[CLOSED] Call for Preview Feedback: Arrange Feature

[javiar]

Hi all,

I'm excited to introduce our brand-new "Arrange" feature which is now available as a Public Preview in the August update. To try this, go to Preferences > Preview Features and enable "Arrange Feature" and "Manufacturing Working Model"

Arrange feature enables efficient object arrangement within a specified rectangular or non-rectangular bounding area. You can specify the arrangement boundary by either selecting a sketch or choosing a plane along with desired Length and Width dimensions.

While it automatically determines the orientation of selected objects based on largest area planar face, you can flip the objects or select an alternate planar face interactively. Similarly, you can also create the arrangement above or below the chosen planar boundary.

Arrange is a history-capture feature that is recorded on the timeline and supports associative updates with any design changes. As the history marker is moved backwards or forwards, the changes replay in sequence. Moreover, as the boundary area is adjusted, arrangement results update in real time.

Once you are satisfied with the arranged results, you can return to Manufacture workspace to create Setups, Operations, and NC programs for your arranged layouts to drive your CNC equipment.

For more details on Arrange feature, see Help Documentation.

I am sure you will find other creative ways to leverage the power of Arrange in your daily workflows. We would love to hear how Arrange is helping you with your workflows. We're equally interested in any constructive feedback or suggestions. Please share your comments and ideas below.

Looking forward to hear your feedback on this Preview functionality.

Regards,

Ravi J

[crisan]

Hello,

Thank you for the beautiful job you've done with the arrange feature !

I have a suggestion list that might improve the workflow using this feature:

1. Arrange on multiple Sheets. This is essential.

Ex: I've made a Design of furniture and i would like to arrange all my components on sheets to know exactly how many sheets to buy. 

2. If multiple sheets option cannot be available, at least an option to display the total amount of square meters occupied by components on a plane or sheet after nesting.

3. An option to maintain the orientation of the component on the sheet.

Ex. I have a plywood sheet with Grain Orientation on the length of material and i would like to have all my components align parallel or perpendicular with the Wood Grain

4. Set a number of copies for a certain component and arrange it on multiple sheets

Thank you for the good work,

Peace and Love ! 

[Anonymous]

I had this feature enabled a few days ago and didn´t have time to play with it.  Now the option is not available,  I´m starting CNC Routing as a hobby and hopefully it will evolve as a small side business, and having this function available is a must for what I will be doing.  Is this available only on subscriptions right now or not available at all?

[carl.j.barker]

Would it be possible to show dimensions on the arrange sketch, would be nice for them to show on the setup sheet.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for adding arrange, it is a great feature, I'm using it to layout cabinet panels for plywood cutting to determine the number of sheets needed for the job.  Only thing that doesn't work quite right for me and it could be something I'm doing is that after the panels are arranged, they don't necessarily move to the sketch, I believe they are off plane and don't know what I did to get them that way, I drew the scetch on the same plane that I modeled the cabinets. 

Additionally, when the feature is finalized it would be nice for wood workers to be able to sketch one 4X8 sheet for example and if the parts won't fit have the program add another identical sketch until it has placed all the parts.  Now I have to guess about how many I'll need, which on small projects is ok, but for big programs, not so much.

Here is a screen shot of a cabinet set (2 cabinets) that I arranged.

Thanks,

Chief

[javiar]

@Anonymous ,

It is difficult to assess the issue without taking a look at your model. Can you possibly share the f3d? You can either upload here or share it with me directly - ravi dot javia at autodesk dot com

Regards,

Ravi J

[chrismasto]

I just discovered this feature a couple of days ago and I was super excited. I was making a dock for my new iPhone and was able to use Arrange to bypass what would otherwise be several and tedious and error-prone steps to prepare for cutting.

I evangelized this feature to several people who then told me they couldn't find it, and then I discovered it isn't available in the personal license. I haven't complained about the new licensing model; I thought the divide between free and paid editions was reasonable and the features removed were legitimately oriented toward commercial use. This one, however, just seems mean. I urge you to consider making basic arrange functionality available for free users. There any many hobbyists, like me, with CNC mills and/or laser cutters. You can save any advanced features for the subscription -- just being able to select components and put them on a sheet would be enough, it's something I need to do with every project.

The other bit of feedback I have is that it was not obvious to me that I had to use components for this: it just says Objects. I spent longer than I should have trying to select multiple bodies in a single component and getting nowhere. Yes, they should have been components to begin with, but I started my design just playing around with shapes and I didn't expect anything to materialize. By the time it did, I had failed to do "proper" CAD and just got lazy. The way it works is reasonable, but perhaps the messages/tooltips/etc. could steer people away from this mistake.

[javiar]

@chrismasto ,

Thanks for the feedback. I am glad you found Arrange useful. Btw, nice dock you got there for the brand new phone 🙂 Thanks for sharing pictures.

That is correct - Arrange is only available with Commercial (paid subs), Start-up, Student, and Trial licenses.

Arrange will only arrange components (not bodies), but the geometry used to arrange those components can be a body or a sketch in that component. Thank you for your input. We will consider further polishing the tooltips and product documentation to ensure enhanced new-user experience.

Regards,

Ravi J

[Anonymous]

I once had access to Arrange on a trial version. I later upgraded to a paid subscription and I still have no access to Arrange Feature. Honestly I'm disappointed with the changes on F360.  At least on my side it feels like a downgrade even with a paid subscription

[javiar]

@Anonymous ,

With your paid subscription, you should have access to Arrange. As Arrange is currently in Preview, you do need to enable the flag - Preferences > Preview Features > Arrange - this will enable Arrange in Manufacture.

