[CLOSED] We want your feedback on sketching in Fusion

[helfenj]

Hey F360 Community,

I'm the Product Manager overseeing the Fusion sketch environment. I want to hear your ideas! Please comment below and let me know what you'd like to see - new features, fixes, comments on functionality, etc.

Overtime this post will be a living place to share out sketch roadmaps and listen for new ideas from the community. As we take up new projects we will create new posts to share ideas and get feedback on each specific idea as required.

I look forward to hearing your input and working with the community to continue improving the Fusion experience.

Thanks,

John

[Anonymous]

Agree.   I endorse this fix to implemented. gfandjwdello@att.net

[Anonymous]

I want my space mouse enterprise to have different short cuts in sketch mode just like inventor.

[Garret_H]

I use sketch a lot, in general I find it  to function quite well. The changes that were made to place constraints on the top menu rather than a popup was a massive user interface improvement.

A few exceptions:

1.  The click and place feature causes problems with sensitive mice. I constantly create accidental short lines, that often have auto-constraints placed on them because the computer registers a second click and mouse movement. This isn't a problem in other CAD software, and drops off my productivity a lot. A limit on minimum line length as a function of zoom level (e.g. pixesls) should correct that. I've written more on that here: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-support/erroneous-short-lines-in-sketches/m-p/9311493#M787...
2. As stated by others deleting coincident constraints isn't always the easiest. Right click and "delete coincident" doesn't always seem to free up a line to be relocated, and may take a few tries. Granted I've been having an easier time with this lately, there may have been some updates made that fix this.
3. Horizontal/Vertical point constraints with end points or midpoints (holding shift to select midpoint) are the best. Its so easy to align end points orthographically or center lines to each other without adding extra construction lines. My only gripe here was that I only learned how to do this by watching some tutorial videos. An expanded description on roll over of horiz/vert would go a long way to explaining the use of this feature. At the same time it may be better for users to see this as an indendent constraint, at least after it is placed. A icon that showed two points connected by a dotted vertical or horizontal line as an example.
4. Projected geometries: generally these work pretty well for me, although sometimes I would like to be able to check what component I was projecting off. This only becomes a problem as a design evolves and becomes more complicated. 

[MikeMaker]

Can we please get a 'Chamfer' tool when sketching please? I personally use chamfers and fillets equally and it is frustrating having to use the line tool and dimensions to create a simple chamfer in a sketch. Thanks

[rclarksonW8SJY]

I would love an option next to "Finish Sketch" that was "Finish & Extrude", i.e. would finish the sketch and jump right into the extrude feature with the sketch pre-selected. Would save so much clicking around & reselecting what I just drew.

[Garret_H]

@rclarksonW8SJY this would be really amazing when placing holes. I spent a lot of time working last night having to select a bunch of holes to project on to a sketch located on a plate and then select them again to extrude.

I find the hole feature generally works well instead of extrude but if you mess up your order of operations then doing projections and extrude is your next time consuming option...

[jeff_strater]

@rclarksonW8SJY - just FYI - did you know that if you start Extrude while the sketch is open, it will first exit the sketch, then start Extrude?  I realize that is not exactly what you asked for, but it is pretty close.

[rclarksonW8SJY]

@jeff_strater I didn't know that, thank you! - to be honest I never noticed the "SOLID SURFACE TOOLS etc" toolbar until just now - I always just assumed the toolsets changed automatically depending on the task and didn't realize I had a manual override.

One note that it would be wonderful if the extrude feature defaulted to selecting the sketch shapes - especially on simple shapes without any nesting or overlapping lines. Even if it did select all shapes 9/10 times it's still quicker to deselect the areas you don't want.

[GRSnyder]

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@rclarksonW8SJY wrote: One note that it would be wonderful if the extrude feature defaulted to selecting the sketch shapes - especially on simple shapes without any nesting or overlapping lines. Even if it did select all shapes 9/10 times it's still quicker to deselect the areas you don't want.

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It sounds like you often have to create multiple profiles so you might not have noticed, but if there's a single visible sketch profile Extrude selects it for you automatically.

I'm actually kind of lukewarm on this feature as it currently exists. "I'm in a situation where a single profile is visible" is rarely at the top of my mind when I go to extrude. I reflexively click the profile I want to extrude just out of muscle memory, then wonder why Extrude doesn't seem to be happy. It takes a second to realize "oh, the profile started out selected and I just deselected it." You would think a person would get used to this and eventually wise up, but evidently not...

