animation keyframes?

[burnandreturn]

I have tried the animation module.  I don't seem to be able to copy keyframes.  Is that so that it is not possible to copy keyframes and move the copy?  If so is it planned to include a more feature rich animation package soon?

[burnandreturn]

Am I the only one that is using the animation module?   Actually I should have written that I don't see any keyframes to copy on the timeline.

[burnandreturn]

Not a single comment or question from any of the Autodesk staff!   I have written it before and just a little while ago in another thread,  the Fusion management is only interested  in the glamour not getting a solid product relatively bug free and stable.  First impressions are hard to change.

[irene.chen]

Hi burnandreturn,

Thanks for your feedback.

Fusion Animation doesn't support copy&paste the actions on Action Panel in animation workspace since each action is created based on some particular scenario (e.g. rotation center, special position). Once copy-pasted, then you could see unexpected results because the particular scenario has been changed.

Thanks

Irene Chen

Fusion 360 Quality Assurance

[burnandreturn]

Thank you for your reply.

BUT your answer is not actually correct.  Take for instance I want to extend a hydraulic cylinder.   At zero on the timeline the rod is fully retracted.  I move the timeline cursor to 4 seconds and then using the transform move command I drag the cylinder rod to what I want as its full extension.   If I could copy the keyframes I could then copy the keyframe when the rod is fully extended and paste it 4 seconds further along the timeline this would keep the rod extended for that period.  Then if I could copy the original keyframe and paste it 4 or 5 seconds further along the timeline the rod would retract to its EXACT original position.  The exact same thing would work for revolute, sliding, cylindrical, etc..

As it is now how do I determine the exact values to return the cylinder rod to it's original position?

[scott.price]

Appreciate you bringing this up -  interesting use cases for copy and pasting keyframes that we'll have to explore further.

As to the issue at hand - I took a look at it and there are two potential work arounds that are imperfect, but should hopefully get you the results you mention.

- You can use the Manual Explode tool, this allows you select a component (or multiple components one at a time) and specif direction(s) of motion and then expand the components along these paths using the slider. If you then use the tool on the same component in the opposite direction there should be a "notch" in the slider that correlates with the components original location.

- The likely better and more precise method would be to use the Transfrom Components tool and specify a numerical displacement in the command dialog, complete this transformation and begin a new one with the negative values for the original displacement.

I hope these can help you - but I totally agree that there are opportunities to simplify the interactions to get these results and we'll be looking into them. In the meantime, please give us a heads up with any other issues or ideas for improvement here or in the IdeaStation respectively.

Best,

Scott

[schneik-adsk]

Move to your last keyframe position and the right mouse click on the component. Select Restore Home. This will put the component exactly to its start position.

[burnandreturn]

If you have moved the component from its original position at the start of the animation for say the hydraulic cylinder the restore home moves the component back home not to the starting point of the animation. So that doesn't work in more complex animations.

Also in the timeline please make  a possibility to click and move frame by frame or enter a number and  go to that frame.  Sometimes when tweaking an animation it is necessary to easily go to a certain frame.

[irene.chen]

Hi burnandreturn,

Thanks for your comments/suggestion to Fusion Animation.

I strongly agree with you that copy/paste action is really useful to the user to create the same transform actions. But each action is created based on some particular scenario (e.g. rotation center, special position), we can't get the real same action after simple copy/paste because of different start time.

However, according to your case, I think your problem can be resolved if we can support restore to the position at the specific time, which is similar as "Restore Home" command.  it has been tracked as "FUPB-948 Support restore to the position at the specific time." in our internal system. I will keep you update.

Thanks

Irene Chen

Fusion 360 Quality Assurance

[burnandreturn]

What animation software packages do you have experience in animating assemblies?   If you could give me an example of why or when a copy and paste would fail I would be grateful.  I don't understand what you mean by a "real scenario" and start time.

[irene.chen]

Hi burnandreturn,

Fusion Animation doesn't support copy/paste actions. Please learn more about Animation from http://fusion360.autodesk.com/learning/learning.html?caaskey=caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/ENU/Fusion-Fun...

Thanks

Irene Chen

[Anonymous]

This is a very important feature to have whether it is in Fusion or some other software, there are many situations where this would massively increase productivity if not make a project viable. The animation project I am working on at the moment has many repetitive movements and is almost impossible to complete without this functionality. Having to manually reprogram every motion that are identical is very tedious. If the result is incoherent it shall of the user responsibility to fix but not to the software to prevent. But perhaps there is a known workaround to this?

[burnandreturn]

Your requests for keyframes are falling on deaf ears.   The animation package in Fusion is pretty much useless for any real animations and it is clumsy as hell.  Read my posts above.  They won't even answer questions.

[Anonymous]

Yes that was my feeling. Didn't you find any alternative since you first posted?

[burnandreturn]

I use Simlab Composer for my animation needs.  It is a great program with a lot of power.

[Anonymous]

This looks awesome I'll give it a go thx! I wish I had known about this before...