Compatibility of 2d cad outputs.

Compatibility of 2d cad outputs.

Anonymous
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Message 1 of 8

Compatibility of 2d cad outputs.

Anonymous
Not applicable

I need a bit of assistance with the 2d documentation. I always struggle a bit when working with an outputed 2d drawing from fusion in autocad lt.

 

Basically you dont seem to be able to do much with the drawing elements once they are in autocad. They seem to be treated as blocks but all you can really do is move and scale etc. For some reason you cant copy and paste it onto another drawing in autocad. Also they always open in the paper wrokspace instead of the model workspace, which may in itself be the route cause of not being able to copy and paste them.

 

Any advice anyone can give would be greatful.

 

Bascially I would like to be able to output two separate 2d drawings from Fusion, and in autocad, be able to put them onto the same sheet of paper and put our corporate border on etc.

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Message 2 of 8

innovatenate
Autodesk Support
Autodesk Support

By default, the Fusion 360 comes into AutoCAD in paper space with drawing views. The CHSPACE and copy and paste will not let you move these to the model workspace. 

 

If you open up the DWG from Fusion 360 in AutoCAD, you can use the EXPORTLAYOUT command to "export" the layout drawing into a new drawing where everything is located in model space. Note that you may still have to explode the views first if you want to manipulate them.

 

I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any questions.

 

Thanks,

 

 




Nathan Chandler
Principal Specialist
Message 3 of 8

Anonymous
Not applicable
You sir are an absolute genius! Many thanks.

The only other problem is it always seems to output them in inches rather than mm. So when I'm adding lines in manually on autocad, I have to scale it to the fusion scale, but also divide my measurement by 25.4 to get it right. Hopefully this is just a setting I can change.
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Message 4 of 8

innovatenate
Autodesk Support
Autodesk Support

 

For the scaling question, do you mean that the template itself is not scaled correctly? In the drawing panel of the preferences, you can set the default units to mm and use an ISO default template and that may help.

 

If the scenario is that the views of the assembly/parts are not scaled, it may be neceassary to use a 1:1 scale in the original Fusion 360 drawing when placing the views (even if the view is larger that the paper). Otherwise, when once you're in AutoCAD, you would need to scale the views accordingly. 

 

Let me know if this helps or if you have further questions or concerns. 

 

Thanks,

 

 

 




Nathan Chandler
Principal Specialist
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Message 5 of 8

Anonymous
Not applicable

I dont think the problem is with Fusion, I think its with autocad.

 

I will try and explain a bit better. Lets imagine the file I have outputed is 1:1 so ignore scaling for now. Ok I have the outputted drawing open in autocad lt, and I realise that I want to draw another view of my tank on there without going back into fusion. When I go to type in the length of the line to draw, autocad thinks its in inches so the line comes out huge in comparison to what fusion has outputted. So whatever line length I need I have to divide by 25.4 before I punch it in.

 

Its not the end of the world to do that but would be handy if I could switch it to mm somehow.

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Message 6 of 8

cmiller66
Autodesk
Autodesk

Hi pendlej,

It sounds like you're likely hitting an issue with the Fusion drawing being opened in "unitless" AutoCAD.  If you can let me know the units in your design and then the Drawing format (Ansi/ISO) and units for your drawing, I can take a look and verify whether what you're seeing is expected or not.  One alternative to scaling down your new AutoCAD geometry by 25.4 might be to scale up the existing geometry by 25.4 and then draw at full scale.

 

You're also welcome to post any suggestions around drawing output to the Fusion 360 IdeaStation.

 

On a side note I see you inquired about Detail views.  Yes, we are actively working on this as we speak.  We also have user-supplied titleblocks on our roadmap.  What other functionality do you need that is currently missing from Fusion 360 Drawings?  We are working hard on getting new features into drawings so you won't have to output drawings to AutoCAD to finish them.

 

Thanks,
Chris

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Message 7 of 8

Anonymous
Not applicable
Ok I will answer in two parts as I understand that you would have to be careful not to make a fellow autodesk product redundant 🙂

Realistic things required in order to not output to autocad:

1)The ability to add drawings of separate items in the design to the same 2d sheet. For example I design hyd reservoirs for my systems, but to send out for manufacturing, I need to show them with the lid separate so there are not too many hidden lines on one view. If I could select the tank body, raise a 2d drawing, and then go back into the design and select the lid to raise to the same drawing as a separate view, that would solve so many problems. An alternative way would be if you could copy and paste from one 2d drawing to another in fusion. That would achieve the same thing but in a more clunky way. Currently I have to have a 'body' manufacturing drawing, and a 'lid' manufacturing drawing, which is a rel pain from an admin point of view.

2)The ability to add centre lines as further annotation.

3)The ability to fine-tune the hidden lines view a bit more, i.e select how many faces you want them to see through or select how far into a model the hidden lines should show etc etc. Sometimes the hidden lines view just shows too much and the drawings become confusing.

4)The ability to import your own corporate border and edit the text on it to be relevant to the project. This is the other main reason for having to complete in autocad. Perhaps the ability to insert blocks made in 2d cad would solve this.

5) This is kinda linked to point 3 but the ability to have selected faces show as transparent in the 2d drawing. For exmaple if I have a rectangular enclosure, with some valves in it. On the 2d drawing I want to be able to see the valves inside, but not the inside of the valves too, if that makes sense, so essentially making the enclosure wall invisible. here may already be a trick or too existing to achieve this. I guess having the wall as a separate component and then de-selecting it when you go to raise the drawing.

And the things that would be great to be added but are perhaps pipe dreams as it would threaten autocad light, is the ability to add your own 2d elements within the 2d drawing environment on fusion, such as lines, squares, circles, tables etc.

Hope this helps. This is my honest opinion as to what is needed to avoid having to use other software, based on what I use it for day-to-day. Ultimately to use Fusion alone for manufacturing, the 2d side of things really needs to be up to speed, as a lot of fabrication companies etc are still strictly 2d only and probably wont change in the near future.

Looking forward to detailed views too, they will solve a whole different nightmare.
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Message 8 of 8

cmiller66
Autodesk
Autodesk

Hi pendlej,

Thanks for the information, that's a great list and it definitely helps.  The good news is the team is aware of almost every item you mention below is they are on our roadmap, centerlines and user-supplied titleblocks for sure.  For item 5, once we have 1 and/or 3 in you could accomplish this.  We've also discussed adding breakout views as well as broken views so longer parts can fit on the sheet.  You should see a nice bump in functionality in the next update, and we have no plans on stopping until we've got drawings up to a full production level where you don't need another program to finish your drawing.

 

Thanks again,

Chris

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