Sketch Dimension never highlighted

[frugalguido]

I can never dimension a drawing, the Sketch Dimension is never highlighted in any menu, pull down or otherwise. Please help!

[TrippyLighting]

Could you make a little screencast to show that behavior, or at least a screenshot ?

What you describe could apply to several areas of Fusion 360.

[frugalguido]

Here is a screen shot of the menu;

I can never get the sketch dimension to turn dark, even if I click on a object before hand.

[jeff_strater]

I think this indicates that you are not in sketch mode.  You need to be editing the sketch in order to dimension it.  Right click on your sketch, and choose "Edit Sketch",  then the Dimension command should be properly enabled.

Jeff Strater (Fusion development)

[frugalguido]

Never see "edit sketch" when I right click on a object.

[TrippyLighting]

I know how tempting it is to download and start with a new software right away.

It would, however, greatly benefit you if you'd watch at least a couple of the beginners tutorials as this is rather basic suff.

In order to edit a sketch you need to find a given sketch in the browser structure, highlight and right click on it. Then you'll find the "Edit" menu item.

[frugalguido]

I have done the basic square with a hole in it ,in lesson one. There is no sketches in the browser window on the left side of the screen, just bodies. I am just trying to dimension it.

[TrippyLighting]

Aha! I think you used one of the primitives from the "Create" menu. These primitives, cube, cylinder etc. are created with direct modeling methods thnd the initial sketches are not available afterr the object is created. You can only edit these forms with push-pull.

If you want an editable sketch you need to start with a Sketch from the Sketch menu and then extrude, revolve etc. that sketch.

Then you'll have a sketch that you can put dimensions on.

[jeff_strater]

Ah, I see.  Yes, @TrippyLighting is right - you could certainly benefit from going just a bit further in the basic tutorials.

It just so happened that the two operations that you used in this example (Box and Hole) don't create a persistent sketch in your design, so there is no sketch to edit.  Box is a "primitve" command that allows you to quickly create geometry, but limits your ability to edit it afterwards (which is why there is no sketch in your design).  In order to have a sketch to edit, you need a different workflow (sketch + a feature)

Here is a simple example:

Hope this helps!

Jeff

[frugalguido]

So, "the primatives" are not editable, then what good are they? I didn't see mentioned anywhere in the beginning lessons that they weren't able to be dimensioned. So, I guess its better to always start with non-primatives? Thanks

[TrippyLighting]

Of course you can edit shapes created with primitives. But you would not do so via the initial sketch.

I already told you in my last  post what to use to edit these shapes 😉

[frugalguido]

Ok, watched four more basic videos as was suggested,  I tried using only sketch function this time, still cannot dimension previously drawn items, it's still is never darkened even when I select an object. What I am not getting? There is a couple of screen shots ;

[jeff_strater]

I think you are still not in sketch mode.  You can tell you are in sketch mode by a couple of items in the UI:

and, when you are in sketch mode, the dimension command will be highlighted:

here is a screencast showing how to go from a design similar to yours into sketch mode:

Jeff