Question re. default origin of components

[Oceanconcepts]

I want to ask this before posting anything to the idea Station, just to make sure I'm not missing something.

When you create a component or body, how is the origin determined?  It seems that the default origin that comes up when you select the Move command, for instance, is sometimes off in left field, or at an inconvenient orientation.  

Is it possible to reset the default origin for a component or body?  I find I often want to repeatedly move a part in relation to a particular face or edge- as it is now I need to re-orient the origin each time I select the Move tool, and it's not easy in all contexts to get it positioned correctly. If there is an easy way to redefine the origin, I have not found it.

[whunter]

Hi Ron,

If I understand your question correctly:

Using a sketch as a starting point for your geometry, you can constrain a point/line of your sketch to the origin (0,0,0) or to planes/axes of the origin.

Starting with a Primitive (i.e., no sketch involved), you can use the Align tool under Modify to move your geometry to the origin (0,0,0) or to a combination of axes and planes. The Align tool also works for geometry created form a sketch.

I guess with the upcoming parametrics this might change slightly.

William

Win 7 64-bit, South Africa.
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[Oceanconcepts]

Well, it's not exactly what I was asking, and reading my question I see I was not very clear. Where I have the issue most often is when placing components created in another drawing- reusing parts. It seems the component origin that comes along when the parts come in might me some distance away from the actual bodies, or possibly oriented at an odd angle to the part.  That creates extra steps whenever I want to use the Move command, for instance. 

What I would like to be able to do is to reassign the component origin in the same way the reorient tool works, to change the default for the part.  I can see this might create issues with parametrics.  But maybe this capability is present, and I just have not found it.

[innovatenate · Accepted solution]

Ron,

It was great to meet you at AU!

Every component in a design will have its own local coordinate system defined. The design will also has a coordinate system (this is the first one listed in the browser).

These coordinate systems are independent of each other, but there is a relationship that you should be aware of. If you use the "Create Component from Bodies" command to generate a component, the component will adopt the "current location" of the design's coordinate system. I should clarify that the bodies are really what moves, the coordinate systems are truly anchored references. It

I made a quick video to better illustrate this. I hope this helps clarify what I'm trying to say. You'll see that after I move the body and then create a component, that the position of the component's origin will change.

http://screencast.com/t/7DDMd4iyMFXv

Once you have components...

If you perform a Save Copy As (component right click menu via the browser), and create a new design from this component. The origin for that new design will adopt the component's origin. You can correct this by editing the component and using the Move command to move the body of the component back into "position," closer to the origin (if desired).

I hope this helps. Let me know if I can do better.

Thanks,

[Oceanconcepts]

Hi Nathan,

I was great to be able to meet up at I3D/ AU.  I'm very impressed by the Fusion Team. 

Yes, that is helpful.  I am frequently creating parts in a drawing, then saving them for future use.  So whatever origin they were created with, they come into a new drawing with- I get that.  

What I had missed, and what you point out if I understand correctly, is that to effectively change the origin in a component what I actually need to do is to move the bodies in that component to a new relation with the origin. I was looking for a way to reorient the origin in the component.  That makes perfect sense, all I need to do is to open the parts and move the bodies to a more logical orientation to the origin, correct? 

[sohnrog]

I have a related question.  In my case, I have an imported mesh that I have converted to a solid body.  Since the mesh came from a CT scan, the origin is several hundred cm from the center of the mesh I'm working with.  That creates a big problem when I try to paste in components from other designs.  They are so far from each other that I can't literally find the newly pasted object to assemble it with the mesh body.  

Can someone please help me to reset the origin to where I want it to be?

See the picture.  You can see the origin, but the mesh body is that little speck of black to the right.  

[innovatenate]

Are you inserting OBJ or STL files from the Insert menu?

If so, there are some options on the Insert dialog:  

• Center
• Move to Ground
• Transform

Have you tried using one of these?

[ViewingSoftware]

Hi Nathan apologies if this thread is no longer active.

I am trying to figure out if it is possible to move the origin point of a component. For some reason all of my origin points are offset from the components they are attached to.  I'd like to simply move the point so that it is in the middle of each component.  The reason I need to do it is to simplify the process of orientating the components to each other in the animation workspace.

Many thanks

Matt

[innovatenate]

@ViewingSoftware No worries! I'm always happy to help.

A couple of thoughts on this one. 

1. Are you activating components when you edit them?

The only reason I mention this is it is helpful to do this. It simplifies the timeline and greys out other components and bodies. In general, it just makes it a bit easier to modify a component.

2. If you use the Move/Copy command and move a body (not a component), you will move the body relative to the origin of the component the body is located in. The below screencast may help clarify what I'm trying to say here. Take a look and let me know if it helps!

Thanks,

[ViewingSoftware]

Sorry for the delayed response. Many thanks for the suggestion. I suppose I was hoping that there was a retro-active way of changing the axis / origin of a component. I will certainly be careful to ensure that I am more aware of origins as a create components in the future.

Thanks again!