Can I convert a component BACK to bodies?

[Anonymous]

Is there a way to convert a component back to its original form in bodies?

[thomasrobertgardner1056]

This actually helped thank you so much. 

[lobberdobber]

Really easy... you can copy and paste unlike what the post says... just select and open your "Component" in the tree open "Bodies" select the bodies of the component you need and then copy paste. You now have a copy of the bodies which you can save or export for use in other formats.

[platosnlm]

I had solved the same problem with using these steps: "Saved as different" the Component you want to remake body (it makes them body again) "remade them component" them so we can "paste new" to previous project , then "copied" the component 2 with "move command". Next "merged" Component 3 with pre existed non contacting body(it should work with any body non contacting). After that Component 3 Turns Component to Body.  Should "RemoveInstance" (must used blue ball pointing left NOT delete) the invisible component(Component 2 gets invisible after previous step) and first component.

Ik it's not efficient, there must be shortcuts 
but it works 🙂

[Fabbunny69]

As Jeff describes works but then I right click the copied body in the timeline and click 'Convert to DM Feature' and this then disassociates your copied body from the original component that can then be deleted to keep everything tidy.

I like to keep my machining relative and sometimes edited bodies separate from original design components. Example: complex stock that has been manually altered between setups.

[etristram]

I have a kind of hacky fix...

I downloaded a STEP off of GRABCAD, and imported the component to my design. Faced with the typical limitations of components versus bodies, I needed a way to created a body that was identical to the component.

I extruded a rectangle around the component, and then used the boolean intersection tool, with my extruded rectangle as the "target" and the component as the "tool", and was left with a new body that was identical to the component. 

I just hid the component and worked with the new body. Hope this helps in a pinch

[etfrench]

That's a whole lot of extra steps for not accomplishing anything useful😁  If you want the imported step file to be all one body just use Combine/Join.  You can do that before or after making a copy of it.

[etristram]

Actually, your snide comment misses the point of what I’m trying to accomplish. I’m perfectly familiar with the combine tool. The issue that I was trying to resolve was overcoming some of the numerous limitations introduced when importing STEP components, which cannot be modified the way normal components can. 

For instance, I could simply “create bodies from” normal components, but since that function isn’t available to me it’s necessary to employ this workaround. I might add that contrary to your assertion that this is “lots of steps” it is two, very simple steps. Three if you include hiding the original component 🙄

Have a great day. 

[TrippyLighting]

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@etristram wrote:

... The issue that I was trying to resolve was overcoming some of the numerous limitations introduced when importing STEP components, which cannot be modified the way normal components can. 

...

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Can you elaborate what those "numerous limitations" are?

By default imports have no timeline. It has to be enabled manually.

I rarely enable the timeline in imported designs. That allows great freedom in restructuring a design.

If I do enable the timeline, I usually make sure the structure is as desired. The one limitation I do see is that restructuring a complex assembly can be very cumbersome if not impossible with an enabled timeline. 

Also, I in Fusion 360 you always work within a component as every Fusion 360 deign already is a component.

So technically a solid or surface body cannot exist outside of a component.

[etristram]

Hi Peter,

In my (limited) experience, components are created from bodies and inherit different behaviors once converted. Bodies can be grouped together, whereas components can only be grouped into selection sets, for example. 

Furthermore, imported STEP components exhibit further diminished flexibility. I could alter a surface or tap a hole on a regular component that I had created, whereas with an imported STEP component I cannot. 

Maybe there’s some way to “unlock” the imported component that I’m not aware of? I would love to know how, if that’s possible. 

When importing components to an existing design it will not affect the timeline, however it’s true that upon opening an imported component for the first time, the timeline will be disabled by default. 

[TrippyLighting]

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@etristram wrote:

Hi Peter,

In my (limited) experience, components are created from bodies and inherit different behaviors once converted. Bodies can be grouped together, whereas components can only be grouped into selection sets, for example. 

