand-up arcade kiosk.  I had a lot of parts and used the nesting plugin to arrange parts for cutting on a shopbot.  The link to that thread

If you have the components made..

• create a copy of them without the joints.  Paste them in a new component I called mine CAM (see picture).  
• run the nester plug in and then manually move into a place you want.  

In CAM workspace

• create a laser toolpath for all the components.
• for a DXF use the autocad DXF post

It works pretty good

[mike.novello]

Phil, thanks for the response. I have posted to the idea station as you suggested.

The need for exporting multiple sketches to a single 2 dimensional dxf file with each sketch represented on a separate layer is critical to some machining operations. For example; a cutting machine we are going to be dealing with uses the layer name to identify how it machines that particular entity such as Layer 1 would be "exterior" cutting tool offset where Layer 2 would be "Center" tool on entity, etc. This is not the exact operation but just an example.
 
 

[Phil.E]

Thanks that is good to know.

Have you asked on the CAM forum how others might be dealing with this?

[Anonymous]

Workaround that works for me.

1. Create 2D sketches of your CNC objects.

2. Extrude them to whatever thickness. I use just 1mm.

3. Right click on your new 3D body > Skech > Project > Select the projection plane and the bodies you want to project. Now Fusion makes a new separate skech of all the bodies you projected. 

4. Export the created skech to DXF.

[davebYYPCU]

There is a short cut to your suggestion now, (over 12 months I think)

Pete Rainsbury developed the Addin called Dxfer, can be found on GitHub.

To select the face of your components or bodies in place, select output as Layer or Blocks, and then all those faces are exported in the one dxf file, not nested, but I do my own nesting anyway.

Might help...

[owendelong]

I realize this is several years on, but my work flow is creating designs for laser cutting.

Currently, there's no postProcessor that I know of that does laser cutting.

My work flow is to create two Sketches 1 for cut lines and 1 for etch lines (could be more for different etch parameters). LightBurn and several other laser utilities will treat DXF layers as differentiated for cut parameter purposes (a la Epilog's print driver "Color Mapping").

Ideally, I'd like to do this under API control (I've got an API script which takes in a set of userParameter values, creates a new component under the root component, then creates two new sketches on the XY Plane within that component (one for cut, one for etch).

If I use the cloud processor, I am able to select both sketches and Export to DXF and get the desired result. Locally, I only seem to be able to save 1 sketch to 1 DXF, and there's no way to mark lines to go on different DXF layers that I've been able to find.

[owendelong]

I've just learned that Lightburn ignores layers and goes by color, so the best workflow I've identified so far is to produce separate DXFs for each setting and then Import each one into Lightburn one at a time setting the color of each one while it's still selected from the import. It's not ideal, but it is functional.

[seth.madore]

What post processor (or workflow) are you using to create the DXF's for your Lightburn software?

Looking at our Lightburn post processor, it does appear to have the ability to output "color mapping". Does this not provide a solution for you?

[owendelong]

Currently, no post processor.

Current workflow is entirely manual -- export each sketch as a single DXF, then import one at a time into LightBurn and change color assignment (LightBurn imports the DXF as selected, so not entirely horrible, but more difficult than it should be).

Future hope is to be able to at least automate the DXF export from the API based script that generates the sketches for at least the current project.

[davebYYPCU]

So the addin from Message 12, does not suit?