Creating and using Design Blocks

[willem_selten]

Hello,

Eagle has not had any updates in the last year and a half. So I think that you are going to stop it soon.

When will the feature to use design blocks be ready? I think the Fusion 360 Electronics is just not usable without this feature. You are telling everybody on the forum that you are working on this feature for over a year now. 

I want to know when this feature will be realized.

Kind regards,

Willem Selten

[HelenChen-ElectronicsQA]

Hi @Kristey , @willem_selten 

Thank you very much for your reporting. 

Sorry for our late response, both of your requests are well received. 

Here I'd share with you the workarounds you could use in Fusion for them. And I am replying you both together, sorry for any inconvenience.  https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-electronics/request-design-block-variant-list-box/m-p/1051... 

1) How to get the each Variant result in schematic file?

a. In schematic file, you could go to Document Tab > Variant icon > to add new variant or check what variants you have defined and edit if needed.

For example, I have variant named test in this schematic file.

b. In the schematic file > in the command line, type command: Varaint [varaint_name], e.g.  in my case, I type: Varaint test, then press enter key. Then I see the result.

It's not obvious as EAGLE which is able to get the drop down list in UI directly and switch the variant to get the results, but the workaround also could help you to get the result.

2) How to reuse Design Block from EAGLE to Fusion?

a. Add pre-defined design block in EAGLE schematic file or board file and window selection or Ctrl+A them to copy them

b. In Fusion Electronics design, paste the copied design block in schematic file.

Hope it helps and sorry for any inconvenience. 

Thank you.

Regards,

Helen

[willem_selten]

If I do use the provided solution I will lose the layout belonging to the design block. For now this is acceptable, but we have chosen Eagle back in the day because off the power of those design blocks. It is a shame that they are removed as functionality from Fusion 360 Electronics. 

[RichardHammerl]

Hi @willem_selten ,

I know that you are waiting for Design Blocks for a long time meanwhile. But please rest assured that Design Blocks are on our todo list. Although I don't know about the release plans, I can tell you that we are currently working on this. 

Thank you for your patience and have a great day!

[HelenChen-ElectronicsQA]

Hi @willem_selten ,

So sorry for any inconvenience about this! We will keep you be posted once we have some progress about this.

Currently for "lose the layout belonging to the design block", I have another workaround which should help.

Do you mind to have a try when you have time?

I am very sorry that it needs few extra steps in Fusion..., hope it helps you a little in Fusion 360.

Scenario #1:

If you want to create a new Electronics design to reuse the design block in Fusion:

(Please do the same steps as below, need to handle the board file firstly and then schematic file later separately, and need to make sure that each time only board file or schematic file is opened in Fusion when do paste.)

1. New Electronics design in Fusion

2. New schematic file > Push to 2D PCB > Save all files > Close all files

3. Open saved board file from Fusion data panel

4. In EAGLE > New board file > Add design block for the board file > Copy all from EAGLE

5. In Fusion > Paste all copied from EAGLE in Fusion board file opened in step #3 above > Save board file in Fusion > close board file

7. In EAGLE > Close board file > New schematic file > Add the corresponded design block for the schematic file > Copy all from EAGLE

8. In Fusion > Open saved schematic file from Fusion data panel > Paste all copied from EAGLE in Fusion schematic file > Save schematic file in Fusion > close schematic file

9. In Fusion Data Panel > Open Electronics design > Load the latest version of the schematic file and board file when pop up dialog show up > Save the Electronics design file

10. You should see the schematic and board file are synced with expected board layout too.

Scenario #2:

If you have existing saved Electronics design which has linked schematic file and board file in Fusion:

You could just use step #3 to step #10 mentioned in above scenario #1, should be OK too.

Hope it helps a little bit.

Regards,

Helen

[Anonymous]

+1 to design blocks being critically needed in Fusion 360 electronics.

Please put this on roadmap as soon as possible. Not having the ability to duplicate a pcb layout that you previously perfected over hours or days is a major workflow impediment. When my subscription renewal comes up in 2022 this might be the reason I switch to another software.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @Anonymous ,

I hope you're doing well. This is already being worked on and you should see the fruit of that labor soon. I'm very excited for it.

Best Regards,

[micheline.verhaegen]

We're now at the end of another year... when will this feature finally be released? Or should we just forget about F360 electronics for the time being and revert to Eagle. I'd rather live with the back and forth synchronisation for the 3D view once we get to the physical design of the enclosure than having to work with a suboptimal piece of software for the whole design process... because frankly,  easy 3D view is the only thing F360 adds for the time being.

[RichardHammerl]

Hi @micheline.verhaegen 

Happy New Year to all or you. 

For Design Blocks, please give us bit more time. We already work on this, but there is still a bit of work to be done. 

Thank you for your patience and best regards,

[schunda]

Hi everyone,

First of all I appreciate the effort you put into combining mCAD and eCAD! That's fantastic!

However, I'd like to stress the point that the block design is dearly missed. Can you give a rough estimate at least?

Another pain point is the PCB layout, it works sure but I've seen a teaser of a new lay-outer for eCAD. Unfortunatly, I can't find the video. Is that the reason for the delay of design blocks? 

Cheers,
Eric

[autodesk8LRWT]

How can we create a design block in fusion?

many thanks

[schunda]

Hi,

 a reply on my message from January would be highly appreciated!

Thanks,
Eric

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @schunda,

With the latest release of Fusion 360 we added the insert Electronics Design, which allows you to use existing Electronics Designs as Design blocks. This is the first step. We are working on developing the rest of it in Fusion 360.

We don't have any automated layout tools, and there are none in the works. I'd be interested to know what video you saw that in.

Best Regards,

[schunda]

Hi Jorge,

thanks for your reply! Ok, that's good to hear. Just that I've understood your correctly. I can use design block from eagle and insert them into Fusion360? That would be great. Looking forward to the rest of the implementation.

The video I#ve had in mind was I think with you. It's not an automated positioning but the component placement is more as one expects it to be in Fusion360 sketch than the cumbersome calculation and changing figures in each device. (Eagle) 
Such a positioning would be highly appreciated for I usually do prototypes which have the habit of being changed all the time in...

Best regards,
Eric

[jorge_garcia · Accepted solution]

Hi @schunda,

Yes you can use existing design blocks in Fusion 360. We've started to incorporate some of Fusion's drawing tools into the Electronics environment, in the last release we added inferencing (snapping to mid point, end points, tangents, etc.) and will continue to improve it.

Best Regards,

[rhomboid-1]

Hello Jorge,

I just wanted to jump in on this thread and say Thanks! The "Insert Electronics Design" option works perfectly. I can create a design block as a new "Electronics Design" and insert it as many times as I want. It even works better in certain respects, because you could not use auto-routing when creating a design block in Eagle 9.6.2, and the "save selection as design block" function never worked in 9.6.2. This solves the problem!

[giladk]

Richard, this is 2.5 years old and design blocks are still absent.

This was already working on Eagle so how hard would it be to implementing it in Fusion360?

[schunda]

Yes, very good question!

[willem_selten]

They have added the feature: 'Insert Electronics Designs' which is basically the same as a design block.

[RichardHammerl]

Hi @giladk ,

there is another approach in Fusion now and we do not bring back Design Blocks in the same functionality as you know it from EAGLE. In Fusion you can consume Design Blocks coming from EAGLE, but we do not store Design Blocks out of Fusion. What you can do now is to insert a project into another project (as @willem_selten wrote earlier). So save your schematic/board and reuse it in any other project again. 

Regards,