Trying to rotate a rectangle.

[smallfavor]

When in the Sketch mode I want to rotate an object by an user defined variable.  So I click on the space defined by the lines defining the object. (or what I think the object is)  When I do so it turns blue and I understand this to mean I’ve successfully selected the object.  I think this as no amount of additional clicking or double clicking makes any difference to the ‘selection’.

I then call up the marking menu which requires me to then select the sketch menu to get to the sketch menu - why this is necessary when I’m in the Sketch mode is a ****ing mystery.   

In the Sketch menu I find no move tool or rotate tool.   

When I search for constraints there is none appropriate.  

The next option is to call up the move/copy tool itself.   The object or set of curves I thought I’d selected is then unselected and a tool menu comes up asking me what I want to select!  And BTW there’s nothing coming close to obvious how one actually makes copies with this gem!  (Maybe it only shows up in the modeling mode - but I’m not in the ****ing modeling mode am I !)

Fine - I window select the curves and then must assign a pivot point.   For some reason, the ability to find the midpoint of a curve is not available.  But that’s where I’d like to the pivot point to be!   In fact I’d be just giddy if I could actually place a point tween the midpoint of two lines that define the vertical limits of the drawn shape, (a simple rectangle) as well as online with the midpoints of said curves.   

All I can manage however is the choice of one of the four corners.   Gosh.

Now it’s time to enter a degree.  I want to use the user variable A1 which at present is set to 12 degrees.  I enter this in the degrees box.  The tool seems happy, showing off the “Okay” option so I click it ….

Nothing changes.    

Now we’re in WTF territory - a vast area well populated with Fusion 360 sillies!   

How much trouble to do such an operation?   Yes of course, I just don’t yet ‘know’ how to properly use the application   …   But for ****’s sake, how mysterious must it be?  Isn’t the essential premise informing all subsequent application development that the means tween conceptual ideas of the user and the translation of such in digital form be as transparent and unnoticeable as possible?

I read the latest release fanfare which boasted of one particular tool now ‘remembering’ the last settings used!  This is like wanting a cookie for not wetting yourself.

User parameters are fantastic; they’re a ‘back to the future’ escape from timeline tyranny!  I’m completely onboard in this respect.  Constraints (despite a recurring source of annoyance ) are brilliant for refining design over time and testing.  

I want to establish model components that can be repositioned and maintain desired relationships to over components.   I want to drive this with a variable for degrees.  I do not want to use the joint function in the model mode - it’s not particularly useful in this case.  

So now I have to find out what will make the application do what I’d like to do, and despite all the available tutorials such a simple question can take an absurd amount time and effort to get an answer.  The forum of course is nice, but it’s clunky, tedious, and like the application more of an obstacle than a help.   

But I digress…

I again window select the set of curves that define the ‘object’ and call up the move tool.  I don’t select the rotate option in the tool box but instead click on the rotate aspect of the thingy and a little entry box appears in the upper right corner of the workspace -  I didn’t notice the first time I tried it.   Now I enter the user variable and the task is finally completed.  Unfortunately the drawings had been rotated on a few other planes since then as I’ve the 3d sketch option enabled.  SOB!  I delete every last worthless curve and to my amazement the little degree entry box remains open!   Apparently we’re still in WTF territory.   The escape key will not get rid of it.  There is nothing selected that could be demanding an input.  It’s just there, and furthermore it was hiding in the lower left of the work space for a bit before I noticed it.   The last I’d placed it was where one might expect it, so the little ****er’s gone rogue.  The only way out is to stop the sketch.  

At this point I’m well and truly disenchanted.  I wish I were a more clever sort when it comes to dealing with computer applications but I’m not.  I’m am however quite capable of solving design problems in the actual world.   Fusion is not yet that thing I imagine will be.

edit added.

Actually stopping the sketch didn't get rid of the degree box either I was unduly confident in the application.

I was going to include visuals but using the screencast feature is another excercise in silliness.  It's remarkable for a corporation the size of Autodesk to present itself with such nonintuitive and inefficient UI

[schneik-adsk]

Here is a quick video that might help. It shows How I rotate sketch objects:

[jeff_strater]

Here is a thread discussing this same concept:  Rotating a rectangle.  In particular, see message 5.  There are a few concepts that you need to understand that will help with your frustration, I think.

the-saga-of-rotating-a-rectangle-a-comedy-in-three-acts

[michallach81 · Accepted solution]

First and for most, don't use Move tool in sketches (there gonna be only a few exceptions where it could be useful), sketches should be solvable by a set of constraints and not by features (like Move), PERIOD.

For your own sanity don't break this "rule" until you can say that you can predict the consequences.

Below is my short screencast how you can make "rotate" parametric:

[chrisplyler]

---

@michallach81 wrote:

First and for most, don't use Move tool in sketches (there gonna be only a few exceptions where it could be useful), sketches should be solvable by a set of constraints and not by features (like Move), PERIOD.

For your own sanity don't break this "rule" until you can say that you can predict the consequences.

---

Hmmmm...

I think it's okay to use Move in a sketch. I do it all the time. But yeah, it certainly can cause unexpected behavior if you don't yet have an understanding of what constraints might are in play.

I think the more important point is how you locked everything down towards the end of your video. You dimensioned/constrained every blue element until they all turned black, meaning the sketch is entirely controlled by the user and doesn't have any other possible solved conditions that might confuse things later. That's important. My video didn't go that far, as it wasn't part of the original question in this thread, but it is certainly important.

[michallach81]

@smallfavor talked about user parameter, and there is no way to use Move in a sketch and make it parametric.

My general advice here goes even further, don't use Move tool at all, anywhere. By that I mean, first train yourself to work without Move tool. If you master that, go for Move. Just browse this forum to see how many troubles Move can cause... it's a tricky tool and it's not necessary for a parametric mode.

[chrisplyler]

@michallach81

I don't use Move to set final positions of course. But if you need to drag and rotate something over into a position CLOSE to final, then I don't see a problem with using the Move tool. Then, of course, finalize everything with constraints/dimensions/parameters.

Do you NEED to use it? No. Can it be confusing if you're a beginner? Yes it can.

But saying that nobody should ever use it is silly.

[michallach81]

That's a learning advise. I don't dare to give advice to people that don't call for one.

[smallfavor]

That was a very good vid!  I learned the most in the first 15 seconds when the "profile" option was deselected.  I've not returned to Fusion yet but I've a dreadful suspicion the option will have to be unselected with every new sketch or restart.  It seems a matter of policy to demand the user reselect 90% of what's desired and normally used over and over and over....

Thanks for a great assist !

[smallfavor]

Thanks very much!

[Anonymous]

My question to Autodesk is why is this so complicated for such a simple task?  Why would it assume that every rectangle that I would ever create would be at 90 degrees?   It seems pretty simple.  I want a Centered Rectangle rotated by 45 degrees.... done.  Instead of us having to pull our hair out with complex ninja moves?

[jhackney1972]

It is not a built end command but a Center Point Rectangle can easily be created by removing one sketch constraint and then adding a dimension to orient is as desired.