Annoying snapping to geometry in sketches

[vikt.shapovalov]

This is the issue me and many of my colleagues have been annoyed for quite some time. Now it's time to shout it out loud.

Let's say, you have a design with some components and geometry already existing and you start a new sketch the way you have this geometry behind the sketch plane. You draw your lines and stuff and now it comes time for dimensions. And here comes the nightmare since the Dimension tool will try to snap to any geometry (even inactive) behind the sketch plane. And when I say ANY I mean it.

Me: I've activated this component as I only want to work with this one and I do not intend to use others in my sketch so I do not project their geometry.

Dimension tool: Let's create a dimension between this nice little circle and this random edge on an random inactive component 1 meter behind the sketch plane, that will be fun!

It's annoying beyond any expression, really! Just check the video.

Or another example, you project some geometry to your sketch plane because you want to use this particular geometry projection. But no, Fusion knows better, so if you reference your projections carelessly, it will select not your projection, but the original geometry or even worse some random edge which is behind your your sketch plane but on the same line of sight that your projection. Unlimited frustration - that's what happens next.

This should not be default behavior for sure. If this is a bug, please fix it. If this is a feature, please make it toggleable by some hotkey or checkbox. Do not make your users to be sappers looking for a spot to place their dimension without snapping to some random geometry.

[vikt.shapovalov]

@TrippyLighting 

Thank you, Peter. I appreciate your help! I really do agree with you that a CAD system is a tool and tools should be picked properly. Obviously, Fusion 360, while being wonderful and powerful multi-tool, is inferior to specialized tools, just like any multi-tools in our garages.

I've created this post initially assuming I just might be missing some obvious checkbox or hotkey to turn off this behavior. Apparently, it's not the case, and now seems to me more like a bug or some unintended behavior. It does not inhibit me from completing my work and I do not think it is a critical issue. Just as the title says, it's annoying, very annoying sometimes.

I do not expect it to be changed or fixed in nearest updates for sure. However, for any feature to be implemented or any bug to be fixed it needs to be said in the first place. It might take some time, but if it's never pronounced, it's never done.

[jeff_strater]

I probably shouldn't, but I will take the bait offered by @TrippyLighting's dim view of our desire/ability/motivation to fix this.  Probably that's why he did it - to taunt us into fixing it .

FWIW, I agree - this behavior is annoying.  Sometimes it is impossible to place a sketch dimension without accidentally picking some other model edge.  I agree that this should obey the "auto project edges on reference" setting, so those of us who it annoys can turn it off.  I will vow to push this again with the sketch team.  I can't guarantee success (they keep NOT giving me that CEO job, I don't understand it...), but I will try.

[pavmed]

Hi @jeff.strater 

In support to OP, this screencast illustrates the whole thing. Just in case you need it to finally get that CEO job... )))

[HughesTooling]

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@jeff_strater wrote:

I probably shouldn't, but I will take the bait offered by @TrippyLighting's dim view of our desire/ability/motivation to fix this.  Probably that's why he did it - to taunt us into fixing it .

FWIW, I agree - this behavior is annoying.  Sometimes it is impossible to place a sketch dimension without accidentally picking some other model edge.  I agree that this should obey the "auto project edges on reference" setting, so those of us who it annoys can turn it off.  I will vow to push this again with the sketch team.  I can't guarantee success (they keep NOT giving me that CEO job, I don't understand it...), but I will try.

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Perhaps you should get @TrippyLighting  to bait them into not giving you the job, see if that help.

Mark

[g-andresen]

Hi,

even though I haven't had any real problems with this behavior yet, I would like to understand what through means in selection filters.

Maybe someone can give me an answer or refer me to one.
thank you.

[TrippyLighting]

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@jeff_strater wrote:

I probably shouldn't, but I will take the bait offered by @TrippyLighting's dim view of our desire/ability/motivation to fix this.  Probably that's why he did it - to taunt us into fixing it .

---

Taunting or intimidating someone else to do something rarely results in desirable outcomes 😉

I simply realize that some things take longer to implement and features that are easy to describe and conceptualize are not always equally easy to implement.  Also, I have no insight as to what development priorities are.

I do have to say that some of the latest updates seem to implement "completions" of existing toolsets, which I appreciate.

[gregorygatz]

I'm resurrecting this five year old discussion because it popped up when I Googled " unwanted snapping to sketch ".

Just a little background on where I'm coming from.  I'm a hobbyist and using the free version of Fusion  to 'try' to model ship parts.  The parts are fairly easy to draw in 2D and they are intended for laser cutting.

However it is helpful when planning a model to be able to put the parts together and see how they will fit before wasting wood.

The plans I work from may Look something like this.

 The 3D model I am looking to build would be similar to this. 

I'm aware of other options besides using 'sketching' in Fusion for the purpose of tracing the plans.

I could create .svg drawings in something like Inkscape , and that is probably what I will have to do.

But meanwhile I wanted to share this, and point out that there is nothing in my project example except the canvas I am trying to trace.

Still, you will see the cursor snapping above and below the line on which I am trying to place a point.

I did determine that I could manually type in a degree setting by guessing a small amount up or down and get the the point placed where I wanted it.  Since some of my sketches can include many points, manually setting the angle is quite tedious. I didn't see this offered as a solution during the discussion, so I wonder if i am misunderstanding what is happening?

It just seems like this behavior, of not being able to place a point in a sketch precisely where you want it, would be unacceptable in a production environment.

[MichaelT_123]

Hi Mr GregoryGatz,

The 'tracing' (as you described) is a process of converting screen coordinates into ones in a design space.

The swimmingly simple transcendence from one being-instance to another type of existence, ... is shrouded in mystery. 

People (including CAD designers) still long for the path to understand such miraculous phenomena ... and coming up in the desperation for different explanations.

Here is the mine ...

1. An annoyed clicked mouse sends the electric impulse to the computer
2. a couple of types of messages can be sent
3. let's assume that the message was "I advanced x steps in X  and y steps in Y
4. The sizes of steps (Sₓ, Sʸ) were sent on the computer-mouse first handshake via the prolonged stream of tingling impulses, beforehand.
5. They always do it in the barely visible corner of a screen, at position (X₀,Y₀)  
6. The computer grabs the (X,Y) message and advances the previous mouse position (Xₚ,Yₚ)
7. Taking into account (X,Y), (Xₚ,Yₚ),(Sₓ, Sʸ), the zoom factor (Zₓ, Zʸ), a mouse 'speed' setting, ... and
8. a screen resolution determines the final compounded process resolution (granularity) constraint. 
9. Of course, there is also whole wholly software behind the entire scene, ...
10. which, let's assume, acts in good faith !!!.

 What can you do to minimize the binarity of cursor movement?

Try: 

1. selecting a mouse of high DPI
2. selecting high-resolution monitor
3. if you are not orthodox, ... change the wholly software
4. or, in the extreme case ... forget about your own intelligence
5. and send the ancient ship drawings to 
6. AI portal for processing  
7. Good Luck!

Regards

MichaelT

[HughesTooling]

@gregorygatz 

What you are seeing in your video is Fusion trying to add a parallel constraint when the line segment gets close to parallel to the preceding line. You can work around Fusion automatically adding constraints if you hold the Ctrl key down, pretty sure this is mentioned in the messages above. Might be nice to have a checkbox on the sketch palette to turn off auto constraints but I guess not a high priority.

[gregorygatz]

Thanks Michael and Mark.

Mark,  I believe the “ctrl” key is what I need.  Can’t check it right now but will soon.

Thanks much for the help from the Pros.