Customisation of 2d Drawings

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Im fairly new to Fusion and am currently road testing it for use at the bespoke furniture makers that I work for - so far Im VERY impressed by the 3d modeling capabilities and the ability to quickly and accurately rework models.  However from what I've seen so far the drafting environment seems a little rigid and very flat in terms look and feel and lacks any real (company specific)  customisation.

Here are some of my thoughts on what I'd really like to be able to edit / customise in order to bring drawings into line with my company's document spec (I've attached some recent drawings produced in a different application below):

• Edit text by block not as a blanket style for the whole document (change fonts, allow for bold, italic, underline, change font colour, add coloured blocks behind text)
• Show colour views without having to export images - these could be shaded colour or even better, textured (showing decals etc)
• Use colours for dimensions and have control over the dim styles - the ones that are available in at the moment dont allow for detailing large items with small details (eg a 4m long bench with a 2mm detail at either end) as the dims just clutter over one another.
• Chain dimensions should be selectable from the start rather than having to draw one standard dim, then select it and start a chain.
• Some more control over where the dimension text goes whilst setting out dims would be good - I find my self having to go back and rework lots positions for chain dims.
• Use of colour generally in drawings would be hugely advantageous.
• The ability to draft in 2d on the page would be very useful (see some example attached) or to be able to use 2d DXF / DWG content.  I design furniture and often need to show a 2d set out plan of where the furniture sits in the room / building.  At the moment if I adopted Fusion for all my drafting I'd need to use AutoCAD to draw up my plans and (if possible) I'd love to be able to do all of this in one application.
• More control and customization in drawing symbols and labels.
• Ability to show different materials in different colours in section views - this really helps to clarify what's made of what for our workshop.

I'm really enjoying modelling in Fusion and really like a lot of the functionality in the drafting environment, however the drawings that I'm able to output (while they are easy to produce) look like drawings that I was working on 15 plus years ago before we could afford a colour printer - colour and customization is good, I'd like to be able to control drawings and give them my style rather than having to just use black lines, large arrow and the same font across the entire document....

Thanks

Sam

[whittakerdw]

I have been pushing for this recently too. I have mainly been trying to be able to change the background of the 2D drawings but changing font and color, and a wider variety would be even more beneficial. I agree with your post and I hope this gets through.

[Anonymous]

Thanks @whittakerdw,

Fusion seems like such a powerful yet easy to use tool, but I can't adopt it at the moment as the drawings I can output are not clear enough (all black line) and the style is too generic.  There also  isnt any real ability to annotate other than to write a note - I for one find it very useful to be able to explain not just the manufacture but also the wiring, finishes material choices on the same drawing and colour is a far clearer and less cluttered way of doing this!  

Lets keep our fingers crossed....

[rasmusfjordside]

Voted! I am also working at a furniture design studio and we also do a lot of packaging and graphic layout in general, and we have been doing our 2D drawings in Adobe Illustrator (and the 3D modelling in Cinema 4D and Rhino 3D) where we can style the drawings, line weight, arrow heads, fonts, colors etc. as we please. I am not asking for Fusion 360 to add a complete set of Illustrator tools to the Drawing environment, but a far greater ability to customize style, header, colors, handle images (add detail render .jpg/.png, place labels/logos/graphics from Illustrator), and add single line geometry (really this could be done with the possibility to add a sketch in the Drawing environment and draw explanatory lines, arcs, circles, and dimensions!) is a must-have for us if Fusion 360 should really handle output drawings as well as modelling for us. Possibly this would affect pricing but control over color, line weight and arrowheads should be easily done.

/Rasmus Fjordside

[Anonymous]

I have had Fusion 360 for a while now and keep tinkering with it but I simply can't adopt it at the moment, due to the shortcomings of the drafting environment.  There is so much missing in terms of customization and function that its just not worth pursuing my designs in F360 which is a real shame; I can model up my designs, adjust them quickly with parametrics, visualise them and output decent renders but can I make a drawing that explains what's to be made that works for both client AND fabricator - NO!

My company has just purchased a Biessie CNC machine to aid the manufacture of the furniture we produce and I will very shortly need to upgrade my modelling / drafting software to enable me to streamline the process from design to manufacture (eliminating a few steps in the process by keeping the model, drafting and CAM all in one package).  I would love to adopt F360 because it has so many powerful features at a great price BUT, if I can't communicate the design on paper then any effort to produce a decent model is totally wasted - in fact it's not worth starting (in F360) at the moment because I know I can't commit the design to a useful drawing.

I first posted this nearly a year ago and have voted for other similar ideas / topics, but sadly things really don't seem to have moved on at all in the 2d drawing area from what I can see.  I may have to go back to investigating other software (Solidworks / Inventor) as I understand that their drafting environments are much more capable and comprehensive, offering more features. 

As others have said on other posts, it's lovely to think that everything can be modeled, developed and reviewed on screen and then just sent to a CNC for manufacture but that's just not how most manufacture works - and won't be for the foreseeable future, if ever!  Designers & fabricators still need a full complement of drafting tools to communicate ideas clearly and effectively to a range of stakeholders in a printable 2d format.  

Unless some development time is allocated to improving the 2d environment, I'm going to have to stop waiting for F360 to catch up an just choose another application that will allow me to communicate my designs clearly - I really don't want to do this but soon I won't have a choice.  

I'm frustrated that this issue is still dragging on, despite there being lots of threads related to drafting improvements, all with a good number of votes...

[Anonymous]

I'd like to see the same level of control on line style as AutoCad provides. Here, how elements are drawn is controlled by the layer settings. For maximum comfort, the layer defintions, which are exportable in AutoCad, should be importable in Fusion 360.