In addition to the Arrange flag, you must enable a second flag under Preferences > General > Design > Enable Arrange and Simply tools in Design - this will enable Arrange in Design.

If these flags are simply not available in your paid subscription, or if Arrange does not appear even after enabling these options, please let us know and we can have one of the expert resolve this for you. Thanks,

Ravi J

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your response @javiar 

This is already activated:

With your paid subscription, you should have access to Arrange. As Arrange is currently in Preview, you do need to enable the flag - Preferences > Preview Features > Arrange - this will enable Arrange in Manufacture.

This is not available:

In addition to the Arrange flag, you must enable a second flag under Preferences > General > Design > Enable Arrange and Simply tools in Design - this will enable Arrange in Design.

Can you help me out or refer my case to someone?

Thanks!

Jonathan Harrington

[javiar]

@Anonymous ,

No problem. I've reached out to you via DM.

Ravi J

[Anonymous]

Here is the file.

[javiar]

@Anonymous ,

Thanks for sharing the model. Per current design, the sketch selected as arrangement boundary must have a single closed outer profile. Sketch29 is the issue here. You can resolve this in one of two ways:

1. Separate the rectangles into individual sketches > Create 1st Arrange feature by selecting some components and first sketch > Create another Arrange feature by selecting remaining components and second sketch.
2. Or you can use a trick 🙂 - Modify "Sketch29" as show below (narrow gap connecting two rectangles). This will allow you to successfully arrange the components across two 48x96 panels.
   
   Hope this helps.
   
   Before and AfterSuccessfully Arranged

Regards,

Ravi J

[Anonymous]

Javiar, thanks, the first solution isn't a very good one, I need the program to tell me which pieces go on which 4X8, If I have to select the pieces for each individual sketch I wouldn't need Arrange.

The second solution is a good one, that works and I'll mark the post "Resolved", thanks for all your time on this, I really appreciate the effort.

Chief

[ryanbquick]

I have been playing with this feature for a couple weeks now.  It is a huge time saver for me, I'll admit that I'm very greed to 3d modeling and cam, I use it for a cnc router.  For some reason manufacture model has disappeared on me but I've switch to arranging in the design workspace and that seems to work well for me.

The only issue I'm having is the arrange feature will flip a part upside down trying to make more fit (z axis flipped on a single part)  on a simple 2 d part  this is not an issue, but the majority of what I do is 2.5 d work.  Is there any way to stop it from flipping parts? Maybe an option to restrict manipulation by axis?

[MattWynn]

A little something we have been working on that Arrange users might like:

DXF Bulk Importer published to Fusion App Store

Imports multiple DXF files into a Fusion model, puts them into components, perfect for using arrange or advanced nesting.

This takes a process that involved 15 or 30 clicks for each file, and now does it in batches, and even supports DXF text and healing profiles.

• Spatial separation of multiple geometries
• Imports DXF layers to separate sketches or merges to one sketch
• Optionally Extrudes by thickness to solid
• Optionally Assigns material
• Supports DXF text, for etching & labeling
• Optionally Healing closed profiles
• Published to app store for easy install, Mac & Windows, English
• Shout out to @prainsberry  who did most of the development work

https://apps.autodesk.com/FUSION/en/Detail/Index?id=3146198746757677787

8 minute video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghkl3PPGBlU

Docs:

Description

Fusion will import each DXF file. One component is created for each imported file and the utility will space the DXF files in a grid.  

There are a number of options that can also be set to perform various customizations and cleanup of the imported DXF files.

General Usage Instructions

Options: 

Spacing between parts - You can set the spacing between the imported files by changing the value.

Number per row - You can also adjust the number of files per row by adjusting the option.

Reset Origins - This option will move the entities in each sketch (layer of the dxf file) such that the bottom left corner of their bounding box is at the parts origin.

Combine to a single sketch - If checked all layers in the DXF will be combined into a single sketch. If unchecked a sketch will be created for each layer in the dxf file.

Extrude Profiles - This option with extruding the outer profile of each sketch. 

Thickness - The to the value to extrude profiles (If checked).

Apply Material - You can choose to automatically assign a material to all of the newly created components.

Material Name - The material to apply. Note the material must exist in the current model. You can browse the material library and add your chosen material before running the import command.

Import Text - If selected text from the DXF file will be read and rebuilt as Fusion 360 Text. The units of the DXF file will be used for scaling if they are present. If not the current document units will be used to interpret size.

Font - The Font to use for the imported text. To edit the available fonts you can edit the `fonts.txt` file located in: `./commands/resources`

Close Sketches - This option will attempt to close small gaps in the imported file.  

Gap Tolerance - 2 points within this tolerance will be merged. NOTE: This will, of course, have very subtle effects on the exact placement of imported geometry.

Save Settings - The current settings in the dialog will be saved as defaults for the next time you use the command.

Show Popup - If this is unchecked AND you save your settings, the popup informing you to select DXF files will not be displayed on future runs.

[Brady_Fulton]

There really needs to be a "lock" added for the manufacturing model. The live updating with arrange is great, until your setups which only contain some of the parts from the arrange are moved from one sheet to another. I realize I may be using the arrange differently than intended, but I would guess others have had the arrange update and invalidate or add required work to their workflow. When parts have been arranged, is there a way to stop them from moving or at least informing you that they have moved?

[CasettaMichael]

The Mfg model will not show up when i have allot of angles in my model here is a screencast. https://autode.sk/2JA2wxi.

The work around was to do the arrange in the design.. it would be nice to know why this is happens ( it seems it happens with these models i have where i am building on angles... 

[MattWynn]

Never seen that @CasettaMichael , can you share your model?

[jean-michel_legoff]

Hi,

I’m not sure but I guess that you need to convert each body as a component...

Thanks