[Open] New Ideas for Fusion’s Dialog

[yirang.choe]

Hi All,

The Fusion team wants your feedback as we shape the future of dialogs in Fusion. Help us by sharing your experience and ideas. To participate, please click here: Take the survey.

[barry9UDQ6]

Screen fatigue is a subject that is getting a lot more attention these days.

I find Fusions UI to be unnecessarily bright and busy. Possibly this contributes to screen fatigue?

[jakefowler]

Hi @barry9UDQ6 ,

Appreciate the feedback. This is a good point to raise, and is obviously something we aim to address as part of our UX design process.

Regarding the UI feeling busy: are you able to expand on that a bit, and/or do you have specific examples of things in mind? Our intention is always to minimize clutter as much as reasonably possible, so we’d be keen to hear your thoughts on where you think that could be improved.

Regarding the UI feeling bright: introducing a dark mode is seen as one potential avenue for reducing fatigue. It’s something we’re actively thinking about, but unfortunately don’t have firm plans or timelines around as of yet. A simple approach in the meantime is to switch the Environment to one of the darker settings (like Dark Sky or Grey Room), which reduces the brightness of the canvas area at least. Let me know if I misinterpreted that though.

Many thanks,

Jake

[barry9UDQ6]

Thank-you for your input @jakefowler I appreciate that you must have 1000's of customers and you can't cater to everyone's personal whims!

Personally I like to just have the model on my primary screen, and drag the browser off onto my second screen. So for example in Inventor I will also drag my toolbar off in a vertical layout onto my second screen.

Fusion has brilliant keyboard shortcuts, right-click menus and the S key menu. So I very seldom break my concentration on the model by having to move the mouse up into the toolbar anyway.

I also have an extra 7 buttons on my mouse that are mapped for enter, esc, etc. So I don't have to jump around all the time between the keyboard and the mouse.

I also have a numpad for my left hand so that my mouse hand can stay put 😀.

In terms of foreground, middle ground and background. My opinion is that at the moment the toolbars style puts it in the foreground, where I would prefer a slightly lower contrast, making it more middle ground. There is a photo editing program called Raw Therapee that I personally love the UI of. The toolbars are quite muted, but light up when you mouse over them.

And while I am muttering on here, I also enjoy programs that have scaleable toolbars. Especially as screen DPIs get higher.

Fusion has been so well configured for top-down modelling and has such a smooth feel. I feel this really complements the mindset I am in when problem-solving and designing. And I personally feel that my points above would enhance the feel/UX even more.

[TrippyLighting]

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@jakefowler wrote:

Regarding the UI feeling bright: introducing a dark mode is seen as one potential avenue for reducing fatigue.

---

This is repeated so often that I had also though for this to be the case.

However, this also recently came up in the Fusion 360 facebook group and one user had done some research onto the topic and was able to point out that this might actually not be the case. I'll see if I can come up with the link to the info he posted.

[JFKANSAS]

I'd like to be able to measure the distance between 2 objects with the measure tool, then in the measure dialog be able to type in a new desired value. There could be three options, to tell the measure tool which way to add or remove from the dimension. Left fixed, right fixed or center fixed would add or subtract from the right and left equally. 

[barry9UDQ6]

@TrippyLighting, I see what you mean, and we have been reading black text on a white background for centuries. It looks like darkmode is more about the cool factor!

Although I believe 2D Cad started off as black lines on a white background, whereas these days we all work with an 'inverted' model space.

The research I have found is definitely that text is more readable in the traditional format. Although when it comes to toolbars perhaps it is not quite the same. We don't need to read to comprehend, as we already know what it says?  

[ATAllport]

A massive gripe I've got is with groups, and I think there's a simple fix.

Context: I often have sections of the timeline that looks like this, (2 screenshots of the same region): 

 -> 

I like to use groups to group similar actions, like multiple extrusions, fillets, or mirrors.

However, as demonstrated, it's difficult to distinguish the different groups at a glance.

I propose a UI similar to that of Factorio Blueprints.
For example, in a group of extrusions and fillets (like if the first 2 groups were in one) show an icon like the following:

Granted, it would be small, I strongly believe there would at the least enough difference to make it easier to work with groups at speed.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I think I can say that there are still serious problems with importing stl files. It should not take hours to import and clean up a part. Why can't you just take those surfaces change them to proper 3d surfaces without the **** triangles and fill so you have a proper solid that you can machine. It's a real pain when I get an stl file from a customer and I have to convert it. Then go and delete the triangles if they will delete properly without totally blowing the part to pieces. Which is what I have spent the better part of my day doing. In the end half the time I end up redrawing the part because it just won't work.

