Glossary of Terms

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Here's one for the suggestion box.

As a relative newbie to CAD software - and I suspect I am not alone - I am learning Fusion without having more experienced colleagues available to support the process.

I notice that in responses from Autodesk and more sophisticated users that a lot of jargon is used. While the terminology may seem obvious or elementary to many, it's not - for me at least. Also, the program has recently morphed into a parametric program. Much has changed without explanation, resulting in a lot of head-scratching (expletives deleted).

Lacking a user manual, is there a reference or glossary of terms available? Or, perhaps the moderator can post post a reference glossary on this site?

BTW, the videos were useful for getting started and much appreciated.

Thanks!

vspd1

[keqingsong]

Thanks for reaching out; this is a good ide; we have a list of command references that is similar; it describes what each command does; you can access it here - http://help.autodesk.com/view/NINVFUS/ENU/?guid=GUID-9D4C70CB-7DF9-4BBB-8B93-FEF9A93AA7FF

Also recently, Garin made a video on how to think about modeling in a history based environment in Fusion 360. If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check it out as it will provide you some clarity on how to grasp the changes and still leverage the direct workflows you're familiar with. 

We are continuing to improve the experience and nomanclature of the tool, so if you have any questions, feel free to give us a shout on the forum. 

Does this help? 

[Anonymous]

Hi Keqing,

Thanks for the video link. It was helpful. The video makes my point exactly, however. In the narration Garin says "we need to make this more discoverable". I had figured a few things out through trial and error, but without some explanation and context, the timeline is just a bunch of little icons marching across the screen. The video helps me see that it is a powerful tool and have a better idea how to use it.

Also, I have used the command reference and it is also helpful.

Thanks again.

Greg

[jbarchuk]

Can't quote so copy/paste...

"Thanks for reaching out; this is a good ide; we have a list of command references that is similar; it describes what each command does; you can access it here - http://help.autodesk.com/view/NINVFUS/ENU/?guid=GUID-9D4C70CB-7DF9-4BBB-8B93-FEF9A93AA7FF"

That link returns 'Oops,' and two years later there's still no glossary can be found via internal links or google.

[TrippyLighting]

Unless these terms are VERY Fusion 360 specific ( Timeline or Design History are) Wikipedia provides usually excellent explanations.

[Anonymous]

Is there a link to such a list on Wikipedia?  I can find plenty of info about individual terms and/or programs, but is there a page that can be used as a reference, rather than having to look up each term?  If I want to understand what the "modify" features are in an overall, abstract sense, and then learn more about what each does and some times I might use it, for example, how would I find that information in Wikipedia?  I might be able to look up one feature and get lots of information, but if I read about "lofting", for example, I probably won't have an easy time finding how that relates to the other modification tools.  Hopefully that makes sense, and expresses a similar need to what the OP wanted.

[TrippyLighting]

Not that i know of, but Wikipedia is a WiKi. If it os not exist, you can put one together yourself an publish it.

[Inspections_JCH]

For all of us who are asking for a true "Glossary" for Fusion 360, I suggest that EVERYONE vote for this IDEA. I am not convinced that all of the Fusion 360 team understand what Glossary means, so I will provide a link to the definition here:  where it states in part: "...A glossary, also known as a vocabulary or clavis, is an alphabetical list of terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms.

[ProductDesignOnline]

I took it upon myself to create a Fusion 360 glossary! You can access it here.

It currently has 201 definitions in it, and I'll be adding more as they are brought up by the community/as I notice things that I missed.

I tried to sort the definitions by categories (based on the Fusion 360 interface) and they are also sorted in alphabetical order. 

As of now, these are all short descriptive definitions... but I am considering adding screenshots and possibly videos explaining things more in depth.

 Autodesk Fusion 360 Glossary

[Inspections_JCH]

@ProductDesignOnlineThat was very enterprising. And a good start. I will surely have a number of suggested terms that are not yet included. My first one is to define a Curve.

[TrippyLighting]

Curve is well enough defined on Wikipedia.

[ProductDesignOnline]

re: curve...I agree!

The goal is to create a glossary of "CAD terms" that will help beginners who are trying to learn. I want to be cautious of adding extremely basic terms, such as curve, that is understandable in other realms.

