Creating a reusable component with parameters?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I have designed a reusable component and saved it as a separate drawing.

This drawing contains a number of parameters that affect the component. For example, there is a diameter parameter for a circle in a sketch.

My requirement is that I want to insert this component multiple times into other drawings and change this diameter for each instance. I do not want to create a copy of the drawing, because another requirement is that changes to the original component should affect all instances.

Unfortunately, I have not found a way to do this.

I have seen that you can create different configurations within the component to achieve something similar.
However, this is not flexible enough for me, because I want to be able to determine the circle diameter manually for each instance.

Is this even possible in Fusion as I imagine it?
Or is there another way to do this?

Many thanks,
Christoph

[jhackney1972]

If you insert an external component, containing parameters, into an assembly and then Break Link on that component, the parameters are automatically added to the assembly.  If you insert the same component again and Break Link, you will be another set of parameters, with an appended dashed number, that are unique for that component in the assembly.  This can be repeated over and over, each component will add parameters with dashed numbers to the assembly.

[jeff_strater]

Can you please explain why configurations is "not flexible enough" for you?  What you describe is exactly what configurations were created for.  You just have to create a configuration for every possible circle size.  Yes, that takes some up-front planning, but the rest of the behaviors you describe will work (associative update from the original, etc).  I know that the team has "custom configurations" on the backlog (where you can create a new configuration, on the fly, at insert time), but that is not available yet.

[TheCADWhisperer]

@Anonymous 

Can you post an example.

I have an idea of a unique workflow that might be useful.

[TrippyLighting]

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@Anonymous wrote:

... I want to be able to determine the circle diameter manually for each instance.

.

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Can you share in more detail how you imagine that to work?

Fusion's configuration functionality is constantly being enhanced. Currently, the Fusion team is working on custom configurations that I believe will meet your needs.

[Anonymous]

Hello Jeff,
Thank you for your reply.

Configurations seem to me to be designed in such a way that when creating the component, you have to know in advance in which configurations it can be used.
Of course, this works perfectly in all cases where a component is offered in exactly e.g. four configurations.

But if the use of the component is very variable and several individual dimensions have to be specified as parameters for each use, this is not practical.

Imagine, for example, a kitchen designer who has created a drawer component. With parameters such as width, height, depth, number of handles.
Each time this drawer component is used, individual dimensions must be specified.

These individual configurations are not relevant for creating reusable configurations, as they are only needed for this one use.

If each of these individual configurations were created as a component configuration, this variability would lead to a huge, unmanageable list of configurations after a while.

As a Fusion user, I would expect to be able to change the parameters of a component individually each time I use it, or to choose from a list of predefined configurations like it is today.

Best regards,
Christoph

[Anonymous]

Hello John,
Thank you for your reply.
Yes, that's right, that would allow me to specify individual parameters for each component instance.

But unfortunately, ‘break link’ breaks the connection to the reusable component.

Each component then becomes an individual copy, and changes to the reusable component do not affect my drawing anymore.

Best regards,
Christoph

[TheCADWhisperer]

@Anonymous 

Derived Components.

[Anonymous]

Hi TheCADWhisperer,

I played a bit with Derived Components.

I am able to make a derived component from my reusable component.

And I can modify the body of the component, for example by adding a phase.

Also changes to the original are reflected in the derived which is very cool.

But I can not change parameters.

When creating the derived, I selected the top level component and also checkt both parameter options favourites and components.

But in the target I can only see all the parameters and cannot change it.

Did I do something wrong here?

Greetings,

Christoph

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Did I do something wrong here?

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No example files Attached?

[Anonymous]

Hi,
I have created a simple example that illustrates the problem.
I created a simple component called QubeWithHole. It contains a user parameter ‘D’ that describes the diameter of the hole. The parameter is marked as a favourite.

Then I created a new drawing called TestConstruction. QubeWithHole was inserted into this drawing as a derived component with the option to take over favourite parameters.

The parameter is readable there as ‘D_Ref’. There, for example, I rounded off the cube on one edge using the parameter ‘D_Ref’.

Now, to come back to my original request.

I would like to change the parameter ‘D’ from my derived in TestConstruction so that the diameter of the hole changes.

Best regards,
Christoph

[Anonymous]

Hi TheCADWhisperer,

Have you been able to find a solution using my sample files?

Best regards,

Christoph

[TrippyLighting · Accepted solution]

You can only modify the parameters in the original component, not in the derived component.

You can edit the derived component, for example add features etc.  

I don't think the functionality you are looking for currently exists, but as I've mentioned already it (custom configurations) is in the process of implementation. 

The way you use the term "reusable" isn't what traditionally was addressed with Configurations. It is more of a template than a single product that can be purchased or manufactured with a set number of variations.

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for your help.

Then I'll wait for the custom configurations or work with inserted components, where I'll break the connection.

Best regards,

Christoph

[26BowV000]

"Currently, the Fusion team is working on custom configurations that I believe will meet your needs."

Do you have any sort of blog post or whatnot where you're getting this information?

[TrippyLighting]

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@26BowV000 wrote:

"Currently, the Fusion team is working on custom configurations that I believe will meet your needs."

Do you have any sort of blog post or whatnot where you're getting this information?

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No, I pull this stuff out of thin air ... 

@karina.harper could you chime in here?

[gautham_kattethota]

@Anonymous 

We dont have any written material we can post on Custom Configurations, but the essence of it is that user mark some configured aspects (parameters, materials, etc), as customized.  The user doesnt have to predefine all the possible combinations ahead of time in the table, but specify the set of combinations at consumption time (say during Insert).  This will address your key requirement you posted above where many a time you dont know all the dimensions ahead of time.  We are currently working on this functionality but I cannot mention when it will be available for our customers.  Hope this helps.

Gautham

[amtomlinson]

Is there any update on this from the dev team?  The OP's original example, of wanting to design a drawer once and then re-use that design in a large number of instances, each with potentially different outside dimensions (to fit different openings), is exactly my current use case and very common in furniture and joinery.

For me this is similar to object-oriented coding:  I want to treat my Fusion design of a drawer as a class which I can then instantiate as an object (a drawer component) in future assemblies (furniture) in Fusion.  At instantiation time, I want to be able to specify some fundamentals of the drawer (eg opening dimensions, front thickness), and have Fusion handle them gracefully, which still maintaining the fact that my component is an instance of the drawer class, so that changes to the drawer design propagate to the drawer instances.  Breaking 

[smcampbell951]

@amtomlinson I am looking for a solution for this exact use case currently, have you found a functional solution?

[TrippyLighting]

Configurations. Only available to paid subscribers, though.