Construction History / Design Tree

[wdannhardt]

Hello,  first let me say that I'm enjoying learning Fusion 360.  Being a 20yr Solidworks guy, I've got some habits that are really hard to break.  I'm not requesting that you turn your software into Soldiworks, but I do have an easy enhancement request that would make a lot of sense.

When I model parts, I create sketches and the extrude, revolve, sweep & etc - same as solidworks.  However, in Solidworks I have my preferences set (as well as my designers) to prompt the designer to enter the name of the feature when its created.  Naming your features as you make them is a great way to be able to quickly go back and modify things and understand the history tree better.

I'm sorry, but with Fusion its difficult to understand the history tree, see the second pic below.  It takes forever.  Going back and giving the features names (after the fact) helps, but in order to see them I have to carefull hover over the tree with my mouse and wait 100ms for the tag to pop up.  Why not assign a keyboard key (say n) that when pressed shows the names of all the features.

Yes, the text gets int the way of the other icons, but all I need is for them to pop up so I can find my feature, as soon as I realase the n key, they go away.

Thanks and keep up the good work,

Walt Dannhardt

[TMC.Engineering]

I like the idea of adding names. you got my vote.  adding it as a timeline setting would be a good idea

Two things you can do to make more sense of the features:

1. Turn on component color in timeline

2. Turn on component color Shift+n

[thburn]

I really appreciate this idea!

Furthermore I want to have a feature 'Find in history'.
As you know if you right click on a body you can select 'Find in browser' and 'Find in windows'.

I want to have an additional feature 'Find in history'. That means if you select e.g. a face on a body and right click on it there should be an option 'Find in history' which will directly open the feature in the timeline the face was created with.

What do you think?

[wdannhardt]

I think I follow your thinking. It looks like I can currently select (left
click) any feature, and it will put a little symbol over the history line,
showing where the feature is. From here I can right click that symbol in
the history tree and edit the feature or the sketch profile. This is two
steps, but still not bad.

The reason I want the names is so I can find my features directly in the
tree. One disadvantage of Fusion (over SW) is that the tree is horizontal
instead of vertical. This makes it harder for my to scan the history.

Walt

[wdannhardt]

I think I follow your thinking. It looks like I can currently select (left
click) any feature, and it will put a little symbol over the history line,
showing where the feature is. From here I can right click that symbol in
the history tree and edit the feature or the sketch profile. This is two
steps, but still not bad.

The reason I want the names is so I can find my features directly in the
tree. One disadvantage of Fusion (over SW) is that the tree is horizontal
instead of vertical. This makes it harder for my to scan the history.

Walt

[keqingsong]

Hey there! Thanks for your idea. We reviewed it and wanted to share some thoughts. As easy as this seems, it is not an small project. We have plans to improve the usability of the timeline, and what you're describing is definitely something we want to tackle. With that said, you brought up the delay that occurs when you hover over an item in the timeline. This is something we can look at right away and see if we can get rid of that delay so that names popup immediately. 

[DubManufacturing]

@keqingsong That would be an awesome improvement!

I think that both this along with adapting to using a right click to locate a feature it in the tree would be a great step in the right direction!

[iShe7ata]

I really like this idea.

I got into the habit of renaming features since I learned SolidWorks early on. It makes future adjustments on complex parts a breeze. 

[studiobrash.com]

This idea is really important! It could be great to have the name of the feature in small size and when you pass over with your mouse it comes bigger (good idea? I don't know...)

[studiobrash.com]

Thanks for your great great work with this software.

[mechmach]

A good place for history and Joints is in the browser tree like in Inventor, Solidworks, Alibre, Onshape etc  at component level. This way, you can navigate to your component of interest in the browser tree and at a glance see every joint, feature etc, then quickly modify. The timeline at the bottom is just too cumbersome and difficult to use with large assemblies. It will also add a familiar workflow for those coming from other parametric platforms.

see: History and Joints in browser tree at component level

[Anonymous]

Mind blowing post.

[MAS.DPL]

YES P L E A S E ... the history is THE main thing that would improve the UI and work flow.

Why not implement most/any of the ideas above ????   Is there patent issue (surely not as inventor has a better system ?)