Am I doing something wrong?

[fishtruk]

Hello,  I've posted several issues I've had with manipulating bodies in Fusion. I've had a lot of grief, suspecting it was the filetype etc. This Lars guy (very cool) does videos and suggested a "round trip" to help fix "errors" in files.

I just took 5 and realized that I can't do a New Design from File with dxf etc....only certain types of which my problem files are.

I'm outside the box now and I wonder if I should UPLOAD all files to the cloud in the left pane instead of New Design from File?  Could this be better??

Thanks.

When you hit certain points in the learning curve Fusion is astounding!

[HughesTooling]

I'd do as much as possible with New Design From File, the cloud upload is still too slow for me. Some file types have to be uploaded for translation so you don't have a choice, have you tried opening the same file both ways to see if there's any difference.

One thing I found out recently is you can use New Design from file and copy\paste into another design, I find that a time saver.

To edit a DXF if it's inserted, break the link then right click on the base feature in the time line and pick Edit, when you've finished click on Finish Base Feature.

Mark

[fishtruk]

Thanks Mike,

I've been watching Lars Christensen's videos and he suggested if you're loading a...say .stp file, do that then save it from whatever program you're using, then reopening it.

He says since .stp and .igs protocols have changed over the years this may correct some misinterpretations somehow.

I will try to upload a problem igs or stp to cloud first and see if it makes a difference.

Thanks TONS

Nelson

[HughesTooling]

Hi Nelson

Here a useful program if you want to try translating to a different file type or version, sometimes it helps with problem files. cadexchanger

Mark

[fishtruk]

Much appreciated.  Here's the link to Lars' video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6amNRlaAqs

See what you think when you hear it first hand. Perhaps I didn't relate his idea well.

Nelson

[Anonymous]

@fishtruk

Hi Nelson, I had been reading your post here. I had not seen Lar's video but on a "Reality" basis I think you should try Mark's suggestion. Since you are using Fusion 360, I think you should use "New design from File" first. It is faster. You can always SAVE to the cloud after your opened the file in Fusion 360. It will be saved in f3d format. This is in fact a new feature from a few updates before. Some users might not had noticed this new feature.  I would say you should just try both ways and see which way you wanted. As long as Fusion 360 can read your file format it will be quite safe. Just try it first. your file should be safe in your local drive. If you are worrying about that the file might be changed why not make a few copies of the file in your local dirve. I also check files using third party CAD viewers sometimes before uploading or opening in Fusion360. According to my understand if you "uploaded"  the file from your local disk using A360 the file format would not be changed. I might be wrong but I seldom use that method. 

Some Fusion 360 tutorials in the web could be outdated. I had not seen Lar's video.  Fusion 360 team had yet to improved their tutorials since Fusion 360 had grown into a pretty complex program in the last four years or so.

[fishtruk]

Thanks LMS,

I've gotten files recently and used New Design from File.  I am very new to 3d but have been doing code since 1970 and owned and hacked computers since 1979. So I guess that just makes me "keystroke literate".  Thing is that opening different filetypes has given me bodies which "behave" differently.  In Fusion, and perhaps other software, a body is a body so no more information (properties?) on them can be obtained? Think hitting a Properties button and it tells you what type of body you're looking at.

This Lars fellow said to open a file in your software, do nothing but immediately save it and reopen it....then have at it. The reason he gave was that the protocols - stp, igs, have changed since the '80's and that this open save and reopen may fix some problems related to that protocol issue.

In other posts I've put pix up of opened bodies with assorted colors on different faces and could not manipulate some of them.

Okay, here's something tangible...can I open an imported body and manipulate it the same way as if I created the body from the Sculpt pane---the way it's done in the Utility Knife video?  That's what I need.

Right now I'm going to research Tsplines, Bsplines and Mesh bodies. Maybe that will help. What types of bodies does Sculpt make?

Anyway I got my first crash out of the way yesterday on a week old Haas.  A good learning crash. I learned how 360 CAM treats hole drilling selection. My code rapided a 17/64 drill down thru 3/8" of steel to drill a counterbored hole without the counterbore !!.  Nobody hurt, nobody scared. (I was alone at work) 

I have yet to say anything bad about 360. I am impressed.

[Anonymous]

Hi, if you could use "New Design from File", or "Upload" and finally the file shows up in Fusion 360 successfully you should be able to manipulate the file. You might have to do some conversion between Breps and TSplines in order to modify the file. It is the same as building a new file in Fusion 360. You have to check the units used in the  file to be imported. I suggest you to change the units in Fusion 360 to the same as the file to be imported. Import the file then change the units back to those you wanted in Fusion 360. You also have to check the precision of the imported files.

Others I think Mark can provide you with better answers.

