Work flow for variants of a model/product

[philwmcintosh]

Recently I drew up a door assembly of a certain type (I'm an industrial designer) using parameters and consisting of about 40 parts and let's call it "Double Door TEMPLATE". I then did the Drawing related to it "Double Door TEMPLATE Drawing". The idea being that anytime a door assembly of this is required I simply change the parameters, update the drawing file, produce the DXF's and PDF's and it's good to go. Today a job of this type came in where I have to do 2 different door assemblies each with their own intricacies. I’d imagine many face this same situation in whatever industry they’re involved in. My logic was to create a folder for this new job then save copies of the CAD file as “Customer Name-Door 1” and “Customer Name-Door 2” then the same with the drawing files. The problem here is that I can’t seem to make “Customer Name-Door 1 Drawing” file reference “Customer Name-Door 1” (CAD) file. If I just stay with the original “template” files and make changes (parameters, etc.) then produce the PDF’s and DXF’s then next week I change it all to suit another job, it means I lose access to the earlier unmodified version. What does everyone else do in this situation or alternatively, how does everyone else take care of model variants (CAD & Drawing files)? p.s. I used to use SolidWorks and know how to do it there but don’t know how in Fusion. I've done searches here but didn't find the answer.

[jhackney1972 · Accepted solution]

Autodesk has been teasing us that Fusion 360 will someday have a "Configuration" function where variations of the same components can be created.  We can only hope that this will include the related 2D Drawings as well.

In the meantime, the best method to create a model and its 2D drawing and then create another with slight variation is a process of archiving the drawing, which brings along the model, and then uploading it back into the cloud renaming it along the way.  This Blog Article and Video explain the process.

[philwmcintosh]

Thanks John, much appreciated.

[TrippyLighting]

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@philwmcintosh wrote:

... I used to use SolidWorks and know how to do it there but don’t know how in Fusion. I've done searches here but didn't find the answer.

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I am assuming you used Configurations for this?

If not, I'd be interested how you did it!

The Fusion 360 Team is indeed working on Configurations and I've heard from "reliable sources" that we might see a release to the public late next year.

 Autodesk has indeed been teasing us because some users have been asking since late 2014  where the functionality is they advertised at the time as  "Design variant configuration management", which is exactly what configurations are.

So it will have taken then more than 8 years to implement 😉

[jeff_strater]

@philwmcintosh - yes, configurations will support drawings - you will be able to make a drawing of an individual configuration that will only update when that configuration changes.

@TrippyLighting - we have not been working on configurations for 8 years.  That project only started in 2020.  Just because someone asked for something in 2014 does not mean we started working on it then.

[TrippyLighting]

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@jeff_strater wrote:

@TrippyLighting - we have not been working on configurations for 8 years.  That project only started in 2020.  Just because someone asked for something in 2014 does not mean we started working on it then.

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Glad you found this thread. Yep, I know that you've not been working at this for 8 years.

If you go through the thread I linked to, I am sure you'll see what I am referring to.

My point was/is that the functionality was advertised a long, long time ago. It was one of three main reasons I decided to try out Fusion 360.

There is certainly a lot of other functionality in Fusion 360 that I enjoy every day and this is why I stuck with it. 

Well, that and because I enjoy the community and last, but definitely not least, I believe you are part of an incredible team. I am convinced this will be well thought-out and I cannot wait to get my hands on it!

[philwmcintosh]

"I am assuming you used Configurations for this?"

Yes, I did.