[TrippyLighting]

@Anonymous

1. This is a thread about the UI , not file import. Please stay on topic!

2. I am sorry that your customers send you this .stl garbage. When CAD files, which are comprised of BRep and NURBS data, are converted into .stl files, a significant amount of information is lost. As such simply "converting" a 'stl into proper CAD data is technically not possible. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, I understand, and yes they are garbage. I think the prtoblem is they are sending me files of parts that were originally 3d printed and now they want production of them.

[shomnipotence]

We Need Dark Mode！We Need Dark Mode！！
Dark mode is definitely a necessity! Almost all creative tools should provide a dark mode, and Fusion 360 is no exception. I faced the whitish toolbars and menus at night, vomiting... they burned my eyes!

A dark title bar is easy to implement. Microsoft has allowed Win32 programs to use dark title bars (although before the official release of WinUI3.0, Win32 programs cannot use modern UI)

Additionally, https://github.com/microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml/issues/2484
WinUI3.0 (0.5) already supports this function, please consider supporting this function after WinUI3 is officially released.

In addition to the title bar, other panels and controls(bottons,menus,check box......) in the application should support dark mode.

[garrettF9Q8X]

Make it so I can organize the Sheet Metal Dialog Box!! I want all my aluminum, mild steel/P&O, stainless grouped together. Then each group from thinnest to thickest or vice versa. 

[rbackman07]

sorry if this is the wrong place for this but I can't seem to find the fusion 360 idea station:

Hi there, 

I would like to have more control of the visibility in sketches. as a bonus if we could export dxf files with only visible parts that would be amazing 😄

Really what I want is to isolate different types of sketch components. the problem is it is usually impossible to select what you want by clicking in the window: but I think it could be accomplished with minimal ui changes by  adding a few more check boxes to the sketch pallet. 

-show edges:  basically any edge that can create a profile
          -would be cool to break it into two toggles:
                  -show constrained edges
                  -show unconstrained edges
-show construction geom:
        -sometimes I just want to hide it

-show green geom (broken reference?)
-show broken constrains

it would be super cool to have a button next to each toggle to 'isolate' that type.. ie hide all the other types:

-what would be even cooler is a browser pallet within the sketch that would show every component in drop downs. 

-edges
   -construction
   -nonconstruction
-points
-constraints
-patterns
-projections
   -edges
   -points
   -faces
   -intersections

super wacky 'minoirty report like' potential future UI:

-some way to visualize all the types of sketch components at the same time but not overlapping. imagine you can spread the different parts to different 'layers' with slightly diffent z-values so you could see a layer with just construction or projections.. oh yeah in VR too 😉

[rbackman07]

Just took the survey, and I'm super pumped at the UI changes proposed! also added the suggestions I posted there 🙂

[shomnipotence]

Dark Mode Please!!!!!!

[kward101]

If I understand, the Move tool has what you're looking for.

[Anonymous]

* Dark Mode, whether it is easier to read may be debatable in some Facebook group "research".   However, the level of eye strain and tension headaches caused by bright mode is going to  vary from person to person.   It definitely is something that is wanted by the community.  It isn't just to be "cool".

* On Mac, when minimizing the application the component tree still stays visible.    You have to switch to another application for it to disappear.  This needs to be fixed.  The component tree should minimize with the rest of the application.

[3d_low]

I feel like you are letting my favorite aspect of the UI aside : the parameters dialog.

This poor little fella has been screaming to get a makeover for a while. The parameters dialog needs 3 main things IMO :

Ability to remember column width

Ability to sort parameters (either manually or alphabetically)  

Ability to search for a parameter in the model parameter tab

I use a lot of parametric designs and often when i am adjusting expressions i have to spend some time trying to find where is the setting i have to change. 

[worknstuff]

not sure where to post this, but been trying the high DPI scaling.

I run 2-3 instances of fusion side by side on a HP Z43 (42.5" 4k monitor).

i use a compact keyboard with a trackball, and neatmouse to emulate middle click for panning. (hands do not move, only fingers).

i have issue selecting (with the mouse pointer) sketch profiles for extrude and context menu options when the high DPI scaling is enabled. i can spin up a zoom or teams meeting if you want to see it.