background grid fades in sketch mode...

[Anonymous]

Hello there,

I am new to Fusion 360 but doing my best to learn, going thru the tutorials, etc...  My question is about the background while doing a sketch...there are the gridlines imediately around the object I am sketching, however they seem to fade away the further you go to the edge of the computer screen.  This is very distracting, mostly because I use those gridlines.  Also when I zoom out while in sketch mode, the only gridlines I see are only around the sketch...The more I zoom out, the more blankness I get with the grid lines barely around my sketch.  I am sure there is some preference to turn the fade to edges on and off, but for the life of me I cannot find it.  This is probably not an issue for most people, but I really hate it.  Please any help would be appreciated to make the background a stable grid from edge of my screen to other edge.  Thanks.

Will

[Anonymous]

Hi, 

Started fusion a few days ago and I feel the same. It is very disturbing indeed. I have attached a screenshot. 
So I support your question and wish there could be a setup to change the limit of that fade-away. 
Also, I have tried this tip there: http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/design-and-documentation/fusion-360-questions-hide-grid-amp-change-lig...
But even in the other environment, there's still this fading problem. Would be great to setup this as an independent setting, independent from the environment setting. 

Thanks for the help. 

[TannerReid]

Hi, folks!

So the grid should always exist around sketch geometries that you're working on (if you draw a line, the grid should appear around it).  However, it makes a lot of sense that this is preferential for some people, and a nuisance to others.  One benefit of the fading is that it signifies that there aren't geometries out of your current view, so you know you're looking at all that is included in that sketch.  I agree that it would be great to have this feature as an option in the preferences that you can toggle on and off.  Thanks for the feedback!

If anyone else has other ideas, please chime in!  But looks like right now it isn't an option.  I'll take it to the product team and see if we can incorporate the idea.  I'd love to hear if you haven any other thoughts about this or other UI/UX concerns.

Anything else we can do to help with your projects?

Enjoy yourself, 
Tanner

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the reply. I understand the point your making here. Indeed, I did not have a problem with the fading in itself, but it is for the author of this thread, and to support it further, having no fading at all would not be a problem for me either, I would actually prefer it. The more specific "fading problem" I ran into was to make its behaviour more consistent, and that's what you addressed correctly: whatever new entity we add should expand the visibility to the grid around that. It sometimes does, but that does not always happen as the screenshot proved, so I guess there's some glitching on that feature. Personnally, I find the fading to be a sophistification that needs its on/off switch somewhere. It is important for planning new sketches to have a feeling of the dimensions available around the object. Some people may need an extra meter of visibility, other will need an extra 30 cm. In other CAD software, a clipping limit can be set to mask out extra lines (it actually saves performance a bit as well) . By fading the grid at an un-modifiable limit, that's one degree of freedom removed from creativity. Again, this is a personal feeling, but it feels like I'd be working on a table (a real one) that would be chopped off around the object that I've just put onto it, for the only reason to focus on it.  The thing is, sometimes we do need to focus elsewhere on the table, to project ideas onto it. Again, this is a personal comment. Maybe I'll put it in a feature request/enhancement, as I may represent a minority of users. 

Anyway, in the meantime and as a workaround, I would like to suggest the author to try the other environment settings (it's in the buttons at the bottom), the grid lines may be more visible at greater distance from the object, however this comes with a cost of a completely different background colour that may not suit your taste. 

[TannerReid]

This is great feedback!  We really appreciate it!  I'll chat with some other experts and let you know when there's an update.

Let me know how else we can help!

Thanks
Tanner

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the feedback.  You stated it better than I did.  🙂   I have played some with the environmental variables and it does help, but I still would like a little more grid than is there.  Perhaps a 3 way switch, grid fully on, grid fully off and a user designated range of grid before fade begins.   Anyway, I am finding I like this program a lot and I have only scratched the surface with it.  Sorry it took me so long to come back and check my question...work sent me off for training (unrelated to this stuff) and I just got back at the end of last week.  Take care.