Erroneous Short Lines in Sketches

[Garret_H]

I was tempted to call this short line syndrome...

When drawing lines in sketch mode, I constantly find myself accidentally creating short lines that appear before I intend to place the end point of the line I want to draw. This can be really frustrating when it affects a length I intend to draw, or starts the line at the wrong angle. 

I usually use "L" as a hotkey for line, but am not hitting enter after or anything else like that. It seems like my computer is restringing a double click? I'm not sure exactly why. 

Either suggestions to avoid something or to have a slight dwell time built in.

[feman43]

Perfect. The question is how to eliminate the problems this "feature" causes. It causes hours of trouble finding the little bitty lines that cause selection and other issues. I don't need the click and drag line "feature".  If I had the ability to turn it off, I would as it causes far more problems than it solves.

[wmhazzard]

Unfortunately it can't be turned off and until someone at Autodesk sees this as a problem, it won't change any time soon. 

[feman43]

We've known that for a few years. I've sent emails and there hasn't been any response. Making this "feature" a selected option would be a huge improvement. I would venture to guess I have three to five phantom lines per session I need to deal with. It's not too bad if it is a simple part but the larger the part or worse an assembly gets the phantom line can become huge nuisance. The X-Mouse seems to help a little but honestly, I think that is more hopeum than reality. I don't know how to get autodesk to engage and actually help on this one but turning this "feature" into a selectable option would be step in the right direction.

[korpelakaj]

Now when I am aware of the cause to the issue with the line tool I have noticed a seccond problem:

This does not happen too often as with he line tool but a few times per month. As I have a habit to select some tools on the toolbar with my mouse it happens that they suddenly disappear. I never notice when it happens but I most probably click while moving too fast and the tool gets dragged out from the toolbar. This happens with on both my laptop and stationary with different mice. Can this be of the same cause as the line tool problem?

Kaj

[g-andresen]

Hi,

---

@korpelakaj wrote:

Can this be of the same cause as the line tool problem?

---

The probability is high.

günther

[feman43]

I have noticed the same behavior of the "feature"....

[feman43]

How do we get the attention of Autodesk support? It drives me crazy after a big project is about done and trying to finish up. Then surfaces and other things don't work quite right because there's a bucket ton of the se little short hidden lines that prevent proper selection. Why can't I just to the quick draw feature off?

[wmhazzard]

I agree that it can be an annoying feature but occasionally the click and drag an arc is useful but I have never held and dragged a line on purpose. However, you should never even finish your sketch without noticing the lines because the sketch will never be fully constrained unless there are dimensions on the short lines. If you are getting to the end of your project before you notice the lines then that means that your sketches are not fully constrained and that is bad practice. 

[joshRHTVY]

I've been really struggling with this for the last several months. I had recently purchased a new mouse so I thought that might be the problem and got a new one. Started using it today and immediately started having problems, though at least I noticed it right away this time. Both of the new mice are logitech and I really didn't notice it before, and I think they were all different brands (I keep breaking them). Any connection to logitech for other users having this problem?

[Garret_H]

---

@wmhazzard wrote:

I agree that it can be an annoying feature but occasionally the click and drag an arc is useful but I have never held and dragged a line on purpose. However, you should never even finish your sketch without noticing the lines because the sketch will never be fully constrained unless there are dimensions on the short lines. If you are getting to the end of your project before you notice the lines then that means that your sketches are not fully constrained and that is bad practice. 

---

This is misleading.

The short lines can often have horizontal/vertical constraints automatically applied to them and if the following and intentional line that you draw connects to other geometry then it will appear as a "black" or constrained line even though the point connecting those two isn't constrained at all, or noticeable without paying VERY close attention.

Try it out by drawing a circle, then intentionally drawing a short horizontal line from center to the right, then a second horizontal line from that point to the right to connect to the circle with a coincident constraint.  Change the circle diameter enough and then watch your first short line suddenly flip to appear on the opposite side. 

Yes there are additional constraints that will be visible around that point (parallel or horizontal) BUT due to the short length of these erroneous lines one has to really zoom in for them to catch it as that constraint will be overlapping with others.

Regardless any additional inspection of a sketch to find these and weed them out is just wasted time and money. 

[korpelakaj]

So I changed the mouse for the 4th time after a recommendation from a friend. He had never had this problem so I decided to try the same model. Logitech Marathon M705 (Wireless). It surely works much better for me. I have a feeling that it avoid small movements when you slow down and stop the pointer at your target (and decelerating faster as it slows down, if that makes sense) . My previous mouse from dell Dell Premier KM7321W (keyboard/mouse set) gave me a continues move and felt too sensitive (not easily keeping still). 

Lowering the speed of the mouse pointer might also help?

[feman43]

I've been through several mice and all of the advice here. As you might notice this has been an issue for a number of years. These little lines hide themselves very well. And it is most annoying they appear and time consuming to go back and remove them. The "feature" should be selectable on or off for those whom want it. I personally do not and I'm invested in a bunch of mice I don't otherwise need.

The value of constraints is a matter of opinion. Again this should be an option. Take the offset function. In most drawing applications, including Autocad, the offset can be performed sequentially to draw many lines. In Fusion in order to offset a previously offset line, you must first delete the constraints. Generally best practice would be to constrain the key features and allow freedom other conditions. 

It's a trade off and preferably user preference. What you might like, I don't, visa versa.  It's not unreasonable to as that the feature be made selectable in preferences. Especially when it appears to be the key to the issue of phantom lines appearances. To date Autodesk has not chimed in with a solution.

[lasse_sortland]

Pls fix

[robert.kastman]

Please fix this. This is my main annoyance with this program. Give us an option to disable the holding mouse button to draw that is not how any other modern cad software that I know of work they are "click" first point and "click" second point to draw a line. 

[joshRHTVY]

Yes, this alone has me looking for other options.

[Garret_H]

Hi Autodesk, it's been nearly 4 years since I posted this. Multiple people have chimed in. I still run into this issue interrupting my work flow EVERY DAY.

Can someone please acknowledge that users find this problematic and would like to have an option to disable it?  The silence on this is deafening.

There have been many, many improvements to Fusion over the past 4 years that have dramatically improved my workflow, it would be fantastic to have this little annoyance addressed.

[matsimento]

at least for me, i would uncork the finest beverage in the house and
have a big celebration. i am not exaggerating; it would be a dream come
true! at this point, it feels like autodesk are intentionally annoying
those of us that suffer from this BUG. they are being UNINCLUSIVE!

[Garret_H]

Since I posted this just a few hours ago and I'm working a sketch from some challenging field notes... something isn't lining up.. oh wait there it is YET ANOTHER SHORT LINE!!!!! 

Removing it at this point requires redefining a whole pile of dimensions and geometry because I'm trying to fit a conic curve to loose X-Y measurements.  A "real world" scenario where suggestions like "make sure you're fully constrained" is completely unhelpful.

[rayHG6WX]

New to Fusion 360 in 2021 found a lot of little quirks that I thought was just me.  But after searching found that was not the case, a lot of good information here.  This is a problem, causes major frustration that cripples the creative flow.  Time waster! 

Ray B.

[Brett.Langford]

I am going to chime in and also request Autodesk to give us an option to only start/end a draw line on mouse "press" not "release" so that we no longer have this issue. It is extremely irritating.