[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

[franck.gressier]

When you use skech scale, if you grab points in the background, they will also be moved.

It is the same thing when you move skech objects. I find these behavior dangerous.

May be an isolate option would be nice to only see the one skech you work on like you can isolate a component.

Often it is faster to delete a line than to search for all the constraints in regard to that feature. A delete all contraints for the selected feature would be nice.

I use intersect and project a lot but often the link option only leads to broken links if you move something.

Sometime the link isn't lost but the point you attached your feature to just isn't the same (it springs to another corner of the intersection...

you have to type Ctrl Z twice to delete the last action. The first one exits the function, the second really does the move backward. In the Undo menu there should be more informations like the name of the skechs.

It should go like "finish skech the Name of it" etc so that when you realize something is wrong you can be sure up to where it needs to be undone (not limited to the skech mode...)

Some times I start a skech in the wrong component. It would be nice to be able to transfer a skech from a component to another.

On a linked component, you should be able to toggle of and on the visibillity of elements like skechs to use them in the mechanisme you ar drawing.

[franck.gressier]

One more:

If you do a 3D skech then the next skech is 3d by default and this can lead to problems.

[Anonymous]

Whenever we unintentionally click on sketch tool and when we want to go back sometimes we forget that we have to use ctrl+z to remove sketching from timeline.

So my request to you is, please include cancel sketch in the stop sketch icon as well. 

[Anonymous]

Rib function does not work on centerline

Hi,

      I am not sure if this is the right location for this bug. so please forward anyway.

   When using the Fusion 360 rib function, I attempted to locate the rib symmetrically on a centerline/tangent point.

It fails and chooses  left or right side of rib  to be on the centerline line - instead of rib split down the middle.

PLease locate rib symmetrically on centerline/tangent point

PLease fix this bug, so building ribs is easier. I can easily compensate on linear locations but not radial.

[email protected]

Thanks,

John

[MAS.DPL]

PLEASE PLEASE .......

Differentiate Dimension lines from other lines in Sketch. 

This simple mistake, at the core of ALL F360 operations IE sketches. 

[TristanRobitaille]

A very simple yet very powerful option: The ability to define curves by mathematical functions. I know this is possible in Inventor and to some extent in Fusion 360 via custom plugins and scripts, but adding that in natively would be a huge improvement IMO. I have had that need many times.

[Anonymous]

Idea:

    To validate a design-  create a separate "smart" sketch function that can incrementally morph to tolerance limits drawing elements you want to transform. By clicking the side you want to transform. This is the first stage to create MMC and LMC condition for model validation

Why Do this?

Designs are made to nominal. Not every part made to engineering works. Inventor/Fusion has a tolerance function but it is only 1D (tolerance stack up)- my idea proposal is 2D. Being able to simulate multiple worse case conditions. Then through incremental morphing and translation  validation thoroughly "goof proof" designs. 

This would create a solid brand loyalty with a superior product, help meet production surges 2x ..3x and maintain high standard of quality. 

I can explain more, but would like to know others interest in this subject.

Thanks,

John

[GRSnyder]

A simple one: I'd really like to see "Auto project edges on reference" as a checkbox on the sketch palette, just as "3D Sketch" is now. These are both global options, but they are also both things you might want to change in certain local contexts. 

Perhaps the reason it isn't already there is that you can avoid projecting either by holding down Command (on Mac) or by hiding background sketches and bodies. But these options are both a bit clunky when used for this effect, and neither of them really satisfies. 

[Anonymous]

Echo of CEO's Command at AU:  Make Things Better:

 One of CAD's/Fusion strong suits is to simulate actual and theoretical conditions.

  A design made to nominal  (modeled and Drawn) is a job only half done.  Additional effort must be made to review assembly conditions at high end and low end of dimensional tolerance spectrum to avoid and prevent production /workflow stoppages. CAD does this job well, in part directed by the engineering team.   

What would make this go faster, better, speed time to market is to go from manual to semi automated to AI to thoroughly "goof proof designs using Fusion 360  with Incremental Morphing and Translation Capability.

Having the ability to thoroughly goof proof design multiple conditions  with CAD software  would create Brand Loyalty to Autodesk products because  manufacturing needs were met to make parts and assemblies fit each and every time my product was created. I now have  a capability to make products producible on time or ahead of schedule. 

Make Things better - it starts with the software.

[Anonymous]

I get really frustrated by the stability of moving lines and points in the sketch environment. I was previously an Inventor user and they way that sketches moved was very stable and predictable. There's often times that I try to grab a line and it won't move or the geometry will blow up. Or try to change a dimension and it won't allow me. I'll delete the dimension, move the line, and then reapply the dimension, and then when I change it, the dimension will solve.

Also, can you make reference dimensions an object that can be referenced in formulas? That was a super-useful feature in Inventor.

[Anonymous]

We spend a lot of time sketching to generate a 3D model to finally open a new drawing workspace to generate a new file to request the generation of 2D drawings and continue sketching and redimensioning the 2D views and so on...

Why don't you let us use our sketches with their parametric dimensions, mixed with the orthogonal 3D views to put them in a special layer of the operational tree and then we can screenshot them and paste them to a sheet format to generate our PDFs or blueprints?
All of this in the same 3D workspace? (Design, sheet metal, manufacture, etc)
Please take a look at ASME Y14.41 to have a better idea of what I'm talking about...

In that order of ideas, you can eliminate the drawing workspace and keep all your job in one single file.

P.S.
People from SW is already working on it and they call it "Composer"

[ejurkoe]

Facilitate creating sketch sections.

