Why cant I snap to a vertices here ? and does Fusion use a Command line ?

[Anonymous]

I am brand new to Fusion.    I want to put dimensions on this object but It does not act like going to be able to do this.   It appears though I can measure things.        The reason why I am interested in fusion is because it comes with ShopBot.  And I want to be able to send out files to folks how own Shopbot equipment.         Im a fish out of water though because I so miss the command line in AutoCad.   and maybe Fusion does have the capability of a command line. ?    But my main question is why cant I do anything with this imported OBJ object. ?

I do need to watch videos on how to use Fusion but I have some burning questions.  Thank you   !

[paul.clauss]

Hi @donJPMHL

Thanks for posting! You may be able to make some of the desired changes to the mesh in the Mesh workspace - I would recommend working through this learning material to get an idea of what you can do there. 

I've shown how to convert the mesh in your file into surfaces, which can be more easily edited in Fusion, in the screencast below. This technique will convert the mesh to surface bodies rather than a solid body, as the mesh contains only a single layer of mesh elements. If you need a solid body from this mesh, it may be easier to edit the source file, but you could use the "Thicken" command in the Patch workspace to go through and thicken the surfaces created from the mesh. You can learn more about the Patch workspace and the surface modeling tools in Fusion at this link.

Fusion does not have a command line like AutoCAD, but pressing the "S" key will bring up the model toolpath, which will allow you to search for commands.

I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any questions.

[Anonymous]

Wow thank you for this video.  Its a lot to take in.   A Solid is more like a font where as  the mesh is more like a bitmap.  ?  And the machines like the solids because they  are actually equation representations of lines and curves rather than a xyz grid of points....     Am I on track here ?        

This obj mesh might be used to create a solid from scratch though because I could snap to the points.  ?        

[Anonymous]

Im watching this Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix76eoaBh-o    how cool !  this video is all about solids surfaces

[paul.clauss]

Hi @Anonymous

Thanks for sharing! That looks like a great video. Fusion 360 can machine mesh bodies, but converting to a solid or surface will give you more control - it will be easier to select edges and faces of the model. Please feel free to let us know if you have any further questions!