Set body pivot point to absolute center

[kreatronik]

Hello, I need to rotate  this body around its center point, but I can't set the pivot point.

In the image you see that Fusion displays 3 markers when I hover over the inner cylinder. I guess the triangle is the centerpoint, but how can one select this as it disappears when I move the mouse away from the cylinder face?
Please help

[wmhazzard]

In the dialog box, click on rotate, then click on axis, or on free move, select set pivot. 

[kreatronik]

For "Rotate" I have would have to generate an axis first for my desired rotation orientation.
And for "Free Move": In attached picture i was already in the "Set Pivot" dialog...

[wmhazzard]

For either function you just have to select any of the circular edges or faces to select the center. 

[laughingcreek]

Usually  when the triangle shows up you can hold down the ctrl key and you are then allowed to select the triangle.  This doesn't work with "free move" tool.  don't know why ( @jeff_strater -by design or a bug?)  .  You can see this functionality in action if you use the "point to point" type of move, which I realize doesn't help with your rotate question.

This brings up the larger question of why your using move at all?  By using free move you lose a lot of the parametric capabilities of fusion.  either design it in place, or make it a separate component and position it with a joint.  When doing a design with the timeline turned on, its generally a good idea to avoid the move, align, and position capture.  They invariably cause grief down the road.

[laughingcreek]

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@wmhazzard wrote:

For either function you just have to select any of the circular edges or faces to select the center. 

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I'm assuming he doesn't want to rotate the object about it's current axis, because really, what would be the point?  it would look the same.  I think he wants to put the free move tool at the center so he can tumble the body about the center point.

[kreatronik]

Hm, that's pretty disappointing not being able to set that point 😞

Because sometimes in my opinion there is no other way around then moving an item around or align it.
I solved the other case by generating a new cylinder.

Any responses from this Jeff?

[jeff_strater]

Not really sure what sort of response you want.  Fusion does not store a pivot point for a component.  There is only an origin.  This is not something that is very often requested, to be honest, so it's pretty far down the priority list.

[etfrench]

With a joint, you can position, align, rotate, or move a component relative to another component.  The other component could just hold a sketch and no bodies.

[kreatronik]

@jeff_strater 
I'm just confused as why Fusion shows the little triangle then and also the middle markers for the top and bottom of the cylinder when you can't use them for setting the pivot point 🤔

I wouldn't say it's a rare used feature as the absolute center of a body/component as pivot point is handy in many situations.
I solved the problem otherwise but I was working on a body of the component because you mentioned the point of a component.

[laughingcreek]

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@kreatronik wrote:

...I'm just confused as why Fusion shows the little triangle then and also the middle markers for the top and bottom of the cylinder when you can't use them for setting the pivot point ...

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Not being able to select it is probably a bug in the UI. I agree that if it shows up it should be select-able.

BUT-

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@kreatronik wrote: 

I wouldn't say it's a rare used feature as the absolute center of a body/component as pivot point is handy in 

many situations...

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I would say using the center for a pivot is a rarely used feature (at least among experienced fusion modelers).  And not particularly handy for use in parametric modeling.  Particularly in fusion.  The free move tool is not parametric, and using it in your timeline will reek havoc on your models, particularly as they get more complex.  There are better ways of getting things to be where they need to be.

[etfrench]

See post #9 😀

[Anonymous]

Just to revive this... I don't think the problem was solved. Responses generally are people telling you it's not necessary. That's not what the OP asked. They asked how to reset the pivot point to the center of the body... a VERY useful command to *some* people.

EG: You open an existing model from a file sent from a colleague. The model started as an .STL. STL files tend to import at exactly a scale of 10:1 (no idea why). You pivot point by default is at the center of the body.

You now scale the body down to reality by a factor of 10, and Fusion seems to handle this by scaling to a corner of the body. Your pivot point is no longer at the center of the body, and when scaling by such a large factor, it's often quite far from the body. Now when you try to rotate views, the body is swinging wildly around a pivot that is way off in space. Imagine you're zoomed in to see a small feature but want to rotate the body to peer around a corner of the body. You move the view ever so slightly and the body flings off of your screen as it is rotating around a point far away. This issue prevents any further work on the body and is SUPER frustrating.

Right clicking on the screen, I see the same options to reset the pivot, but how do you get it to re-center to the new position of the body?

[etfrench]

Coincidentally, a centimeter happens to be 10 times longer than a millimeter and Fusion 360's native units happen to be centimeters.   Stl files are unitless, but most people (almost all 3d printers) use millimeters when creating stls. 

[dgtursini]

I'm sure someone will still find this useful,  in the case of having a cylinder as the OP does, you just need to construct an axis through the cylinder on that object then you can select the center point on free move.

[Bunga777]

How can we match the PIVOT to the center? This is what I would do to answer the question.

The Move/Copy command can move the Pivot to the center if no object is selected.

If an object is selected in the command, for some reason the cursor cannot be moved to the center.

However, if the object is not selected, the cursor will move to the center.

Avoid the bugs and enjoy Fusion360 to the fullest.

I made a video of this, please watch.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/screencast/90457728-7f82-491a-b115-eb3a1024da7f

[StefanN90]

Works, thanks for that!

One remark for this solution: Using the Move/Copy command like that rotates or moves all instances of the component and not the specific component you want to rotate. Still frustrating...

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@StefanN90 wrote:

Works, thanks for that!
Still frustrating...

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Attach before/after files.

@StefanN90 

I suspect there is still a basic misunderstanding of position in space and best technique for achieving desired position.

[StefanN90]

Hello,

 

in this .gif you can see what I described. After checking again I realized the error was in using "paste" instead of "paste new" what IMO is an absolutely unintuitive way of handling copy/paste and is very often a source of frustration.

[TheCADWhisperer]

@StefanN90 

Have you mastered Joints?