Adding comments to Sketches and Designs

[fsonnichsen]

I want to do a simple thing--added comments to my designs and sketches--things like frequencies for example that are related to a particular sketch and/or drawing (but not carried to the manufacturing process). I have vaguely seen reference to a (+) sign but this did not work. 

   What am I missing here?

Thanks

Fritz

[jeff_strater]

you can add text to a sketch.  Would this work for your needs?

[fsonnichsen]

Perhaps.  I note it comes out in blue. Also has an annoying dotted orange box around it. I don't see any way to change these features. (Font, size etc adjust just fine)..

Thanks

Fritz

[jeff_strater]

the blue is because sketch text is also available as a "profile" for use in Extrude, etc, and blue is the color of profiles.  Sketch text is a full-fledged sketch item, and the user cannot control color of those items.  That "annoying" box is there so that you can constrain the text to other sketch or model geometry.  

[fsonnichsen]

OK Jeff- but based upon what you are saying I think this method of creating text, is actually creating a "physical" part of the design--like embossing for example.  I

    simply want user comments, shown with the design,  for use by the viewer--describing things about the design like electrical characteristics, materials, modulus etc.

   I don't think this is what "create:text" intends?

thanks

fritz

[laughingcreek]

I would also love something like this.  It's been suggested to me before to try the "comments" section, but I've found that functionality utterly useless. (would like to know if anybody uses it productively).

Would also like to see comments live in a comments folder so you can see a list of comments that has been made.  maybe they get a timeline feature so you can roll back to when the note was taken for context.

[fsonnichsen]

46 years into my field I think it is pretty clear that documentation is a thing of the past. I see it everywhere now--especially in software--but even in academic papers where "Proprietary" is now the big buzzword. Gutenberg was fine with me but I think were are back to the days of the ancient Greeks -- where information is spread by poetry and word of mouth.

Now that I am done with that "soapbox" event--is there a way in which a number of us could tweak Autodesk a bit about adding this feature?  They clearly put a lot into their product and I would expect they would consider adding a documentation feature--(which, IMHO, is a gross oversight!).

Thanks for you comment on this

cheers

Fritz

[davebYYPCU]

Comments, bottom left under the browser, surely already exists.

I use it but not often.

Might help....

[fsonnichsen]

Dave

   can you give me some details--I am looking at the bottom under the browser and do not see a "comments" region of any kind. I cannot see anywhere to turn it on either.

thanks

fritz

[davebYYPCU]

File has to be saved,

before open close with black dot.

Might help....

[fsonnichsen]

Wow--they did a good job of hiding that one. At first I could not find what you show. After playing around:

1-go to File in upper left

2-at dropdown from File go to View and expand it

3-You will see a selection for "comments" (and it also suggests <ctl> <alt>A)

 I guess I (and possibly Dave) was hoping for "comments"  to appear on the diagram (but again-not as design objects but just comments).  At any rate-no sense gilding the rose I suppose. This will work.

Thanks

Fritz

[eric_csuf]

One the A360 webpages for your project, there is a Wiki tab. You can keep extensive documentation of your project there. It's not as convenient as being able to annotate right on a sketch, but it's quickly retrievable from within F360.

With a project selected on the Data Panel, click the tiny globe icon next to the name of the project. If you roll over it, it says "Open on the Web". Top left on the page, you will see a tab for Wiki. Open that and it''' be obvious what to do.

Eric

[laughingcreek]

Not sure what you consider "extensive documentation", but I don't think that fits the bill.  Just an even more inconvenient way to add to the comments.   The comments are useless for documentation.  It's like trying to document and convey technical information via text.  or face book.  

[fsonnichsen]

 I probably should have been a little more clear on what I (and I think others) intended.  It comes from standing back at 50,000 feet and understanding exactly why we use design programs and where their outputs get deployed.

   At least in my case--When I finish a drawing in many cases I machine it myself or store it for use a long time later. Other times hand it off to other researchers, use it for presentation, or send it to a machine shop along with formal drawings.

     Without a title and some notes attached directly to the drawing describing things about it, I have to create a jpg with the "File" tab, copy into visio, and then add my notes there. Now I have 2 sets of designs running around plus a pdf from the visio. Most inconvenient.

   One one hand I would think that vendor would want to do this-but on the other the fact that they have not done it- hints that maybe it is not deemed important.

Fritz

[DavidManivelle]

Hello dears,

Even is this thread is a bit old, I totally agree with the utility of adding comments to a sketch.

Ok it is possible to work around with the TEXT function, but it is a bit heavy to manipulate and not a clean as it could be.

When you use paramtric skteches for calculations, or nesting, it is extremely uselfull to describe what you draw.

Hopefully we will see thing kind of function showing up one day.

[goyettejay91]

So in the "Comments" tab, you can snap a picture to go along with the comment you're trying to post. I think you could take the picture of the specific sketch to go along with your comment. That said, the issue that I've been having and can't find any info on is that when I take a picture to go along with my comment it always fails to post and so doesn't get saved to the comments tab. It only posts text for me. I want to create a tool list with pictures next to the commented tools so that it's easy to understand but it fails every time. 

[r.moss]

I agree - it would be really useful to have comments that could be attached to a sketch object as a "pop-up" (like commenting a cell in Excel) so that one could, for instance, give a name to a construction line or add an explanation to a dimension.   It would then be nice to have a window showing all comments, so that you could browse through them and click a link to see where it was placed.

The file comments box is fine for documenting version changes but less convenient for recording detailed thoughts about sketch lines and dimensions. 

[graham.wideman]

I too would appreciate a feature as described here.  Something like "comment bubbles" you could attach to sketch features or model objects.  These might be used for ad hoc to-do notes while designing -- like "this hole is a placeholder until we measure the bolt" or explanations like "hole can't be closer to the edge due to bolt head size", things like that.  Or even design-review notes "Fred suggests strengthening this bit here."   You would be able to show/hide such comments, so as to switch between seeing all the notes, versus removing the clutter.

This is easy to do in ECAD software I use, or in Visio, but no convenient way to do it in F360, it seems.

[johnanger]

I've got a good work around I am applying - and I think it will work for Mac users. I'm sure there is something similar for PC if someone could post if this idea could be similarly applied? In short a floating window from the "Notes" app which stays on top of Fusion. 

The Apple "Notes" application lets you create a note, open it in a new window, and under Window menu specify that it stays on top. It's a stickie more or less. The window stays on top of your fusion model. I name the window after the name the of the drawing and give it a prefix of Drawing Notes. The notes can be stored in a folder inside the note application. To use - click the notes window and edit the note, click the Fusion window and edit the drawing. The note stays on top so you can see it. When you are done or just want to archive you can copy paste the content into the comments window. Some formatting is lost in the paste... it's ok though. 

 view of working in fusion with notes on top.

 

details pasted into comments.

[axalea_thomas]

I'm a bit late to the party. I just wanted to say that I'm working on an add-in to display notes on bodies (placed on vertices) and in sketches (placed at fixed positions). It does not fulfill all wishes in this thread - but some! It lets you place markers that show the notes on hover (or edit). Everything is not fully set yet, so I could also do some changes based on suggestions (depending on the effort needed 🙂 ).

It is for Windows, as that is the development environment that I have. I have tried to address the risk of the add-in failing to work for some reason by having it automatically create a snapshot sidecar text file, containing the contents of all notes.

Read more and discuss at
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-api-and-scripts/-introducing-axalea-notes-add-in-add-notes-in-...