Fusion surface capabilities are very good .... but the CAD that really stands out for me in surface modeling for products, is Creo Parametic, and its because how easily you can create curves to loft. For example you can drag an elipse or curve attached to another profile creating multiple copies of that elipse.... so this way you don't have to create many planes and sketches for creating elipses to loft... just use one elipse or curve as reference that is attached to a profile.... If Fusion could achieve this.... DEFINITELY WOULD STAND OUT in surface modeling and skecthing.

Here is an example of for better clarity.

https://youtu.be/N7T3KmAAO90

[GRSnyder]

Here's a random gripe...

There's a "Scale entire sketch on first dimension" option which (I believe) maintains the relative sizes of unconstrained sketch artwork. Great!

But what I really want is "Zoom entire sketch on first dimension". When Fusion 360 gets its first impression of how large the sketch actually is, I want it to automatically reset the zoom to something that makes sense in the context of a sketch of that size. If I start by drawing an 0.5mm diameter circle, the display shouldn't remain zoomed to accommodate objects 100mm on a side, or whatever the default is.

Yes, I could just do a Fit manually. But that's not really the effect that I want. Fit zooms to fit the current sketch bounding box. When I start a sketch, I'm likely to want to add more elements, so I don't want to zoom in myopically on the first thing I happen to have drawn. I just want the zoom to be at some vaguely plausible scale.

For example, if I start with something dimensioned 0.5mm, it might be reasonable to zoom so that the screen shows a region approximately 5mm x 5mm. That allows plenty of room for more drawing, but allows the 0.5mm object to occupy a significant part of the screen real estate.

[kshea9RNL8]

My previous CAD software had a trace profile command used on imported graphics, wasn't perfect but took much less time to correct then creating from scratch.

Ken

[GRSnyder]

To follow up on @kshea9RNL8's comment, I've been using Fit Curves to Mesh Section a lot since I got my hands on a 3D printer. There's a lot of mesh geometry out there greatly in need of reverse engineering.

It sure would be nice if this command got a bit more love. It works well in its current form, but it doesn't do much to help you out. I don't know that the goal ought to be full autotracing, but there's certainly a lot of terrain between there and the current "no help" features. For example, it seems (to my naive eyes) that it ought not to be too hard to recognize the category (line segment, arc, circle, spline, etc.) and extent of a region identified by a single click and trace that.

But tracing is also more widely useful. It shouldn't be locked away in the mesh ghetto. For example, spline simplification as described here is really just a form of tracing.

[Anonymous]

to comment  @kshea9RNL8's  request: imported graphics may have a different tessellation ( line segment sequence) than Fusion 360 and this could cause headaches with final geometry and inspection. Why? Because two curves could be slightly off by a few thousandths or curvature slightly different. If time and accuracy were important then rebuild would be the best path to follow.

[kwongkan]

Please, differentiate/increase contrast between colors of constrained lines and dimensions.
I even had a post about that:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-ideastation/colors-for-sketch-elements-amp-viewport-enviro...

In the most recent update it is even less usable than previous version in some situations.

Or just give users the option to choose the colors, it's been in some XML before, maybe just put it into GUI or something.

[TrippyLighting]

I find that the sketch engine for the most part works well and sketching is enjoyable. Mostly when I run into some usability problems is when I help other users fix their designs. Trying to find the right sketch point in a stack of points is difficult and the UI is somewhat clunky.

I have two biggest wishes for the Sketch engine, however ,and both of those revolve around the handling of Splines.

1. Please make a serious dent in these spline related bugs 2D as well as 3D. A blend curve is an absolute must have for surfacing work. I would seem that the kernel team has removed a number of bugs over the years and lofting interface has been improved to the point where we can actually create quite beautiful surfaces in Fusion even with smooth G2 blends. When it works it works quite beautifully and is pure bliss to work with.

However, when a blend curve fails due to a bug this is a total show stopper. There is not workaround for that!

2. Make the Bend Curve its own sketch-free entity for example as it is in Autodesk Alias or for example how it works in ZW3D. I'd gladly provide a screen cast  and show how easy this is in ZW3D. Here's one that shows how simple this is in Autodesk Alias, despite the fact that nothing really is simple in Alias.

I don't want to have to create an extra sketch just to make a blend curve. I want tangent handles to scale sensibly right from the start without them jumping to out of balance values when a G2 constraint is applied. All that hinders the workflow an is really unproductive.

[Anonymous]

Sketch has made massive improvements since I first started using Fusion, but there are still plenty of things I'd like to see implemented or improved:

1.  Sketch timeline.   It would be really nice to have a separate timeline for each sketch (just like separate components do) so that it can be history based just like the rest of Fusion. 

2. Create Parameters in sketch. Constantly annoying to be in the middle of a sketch and have to go to the parameters window to first create it instead of just typing the name into the dimension box and creating them on the fly. 

3. Cancel sketch. There needs to be a better way to exit a sketch without saving any changes than hitting ctrl-z a bunch of times. There have even been a few times I've borked it so bad ctrl-z doesn't fix things either and I have to close the whole model without saving. 

4. Differentiate dimension lines. The new color scheme makes fully constrained sketches really hard to read because the dimension lines are the same as the sketch lines. 

5. Label line types in the Left-Click hold down popup menu. Right now it's impossible to tell which line to select if you need to delete or modify a specific one. Would be great if the list showed what type of line or point each one was. Even better if there was a sketch timeline that could highlight when each was added. At the very least list them in order of creation. Right now it seems like a completely random order. Terrible. 

6. Reference driven dimensions. Especially cool if it can be used to create a parameter so it's easier to use in other areas of the design. 

7. Offset from previous offsets. And/or create multiple offsets in one step, like a pattern of offsets. 

8. Trim/extend projected geometry without breaking the link. Now that I think of it, this would be really handy for offsets too. 

[MAS.DPL]

@Anonymous AGREED 👍 110%