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In a design without a timeline, you can freely organize components into component groups in other CAD systems called assemblies. However, that also depends on how these STEP files were created. Some CAD systems allow to export "flat" STEP files that contain only solid bodies all at the same level. That usually very undesirable. That is particularly the case when such a design contains many identical solid bodes, e.g. for fasteners, or other off-the-shelf parts.

It is much better to have those represented by component instances as that greatly limits the memory footprint.

It would probably help if you could share a design that you experience problems with.

In my day job  develop custom manufacturing automation concepts. I work a lot with imported STEP files, often containing thousands of components. The quality and organization of those can wildly vary 😉

[etristram]

Okay, very cool, thanks for the info!

I’m working on much simpler assemblies than what you’re describing, but I would still like to know how to optimize my designs so as to minimize the load on system resources. Having instances of components, for example, instead of duplicates. 

I’ll delve into the sans-timeline workflow and see what new options become available to me. Thanks again, this has been enlightening!

[rharikrishna]

in my case i want to scale my assembly up but that only works on bodies

[etristram]

Hi, you should be able to scale your components just as you would a body. Additionally, by learning how to use the “activate component” workflow (super simple, 60-second YouTube videos explain this) you can easily modify bodies within a component using the scale tool that you’re familiar with. 

[knadityas]

What is a component and what is a body in fusion? Do i need to create a new component everytime i create a new object within the same design? When do i need to create bodies and when do i need to create components? All the time these 2 things confuses me a lot

How do i organize every component or bodies for easy management incase if i m working with lots of objects of a design

[knadityas]

I need to convert component to body incase if i want to copy a body from one project to another project and modify that component in that new project. For example I wanted to scale newly copied component but fusion won't allow to scale a component it seems, but i can scale body. So i wanted to convert the copied component back to body. I can't copy a body from another project to current project as i can copy a sketch from other projects to current project.

[g-andresen]

Hi,

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@knadityas wrote:

 For example I wanted to scale newly copied component but fusion won't allow to scale a component it seems, but i can scale body. 

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Change the dimensions in sketches and features (extrusion, sweep...) instead of scaling.

Günther

[etfrench]

• If  you have multiple bodies in a component, simply  convert the bodies to (sub)components.
• You can also copy a component and paste it into a new file.
• Save Copy As allows you to save a component in a new file.

All of the above will allow  you to scale an individual body as a separate entity, however, as @g-andresen says, scale using sketch dimensions.

[etristram]

Well, there’s a lot of helpful info on YouTube where you can follow along
with a professional who will use visuals and real examples to demonstrate
the concepts. But if you insist upon trying to figure it out here in the
comments section of this forum post, I’ll do my best to break it down:

You can build something entirely without components, using only bodies.
Bodies are 3D shapes.

In order to simulate motion such as joints, hinges, sliders, etc. involving
multiple bodies, they need to be converted to components first. Then you
can inform Fusion as to how the components should interact: can they pass
through one another? Is there a specific axis on one component that should
act as a swivel for dictating the way another component moves?

Additionally, there are some highly useful features that only components
can employ. One of my favorites is that you can use a key command to
instantly make all components different colors, so that when you’re
building a complex assembly you can tell them apart. Then just hit the key
command again and toggle back to their original appearance, which you might
set according to the materials that they are made of.

Perhaps the most useful workflow feature is that components can have their
own, self-contained timeline. It’s really helpful to be able to edit a
certain step of the timeline of a component, and much easier to find that
place in the timeline when you aren’t sorting through every change that was
made for every body in the entire project.

Long story short, check out some YouTube videos on how to use components
and you will be glad you did.

Edward Tristram
*(213) 840-9985*

[TrippyLighting]

I am not sure what YouTube videos you checked, but some of the details you proposed are incorrect.

1. Technically you cannot design in Fusion without components, because each individual file in Fusion is already a component. Within that component/file you can design using bodies only.

2. I personally would not by default use a workflow where I convert bodies into components. Some workflows require this, but for most beginners, that isn't a recommended workflow.  

3. Some of us here on the Forum have decades of professional experience with CAD. I have worked with CAD professionally as an Engineer for over 30 year, over 20 of those in 3d starting with SolidWorks in 1998.