Can't Select Geometry Located Below a Sketch Unless Sketch is Hidden

[Bug.Robotics]

Title says it all.  Screencast below.    I'm hoping I just have a setting configured incorrectly.  If not, what is the advantage of such a workflow? 

I've used Fusion since 2014 and these sort of weird things in the sketch environment drive me nuts and make it difficult to use for normal workflows where work must be done quickly.  I use SolidWorks daily so a bit unfair to compare the two but this along with a number of other issues with the sketch environment cripple the software IMO.

[Bug.Robotics]

I don't think I have different workflow.  My goal is the same with respect to the 3D object.  I think Fusion users may be used to this workflow that requires extra steps.

If the sketched profile did not block geometry selection by default the various workarounds posted above wouldn't be necessary and the user woudn't even have to make the decision to make the sketch a construction entity.   This would reduce the amount of steps a user has to take to get a particular task completed allowing them to complete their models faster.

[chrisplyler]

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@jeff_strater wrote:

First:  Even if you think that the primary use of a profile is consumption by a feature, there is still the object-action workflow:  Select the profile, then invoke Extrude.

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Sure, but that isn't necessary. It doesn't even save any clicks. Profile>Feature versus Feature>Profile, or in other words Object>Action versus Action>Object, doesn't save any time. It isn't more or less user friendly in any way. So it wouldn't hurt to lose it if the benefit becomes avoiding all the seconds wasted trying to select something BEHIND the profile more easily.

Couldn't profiles be visible but unselectable until you activate an Action that requires a profile selection?

[Bug.Robotics]

Hey @jeff_strater bumping this to see if the reply I sent made sense (I'd like to know that I am communicating the idea properly), if you have any thoughts regarding the workflow I'm describing and if changes to this workflow are even possible within Fusion, due to architecture or otherwise, so I don't waste anyone's time going through Ideastation.  Thanks.

[jeff_strater]

@Bug.Robotics, I understand your response.  And, you are right, it doesn't save any clicks in the Extrude workflow.  But, whether you use the object/action workflow or not, others do use this workflow, so Fusion needs to support it, if for no other reason than it is available for other commands.

I would encourage you to submit this idea to the IdeaStation.  Perhaps others will see the value in it and vote it up.  To be honest, I have not heard a lot of complaints about this in the past several years, but I am ready to be proven wrong.

[laughingcreek]

I personal like being able to pre-select objects for commands.  helps with the thinking process, and my mouse is usually close to an object when I initially decide to take action, so there is less travel. 

OTOH i've never cared for reverse polish notation, so go figure.

[Bug.Robotics]

Thanks @jeff_strater and @laughingcreek for the replies.  Just to be clear I'm not advocating for something different from object-action.  I'd still like to be able to select the sketch and then create features, etc.  I just want to be able to select anything underneath the sketch as well while working without having to turn a profile off/on.  I understand the user base is used to the current way of doing things and with the the workarounds you all offered and lack of comments on this thread it's probably an edge case not worth taking up server space

Thanks again for everyone's responses again.  Have a great weekend.

[chrisplyler]

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@Bug.Robotics wrote:

I'd still like to be able to select the sketch and then create features, etc.  I just want to be able to select anything underneath the sketch as well while working without having to turn a profile off/on.

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Soooooo...  if you aren't completely satisfied with the "hold down left mouse button for a second to get the selection pop-up" method...  you want Fusion to highlight and default select the profile UNLESS your cursor is near a line/edge behind that profile, and in this case highlight and default select that line/edge instead of the profile that's in front of it. Right?

I say line/edge and not line/edge/face because I think face adds some trouble into the possibility. A face could be a large area behind a profile. It could, in fact, take up the entire profile. So how then could Fusion possibly know which one you mean to select without some additional form of input from you?

I think that the "hold for a sec and choose from the pop-up" is, if you think about the possibilities, a pretty decent way to handle things.

[chrisplyler]

The way Revit handles selection of overlapping things is via use of the Tab key. You hover your cursor over the stacked stuff and start hitting Tab. Each time you hit Tab, a different entity under your cursor his highlighted. Then you click the mouse button when the right thing is highlighted.

I'm used to that solution, and would be fine if Fusion used it as well.

[Bug.Robotics]

Hey Chris, my previous reply was marked as spam for some reason so I have included it below.

I guess don't see the reason for the profile to be there at all (other than to let the user that the sketch is closed).  Just select the sketch (actual sketch lines or the box in the history) if you want to use it for something.  If the sketch line passes over any part of a body entity you are trying to select the long press makes perfect sense.  

The issue you have with the sketch being over the face is (most likely) because you're used to the idea of a sketch profile blocking parts of the body.  If the profile wasn't there (or at least wasn't masking the body entities) you could have the sketch cover the entire surface and still select the sketch or the face or anything (of course long pressing for options if the sketch line is covering any body entity you wish to select).

No doubt this type of system works in Fusion.  I'm just used to a different environment in SolidWorks where the sketch doesn't block anything and it makes things just a bit more streamlined (less clicks, less options to configure to do stuff).  The difference is subtle but I notice it immediately when in the sketch environment and I want to measure stuff beneath a sketch.

The screencast below is sketching in SolidWorks.  Notice how in the sketch environment I can select and measure without doing anything extra.  And the Object-Action workflow is the same.  The difference is that Fusion blocks selections with sketch. 

[chrisplyler]

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@Bug.Robotics wrote:

I guess don't see the reason for the profile to be there at all (other than to let the user that the sketch is closed).  Just select the sketch (actual sketch lines or the box in the history) if you want to use it for something.

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Um... Well... I often use a single sketch that contains more than multiple profiles and that I want to perform multiple actions on. If my only choice was to select the entire sketch, that wouldn't work for me.

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@Bug.Robotics wrote:
The issue you have with the sketch being over the face is (most likely) because you're used to the idea of a sketch profile blocking parts of the body.  If the profile wasn't there (or at least wasn't masking the body entities) you could have the sketch cover the entire surface and still select the sketch or the face or anything (of course long pressing for options if the sketch line is covering any body entity you wish to select).

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As has previously been mentioned,  you CAN just turn off the visibility and/or selectability of profiles in Fusion.

[Bug.Robotics]

For sure, that's probably the best reason I've read for the profile.  Speeds up selection during feature creation. 

As has previously been mentioned,  you CAN just turn off the visibility and/or selectability of profiles in Fusion.

Yes, and I appreciate the workarounds given, they will be used.  I just wanted to illuminate the difference between the two environments as clearly as possible.  I use Fusion almost soley for the CAM.   I use lots of sketches to contain/control toolpaths and the like (don't use the features too often).  So my workflow involves a lot of sketching and measuring.