Balloon numbering messed up - duplicate numbers etc

[Muzzerboy]

I placed balloons around this assembly and then tried to renumber them in sequence once I'd finished struggling to move the BOM table, assembly view and balloons so they didn't clash. I have to say this was pretty awkward and not a patch on SolidW, SolidE, Onshape etc. You need to work on this. It's handy to be able to realign a row of balloons but I'd like to be able to drag to reposition and resize individual balloons, views, tables etc like the grown up programs.

It gave me messages like "choose balloon to renumber as 5" etc as I worked around the balloons but when I got to 6, I found 2, 6 and 7 suddenly became 7's. Interestingly the table has a similar problem but the numbers are different to the balloons....

I've also been missing configurations (Solidworks), aka "positional representations" in Inventor. Without this capability it doesn't seem to be possible to show an assembly in different positions within a drawing.

[cmiller66]

Hi Muzzerboy,

Thanks for the feedback, sorry to hear you're having issues with the balloon numbering.  To take your comments in order:

1. All of the objects in a Fusion drawing have grips.  If you select an object (say the Parts list or an individual balloon or view) you should be able to click and drag the grip to relocate the object.  There is some inconsistency with how some object behave - a dimension will move with the view while a balloon will stretch.  If you want to move view/dimensions/balloons together, MOVE > then window/crossing select the objects.

2.  Balloon renumbering - from what I see in the attached image, it looks like the item 7 balloons are all pointing to the same item, so I'm wondering if the issue is not that the balloon renumbered correctly, but that the balloons re-associated themselves incorrectly to the wrong component.  Would it be possible for you to share this design with me or send me the Fusion Archive (f3z) of the drawing and design?  Please share or email to: christopher dot miller at autodesk dot com.

3.  Currently you can create drawings based on full design, selected components, or animation (you can use this to createe an "exploded view").  We don not (yet) offer the ability to mix/match these types of views in the same drawing.  It sounds like the request here would be to maybe show the front and top views of the design, then maybe an exploded isometric view of the components on the same sheet?

Thanks,
Chris

[Muzzerboy]

I spent quite a while trying to move the balloons but I found that every time I did, the arrows moved too. In the process they became disconnected from the components. The only way I could move them was via the RMB menu Move which was like having one hand tied behind my back. I see that most objects grey over when you select them and there is a sort of square in the middle that you can grab and drag. 

In the process of trying to renumber and move the balloons, some of them seem to have become disconnected (see above) and either reconnected by themselves or with my help to the wrong compts. This was also compounded by apparently picking up a couple of invisible bodies and somehow adding them to the table. I ended up deleting them and no harm was done to the assembly as far as I can tell. Together that possibly explains what was happening.

The problem now is that one of the parts is visible in the design drawing but won't show in the GA drawing. No idea why and can't get it to appear. Perhaps you could see what the issue is? I'll post you the design and drawing files shortly.

There doesn't seem to be any way to resize the BOM table or any of the rows and columns. The only option seems to be to grab the whole table and move it somewhere else. That's what I meant about it not being very versatile (yet?). I don't see (m)any options for formatting the BOM table.

The requirement for "assembly configurations" (SW) and "positional representations" (Inventor) is so that you can show the assembly in one position in one view and in another position in another view - within the same drawing. I use both of those programs in my day job and it's critical to be able to do this.

I had this bypass valve kicking about on my desk and reckoned that I should be able to draw it up in Fusion if I really have managed to become reasonably competent in Fusion. By and large it's worked out OK but I've found a few limitations, some are features that aren't yet implemented and others may well be because you don't plan to completely replicate Inventor's features.

In the process of doing this, I've learned that I should be doing much fewer sketches although I've been doing almost all of it as bottom up design, which is what you are promoting. Next time I may make a better job of it.

Progress is very encouraging and I love the HSM CAM functionality. Looking forward to seeing new features being added.

Murray

[cmiller66]

Hi Murray,

Thank you for sending the file, I will take a look.  For the table editing issue, you're right, currently the table is auto-generated and except for moving or deleting it you can't edit it (overall scale, edit items, add rows, etc).  We do have a backlog of feature enhancements (the roadmap) that we are working on and table editing is on the list.

You might want to check out Animations in Fusion (you can transform/move the components) and then try New Drawing from Animation, but as I mentioned that will be a separate drawing, currently we don't support different representations in the same drawing.

Thank you for the feedback, it's apprecaited.  I will also forward this to our designers.  

Chris

[Muzzerboy]

Just to summarise the outcome, it seems that in the original process of trying to move and renumber the balloons, some of the leaders became detached and reattached themselves to different parts, resulting in instances where two or more balloons were attached to one part. Not surprisingly perhaps, this confused the renumbering and BOM table functions.

Clicking on any(?) of the drawing items results in a small square at the centre that can be grabbed and dragged. This is true of the balloons as well as component views and the BOM table. I could swear that the balloons didn't show this when I was strugglling to move them originally but I expect I am mistaken.

As I mentioned in my last post, "representations" (assembly positions) are a feature that will be necessary in a professional product when Fusion is fully implemented. For now, different assembly positions will have to be shown in separate drawings if required.

The ability to resize table column widths etc will be a useful enhancement, as will detail views of sections. I'd guess that detail views are most commonly required on sections anyway?

I see that section views are now available for simulation results - very helpful, as you need to be able to look at internal stresses etc.

Murray