[rclarksonW8SJY]

@GRSnyder Good point - something being automatic half the time and not others can get really frustrating. Thank you both for your help, I've learned a great deal today!

[MikeMaker]

Auto Profile Select when Extruding

It would be fantastic if when a sketch is completed, you could finish the sketch by selecting extrude/revolve etc. This would then auto select the contents of the sketch to complete the operation.

Having migrated from Solidworks, I find it tedious to select the sketch profiles each time. Thanks

[Anonymous]

I agree with your suggestion.

What do you do if you have two sketch profiles;  1 made of construction lines and  1 regular lines?

gfandjwdello@att.net

[MikeMaker]

If you have two or more profiles, then all are auto selected (can be unselected manually). Only profiles made with regular lines are selected, construction lines are only used for the construction of the sketch and are not counted.

This is the way it works in other programs I've used and I would say it is a good system.

[andreCF68D]

The fact that Fusion automatically infers constraints can be handy but sometimes,

it can be positively MADDENING!!!   AAAAAAAAAH!!!

I know you can hold down the CTRL key to prevent auto constraints.

I also know about the checkboxes in preferences to disable auto projection, etc.

What I really need (PLEASE) is to be able to disable constraint inference inside a sketch

until told otherwise.  Maybe put a checkbox in the constraints toolbar/palette that says

"disable automatic inferencing"?  Would be nice if the setting got saved in the document

so one could have this special behavior only in certain projects?

Holding the CTRL key all the time is annoying and very error prone.  I can't tell

you how much time I waste trying to figure what goofy constraint got inserted

automatically by Fusion that broke everything. 

In most of my projects, I can (grumble) live with this, but in some others, it makes

me want to slit my wrists / bang my head on the table / set my hair on fire / jump

off a cliff ... you get the idea ... 🙂 .... AAAAAAARGHHHH!

Very Frustratedly Yours,

Andre Sant'Anna

PS Oh ... with the above not withstanding, thanks for such a GREAT PRODUCT!

[andreCF68D]

IMHO, this is almost never useful.  Plus adjusting the handles of a spline keeps 

getting stuck on unintended lines, etc.  I would hazard a guess that > 99% of 

tangent handle snaps/inferences are unintended/undesired?

Instead, if this behavior were disabled (permanently or by default), I imagine

most users would be happier.  And, on the rare(?) occasion one actually needs this,

they can always add the constraint manually.

[andreCF68D]

I realize that "fixed" things turn green but it can be quite confusing when other

things are also green (e.g. tangent handles for splines, background objects).

Having the little indicator icon next to "fixed" things would be helpful!  I'm guessing

that Fix/UnFix is not that common an operation so it would introduce all

that much clutter?

Thanks!

Andre Sant'Anna

[GRSnyder]

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@andreCF68D wrote: I would hazard a guess that > 99% of tangent handle snaps/inferences are unintended/undesired?

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Andre, is your underlying point that tangent handles rarely need constraints at all, or is it that even though you might well want to constrain your tangent handles, there's something particularly error-prone about constraint inference in this context?

Maybe I've been approaching things in the wrong way, but I do find that I use constraints on spline control points pretty regularly. Mostly for tangency, but sometimes to ensure regular spacing or just to make sure a sketch is fully constrained.

[Garret_H]

The capabilities of "move" are really well done. I was struggling to do a "stretch" of some geometry from an AutoCAD drawing and couldn't find an easy way to do it. 

I then stumbled on the feature that if you select the lines you want to move and the end of the lines you want to stretch it functions exactly like the stretch command that AutoCAD has, even without any constraints placed.

This feature is really well done. Props! 😎

[lemelman]

I created a square with filleted corners. The fillets have to conform to the X-section of a square tube so the fillets were applied until they looked right. I then needed to dimension the largest diameter - ie. the distance between the extreme quadrants of the opposing fillets. The dimension tool wouldn't do it, so I thought to dimension between the centre-points of the fillets. But the dimension tool wouldn't do that either. Hopefully the attached screenshot clarifies the requirement. I reckon this is a serious limitation.

[jeff_strater]

@lemelman - this should entirely be possible.  It would be best to create a new forum topic on this, and discuss it there, including sharing your model there.  I think the issue is the outside dimensions have constrained the sketch so those points can't move.  If you remove those, you will likely be able to create the dimension you want.