Attention All Injection Molding designers!

[Anonymous]

I'm going to give this living hinges thing idea one more go because it just got archived. As a designer who regularly has to single piece objects with "living hinges" - thin plastic part between a box lid and bottom for example - it would be very helpful if the there was the ability to model this and have it function as a joint.

Right now it is simply not possible to go from design to mold with a testable closing box. This is a big part of desinging most things plastic injection molded.

This would also be highly useful for modling things like cips that fasten things close etc. Last time this got archived after 8 votes. I don't know how many it takes to rate implementation but I really hope this time it makes it. 

[Anonymous]

I don't know if it necessarily needs to be a joint, but this was a reason I voted for the bend body idea: http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-ideastation-request-a/bend-body/idc-p/5705461#M6771

Jesse

[brianrepp]

Hey - it needs more than 10 votes to be reviewed by the product team with our new process.... very close!

[roambotics_scott]

Very glad to see this got over the threshold because it'd definitely worthwhile.. but I'm still not fond of it being decided based on votes rather than just by the PM or team review (some things are popular but bad ideas and others aren't popular but are no brainers).

[TrippyLighting]

This feature is an absolute MUST for Fusion 360 as it has distinct advantages as a product development software.

@brianrepp

The comment with the 10 votes required very much concerns me! Perhaps you process needs review.

There are a number of ideas proposed by advanced users such as @cekuhnen and they don't garner much support because the majority of users are not yet so advanced and simply don't understand these features and their importance - again for advanced industrial design. That does not mean these ideas are not important. 

[brianrepp]

@TrippyLighting - just to be clear, the IdeaStation isn't the only way we gather product input, it's one of many into the funnel.  You're absolutely correct about the possible imbalance due to the type of users that may be more or less active on the forums and IdeaStation. That said, the whole purpose of the IdeaStation is to help bubble up ideas that garner significant community support, and we feel 10 votes is a relatively easily achievable hurdle given the size of the community at this point.  Believe it or not, every single idea on the IdeaStation at this stage either has or will be reviewed by the PM team (we're in the midst of catching up on the backlog of over 1,200 "new" ideas).  As we move through the process over the next month or so, you'll notice that some ideas may have less than 10 votes and get Implemented, and others may have 20 votes and be either Future Consideration or Archived due to technical limitations or investment requirements at this stage.  We're also looking at other methods for weighting and prioritization on the IdeaStation behind the scenes so happy to have the input, and as with everything we do, we'll continue to tune it over time.

[TrippyLighting]

@brianrepp

you deserve a kudos for that response. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I appreciate the consideration. It sure would be helpful for me and I'm glad people agree. The thing we all have to respect is that some such ideas are much harder for the team to implement than others. I don't have the slightest idea about the intrecacies of things easy to say but hard to as hell to implement. I have noticed a number of bend or deform ideas that might cross the bridge from sculpt to modelling environments in a way that is hard to do. I think this idea has been shown to be appealing to many of us. So now I guess it is a matter of the development team deciding how to do it, how much work it would be to add this feature and if it rates vs other ideas. I am content to let them figure that out in the best way obviously - they have the product to develop and they are doing a great job.

[TrippyLighting]

@Anonymous

I fully agree. I've recently had the very unique oportunity to meet some of the members of just that team and I have the highest confidence that they can implement whatever we throw at them. Granted, some things are more complicated than others 😉

[roambotics_scott]

We're also looking at other methods for weighting and prioritization on the IdeaStation behind the scenes so happy to have the input, and as with everything we do, we'll continue to tune it over time.

For my taste, ideas and votes here should be seeds and windsocks, but the actual decision making about what to build and when should be at the sole discretion of - and entirely the responsibility of the product manager (one could almost argue that that's core duty of the PM ).

This voting thing feels warm and fuzzy but it eschews responsibility. Democracy will just leave you with an incoherent product that's tugged and pulled in all directions by the wind.

If F360 wants to get serious about molded plastic, it'd be nice to do something like this http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-ideastation-request-a/for-mold-designs-add-parting-plane-fo...

Drafting a design to make it moldable was a huge PITA for me even going in with that in mind. Going through and changing it if I found a better parting line or if I decided to use more or less draft is pretty easily automatable, in principle, but, in practice, it would have been an absolute nightmare.