D4A - Plane disappears when redefining sketch plane

[Reenforcements]

Okay, so I'm trying to do something super simple. I'm just trying to redefine my sketch in a plane perpendicular to the circle so I can sweep out a wheel with my sketch using the circle as a path. All I'm trying to do is align the highlighted sketch below so it will sweep properly.

So first I construct a plane tangent to the circle...

Perfect! I've got my plane. Now I'll just hit "Redefine sketch plane" to move my semicircle shaped sketch into the new plane.

But wait, where did my plane go? Why did it disappear? How am I supposed to select it if it disappeared? It's gone from my browser as well!

Maybe it got deleted? I'll just hit escape and try making it again. But wait, there it is again! It's like Fusion knows I need it and hides it when I want to use it. Why does this happen!?

I've done lots of 3D in Blender before but I'm pretty new to CAD. Maybe I'm overlooking something simple?

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I'm really stuck here and immensely appreciate any help!

[O.Tan · Accepted solution]

Okay, what you would want to do is to place your perpendicular plane before the affected sketch. You could do this by dragging the timeline handle to "go back in time" to before the sketch is created and place your perpendicular plane.

Another option is to hold + drag the affected sketch to after the perpendicular plane (from your photo, it means drag to the end of the timeline) Then it'll work.

Since you mentioned that you're working in blender, a quick info that'll be helpful for you is that, for CAD 3D modelling, usually there's 2 environments, History or Direct.

History means you'll be able to back track to make changes and it'll update the following (think of it like time travel where you change something in the past and it'll affect the future) BUT you'll need to consider how and which features needed to be added first and etc as it'll affect your model "stability" (ability to edit and make changes).

Direct on the other hand is probably similar to how you work in Blender, it doesn't have a "History" timeline hence you can't "back track", but this allows you to model without putting concern how your model is constructed.

Fusion allows you to change environments, but each time you do it, you lose out on the modelling features created (the actual model isn't affected just for example, there's no longer the filllet feature so you can't click on it and edit fillet). To change environment, click on the gear icon on the bottom right and select "Do Not Capture Design History". To revert back, on your browser top most component (Scooter v32), right click + "Capture Design History"

Hope this helps and hope you enjoy Fusion 360 learning process

[Reenforcements]

Thank you for all the explanations!

[moth3r]

It's logical from dev. point. Still considering construction plane is helper object maybe that should be still be available for snapping on example. Helper objects should be visible - accessible at all times. If timeline rule has to be respected by all means than maybe that construction plane could automatically travel back at correct place in the timeline when it gets chosen.

[fishtruk]

I see this topic is quite old. I encountered the problem, found this solution, and voila! I can't drag the object I wish to use for the plane before the sketch in question...right to it, but not past it.