Any Fusion 360 Power Users?  

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

It's a powerful software but has a lot of room to grow. I really want to be able to run more than one instance of Fusion 360... The project above I am working on right now I am making major changes to which is resulting in me redrawing it, and it would be so useful to have new and old side by side to compare against as I go. But as far as I know you can't do that without two PC's.

 

This has been requested many time—including by myself—but I don't see this high on the list of priorities (or rather, nowhere). I assume it would require a complete rewrite of some of the core. Apparently, on Windows you can multiple instances but I haven't found a way to do that on Mac.

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

I am far from  a "Power User" but on windows at least you can open multiple designs in separate tabs.  I've used this in the past to "transfer" information such as hole sizes and such.  I've never tried to move objects (bodies, etc) between tabs but that too may be possible.

Regards,

Steve

Posted by: @foxrun3d

It's a powerful software but has a lot of room to grow. I really want to be able to run more than one instance of Fusion 360... The project above I am working on right now I am making major changes to which is resulting in me redrawing it, and it would be so useful to have new and old side by side to compare against as I go. But as far as I know you can't do that without two PC's.

 

This has been requested many time—including by myself—but I don't see this high on the list of priorities (or rather, nowhere). I assume it would require a complete rewrite of some of the core. Apparently, on Windows you can multiple instances but I haven't found a way to do that on Mac.

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

Tabs on the same screen I use all the time. But I really want to see them side by side. As it is I constantly have to print screen and paste into a paint program to reference drawings instead.

Though I finally learned how to copy and scale sketches. That was great.

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

Here's a quick question:

When exporting from fusion to print in Prusaslicer, whats the best/highest quality format to use?
Ideally I'd like to take advantage of arc gcode commands, from my understanding that should result in smaller gcode files and higher quality prints.

So do I need to export as step and then open that in PS, or does the 3d print utility in Fusion (when set to 3mf) achieve the same result?

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

The use of arc gcodes is driven by the slicer configuration, not by Fusion. In Prusaslicer it's on by default. 

There's another thread in this forum right now on problems importing (large) STEP files from Fusion into PS. 

I usually export as STL from Fusion, then import that into a Prusaslicer 3mf. Resolution is set mostly to Medium in Fusion, occasionally High, if I have a lot of organic shapes. Could save as 3mf but in multi component models I prefer to have one 3mf and the components as independent STLs, which—I think—makes it easier to update them (using Replace STL in PS). 

The only time I export as STEP is to share models in an easily customizable form with third parties.

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

I export .stl files when I use it. Just because. I didn't even know arc gcode was a thing.

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

There's another thread in this forum right now on problems importing (large) STEP files from Fusion into PS. 

https://forum.prusa3d.com/forum/prusaslicer/prusa-slicer-can-not-handle-helix/

RE:

OK, I have another question.

I have been trying to wrap my head around drawing this shape. It's sort of egg shaped, but not really. I thought Lofts where the way to do it, but now I am not so sure. But I cannot use lofts, it constantly throws errors at me. I can loft on two of the three sides, but not all three. I have tried center lines, guide lines, but I think it's because they are connected on the 90 that the loft just wont work.

Or am I missing something? What am I doing wrong or what is the right tool for this job?

(Ignore the "egg" shape. This is just a test. I want to do similar with more complex shapes later)

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

Apologies if this reply comes out of order--I'm still in the moderation period.

I just tried this...how it worked for me:

Loft from the shape in the XZ plane to the shape in the  XY plane, and add the curved line from the shape in the YZ plane as a rail. (Under rails, hit + and click on the curve.)

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

The answer to "why did my loft fail" is usually "it depends". Loft is very sensitive to what happens at the edges, I haven't detected a clear pattern why sometimes a loft works and a small change to one of the profiles makes it fail.

In this (specific) case you can probably get the egg shape by rotating the xy profile around its long axis but that is not a generalizable option,

I think you should be able to export an example model to a STEP file and then Zip compress it and "Attach file" to a post here. The forum software is weird but this should work. Having a specific model to look at makes it easier to guess what's going wrong (or right).    

RE:

Here is my model as it stands. Every time I try to work with lofts it gets difficult. It's only worked for me a handful of times.

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

Huh, opens as an empty file for me. Can you make sure it opens okay for you?

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

Posted by: @foxrun3d

Huh, opens as an empty file for me. Can you make sure it opens okay for you?

I just clicked on the download "6182e62f-test-file.zip" and downloaded the file, extracted it, and opened the .f3d file directly into Fusion.

The link should be just fine. I even renamed the .f3d file after extracting it to confirm it was not confused for my local file.

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

I'm not a Fusion360 user but the process this same on FreeCAD usually translates. For this I would create a sketch that is a slice using a Bezier curve and then use Revolve in the parts view to revolve it around an axis. 

RE:

Posted by: @hyiger

I'm not a Fusion360 user but the process this same on FreeCAD usually translates. For this I would create a sketch that is a slice using a Bezier curve and then use Revolve in the parts view to revolve it around an axis. 

I have used revolves alot. But in this case, the shape is not perfectly round.

Basically, I am drawing a foot for this part. So image a slipper like shape. That's the goal of this single piece. All 3 axes are a different shape. I could manipulate it to do what I want. But I really wanna figure this problem out for the future because it's driving me crazy(er)

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

Is there a way maybe to break it up into separate parts that can be revolved then combine them in an assembly?

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

Posted by: @hyiger

Is there a way maybe to break it up into separate parts that can be revolved then combine them in an assembly?

Maybe... I typically try to get the default shape drawn then break it down. I could cut it from front toe end to heal end, but I have had issues where things just don't line up. And even still, the loft issue persists because then it's just on two parts instead of one.

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

I wonder whether Fusion Form bodies would get you close. 

RE:

I think I figured it out, finally!

What I did was instead of creating a loft from the X to the Y axis, I created an offset layer on X and just put a single dot point right in the middle. So I created a loft between two X axis planes, and was able to do the rest using rails that worked. It started off coin shaped, and the rails did the rest. I made a separate layer for the front arch, rear arch and side arch rails.

It created a sort of blob, but I just cut that material out using the bottom x pattern.

I will try to remember this trick. Thanks for the help.

I now have the base shape, I can continue.

RE: Any Fusion 360 Power Users?

I think I figured it out, finally!

Me too 🙂 I didn't realize there were two files attached, one a STEP file, which comes up empty for me, the other an  f3d file, which loads fine.

I think I figured it out, finally!

Glad to hear that!

After all these years lofts are still black magic to me ☹️ Lots of trial and error...