Something odd with decals

[RogerInHawaii]

I prepared a decal consisting of just the word "UNITED". Eventually I intend to also add the word "STATES" below it, but since this was my first time attempting to create a decal image (with a transparent background) and my first time actually using a decal in Fusion 360 I started small.

After numerous attempts I was finally able to position it and scale it and have it "mold" itself to the very groovy surface where I wanted it to go.

BUT, when I finally hit OK on the decal dialog I found that it not only put it where I had specified but it also duplicated it in several other locations on my model and EVEN on the back surfaces of some of the parts.

Now, I SUPPOSE that the duplicate instances of the decal are a result of the fact that some of the components that make up the model are duplicates created using the Copy/Paste ( or Circular Pattern) operation, so that when I put the decal on ONE of them it implicitly puts it on ALL of them. I had NOT expected that, especially since I did this decal work within the Render workspace, not the Model workspace. But I'm totally baffled as to why the decal ALSO appears on the BACKSIDE of some of the components. That is just totally odd.

Is t here any way that I can tell it to just put it in the one place where I want it and to NOT handle it as it it's making a change to a component that has multiple instances?

[RogerInHawaii]

I realize that you have to specify a Face for where the decal goes, or at least for where it starts to go since you can also specify a "Chain" option so that, if it overlaps adjoining Faces then it also applies to those faces. But I also discovered that it's limited to adjoining Faces that are part of the same Component that the originally-specified Face resides within. That means that you can't apply a Decal across Components, only across Faces WITHIN a given Component, and in fact, no matter what you might have selected as the Active Component (even if it's the base component for the entire model) the Decal object ends up residing as a sub-part of the Component that includes the initially selected Face.

This all ends up with the Decal operation not at all acting like an actual Decal that you might put into some actual, physical, model, like an airplane model. In real life a Decal can overlap anything. In Fusion 360, nope.

What I would dearly love to see is the Decal operation operating more like real life. It would be fine for the Decal object to end up as a sub-part of whatever is currently the Active Component, but the Decal itself should be able to overlap any and all sub-Components of that Active Component, and NOT actually be associated with any of those sub-Components. That SHOULD also mean that a Decal that happens to reside on a sub-Component that also has copies made from Copy/Paste or Pattern operations would NOT also be duplicated on those related Components.

Is there any chance of that happening? The way it is now I would have to do a massive Combine on all the various components (over which I want to place my Decal) to generate a single, massive, Body where the Decal could reside. And doing that just to be able to apply a Decal seems, well, ridiculous.

[saito.kh]

Hi @RogerInHawaii ,

Thank you for posting in the community!

I imagine you would like to apply a decal on faces across components - if I misunderstood your issue, I would appreciate if you shared a bit more information.

Unfortunately for now a decal can be applied on adjacent faces only within one component.  However, if you would like to see the decal operation across components please feel free to add an idea in the Fusion 360 IdeaStation or vote up similar ideas like the one below, in order to bring this to our development teams attention! 

• Project decal consistently across multiple faces
• Decal in project mode
• Decal Improvements

If you have any questions, please let me know and I'm happy to help!

Thanks.

[RogerInHawaii]

Thank you for replying. I will definitely go to the Idea Station and vote up those other suggestions.

My problem was three-fold.

(1) I really need the Decal to be able to be placed across Components,

(2) I need it so that the Decal is not actually associated with any particular Component but rather (possibly) the parent of any and all components that it overlaps. The problem with having it as a Decal "of a component" is that the component may indeed be one that has copies made via the Copy/Paste or Pattern operations. In that case the Decal ends up appearing in ALL of the copies even though what I really want is for it to be applied to just the one place I'm putting it. Consider the situation where you've got a tiled surface, each tile being identical, created and positioned using a Rectangular Pattern operation. And then you want to put a Decal on just one of them. But the way Decal works you end up with Decals on ALL of them. And, yeah, could make that particular tile a PasteNEW copy but then you lose the association with the original tile, meaning that if you later make a change to the original tile it DOESN'T apply to that one with the Decal on it.

3) The Decal, in my model, somehow appears weirdly on the BACKS of some of the Components.

[saito.kh]

Hi @RogerInHawaii ,

Thank you for your reply!

I also appreciate your sharing your thought about decal operation.  If you post your idea in the IdeaStation, I will vote it up!

For the (3), would you mind sharing the model with me so that I can take a closer look at this on my end?

If this is okay with you, can you please create a public link to the design file and post the link in this thread?  You can also send the link to me via email (kanehiko.saito@autodesk.com).  This web page guides how to share a design file.

Thanks.

[h144va]

I am running into the same problem expressed by RogerInHawaii. I would like to put a single decal onto a surface that consists of several components replicated using the Pattern tool. However, it seems the decal is attributed to EACH component, so I am getting decals everywhere. Has this problem been fixed since the original posting in 2019?