How do I print out a sketch?

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

What's the best way to go about printing out a sketch on a regular inkjet printer to scale?

[Anonymous]

@TrippyLighting,

    Printing a hard copy is a basic function that is missing from Fusion.  Telling someone to go away and use different software is neither respectful or constructive.

T-Splines and surfacing don't seem to be up to your standards, should we expect you to just accept that fact and advise you to go use a different software???

.

[TrippyLighting]

Printing a hardcopy of a drawing, yes, I agree.

Printing a hardcopy of a sketch, which is the original title of this thread is not.

For users that need higher volume printing of drawings, while the drawing package is constantly evolving, I truly think at the moment these users are better served using another CAD package. The drawing package is not up to my standards yet either, but my need for that is not so high so I re-design the parts in Geomagic design and create the drawings there. 

Printing a sketch, I also agree could come in very handy and I could have used it myself a time or two. But I can see that not a lot of people have that need. Then, again the better way of getting support for such an idea, instead of another post reviving an old thread might be to put a well worded Idea in the idea station. The initiator of this thread actually did that. He created this Idea in the idea station, but it was archived due to lack of votes.

Please don't take my words out of context for the purpose of supporting your point. Yes, I find that development on T-Splines and Surfacing is not well represented on the roadmap. That is because the combination of these with Solid Modeling is a distinctive feature set of Fusion 360. Printing paper copies is hardly a distinctive feature.

[Anonymous]

@TrippyLighting Hardly reviving an old thread, it was created in  Jan 2015 and somebody else posted a month ago.

The fact that the idea was archived due to lack of interest should not preclude others also providing their input.

Yes I'm new here, but that does not mean I can absorb all of the detail and content of the forum in less than 3 days.

You have accused me of being disrespectful and not providing constructive feedback, yet you have not responded to my PM  asking how I have been so.

My original post was never intended to indicate that the 360 Team were not not focusing on their users and customers.

It was however intended to cause people to consider answering the original question.

While "Printing paper copies is hardly a distinctive feature" it is none the less a feature that most people expect to find easily.

[TrippyLighting]

While I did not respond to your last PM, I appreciate your post and the PM's and we're cool!

Just to be clear, we are still talking about printing directly from a sketch, not a technical drawing created in the drawing module ?

[promm]

Thank you for all the great discussion on this thread.  I would like to take this opportunity to be very clear on the two requests that where brought up.

#1 How do I print a sketch?  As per Nathan's response to Luke's original question referring to printing a drawing:

1. Extrude, patch, or do something to the sketch to make 3D geometry.
2. Create a 2D drawing of the geometry.
3. Export drawing as PDF.
4. Open PDF and Print.

We understand the desire to have a print button so that you do not have to do step number 3, however there is still a workflow that allows you to get a paper copy of your drawing.  We have had to prioritize this requested feature against other features that our drawing are not yet able to do.  For example, we are working on the ability to have multiple sheets in a drawing.  After we have provided a solution to our customers for workflows that they are not yet able to do, work will get started on a print button.

#2 How to print a sketch and not create a drawing.

When customers create a drawing it usually includes a title block with information that is used for manufacturing.  Since we do not provide a title block in sketch, you must create a drawing before you can print.  Drawings include things like critical dimension, tolerances, GD&T and so on that will affect how parts are manufactured.  For users who would like to capture what you have sketched, may I suggest taking a screen shot.  Again, it is great to see the passion from our users, providing us with crucial feedback on how you use Fusion.

Regards,

Mike Prom

[Anonymous]

@promm

There have been lots of suggestions to export as PDF and just print, but there has been no detailed info on the "just print" part.  

No matter where or how I export the PDF, and where I import the PDF, there is always an issue.  It could be scaling, missing parts, scrambled text, file incompatibly, colors, line type, or whatever.  Not to mention, it's a pain and error prone to  export, file, import, scale, crop, repair, etc...

Where are you suggesting I should be sending the drawing PDF's to be able to reliably print and HPGL plot hard copies to scale?  Do I need to buy Inventor just to print out drawings made in Fusion???

[promm]

@Anonymous,

Since PDF is Adobe's native format, I use the free Adobe reader.  

https://get.adobe.com/reader/

Regards,

Mike Prom

[TrippyLighting]

In a previous post I mentioned that I can see it as usefull printing a sketch. This might have particular appeal to people that have the ablity to walk from the "Drawingboard" right to the shop to try out a design or idea.

I have to admit that I have not worked much with the drawing module, but it seems that drawings have to be dimensioned manually.

In the past with other CAD applications (Solid Works and Geomagic Design) I've used their ability to pull the dimensioning from a sketch or sketches that were used to create a particular component directly into the drawing. When sketching with a little forthought, this greatly reduced the time needed to dimensoin in the drawing.

The two times I could have used the ability to print directly from a sketch in Fusion 360 I created a screenshot because creating a drawing and then having to manually add all the dimensions was too labor intensive compared with a screenshot.

Is that fully assocoative autdimensioning something that is in the future of Fusion 360 ?

[Anonymous]

---

@promm wrote:

@Anonymous,

Since PDF is Adobe's native format, I use the free Adobe reader.  

https://get.adobe.com/reader/

Regards,

Mike Prom

---

@promm,

  Thanks for the link.  I did not have Adobe reader on this computer, I was importing the PDF's into anything else that would accept them, but there were always problems.

I downloaded Adobe reader and the printing worked perfect.  It can even be scaled to suit.  The only down side is that there is no HPGL support, could you recommend a software that would allow D sized HPGL plotting (34" x 22")?

