[CLOSED] Emboss Workflows

[TimeraAutodesk]

Update August 4, 2020:

Emboss command is now available in Fusion 360! We still welcome feedback as we will continue to improve the experience and expand on it's capabilities. 

Emboss has to be one of the most requested features by our community and we totally understand it has taken too long for this to be implemented. There have been some differing opinions on what this feature should do and how it should work so we want to engage the community to provide us more feedback on what they expect from an Emboss tool.

Archived IdeaStation threads around Emboss:

1. https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-ideastation-archived/emboss-feature/idi-p/5786374
2. https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-ideastation-archived/emboss-feature/idi-p/7880255
3. https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-ideastation-archived/engrave-and-emboss-tool-in-modeling-w...
4. https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-ideastation-archived/parting-line-draft/idi-p/7458967
5. https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-ideastation-archived/draft-from-parting-line-plane/idi-p/8...
6. https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-ideastation-archived/add-functionality-to-draft-command-ne...

We want to understand how you would expect to use an emboss tool

- What kind of features would you need to emboss? – text, image, curves?

- If this toolset existed within Fusion how often would you use it?

We are also looking for partners to be involved in the early phases of these feature sets, so if you would like to share more information on how you achieve this now and want to be involved in the early phases feel free to reach out directly to harv.saund@autodesk.com

[Anonymous]

Currently I emboss bodies by carefully positioning a construction plane over the curved surface I want to emboss, then creating a sketch, and carefully angling my text or .svg logo, then I extrude from an object.  Obviously this get's really tedious, and is not a very robust workflow. 

The issues I have with this workflow are: 

• lot's of setup time
• emboss does not align to surface normals
• can only be used on gently curving surfaces

I think a good emboss feature would work like the decal feature, but with the ability to insert .svg's and extrude them so that the edge of the extrusion is normal to the base surface. This would make a much higher fidelity emboss, and would also allow you to do do things like wrap text around a cylinder. 

A truly amazing emboss feature would utilize a whole new type of sketch and extrude. In this sketch you could create lines that exist on a uv grid, project, and add dimensions that are all flowing along an input surface. Then you could extrude those sketch features normal to the sketch surface.

Hope that helps!

[PinRudolf]

Hi Timera,

Thanks for reaching out.

What I am looking for in this function would be the option to create rotating sliding mechanisms. (The ball-point click mechanism is a great example.) This could involve (though has not yet) a path that rotates around a cylinder multiple times. I'm not sure if you would still call this an emboss, but the functionality to extrude perpendicular to a curved surface seems to be similar. 😉

[cmoher3]

GRADIENTS !!! Rotational, diametrical, linear..... you name it. Both Imperial and Metric. A lot of us are using Fusion for 3D printing and whether it's a knob or a scale, having a set of tools to map gradients on to our parts would be awesome.

[StephenCim-001]

Yes Please , all the time. Lines, text, images, curves 

Something like this currently takes 100s of steps..

More then happy to beta test 😉

[dd.stork]

Yes, please!

In our company we're just in the first phase of starting up and I already faced the problem of embossing a logo coming from .svg on a curved surface. I faced the many obstacles of doing a normal projection of every single closed curve encountering many issues / instability. I've fallen back to extruding on gently curved surfaces only without projecting. But still selecting every profile is a potential daunting task in the future, for logos.

Also I was unable to deform a logo to make it follow a round shape, for instance.

So the features I really think should be implemented are in order of importance:

1. Stability with regards to logos made of many closed contours. 
2. Easy and stable projection onto curved surfaces
3. Ability to create a "deformation" i.e. given two different curves/surfaces as a deformation law, deform a logo accordingly

Thanks!

[daniel_lyall]

Emboss is something woodworkers use a lot for making signs and stuff like that it is called something else in other programs it is basically the same thing.

The thing that makes it good is it can be in a negative or positive direction with a curved profile, angular profile or a flat profile.

[pcsentinel]

Hi, Text in Sketches seems to need a lot of work, including things like alignment, but one other thing that is a real pain (fror me at least) is the inability to store text as a parameter. I use parameters a lot when working, but I often need to emboss a word into a surface, having the text as a paramater would make this a lot easier.

Note I will post this in the sketches question as well.

