Brown outline after "Create Mesh Section Sketch"

[mad.macs]

I used the command "Create Mesh Section Sketch" on an imported .STL file.

The result is an outline of the body as expected, but the lines are Brown, uneditable, unprojectable, and unextrudable. What is this line type, and how can it be converted to something more useful. (Export as DXF didn't work either.)

[jeff_strater · Accepted solution]

right - that is a special item (a mesh section) in the sketch.  You need to use Fit Curves to Mesh Section on those curves to do anything more with them.  The reason for this command is because the mesh section is just tiny lines, and therefore would result in terrible geometry if used directly.

[HughesTooling · Accepted solution]

Here's a screencast example. This demonstrated how to clean up a faceted DXF sketch but if you watch for 0:48 it shows how to convert the mesh sections.

Mark

[mad.macs]

Yup. I got it to work. It took me a minute or two to locate the Fit Curves to Mesh section feature, but the video you posted makes the whole process very clear.

Thanks!

[mpieper]

Hey Jeff,

Where are the API calls to this function?  My life would get a lot easier if the ui function was exposed via api.  I'm also having issues finding the "MeshSection" sketch sub-element that is generated by the plane cut (seen below) through the api calls.

Thanks

[jeff_strater]

@mpieper - as I suspect you already have realized, the current API does not support creating or querying the mesh section.  Agree that support for this would be useful, and it is on our roadmap, but I do not have any information about when it might be supported.

[mpieper]

@jeff_strater 

Having this available would open many doors to me in terms of automating mesh processing.  I don't need much, just the ability to generate cross sections and their corresponding splines.   After that, I have a very clear idea of how to handle things. 

Have you seen any of the posts about using ui text commands to bypass the api? ala:https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-api-and-scripts/create-mesh-section-sketch-api-calls/m-p/1... 

If there's a way to bypass the api one more time to click the "Fit Curves to Mesh Section" function, select a closed spline option / relevant parameters, and then select the brown cross section, I'd be all set until an actual api call comes out.

[mpieper]

Hey Jeff,

Has any work been done in this area?  It's been over a year and some of the features have made it into the mainline toolbar (mesh intersection etc), but it's not obvious that these features are available via api calls.

Thanks.

[jeff_strater]

the short answer is "no".   Fit Curves to Mesh Section still does not have an API for it.  Probably lot of reasons for that - low demand for it, and the challenge of defining an API for it - it is a pretty interactive command, and I suspect it would be hard to design a proper API for it.  Sorry not to have a better answer...