I've been 3D modeling for 8+ years, so its hard to look at it from a "beginner" angle. Do you guys think more details of each definition would help? images? maybe videos explaining some of the more complicated ones?

Cheers,

Kevin

[TrippyLighting]

Let me take a step back. I believe the term "Curve" would make a good addition but in a separate category.

What you currently have is a list of the basic descriptions you find in the Fusion 360  UI.

The problem is that people like me that started in this 30 years ago have a lot of base knowledge that is heavily grounded in computer graphics and you'll find that many of the support people at AD will also use those terms.

So the task for a beginner is to not only learn how to operate the software but also learn the fundamental basics that are not taught by the documentation of many CAD softwares, but are expected pre-requisites. Fusion 360, however attracts a lot of people that are totally new to any of this and that don't know any of the basics  such as the BORN modeling technique.

This would also be a very good team to be included in a Glossary. No need to explain it but link directly o the content.

Bezier Spline, B-Spline, NURBS, surface normal, tangency, curvature continuity are all often used terms but are not explained but there are excellent Wikipedia pages that explain them.

[ProductDesignOnline]

Great points... thanks for the feedback!

[Anonymous]

The issue is that the terms are not currently displayed, what I would say, thoroughly or explicitly in the Fusion UI. What would be nice or useful is for a quick description or definition to popup when you hover over a word or term in the drop down menu for more than a second or two, as a quick reminder of what each tool does when trying to decide what tool and/or process would be best for whatever it is you are trying to do. (i.e. constraints, coincident, colinear, etc. instead of just little tiny pictures that not everybody will understand as a beginner starting out)

[chrisplyler]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The issue is that the terms are not currently displayed, what I would say, thoroughly or explicitly in the Fusion UI. What would be nice or useful is for a quick description or definition to popup when you hover over a word or term in the drop down menu for more than a second or two, as a quick reminder of what each tool does when trying to decide what tool and/or process would be best for whatever it is you are trying to do. (i.e. constraints, coincident, colinear, etc. instead of just little tiny pictures that not everybody will understand as a beginner starting out)

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I like the idea of a glossary, but how far should it go? Should it include every single word that your geometry class should have taught you? Is it Autodesk's job to teach you what "coincident" means any more than it is Microsoft's job to teach you what "Minimize" means?

[jdavidde]

I could not agree more! While I am not skilled in 3D CAD (yet), I AM a very good listener and, after struggling through a long foggy time of thinking it was ME, I finally realized that the Fusion community (vendor included) is far too lax about “names of things” especially regarding context.

[TrippyLighting]

For example ?

[Inspections_JCH]

Hello again,
It has been years since I've spent much time on this forum. And perhaps I actually responded somewhere in this thread to explain why the word curve would be a good place to start with a glossary.
As time passed, I have shed my reluctance to explain why I respond to certain topics the way I do. But now it's time to dispense with that reluctance and state emphatically: "I am old". "I am very old".
And when I was young, I listened carefully to what I was being taught in math class and eventually plane and solid geometry, and life in general. And a curve was something that wasn't straight. So I always thought that a line could take two different basic forms. It was either a straight line, or something other than a straight line that usually fell into the category of a curve. Sure, there could be finer definitions of a squiggly line, or a serpentine line, or a jagged line, but a curve was never straight. When you're on a road, you have to turn the wheel to enter a curve. When you're on a straight road you don't have to turn the wheel. When you throw the baseball, it is hardly ever expected that a curve ball will go straight.
So, in the context of design software that Autodesk produces for various specialty industries, I just think that new users might benefit from an explanation of the word "curve" when they're unable to find the definition of a line. Well, actually maybe this is only relevant to users like me who are "very old" and "not new".

I hope that helps shed some light on why a glossary should include the word "curve".

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@Inspections_JCH wrote:

Well, actually maybe this is only relevant to users like me who are "very old" …

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In my HS freshman geometry class 52 years ago I was taught that all lines are curves, but not all curves are lines.  Fast forward 52 years there are plenty of discussion on this mathematical axiom on the web.

Throughout my working life I often looked back and considered that geometry class to be the most influential foundation of my career.