Duplicate project

[Anonymous]

Can I really not duplicate a project? I have  project with assemblies with external links and considerable engineering drawings which I want to re-use as the basis for a new project, a quick search suggests this can't be done, rebuilding my assemblies won't take too many hours but am I really going to have to redo all my engineering drawings?

[whittakerdw]

Can you not right click on the project and select insert into current design or new drawing from design?

[Anonymous]

tried the copy option on the folder in A360 and this does indeed copy all the files to a new folder but when you test it the asms and drawings have maintained their links to the original parts in the original folder not the local parts in the new folder, can I re-route the associativity?

[lichtzeichenanlage]

Insert Design inserts a design, not a project. Projects can contain designs, drawings, images, documents etc. 

[gasevsm]

Hi Presreg, 

It seems you found the copy  option in Fusion Team and tried it already. As you've discovered it only copies the files you explicitly select into a new destination of your choosing. In other words, we call this a wide-copy where all xrefs are reused, but offer the option to copy designs and optionally drawings as you create new iterations of existing designs.

Presently, there is limitation of copying designs with references across projects, so this is not available in the product. Reading your ask, you wish to do full/deep copy contents with relationships from one project onto another.  Would it be possible to connect separately to discuss your use case and see how we may help?

Regards,

[Anonymous]

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  Would it be possible to connect separately to discuss your use case and see how we may help?

Yes that would be useful Martin, what contact method is best for you? Cheers, Sean

[Anonymous]

Looks like I'll have to redo all my drawing then. 

In all the other packages I've used the associativity address is assumed to be local to the project folder, external folders are only addressed if parts are drawn in from them - say standard parts.  Looks like Fusion addresses all asm elements so if I simply copy the folder the asm addresses are still to the original folder, the drawings in the new folder are built from the parts in the original folder not the local parts.

Illogical.

[lichtzeichenanlage]

Have you tried to export the project via the web front-end. This should create an export / archive containing all the referenced designs. If you export the design into a new project everything should be fine. 

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am facing the exact same problem. Would you be able to help me out too?

[dusan.naus.trz]

Hi,
when will it be available? Features for copying a project?

[dusan.naus.trz]

Hi,
it probably works for me? Or not?

[lsi8PXFWR]

No, it doesn't work. Any assembly designs w/ linked designs in the new project will reference the original files not the copied files in the new project. There are several ways you can verify that this is the case.

[lsi8PXFWR]

I wonder when this basic feature will get added...

[lichtzeichenanlage]

I guess linked designs is the problem here...

[lsi8PXFWR]

I was actually able to achieve the OP's (& my own) aim by following the advice given by @dusan.naus.trz, with derived components and all.

To be more specific though, here is the guide that worked for me:

1. Go to your project at A360.com & find the main (assembly) file which derives (or links) to your other files.
2. Just click the download icon on that file and choose "Fusion 360 Archive".
3. You'll get an email after a few minutes to actually download the .f3z file to your computer.
4. Open the Fusion 360 Desktop App now & create a new project (I didn't test if you could upload to the previous project).
5. Click on upload, choose file, then choose your .f3z file.
6. Don't touch anything until the upload is complete: For large designs like mine it looks over 5 minutes to finish & Fusion 360 became unresponsive a couple of times throughout. Just don't click anything to prevent crashing.
7. You should see that the .f3z file actually automatically included all the derived/linked files from the original project (or even from multiple other projects if referenced).
8. All the files in the new project should be at version 1 now & completely disconnected from the previous project.

To be clear, I view this as just a work around; I would like to see the Fusion team implement a "Duplicate Project & Pass Ownership" button on the A360 website.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been using the ‘copy’ button for months, just realized it is nothing more than a ‘create shortcut’ button.

Why is there not a way to create isolated versions of designs? 
was it never replaced after the git tree version control structure got removed?

I would like alternates of the same file that don’t interact with each other and I can move between projects to give different people access to different versions

[stephen_mcmillan]

Thanks for this workflow.

I think you can do basically the same thing even easier by using Export from the top assembly from right inside F360. However, either way, the big problem is that the drawings are lost in this process, which is an unacceptable shortcoming.

Come on Autodesk. Any updates on the ability to iterate on a project?

Solidworks had "Pack and Go", with "Include drawings" option, which worked, but still depended on storing files.

I thought the whole idea of cloud storage was to make this simple.

Isn't iterating on designs key to product development? How can this be missing? 

I'm just shocked.

[dusan.naus.trz]

You wrote it correctly. If you want better procedures and processes, you have to start using Solidworks 🙂 Remember that development is created by programmers, not people in the field of mechanical engineering. 🙂

[lichtzeichenanlage]

@dusan.naus.trz: Given the size of Autodesk, the process you described is rather unlikely. Developers take care of the technical details and the code. Functional requirements are defined by product management, marketing, etc. Your view of things is already very irritable and restricted.

[dusan.naus.trz]

Hi, My opinions or ideas are based on the use of the product. If you write that my view is limited. Yes, my view of things is limited as much as everyone's limited view, because no one knows everything. If you were making models and drawings every day, is it quite possible that you would have the same irritated look as I am? 🙂 If I'm wrong about 120 ideas and over 140 feedback. I will be happy to share my experience with you. I note that no one paid me for the time spent creating ideas and feedback, and it was my personal time. I don't report bugs because I'd be thrilled to find a bug, but I report bugs because I'm bothering with the program. I can only talk about Inventor, because after testing Fusion 360, Fusion is not adequate and sufficient for me. Otherwise, the JDI team is one of the best teams I've experienced, they are fast, efficient and smart.