Moving things in sketch

[smallfavor]

I don't find the interface in the sketch mode all that intuitive.  For instance I can't seem to draw a simple rectangle and move it.  It's also not clear how to get back into sketch mode without calling up the line of some other tool first.  Supppose I just need to move an item in the sketch?  Why must I first call up a task that's not needed?

here's a screen cast of what should be imo rather straight forward but seems anything but.

also, the website is making me miseralbe as it won't open in safari and in FF I get what you see in the second sc

[HughesTooling]

No screencasts in your post but here's a couple of answers. If you want to go back and edit a sketch there are a few ways, right click the sketch in the browser or timeline and there's an option Edit Sketch or right click a profile or curve and you get an edit option.

As for not being able to move a rectangle, if you pick the origin or any other point as the centre of the rectangle a coincident constraint with automatically be created right clicking the point at the origin with give you the option to delete the constraint. 

Mark

[HughesTooling]

This help link might help with constraints that are automatically created.

http://help.autodesk.com/view/NINVFUS/ENU/?guid=GUID-BF6D00B3-DBC4-456F-B591-01FBFD174475

Mark

[jeff_strater]

Hi @smallfavor,

One thing to note: a "simple rectangle" is actually not so simple in Fusion.  It is not a single object, but in fact is actually 12 objects (4 lines, 4 points, and 4 constraints).  So, if you are trying to move the entire rectangle as one item, the best way to do this is with the Move command.  If you just click and drag on one of the lines or points, you are actually just modifying that object (making the rectangle larger or smaller)

Here is a quick screencast to illustrate:

Jeff

[smallfavor]

Hi Jeff,

I’ve attached the screencast so you can better see where I’m getting stuck. Also, another issue is the display of the messages on the website as attached. For some reason there’s now background color field for the text content and it must be highlighted to read.

http://www.screencast.com/t/OC1bRuyzXhCM

[jeff_strater · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the screencast. It helps a lot.  I see the problem here.  A couple of things:

1. You are using a "center point rectangle".  This kind of rectangle has some construction geometry to help in its construction:
   

The good news is that this type of rectangle is actually easier to move than my example.  Here is a screencast showing this:

 2. the bad news is that you happened to put the center point of this rectangle on the sketch origin.  In Fusion, the sketch origin point is "fixed".  You can see the effect in this screencast below, where I just create a line with one endpoint at the origin, and the other somewhere else.  You can see that I can drag the point that is not at the origin:

3. the other good news is that you can fix this by breaking this constraint to the origin (assuming you don't want to just re-create the rectangle):

Hope this helps,

Jeff

[smallfavor]

Thanks Jeff,
Those three little clips explained it nicely. I wonder if there is a repository of such minor details explanation that while perfectly simple once clarified can be great obstacles to gaining control.

[jeff_strater]

This is a good suggestion, @smallfavor.  I don't know of any such collection of these small tips and tricks.  There is post-your-tips-and-tutorials, but it does not have as much of these kind of little tricks as it probably should.  I wish I had time to post stuff here, and I often intend to, but something always gets in the way...  Maybe over the weekend, if I can find some time, I'll post these and see what kind of reaction I get.  I'll run it by @brianrepp, to see what he thinks.

Jeff

[brianrepp]

@jeff_strater - I agree, I think the tips board is generally under utilized today.  If you do find some time to post a few of the more common ones, let's keep an eye on them and see what kind of traffic they get!