Design, Schematic, PWB, 3D Model versions

[wwfeldman]

The Data panel shows version 19 fr he electronics design, and version 1 for the schematic, PWB and 3d Model.

At the same time, the versions in the tabs for the schematic (v33), PWB (V65) and 3dmodel (V22), as seen in the tabs across the top.

The schematic (v33), PWB (V65) and 3dmodel (V22), open when I open the design.

what is the relationship between the seemingly different versions of the (schematic, PWB and 3dmodel)?

why do there appear to be two different version? Why is the version of the design the same?

Thank you

[ImDaveM]

Good questions, This confuses me too, I wish FUSION 360  would just have ONE DOCUMENT for a PCB, when you save it saves all parts, no need for separate documents which can get out of sync.

But this idea will probably never happen.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @wwfeldman ,

I hope you're doing well. By any chance where you trying to make a duplicate of your project for making some edits? It looks like you didn't make the copy correctly. Here's the recommended procedure for copying files to another project to make changes and take the design in another direction.

1) In the new project, create a brand new electronics design.

2) Link it to the schematic of the original design you want to copy, on the bottom right of the link dialog you'll see a check box that says Save as Copy, make sure it's checked before you link to the schematic. With that checkbox set, a new copy of the schematic will be made and the original will be left alone.

3) Repeat step 2 for the board, remember to make sure Save as Copy is checked.

That's it, now you have a copy of the original copy that you can edit and modify without changing the original. In the picture it looks like you tried to save a copy of the Electronics design, the problem with that is that it preserves all of the links to the original files.

Let me know if you weren't trying to make a copy, because then we have to explore other possibilities.

Best Regards,

[wwfeldman]

"In the picture it looks like you tried to save a copy of the Electronics design, the problem with that is that it preserves all of the links to the original files."

preserves all the links - so the schematic, board and 3d model noted as version 1 in the data panel are links back to the

previous version?

what happens if i edit one of them? will it change the previous version?

can they be deleted without damage to the previous version?

side question - if i accidentally edit and save a design, schematic, board or 3d model, how can i get back to the version before the accidental edit, and get rid of the accidental edit?

[ImDaveM]

Hi Jorge,

what is your opinion on having only ONE document to save ( and only one TAB ) for a PCB Design?

Is this something that Autodesk would consider?

Do we really need 4 documents! I find this a HUGE PAIN!

Dave M

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @wwfeldman,

I hope you're doing well. The files in the data panel that were version 1 (schematic, board) are new those are not connected to the original design files. When you copied the Electronics design file which is the glue that links the schematic and board , that has all the old links still in it.

That's why in my procedure I say that the first thing that needs to be done is make a NEW Electronics design file and link it to copies of the original schematic and board files which will be at version 1. 

Let me know if that makes sense.

Best Regards,

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @ImDaveM ,

Thanks for the question. I can see some potential benefits to that especially if your main background is Fusion 360. With that said there are some downsides. For example, if everything is in one file you can't split it across multiple monitors which is a very common need in ECAD. Fusion 360 has never had multi-monitor support until electronics came in and Electronics is currently the only part of Fusion that leverages that ability.

Another problem would be how do you deal with libraries? If every library has to be subservient to some single master file model then libraries will become harder than they already are since you wouldn't be able to get to them directly.

I know Electronics behaves very differently from the rest of Fusion right now. A lot of that will be improved as time goes on, but there are somethings that will remain fundamentally different because Electronics is very different to mechanical design.  In short, whenever it makes sense we will align with Fusion 360 but we won't sacrifice workflows that ECAD engineers depend on to align with mechanical conventions.

Now I will say that members of our XD team have been exploring the possibility. Maybe we can't get to a single file but there may be room for some simplification.

Hope this is helpful to you.

Best Regards,

[silvio3105]

Hi,
I have a problem with "main" file. When I open it, it oepns schematic, pcb and 3D file. And one of the problems is that in order to work with PCB or schematic, main file has to be open.

[ImDaveM]

Hi Jorge

We need Fusion Electronics simpler, it's hard to navigate all the files and documents and versions.

