Snap to the centre of an open pipe end. How!!!!!!!???

[Anonymous]

Why does fusion make it so hair pullingly difficult to snap to the centre of then end of pipe I have made. (see pic)

What good is only being able to snap to the edge if I need to line the centre of the pipe up with the centre of an outlet port.

Please can someone help.

[Anonymous]

Thankyou for your reply. I can now see the pipe option in the model screen under create base feature. Perhaps this should be made more prominent and moved to an upper menu in future updates?

I will do some experiments with creating pipes this way rather that in the sculpt environment.

Thanks again.

Kind Regards,

James

[Anonymous]

I have now experimented with the sweep method and the base form pipe and both work perfectly. Many thanks.

This however now leads back to my point that either fusion themselves, or a third party need to release a comprehensive instructional text book.

That way it would have been a five minute fix to just say ok I need to model a pipe, I'll jus grab my book and check the index....ok page 110 modeling pipes......ok so i sketch the path and use sweep or the hidden base form pipe....great. Job done, 5 minutes.

Although the support on this forum is second to none, its still a very slow way of doing things because you first have to come across a problem, then post on here and wait for help from others, whereas if the correct procedures where documented, the problem would not come up in the first place.

Sorry to ramble but I bet there are several comprehensive guide books out for inventor so why not fusion?

[Anonymous]

OK so next brain teaser.

So if I had created the pipe and I watend to sketch a line from the center end of this pipe in order to route this line to say the centre of an outlet port and then create another pipe with this sketch.

How do i get the sketch line to come out away from the pipe centre on that axis if that makes sense? So essentially sketching on a 3d plane if thats the term. (see pic)

[joel.palioca]

Hi James,

Understood about the learning material.  We are actively working on ways to improve this area, hopefully some of our efforts will be of use to you as them become available.

Inside of Fusion we do have the capability of 3D Sketching in a sense.  If you go into your preferences you can turn on the option to allow 3D sketching of lines and spline.

What this will allow you to do is to create a sketch or spline, afterward you can leverage the move command on the points of the sketch or spline.  This is an area we are aware of that needs some additional capabilities, but this should allow you to manipulate your geometry in 3D.

The other way to do this without turning on 3D sketching of lines and splines is to use workplanes at the end of your sketch points.  You can then create another sketch on that workplane and project the sketch point so that they are connected.  This is a basic way of doing it, but it does require some extra effort.

Hope this helps,

[Anonymous]

Hi to extend what Joel was saying, maybe you can do this: Combining this with 3D sketching you can position the curve to join with the other pipe, then you can sweep or pipe. Please stay at the "Create Base Feature workspace". Otherwise you cannot move the plane. Your original curve that you built the pipe should still be there to do this. If deleted there is of course another way.

1) In Construct menu, select "Plane alone Path". Move the plane to the end position.

2) Select the plane, then select "Move". Move the manipulator to the center point of the pipe. This is important so that when you changed the angle of the plane you will not offset that away from the center point.

3) Move the angles of the plane to a position that you wanted. You can then click the the sketch tool and extend the line from the center point of your pipe.

Screen shots (I am too old fashion to do Video):

Now you can start sketching, then using "Move" to position the other end of the curve to join with the center point of the other pipe (3D sketching).

If your original curve is deleted  (in Create Base Feature mode, there is no recording. A delete is deleted). Use Construct menu, select "point at center of circle,...." or something like that to create a center point.

Next sketch a straight line from the center point, you will find that it may not be extended but in fact crossing the end of the pipe. In Construct Menu select "Plane at an Angle". A plane is form on the line and you can use "move" to position the plane in relation to the center point.

Have fun. I hand you over back to the Fusion Team or other users. I have to leave for Europe now to visit my shops and prepare for my exhibitions. The exotic life style of a Designer!