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Create Copy box is always grey with sketches, have no way to copy and paste sketches

nickA9AGT
Contributor

Create Copy box is always grey with sketches, have no way to copy and paste sketches

nickA9AGT
Contributor
Contributor

No matter what I do, I CANNOT copy and paste my sketch, I'm aware of all three ways to create a copy however neither of them work. In this design I have no body made yet, only sketches but it just doesn't want to work. I have the newest up to date software, although I have the hobbyist version rather than subscription so I'm not sure if that has any effect on this, as well I've reached my 'Document Limit Capacity' of 10. 

it doesn't matter if I select one line of a sketch or the entire thing either. 

 

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jhackney1972
Consultant
Consultant

It would help to have your model.  Please attach it. If you do not know how to attach your Fusion 360 model follow these easy steps. Open the model in Fusion 360, select the File menu, then Export and save as a F3D or F3Z file to your hard drive. Then use the Attachments section of a forum post to attach it.

John Hackney, Retired
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Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.

EESignature

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g-andresen
Consultant
Consultant

Hi,


@nickA9AGT  schrieb:

No matter what I do, I CANNOT copy and paste my sketch,


you´re not in sketch mode!

 

günther

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jeff_strater
Community Manager
Community Manager
Accepted solution

Yes, that is correct.  You cannot copy/paste entire sketches.  The only way to do this is:

  • edit the source sketch
  • select all geometry (window select, for instance)
  • exit that sketch
  • start a new sketch
  • paste the geometry

 


Jeff Strater
Engineering Director
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nickA9AGT
Contributor
Contributor

Hello,

 

yes good idea, the sketch should be sketch 7 which is what i'm trying to copy and paste, essentially i'm trying to cut a hole with that shape on the top of my sketch multiple times (4), i don't have the proper dimensions as of yet but I want them all to be exact, maybe there's a better way of doing this?

 

As well, it's regardless whether I am in sketch mode or not. 

 

Thanks

 

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autodesk4SJLD
Participant
Participant

There seems to be no resolution of this issue. I have the same situation and need to find out what is wrong. The attached shows a test in which I

  • create a component
  • open sketch
  • draw a rectangle
  • select the rectangle
  • have copy greyed out

I am on Fusion 360 2.0.17954 x86_64

Fusion360SketchNoCopy.png

Closing and opening the sketch makes no difference

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jeff_strater
Community Manager
Community Manager

yes, you are correct:  Fusion does not allow copy/pasting of the entire sketch - my post of 2/17/2022 is still accurate

 


Jeff Strater
Engineering Director
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autodesk4SJLD
Participant
Participant

The reply that you refer to seems to be somewhat at odds, in my opinion, with the information at https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/how-to-copy-and-paste-sketch-thumbnail-fusion-360/ which seems to be an official AutoDesk document. In this document it describes how to copy entire sketches, even how to copy multiple entire sketches.

 

I have discovered that although Copy is greyed out, ctrl+C still sometimes works. Selecting the sketch in the browser or the timeline, then doing a Windows select over the sketch itself and doing ctrl+C seems to work fairly consistently. Just doing a Windows select on its own does not work for me. I have even managed to copy multiple entire sketches in this way, although I cannot think of a scenario when it would be useful.

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jeff_strater
Community Manager
Community Manager

Here is the complete explanation:

  1. you can copy/paste entire sketch objects (select the sketch in the browser, paste) only in Direct Modeling Designs. This operation is blocked in a Parametric Design.  If you have seen this work in a parametric design, please share the model and a recording.
  2. The link you refer to illustrates a method for working around this limitation in a parametric design:  Edit the source sketch, select all sketch entities (lines, arcs, points, etc, not the sketch object itself).  Copy.  Create a new, empty sketch on the desired plane.  Paste the sketch entities.

Jeff Strater
Engineering Director
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autodesk4SJLD
Participant
Participant

I have been experimenting with two test models, one a very simple direct modeling model and the other a fully parametric model. I have not noticed any difference in behaviour between the two in respect to copying the sketch.

 

Attached is a video recording showing, with the parametric sketch , selecting the sketch in the browser, doing a Windows select over the (unopen) sketch and then pressing ctrl+C (as indicated in the audio). A new sketch is then created and ctrl+V (as indicated in the audio) causes the sketch to be pasted. It can then be moved and when the move is complete it is shown in the model.