[HughesTooling]

Hi Nelson, Just a quick question do you know what software your files are coming from?

I've not really had any problems with imports but most of the customer files I deal with come from Solidworks. In house I move parts between Rhino, Fusion and ZW3D without any problems I can remember so it's would be interesting to know what software made the files you have problems with. The only time I've had and real problem is when I've received parasolid files, at the time I couldn't open them so asked the customer for STP and IGS files, these file were real bad quality. I don't know if that just down to their software not writing the other formats well or just their software produces poor quality surfaces.

Rhino has a bit of a reputation for producing bad models but 99% of the time it is down to the user. Rhino isn't a solid modeler so it doesn't care if a model is closed so people just join surfaces and don't check for naked edges or they use join edge to close gaps. The trouble is join edge doesn't really modify the edge so when you export to STP the model is full of holes.

Also I've found the Cad Exchanger program useful at times, sometimes just open an IGS and saving back to IGS will fix problems.

If you're exporting from Fusion or any program for that matter it's worth reopening the exported file to see if there are any problems before you send it to anyone, if there is try a different format to see if that helps. What I'm getting at here is sometime the problem's with the program exporting not the program that's importing!

Mark

[Anonymous]

@fishtruk

Hi Nelson, I think Mark is the perfect man to help you solving your problems. I only export STP out of Fusion 360, and import STP back to Fusion 360. Mark handles more file formats in and out of Fusion and other programs in his line of business. The STP format works very well with Fusion 360 by the way.

[fishtruk]

I'm becoming a pest I know.

I have this body. I've Converted all faces (~179).  Is this correct if I want to use the Edit Form utility? If so, how do I trim all the edges and get down to changing angles and such?

[HughesTooling]

What sort of edits do you want to make. I've not found any use for T-Splines yet, most of what I do have sizes\shapes the are easier to sketch or use fillet, draft etc., they are not organic shapes.

Mark

[fishtruk]

Hi,

The design has a 1 degree draft on the sides which I'm needing to remove without changing the overall shape for simplifying the ejector shape. This is a prototype only so needless complexity means high cost. I don't need a mold to run lights out here.

I don't seem to be able to "tug" on certain lines or surfaces to straighten it out like you can when you Sculpt a shape and tug it into the form you want.

I'm trying to make it into that type of body and I guess it just can't be done.

Nelson

[HughesTooling · Accepted solution]

As long as you're in direct mode, eg. Record History is off, you can select a face and use move to rotate a face. Here's a screencast with the model you sent me before, that version has no draft so to demonstrate I add a draft to 2 faces.

Mark

[fishtruk]

That makes me feel stupid.    I feel more stupid now, when I do what you did I can only rotate the face...the attached surfaces stay put.

[fishtruk]

Mike, you've done it again.  The fillets were causing errors until I removed them.

I swear I have so many different files of the same **** (cand I say that?) body on my computer which act differently.

I loaded the original and it worked after removing the fillets.  

That Timeline seems not to work consistently for me. I did turn it off for this.

[fishtruk]

AND I know now I can't say a 4 letter word from the Bible also !!

[fishtruk]

I can say dam without the "n" 😉

[Anonymous]

@fishtruk

Hi Nelson, looks like you are using the workflow of converting faces into T Spline planes, and then you are looking into ways to replace the original faces with the modified surfaces.

After you had converted the faces into TSpline planes you can move them, change angles, edited them extrude them using Edit Form. Then you can "Finish Form" and use Replace Face at the modified menu to replace the faces. The position of the Modified Target faces to the original Source faces can make a difference in the final result. The Size of the TSpline surfaces should be bigger than the original faces to be replaced.

After the Replace Face operations you can dim out the some of the Target Faces at the Browser and you will have a new solid with new faces. No trimming needed. Please refer to the discussion at the attached link. I suggest you to use a simple form like a Cube to try the different options in these operations. Then you can perform the changes on your imported file.

This is the link:  I will not be able to reply you because I am flying to another country. This link will show you a similar situation:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/design-validate-document/convert-body-into-a-t-spline/m-p/5842676#M344...

I believe this is what you were trying to do.

Best of luck! We all went through these difficult situations before. I had been using Fusion for 4 years now. I am still using it everyday. More practising will get you what you wanted!

[Anonymous]

In DM mode you might have to delete the fillets before moving the surfaces. in Parametric Mode you can roll back on the time line but you cannot "modify" the surfaces directly with the "Move" commands. It is because modifying surfaces with the MOVE command is Direct Modeling, not Parametric.

I think Mark was right. In your case using "Move" command in DM mode is more suitable for your purposes. You might want to practise a little bit using another model in DM mode before changing your referenced file.