Bug: tangent-to-tangent dimension in sketch seems to be completely broken

[GRSnyder]

The attached screencast pretty much shows the whole thing. Of note, there might be more than one underlying issue:

• Numerical value of the dimension is separate from the dimension lines. You can drag the number around without affecting the rest of the dimension.

• Changing the value of the dimension has no actual effect. The displayed value changes, but sketch geometry does not adjust to conform to it. If you drag the geometry separately, the dimension value snaps back to its starting value.

eb371e22-c3a7-4f09-bfc1-08189408286f,640,650

[jeff_strater]

your screencast didn't make it.  But, I tried a simple case, and it all seems to be working as I expect:

[GRSnyder]

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@jeff.strater wrote: your screencast didn't make it.  But, I tried a simple case, and it all seems to be working as I expect:

D'oh! I got so absorbed in double-checking the screencast that I forgot to hit Insert. I tried to attach it to the OP, but it doesn't seem to be showing up. I'll reattach it here.

Your video is essentially identical to mine, except that yours works great and mine doesn't. Possible differences: I'm on a Mac. Maybe video driver / rendering settings? Catalina 10.15.5, Mac Mini 2012 i7 with Intel graphics. Fusion 360

2.0.8609. I'll attach a system report.

I played around with sketching generally to be sure that dimensions were otherwise working fine, and that does seem to be the case. Of note: the problem shown in the video is 100% reproducible for me if I follow the general procedure in the screencast. If I sketch and dimension other geometry for a while, then try to tangent-dimension two circles, then it seems to work fine. So perhaps this has to be this first thing you do in a document to trigger the bug. (Although your screencast seems to be doing that already.)

 

[GRSnyder]

Sorry Jeff, the forum system is consistently giving me HTML errors when attempting to attach a screencast, and then the cast itself doesn't appear. But I'm hoping you can reach it directly through this link.

Your screencast looks pretty much identical to mine, except that it's working for you and not for me. Let's see... I'm on a Mac, Catalina 10.15.5. I'll attach a system report. Fusion 360 2.0.8609.

I played around a bit with sketching in general to be sure that other aspects of sketching and dimensioning are still working normally, and that does seem to be the case. Of note, if I sketch and dimension other geometry, then tangent-dimension two circles, it works. But the procedure shown in the screencast reproduces the problem for me consistently.

[jeff_strater]

dunno.  I'm also on a Mac, 10.15.2, so a little farther back, but hard to believe that would make any difference.  We'll keep trying to reproduce it, but until we can do that, there isn't much we can do.  To my knowledge, others have not reported anything like this.

[GRSnyder]

As it happens, I'm in the process of transitioning to a new computer. And since I had been using the previous one since 2012, I figured it was time to start with a fresh installation of macOS. I didn't use Apple's migration assistant or copy over any Fusion 360-related files. Different hardware, fresh OS installation, fresh Fusion 360 installation, no adjustment of F360 preferences whatsoever. The only point of commonality is that I logged into F360 with my same Autodesk account. The bug is still 100% reproducible for me, exactly as described and shown above.

[DaveGadgeteer]

Tangent dimensions never work for me on the Mac version. I can see the tangent option using Ctrl key, but it has no effect.

[jeff_strater]

@DaveGadgeteer - are you referring to tangent dimension in a Design sketch?  If you are asking about tangent dimension in a Design sketch, then CTRL is not the way to activate that - it is in the context menu.  See the screencast:

[GRSnyder]

Since this thread got bumped, I tried the original procedure in the current version of Fusion 360. It's now working fine for me. 

[DaveGadgeteer]

On the Mac, Ctrl makes a click a right-click, which brings up the context menu.

There have been some Fusion problems in the past where this wasn't done right, however this time I do see the context menu. It lets me select tangent dimension or not. However, it doesn't matter whether I select the tangent dimension--it doesn't do it in either case. So I think there's an actual bug.

[GRSnyder]

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@DaveGadgeteer wrote: On the Mac, Ctrl makes a click a right-click, which brings up the context menu...It lets me select tangent dimension or not. However, it doesn't matter whether I select the tangent dimension--it doesn't do it in either case. So I think there's an actual bug.

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I don't doubt that it's behaving as you describe on your machine. But just as a data point, using the Ctrl key to bring up the context menu (as opposed to the two-finger trackpad tap I normally use) works fine for me. That is, I have no problem defining tangent dimensions either way on a Mac.

[jeff_strater]

I see the same as @GRSnyder - CTRL left click does bring up the context menu, and when selected, does act as I expect it when placing sketch dimensions.  Can you record a video/screencast of what you are seeing?  Does this happen on all models?  I know that tangent dimension does not work on circles not on the sketch plane.  If one of your circles has somehow moved off the plane, you will see tangent not work.

[DaveGadgeteer]

OK, if I use a 2-button mouse it works correctly. If I use the Mac standard Ctrl-key modifier to make it a right click, the command does nothing.

So this bug is just part of Fusion's longstanding mishandling of the Mac Ctrl-key modifier standard convention.