 

Incidentally, this video also shows a persistent problem with creating a new sketch. Sometimes when creating a new sketch one is not offerred the option of selecting the plane for the sketch, instead the plane of the previously opened or selected sketch is used. One has to close the sketch and create another new sketch (and remember to delete the null sketch created by the previous create). I have not been able to isolate the circumstances under which this occurs. I am only offerring this here in case it gives a clue as to what is going on.

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autodesk4SJLD
Participant
Participant

Regarding your point 2, I would point out that the text of the article referred to says "...you don’t even need to be in a sketch to use the copy command.

After you select the sketches or sketch entities you want, either right-click and select Copy or hold down CTRL + C on your keyboard." (my underlining)

 

But in any case the original issue is that "Copy box is always grey with sketches" and this is true even even when you select sketch entities rather than the whole sketch. It's just that, if you follow my incantation, ctrl+C works.

 

Interestingly, at the top of the context menu there is a box saying "Repeat X", where X is a command, presumably the last one used, and if you do crtl+C the next time you open the context menu, even though the Copy command is still greyed out, this top box says "Repeat Copy". An implication, to my mind, that the Copy command is not greyed because of the context.

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jeff_strater
Community Manager
Community Manager

@autodesk4SJLD - in that video, between 0:08 and 0:10, you used a rectangle selection box:

Screenshot 2024-01-16 at 8.34.21 PM.png

 

This action selects sketch entities, not the sketch itself.  That is why this works.

 

"Incidentally, this video also shows a persistent problem with creating a new sketch. Sometimes when creating a new sketch one is not offerred the option of selecting the plane for the sketch, instead the plane of the previously opened or selected sketch is used"

 

This is not a problem, this is as expected.  If something is selected, like a sketch line or profile, and you click on New Sketch, it will use that plane for the new sketch.


Jeff Strater
Engineering Director
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autodesk4SJLD
Participant
Participant

Right, so how do you copy a sketch rather than its elements? This article indicates that you can do this by selecting the sketch in the browser and timeline and then doing the copy. However, this does not work for me, see the attached screencast.

 

But what is the difference between copying a sketch and copying all its elements in terms of what is put on the clipboard? The action of copying the elements of multiple sketches seems to put the elements and their relation to the origin on the clipboard and pasting then places them all, relative to the destination sketch origin, in the destination sketch. Obviously you end up with a single sketch rather than the multiple sketches that were copied.

 

Interesting though it is to more fully understand sketch copying, the issue is that there is a mismatch between what the document says should happen and what does happen. The fact that copy is greyed out in the context menu, whilst ctrl+C still works, must surely be a bug. Is there any way the users can submit bug reports? Or comments on the documentation?

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jeff_strater
Community Manager
Community Manager

"This article indicates that you can do this by selecting the sketch in the browser and timeline and then doing the copy. However, this does not work for me, see the attached screencast"

 

See my earlier comments.  You can copy the sketch object itself, in a Direct Modeling design, just not in a parametric design.  So, the article is not incorrect, it is just missing that information.

 

"But what is the difference between copying a sketch and copying all its elements in terms of what is put on the clipboard?"

 

The main difference is the number of entities on the clipboard.  If you copied a sketch (again, only in a Direct Modeling design), there would be one entity on the clipboard - the sketch.  The sketch contains all its entities, but is still one item.  The difference is like carrying a shopping bag full of groceries vs carrying all the groceries individually in your arms.

 

"the issue is that there is a mismatch between what the document says should happen and what does happen."

 

Yes and no.  Agreed that the article should contain the information that this is only for a Direct Modeling design

 

"The fact that copy is greyed out in the context menu, whilst ctrl+C still works, must surely be a bug."

 

I might have missed it, but I did not see any cases in your video where Copy was grayed out in the context menu, but CTRL-C worked.  I have not seen any such cases myself, but if they exist, then yes, that would be a bug.

 

One other comment.  There were a few cases where even CTRL-C did not work in your video.  This is explainable, if, admittedly, confusing.  A "profile" object (the shaded area created by closed curves) is not copy/paste-able.  It is not a sketch entity itself.  It is considered "derived" data, not "primary" data.  Arguable, certainly, but that's the way it is.


Jeff Strater
Engineering Director
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