Combining bodies that do not touch

[Anonymous]

This is a function that is available in my current CAD system and it makes life a whole lot easier, I would have expected to see it in a program as powerful as Fusion 360.

I am currently modelling a Red Bull advertising concept for their Flugtag event and the model requires 200 Red Bull cans.

With my current CAD system I would use the pattern function to create the 200 cans and then I would join them even though they do not touch, this would result in one can being visible in the programs component tree.

With Fusion 360 I end up with 200 cans in the tree because the cans do not touch each other.

The only way to do it is to create a plate that touches the cans and then use that as the target body for all the cans but then the material issue arises.

Feature request?

[michallach81]

How about creating can in new component and then do the pattern inside that component?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestion Michał but no matter what method you use there will always be 100 cans as a component is only a container.

I actually did all the work inside a new component and ended up with 100 cans still listed in the tree.

The attached screen shot shows an image of what I have been playing with, the backing plate and the 100 inner cans are joined into one object as you can see at the bottom of the tree.

All the can icons above the inner can folder represent the outer can and because they cannot be joined as they are not touching each other, they are listed as 100 cans.

If I joined them to the backing plate and inner cans they would lose their decals.

The inner can folder is now empty because the inner cans have been joined to the backing plate and I think it adds up to a much smaller tree and a lot less work for the computer.

[TrippyLighting]

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@Anonymous wrote:

... it makes life a whole lot easier...

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Why would that make life a whole lot easier ?

[Anonymous]

I have used it to great effect many times, for instance I created a car body using organic modelling and then converted that shape into a solid.

After doing that I then sketched the windows, when they were sketched I extruded them into solids through the body of the car.

So now I have the body of a car and 4 shapes that represent the side, front and rear windows.  I then joined all the windows into one object despite them not touching each other.

I copied and pasted the car body and the windows in place so I have copies of each, after that I used the intersect command and selected one of the car bodies and one of the window copies, this gives me the window shapes.

I then use the cut command on a window copy/car body and ended up with a car body with windows in a very quick time, if I had tried that way in fusion I would have needed to copy each window individually and then intersect and cut them individually.

On a car body with 4 extrusions it is not so serious but on a model like Voyager it saved me a lot of time.

The windows in both of the attached images were created very easily using this method, it might not be CAD/modelling correct but it is quick.