I have used fusion for 2 years, but never used capture design history.

I have used fusion for 2 years, but never used capture design history.

polovroemen
Contributor Contributor
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Message 1 of 9

I have used fusion for 2 years, but never used capture design history.

polovroemen
Contributor
Contributor

Should I learn how to use it or is it not that useful?

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1,522 Views
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Replies (8)
Message 2 of 9

TheCADWhisperer
Consultant
Consultant

Yes.

Message 3 of 9

johnswetz1982
Advisor
Advisor

It depends on what your designing, but it is extremely useful. It is what makes Fusion and others a paramteric modeler rather than just "dumb" cad. You can also go back into your design timeline and edit a feature. The feature 's output can be another features input, there by building a design where one change can feed thru and make the end design completely different. 

 

The timeline/design history and parameters is about capturing design intent and not just a one off model/design.

Message 4 of 9

laughingcreek
Mentor
Mentor

the capture design option can be useful in a few particular circumstances.  It is generally way over used and abused, and often the cause of problematic  behavior in models.  If you haven't needed it till now, I doubt your missing out on anything by not using it.

The "move command" falls into the same category.

 

EDIT:

Sorry, I miss-read the question.  I thought it said "capture postion".

Yeah, your missing out on a bunch of you don't have the timeline on.  It's frustrating at first, but amazing if you use good solid workflows and techniques.  (you might guess from my original reply that those techniques DON"T include capture position and move commands)  

Message 5 of 9

dankG2KYJ
Advocate
Advocate
Accepted solution

@polovroemen 

 

As mentioned, parametric modeling can be a very powerful tool. I came from other programs that were DM only, and I used Fusion that way for a bit before I figured out just how useful parametric designs are in my current workflow.

 

I'll upload a simple example if you want to play around with a model in parametric mode, then try and duplicate those changes in DM mode so you can see the difference.

 

For this specific example, I didn't care about the length so much, so changing some sketch lengths isn't driven by other dimensions, and it can "break" the design intent,  but that can be fixed with putting functions/constraints in the sketch. The sketches could be even further simplified for better workflow. Notice how if you change the width/length, the extrusions that depend on the sketch updates with ease, and as I 3d print end-use parts for most everything, this helps iteration of geometry greatly. DM would be very time-consuming for that.    

Message 6 of 9

polovroemen
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you very much!

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Message 7 of 9

TheCADWhisperer
Consultant
Consultant

@polovroemen 

Attach your design of which you are most proud and I can demonstrate that you should have captured design history.

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Message 8 of 9

dewaine50
Advocate
Advocate

The one useful feature I've ever had to note for non-capture design history is that you need it for mesh to brep. It's especially relevant for if you want to work with STLs and convert them into workable faces to model from. Other than that, having a timeline is strictly better, and should be enabled after you've converted any STLs.

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Message 9 of 9

GRSnyder
Collaborator
Collaborator

@dewaine50 wrote: The one useful feature I've ever had to note for non-capture design history is that you need it for mesh to brep.

This is not actually true, although the work-around is so obscure that I doubt most F360 users are aware of it.

 

The Create Base Feature command, available when history is turned on, creates a "black box" environment in which history isn't captured. Your current state is recorded when you leave the base feature. This works fine for mesh-to-brep work: just import your meshes, create a base feature, convert to breps, and close the base feature. All with history turned on as usual.

 

Given that, I'm not sure there's really any good reason to work without history turned on.