[DaRoBu]

Yes please! The engrave toolpath lacks so many features. I would love to switch to Fusion for making debossing & embossing dies but there is no effective tool to machine these in Fusion so far.

[Anonymous]

The only thing I really have to add to this discussion is the ability to "unexplode" exploded text. Having to remember the text parameters, then rebuild the text after deleting the old "exploded" text is very cumbersome. Perhaps the exploded text could become irreversible only after some of the sketch entities are tampered with? It would be nice to be able to generate the text, locate it, size it, and then emboss it while still being able to go back and make quick changes such as text height, font, etc.

[CoastalMachine]

I could surely use a feature that would extrude in or out a flat pattern onto a round surface.

This Solid model came from Solidworks. 

[Anonymous]

it's the feature I've been waiting for for a long time!

it would be nice to be able to do the opposite as well, to unfold something folded
can do it with a solid body while keeping the thicknesses?

for example this glasses on a plane?

[StephenCim-001]

Hi   

First I would like to say thanks for adding the emboss feature,   Now for me , it not vary usable , it you look at the screen the Letters at the rear were formed using the Emboss feature , which is to be expected.  The A on it's own (front) is the way I would like the emboss to be formed 🙂  In moi3D I would achieve this , by enabling a option "Rigid"

Which maintains the shape has it flows the letter to the surface..   

 

Also When embossing Text, would be neat if there was a setting to increase or decrease the space between letters.

Also also adding a draft to the embossed feature would be a very nice to have 🙂

[kristianr]

It would be fantastic if embossing would allow you to take a (grayscale) image, define the maximum and minimum emboss / deboss for white (#FFFFFF) and black (#000000) in the image to get different textures and have better control over them. Similar to the displacement mapping feature / trick in Blender.

This would be great for texturizing surfaces or whole objects, making embossing dies / rolls, generate stuff like lithophanes easily, the list goes on.

As for embossing text or sketches, being able to easily add a draft angle to all embossed features at one would be great as well. I imagine that would be immensely helpful for dies and molds where draft angles are necessary for proper release of the material.

On the top of my head I'd immediately use this to texturize partial surface areas of some of my models for better grip (think of knurling tool grips with lines, diamonds, pyramids, dots, or all sorts of different features), generate aforementioned lithophanes for 3D printing gifts, and create various embossing tools, rolls & dies for leatherworking. Maybe generate tiles for tabletop gaming; brick patterns, cobblestone, crater surfaces, various landscapes and such. I'd really, really appreciate this feature, double so if it's not limited to flat surfaces or simple shapes such as cylinders.

[jean-michel_legoff]

Emboss is really an important improvement in Fusion360,

But why it works only on developable Surface...

Couldn't it be possible to emboss surfaces with double curvature?

There is alot of situation where it could be needed.

If not, it's not so much than using sheet metal and unfold/refold.

[jean-michel_legoff]

To answer to the question "what kind of feature do you need to emboss" I guess that Text and Curves are an evidence, but "Image" too.

As Fusion is able to manage Slicing directly from the part, it could really be valuable to be able to apply a Texture to the model. But instead of generating the displaced surface in order to export a huge STL file, you just render it in Fusion, and generate the displaced high resolution surface only and Slicing time to export the g-code of the textured part to print.

Some software like this are coming out in the Additive Manufacturing, but as always, adding an import/export editing workflow in a design process is tedious and combersome.

[mrieth]

It would be great if Emboss could work with solid bodies created from Loft with Rails.

I do aircraft models with engraved panel lines, many bodies, such as, fuselage and wings are created from lofts with rails. Emboss would be a great way to create engraved panel lines.

PS You might want to add wording to the August 2020 update and the http://help.autodesk.com/view/fusion360/ENU/?guid=SLD-EMBOSS page to read that it does not work with solid bodies created using Loft Command, Profiles and Rails. I wasted several frustrating hours trying to Emboss to a loft with rails body.

[Anonymous]

It would be nice if the new emboss command could have a taper option similar to extrude. I would like to place a pattern on a cylinder for 3d printing. Unfortunately the overhangs created with emboss will lead to issues on the printer. If there was a taper then the print would work without needed supports.

[jprieuxm3dn]

Hi,

We have some big issue when we try to emboss a text on a surface obtained by revolving of Fit Point Spline sketch.

It's impossible to select the surface.

Is there another way to do that ?

Thanks in advance