doing some trivial - seems impossible.. create a line, change how long it is wit

[AutoDesk99UGT]

Ok, so you create a line tell it it is 9" long, duplicate it up 25mm, draw an arc on each end....

Now, the impossible task... Change that 9" to 100mm... OMG that is freaking IMPOSSIBLE.  You might say, just hit 'd' and apply a dimension, but you have to delete the other one first, and I can see little circle/bar indicators in the corner (and if I delete them they go grey, but otherwise make no difference), and then I add a dimension, and I have to delete the previous one.  Now, someone who actually had done usability, would have put up a message that said: "you must delete the existing dimension, would you like me to do that for you?  Or, Here is how to do that?  or would you like walked through that process?

So far, everything I have done that is simple in Fusion 360:  select two objects, align centers (duh) - I have to draw construction lines to create a midpoint and then align to that midpoint, or center one object inside another one (I do this ALL the time - apparently, by creating two construction lines for each one that gives you the midpoint, and then aligning the midpoints.. (isn't the a constraint to align one object to the center of another?)

In any event, I'm trying to select an object and shrink the width... in under an hour, so far, I've not been successful... I've managed to get it to resize ONCE one of the two lines I need to resize.  What do I want to do?  Just select the object, get a <> resize cursor, and resize it.. Sure, it would be cool if it prompted me for the exact size, but I'm just fine with select about 100mm of the 9" that it currently is..  Well, 10" as there is a 25mm diameter arc on each end..

It's fusion 360, complex things are easy, and easy things are complex....  (I can make a vase in under 5 minutes, or even create an extruded component in a few minutes... but resizing a line?   Hours so far.. Easier to just redraw everything... every time...   That is how I did my last few sketches... select old line, draw new one to part of it, and delete old one...  but OMG this is getting old!

(and preview on this page does nothing, I hope post does something!)

[AutoDesk99UGT]

And if I try to align sketch 1 with sketch 2, I can't do it because if I edit sketch 1, sketch 2 doesn't 'exist' yet, so I can't seem to view it...   aaaaggggggghhhhhh!   If the hard stuff wasn't so simple to do - I'd dump this like a hot potato!

Since 87-90 ish when I first used a version of AutoCad (light), the Usability hasn't improved.. the abilities for the uber experts has, but not the crazy learning curve...

So, I created another drawing on top of the other one, and deleted the old one - I WAS able to get it to change the line by selecting the parameters.. but when I do that, and change one line, instead of the arcs at the end staying arcs, it flips and rotates the lines (duh, what would you expect when you change a line length) makes them HUGE circles - even when you change the other line.... Why doesn't it repeat the steps used to create it but change the length..so.. create a line 100mm, duplicate it 25 mm up, create an arc between it and the other line on each end.  And you have a perfect sized item...

What I really want to do is to simply use the 'form' feature, but alas, if you didn't create the drawing as a form in the first place, you are screwed out of using any of those features - yeah, I pulled my hair out trying to figure that one out.. finally created a new document and copy/pasted the old one into it in order to be able to use it...  Totally obvious on how to do it...

[davebYYPCU]

Sketching 101, does your sketch have all these icons and dimensions?

Double click the dimension and overtype the new size.

Attach a file so we can see where the problem lives....

PS Can anyone tell me why it's fully constrained but wont turn black?

Might help.....

[AutoDesk99UGT]

Yes, that is what it looks like, except that my lines were black (until I 'deleted' (greyed, they don't go away)) the symbols in the corners  which allowed the lines to no longer be constrained.

(I think I can answer you question why they aren't black, you would have to have started drawing at a fixed point, such as the origin in order for it to be fully constrained.  in your case, the entire drawing can be moved around)

As far as I can tell, there is no way to get a file OUT of Fusion 360, they are all stuffed up the freaking cloud.. it take a CRAZY amount of time to export to a STL file  (maybe 50-300 times longer than it would take to export locally on my machine using any other 3D drawing app).

It's on another machine,  I can do it as an archive file... let me try that.

[AutoDesk99UGT]

Here is the archive file...

Want the sketch centered in the other object (how??)

Want it extruded (cut) through the top from its current position...

Oh, actually, Just realized this is the version that I deleted and recreated the sketch.  but I took sketch 2, duplicated it 100, or 110 mm up from its plane, and then simply changed the width to a smaller amount (10 seconds), and here it is 3 HOURS later and I still don't have this print ready to print...

Wow, makes me wish that Coreldraw did a 3D Cad package... Yeah, their learning curve is steep compared to others, but everything is logical, simple to adjust (like, for example, I can align objects, by center, left, right, top, space evenly, etc etc.. super simple and obvious to do...)  (Although, Coreldraw finally came out with a Mac version and the idiots went with a subscription model for $25/month, or $300 per year with it becoming non functional if you stopped paying them... not an option I'm interested in at ALL, I want to pay for the software, and run it on my machine and if I don't upgrade the OS, I should be able to run that software for the next 100 years without additional cost and it will continue to do what it was...  doing everything in the cloud is brain-dead stupid.. yeah, well, that is a comment about Fusion 360 too...)

[AutoDesk99UGT]

3 1/2 HOURS later, I finally got it... My issues:

1. Resizing the width - solution:  Create construction lines, delete original and recreate from scratch.

2. Loft didn't create a solid object - Solution was using patch, which didn't create a solid object either. 😞

3. Couldn't extrude without it being a solid object - found the combine - useless not what I wanted, join?  No, was another option with a sub-option of join.  (forgot name - I'd go back and check but it is in the middle of the 10 minute export of the shape to a .stl file)

4. Couldn't do a 'cut' extrude when I selected 'extrude' from the create option.  Solution:  (after much nashing of teeth), I was on 'surface' not 'solid' and both have an extrude that looks the same, but isn't.  There isn't a 'cut' option on the surface one and no clue you are on a different extrude option.. looks just like the other one without the cut option...  Was able to create a new body so was like WTF?  Why can't I cut then?

So, got it going, and in another 10 minutes of waiting for the dumb thing to export the STL file - something that my 8700K overclocked i7 at 3.6GHz on 3GB/sec SSDs can't do - (WTF?) and it MUST be uploaded to their servers - whomever designed that wasn't thinking... No reason that can't be done on my machine, no reason to waste their money to run it in the cloud....

Anyway... Finally have an STL file for something I *really* thought would take me about 10 minutes start to finish...  Printing it after slicing it...

[davebYYPCU]

Not much amiss in your file, no dimensions, will make it hard to size a line, (sketch 2 and 3)

Edit ; Dimensions were turned off, sorry about that.

Sketch 1 has dimensions, but not back to the Origin.

Solid Loft is blue icons, top row of the interface set to solid, selecting blue profiles.

Hollow Surface Loft is orange icons, you have to patch top and bottom, then stitch all together to make it solid.

I can't drag my sketch example because it is supposed to be attached to the origin, (black dot).

Might help.....

[jeff_strater]

If you are new to parametric CAD, there are some excellent tutorials out there that will explain some of the basics.  I particularly recommend Lars Christensen's youtube channel, particularly the beginners' videos:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo29kn3d9ziFUZGZ50VKvWA .  Sometimes a small investment up front will more than pay for itself down the road in understanding some basic concepts, such as using construction geometry in a sketch to help position things, etc.