At least have one tab for a SINGLE PCB, and then sub menus to navigate between the work spaces.

What about something like this..

[silvio3105]

Or even better - add schematic, PCB and 3D view where "Design" button is(left from your 4 buttons).
Also, when comes to tabs, I hate when I have one tab open and it's wide to max. Why tabs does not have width limit(like tabs in browsers do)?

[ImDaveM]

Hi Silvio,

Thanks for replying..

"Or even better - add schematic, PCB and 3D view where "Design" button is(left from your 4 buttons)."

I thought about that option you mentioned, but I am trying to minimise the number of clicks for navigation, we already have too many hidden levels of navigation. Also by having the 4 buttons always present, it reminds the ( new user) that there are other views and it shows the Hierarchy of the data/views , meaning Project/Sch/Brd/3D are all part of the Design Menu for the PCB. rather than scattered elsewhere or hidden.

"I hate when I have one tab open and it's wide to max. Why tabs does not have width limit(like tabs in browsers do)?"

YEs, I agree, its so simple to program tabs to self adjust its width to the amount of text in the tab, you would need a minimum width, and a maximum width so things don't look stupid,

I hate centred  or max width tabs , they should always be left aligned.

regards

Dave M

regards

[ImDaveM]

"I hate when I have one tab open and it's wide to max. Why tabs does not have width limit(like tabs in browsers do)?"

[wwfeldman]

I finally had time to try what you said.

It worked, but it took two tries, as I am a beginner and you are an expert.

Your vocabulary and mine are not aligned.

For example, "link it to the schematic" means use the schematic icon with the little link (chain) ...

I was looking for a button labeled "link". Eventually I found it.

Thank you

[tedEUQZT]

@jorge_garcia - there is another aspect to Version numbers that you havent mentioned and I dont see solved anywhere. While the files themselves have a 'version' and that works well, there is no way to force a set of files to have a release "Revision" - yes you can use the save with Milestone function, but those of us actually sending files out to ordinary PCB manufacturing houses (or sharing with consulting clients) have to make clear "Revision" marks across a number of files and drawings, and these need to be consistent. Within the CAM processor and elsewhere the "Version" that gets used is always the file-specific version, there is no way to inject the "Milestone" lock, so if you try to create derivative prints/plots and gerber file sets, either you have to manually rename files (so they have something like "23-1001-A-L1TOP.gbr" instead of "23-1001 v37-L1TOP.gbr") AND you have to edit the schematic/layout data in the BRD and SCH files so that printer plots will have the correct version stamps in the plot frames (for example if there is an attribute in the file). 

There needs to be a connection between Milestones and the CAM processor and ATTRIBUTEs in files.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @tedEUQZT ,

I hope you're doing well, it's nice to hear from you. I agree with your point and have submitted a feature request for this.

Best Regards,

[wwfeldman]

thread content tends to drift

back to post #3

jorge garcia wrote:

"I hope you're doing well. By any chance where you trying to make a duplicate of your project for making some edits? It looks like you didn't make the copy correctly. Here's the recommended procedure for copying files to another project to make changes and take the design in another direction."

An electronic design consists of a schematic, a PWB layout and the 3D model

4 tabs, 4 files okay - humans have been bending themselves to work with the tools at hand as long as we've been using tools

there is a discrepancy between F360 mechanical and F360 electrical

i copied and pasted an F360M design for a 3d printed box, renamed it, with no links  back to the original

(or the prior version as I see it)

but you can't do that with F360E, as you pointed out in post #3

i don't care how many files are used to hold my design, nor how many tabs, etc

when i want to save a known good version, and copy it to a create a new version,

a simple copy and paste should be sufficient for F360E as for F360M

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @wwfeldman ,

Thanks for bringing the thread back on track, I've also noted your comments and added it as a feature request.

Best Regards,

[matt.berggren]

Thanks for this guys.  This will take some cleverness in overloading the copy command but I agree this should be something we implement.  I’ll put it in our backlog and take a crack at this.  This is something we just demonstrated and I just experienced with a PCIe card I built to take the team through some workflow issues.  It shouldn’t be hard to do, it’s just work.  

Best regards,

matt