Equivalent to "component" in sketchup

[Anonymous]

I am migrating to Fusion 360 from Sketchup, and would like to know what the equivalent of "components" are in Sketchup. A component in Sketchup is a body that when you modify one copy of it in Sketchup, all of the copies are modified. I have tried using bodies extruded from the same sketch in Fusion 360, which works when I edit the sketch but not when I bevel a part of it, all of the other extrusions from that sketch remain the same. I understand something like this is possible using patterns, but a giant advantage to "components" in Sketchup is that you can rotate and place the component anywhere in your model, where it seems patterns in Fusion 360 have to be defined at specific points. I have included a screenshot from a model I was making in Sketchup, each one of these clips is a component and as I change one individually all of them change. I was also able to rotate and place these clips over the course of designing the model. Also, the components in this model are connected on the same mesh when I export an STL, which is very important because I am using these designs for 3D printing.

Thanks any help!

[kriomant]

Fusion 360 also has components, and they even called the same. See “Create — New component” item in main toolbar and “Create components from bodies” in body context menu.

[Anonymous]

Yes they have the same name but they do not act the same in both programs, it seems that components in Fusion 360 are separate bodies where in sketchup you can have components within the same body so it is fully printable as one piece. If i create components in Fusion 360 it seems that they do not mesh together when I am exporting an STL for 3D printing, is that not correct? For example if you look at the picture I posted along with it, that entire model is 1 mesh and when I export it as an STL it prints as 1 object. It seems that separate bodies can not be connected under the same mesh.

[kriomant]

Ok, now I understand.

Components are not needed for that in Fusion.

1. Create body

2. Now duplicate it using any method: you can use copy-paste and then move, or use some pattern modifier

3. If you change some body now, it won't affect it's copies

4. BUT if you move history marker before action 2, and modify body, then change will propagate to all copies

Also note that when you edit sketch, history marker is moved to point where sketch was created. So if original body was created using sketches, then their

modification will lead to modification of body and all it's copies.

I can record screencast for you if my explanation isn't clear.

[Anonymous]

I understand, thank you very much for your help. Is there any sort of equivalent in direct modeling or any other ways to do it by possibly "linking" bodies if that's the correct terminology?

[kriomant]

Sorry, I always work in “history mode”, so I don't know whether what you want is possible in direct modeling mode.