[promm]

@Anonymous,

It looks like the HPGL issue has to do with the HP printers driver.  This is what I found.

http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c00027917

Good luck,

Mike Prom

[Andy_Phillips]

All, I too was looking for a print function.  I got confused between sketches and drawings.  

Create a model (your sketch is used to create your model).  Once you have a model, you can create a drawing by going to the top left pull down (probably titled "Model") and selecting "Drawing from the pull down.  Create your drawing from the model (i didnt use a tutorial, I managed to create what I wanted by bashing around with the various buttons and dragging icons, there probably a tutorial somewhere).  This is what I was after, to use as a cutting guide.

If you really a print of your sketch then go to File>Capture Image.  And print the image (PNG or whatever format you chose).

I hope this helps.

Andy

[Blackwatch42nd]

Eric,

This was extremely helpful.  I've been working with this program for all of a day and a half and trying to find out how to print a drawing with dimensions.  After reading the majority of this thread was just about ready to quit using it.  I'm with you, I really did not know there was a difference between a "sketch" and a "drawing".  Your explanation helped get me to the right place.  I've got a lot of more reading and watching to get through.  BTW, are there any good books on Fusion 360 that do not rely on videos, PDFs or on screen reading?  I learn a lot better with a book next to me and that has a good index.

Thanx

John

[Anonymous]

Two years on this thread and no print sketch function. Okay.. other priorities. I have read carefully every single response to the original question and there is NO procedure for printing a sketch. So, I have a fully dimensioned sketch I wish to print out on paper. Its absolutely imperative I do this so I can check hole diameters, hole spacing, size, etc. Can someone refer me to a procedure on how to do this? The hangup for me is "create a 2D drawing". I have no idea why I would have to create it twice? I am missing something. Thanks for your help. Nevermind the image to png idea because it will not be to scale or to a decent resolution. Even of it is a workaround until they get to it, its okay as long as there is a way without downloading some goofy DXF file format printer program. PDF I fully understand. How do I get there?

[lrsmithmi]

You can't print out the sketch but you can create a drawing from the
design.,
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/fusion-360/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How...

and that is what I use now. Everytime you change the design you will need
to modify or create a new drawing.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for responding. I open the nicely dimensioned sketch, then Create Drawing from Design. It opens me up to a blank page with boxes and text in it. How do I get the sketch in there? I tried press/pull on the outside edge of the design so it could consider it as a 3D, but then all of the dimensioning goes away and then I have to go to the timeline and Edit Sketch to get the dimensioning information back. From there, where do I go?

Edit: I see now. I have to turn everything I am interested in seeing to 3D first. Then it works as you say. I am hereby putting in my THUMBS UP for stopping everything you are doing (if you are programming this great effort) and adding a PRINT SKETCH function. This is a basic function of any program from any source, anywhere on the planet that has drawing information in it. If you are actively drawing something, it stands to reason you might want a printout of it to check sizing, etc. Nobody should have to tell you this, it just goes without saying. The current Drawing function is of course needed, but to collaborate with others on the IDEA of a new design, we have to be able to present the idea before the 3D process. If that is a function of Fusion 360, we all win since we would not have to recreate the very complex sketch twice in two separate programs. Thanks and I hope this helps in your programming effort. This program is AWESOME as is, but you cannot ignore something so basic for over two years!

[lrsmithmi]

Unfortunately I believe you have to pick the object and the view and place
it in the drawing, and then along the top are 'dimensioning' tools and you
will need to "redimension" the view/drawing you pulled in.

[etfrench]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Two years on this thread and no print sketch function. Okay.. other priorities. I have read carefully every single response to the original question and there is NO procedure for printing a sketch. So, I have a fully dimensioned sketch I wish to print out on paper. Its absolutely imperative I do this so I can check hole diameters, hole spacing, size, etc. Can someone refer me to a procedure on how to do this? The hangup for me is "create a 2D drawing". I have no idea why I would have to create it twice? I am missing something. Thanks for your help. Nevermind the image to png idea because it will not be to scale or to a decent resolution. Even of it is a workaround until they get to it, its okay as long as there is a way without downloading some goofy DXF file format printer program. PDF I fully understand. How do I get there?

---

'Print screen' works fine for this particular use.

[promm]

@Anonymous,

Thank you for your feedback.   As people have mentioned on this thread, Fusion 360 is a 3D parametric modeler.  If you would like a image of your sketch, you can do a print screen or use another tool to grab a snip it of the image.  For the exact workflow you are asking for we have other tools that are made for this and I do not have any work planned to print a sketch from the model space.

Regards,

Mike Prom

[Anonymous]

What other tools do you have that are made for this? I will download them and use them.  You can't seriously collaborate with others if you can't attach your ideas to your proposals. If that wheel has already been invented, please share with us what the tools are. Printscreen sure isn't one of them. Good luck trying to get an exact 1:1 from Printscreen. Does the Plug In feature of this program allow for others to make something that would work for this purpose? I can't exactly require my prospective customers to have Fusion 360 already on their devices so they can see what I am trying to sell them. The program does so good at showing (sketch dimension) all of the exact measurements, it's a major bummer that a simple thing like printing out the sketch is not an option. Thanks!

[promm]

@Anonymous,

If I am correct, you whole point has been around creating 2D sketching and printing it.  AutoCAD is Autodesk's flag ship tool for 2D, it's been around for a long time and does what you are looking for very well.  You are entitled to your perspectives and should do what is best for your business.  In the same way I have to prioritize functionality that will make the majority of our customers successful and make tradeoffs based off of data along the way.  

Regards,

Mike Prom