How to align meshbody and regular component / body

[Anonymous]

Hi Gurus!

I've been working on a project which contains a commercially obtained stl mesh file and I've been finding it difficult to interact with it relative to other normal Fusion 360 parts. So here's what I did. I created a new object (component) and imported the mesh and got the dimensions set correctly. Next I added a sketch, drew a simple "frame" (for lack of a better descriptor) behind it  with the same outer dimensions and have extruded it by 6 mm out to the rear. So now I have the two things, the meshbody and the frame thing and I want to align them such that they (a) overlap perfectly and (b) butt together perfectly. At this particular time I am not looking to "join" them, just simply have them aligned together and adjacent with no space in between. Here is a screenshot. I have purposely exaggerated their misalignment and added a couple of offset planes to make it more obvious how they are situated with respect to each other.

A Meshbody and a Sketch walk into a bar...

How do I manipulate meshbodies and other objects and is there some better way to handle meshbodies so that they're not so ethereal?

Also, the mesh is a commercial file so I cannot upload it as I do not have the rights to distribute it.

As always, thanks for your advice and assistance!

John

[davebYYPCU]

Was there a good reason not to build in position?  

How does something with same outer dimensions, overlap?

move Point to Point, with a common point in both objects.

Might help...

[Anonymous]

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@davebYYPCU wrote:

Was there a good reason not to build in position?  

How does something with same outer dimensions, overlap?

move Point to Point, with a common point in both objects.

Might help...

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Hi Dave,

"Building in position" is irrelevant. I would have the same problem if I already had a part and imported the mesh-- or for half a dozen other reasons and they were not aligned.

The way they overlap is that they are out of alignment with each other. I am asking how to align them. I tried using the move command in various ways to get them to align. I tried using the align command-- which you might think would be useful for that-- to get them aligned, it would not permit me to select the meshbody. I tried a number of things to get them to snap together / align together. None of them worked. I wanted to know how it should be done. 

When you say "move point to point", what do you mean?

Thanks,

John

[davebYYPCU]

"Building in position" is irrelevant.  Not when one article exists that you want to align to a new one.

When a Mesh body is inserted you have the opportunity to move to where it might be relevant to place it.

Usually the mesh body is centred on the origin if not moved.  Your case may be different.

If making the frame as a component and centre rectangle is sketched, then the component origin can be aligned or moved to the file and mesh's origin.

For a better explanation, make a dummy copy of your mesh model, then attach the stl model to a post.

[Anonymous]

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@davebYYPCU wrote:

"Building in position" is irrelevant.  Not when one article exists that you want to align to a new one.

Quote

When a Mesh body is inserted you have the opportunity to move to where it might be relevant to place it.

Usually the mesh body is centred on the origin if not moved.  Your case may be different.

If making the frame as a component and centre rectangle is sketched, then the component origin can be aligned or moved to the file and mesh's origin.

For a better explanation, make a dummy copy of your mesh model, then attach the stl model to a post.

I did use center rectangles (in a sketch), which were then extruded ('Q') to make the frame. They were centered on the origin point. When I imported the mesh, it was not centered on the origin, though I did try to get it close. My thought was to get it in there "close enough" and then expected Fusion 360 to have tools and/or constraints which would permit me to align it more precisely with the frame.

Okay, I have just created a test mesh file to use for this example. I created a simple frame as before and imported the mesh. I purposely created the mesh off-center so that it would not automatically line-up with the frame. I simply imported the mesh and accepted its default location.

Thanks for your assistance!! I really appreciate it. I don't really understand why Fusion 360 treats meshes differently from other objects. I understand that creating them is different, but why shouldn't just moving them around and aligning them be so difficult / different?

Anyway, I've included the file for your review. I also included the test mesh stl file in case that could be interesting to you.

Thanks!

John

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[TrippyLighting]

@Anonymous Let's assume for a moment you do get these aligned, what is it that you want to do with the result ?

[Anonymous]

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@TrippyLighting wrote:

@Anonymous Let's assume for a moment you do get these aligned, what is it that you want to do with the result ?

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(A) Learn

(B) I am designing a door which has a deep "shell" on the back side (aka, the frame part) and the decorative part milled on the front side, all out of one piece of wood. The goal is for it to be machined in (at least) two steps, the front and the back.

John

[Anonymous]

RMS did a great job aligning mesh objects. So if you're fine with a mesh representation of your frame, one could do it in  meshmixer.

[davebYYPCU · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the file, there is no Easy Button using Mesh Bodies in Fusion, generally they are not selectable in Model space, but it can be done, 

1.  Sketch > Create Mesh Section, ( used the lower left corner to align to the frame.)

Align the mesh Section with the manipulator to pick up the lower left corner.

2. Sketch > Fit curves to Mesh Section, select the lower left corner and

draw a line along the bottom of the section, (must select the Section points not the Mesh Body here, ok in the dialogue, then ) exit sketch.

3. Open Move Tool, select the Mesh Body, Point To Point, select the corner end point of the sketched line,  then the lower left corner of the frame, OK.  

Mesh body should be in a Component so that any sketches related to it, will move with it, but to use your file as supplied I did not do that, hide the displaced sketch.  However the Mesh Section has moved with it's body.

Complicated workaround, yep, but an accurate way to do it with a Mesh Body.

Might help....

[TrippyLighting]

Who is RMS ?

[Anonymous]

RMS = the guy who did meshmixer

[jeff_strater]

Ryan M-something Schmidt - the person who wrote Meshmixer, which was then acquired by Autodesk.

http://www.rms80.com/

[TrippyLighting]

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Dave.

That does seem complicated but I accept that it works. I will go and give it a shot and see if it will work for me. Hopefully I can get it done in time for Valentines... not holding my breath though 😉

Thanks for your help!

John

[daniel_gladyshev]

the first thing i did after installing f360 were to import two mesh files, I wanted to align them to get the total dimantions, I spent many hours wtfing around and even you sketch solution didn't worked for me.

this is ultra cringe that this software has such basic limitations.
i mean I could accomplish the task in 60 seconds in sketchup. but I wasted 6 hours without and result.

converting the mesh to a solid object would work if the mesh file wasn't full of triangles with for some reason disappeared and the model corrupts. 

so the align must be done in mesh mode.

as far as I know

I can't belive f360 didn't implement a better option after 5 years...