10 tips for Fusion 360 that I wish someone told me sooner.
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- Опубліковано 22 тра 2024
- In this video we cover my top 10 tips for fusion 360 that I have collected over time, but really wish i knew when I was just getting started. Some of these are pretty straight forward, some a bit cheeky and require an explanation. These are not specific tips for how to use certain tools, but more generic advice for mastering the fusion 360 toolkit.
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Chapters:
00:00 1: Master the Sketch Environment
00:53 2: Dimension only what you care about, and constrain the rest
01:39 3: Don't fall into the 3D sketch trap
02:48 4: Hierarchy of toolkits
04:03 5: Hierarchy of features
05:41 6: Learn to time travel
06:57 7: Time travel is dangerous
08:19 8: Stay organized
09:40 9: Start with simple projects that you actually care about
10:38 10: Think like an engineer, before you think like an artist
#fusion360 #cad #design - Навчання та стиль
Instant "like" because the video started with "tip number one..." and the rest of the video is what the title says. No annoying intros 10 seconds long, no yapping BS, just clear information as described in the title. I'm also commenting mostly for the algo because this is the type of content maker that should be supported. Thank you Austin.
Normally I’d say that liking a video before you’ve finished watching it is bad but I fully support/agree with what you’re saying.
Agreed!!
Same here 👍👍👍
@@Jacob-ol3zbIkr. I really dislike how content creators say "before you watch, leave a like", like, idk what I'm even liking.
And "like" suddenly lost it's meaning xD
Hahahha facts! Straight to it. No 20 min intro explaining that You can Design things on it
I wish everyone made YT videos like this. 100% pure and relevant information the whole time. Seems like 99% of people make 10 minute videos that "explain" something that that can be summarized in 20 seconds.
indeed
I especially like the "Only dimension what you need" part... 😀 😀
Perfect! I am using F360 over four years now and I agree with all of these recommendations! I would add two more recommendations:
1. Use parameters - move key parameters to variables to change model in the future
2. If you design supposed to be parametric - from time to time go back it timeline and change key parameters to check that it does not ruin anything
Thank you for a no-nonsense high quality tutorial
Being in design and engineering for 38 years and using from Mylar to NX and Catia you have given the best advice I have ever heard. Thank you for the outstanding advice and demo in fusion I have seen. Keep them coming please!!
SO MUCH HELP IN ONLY 12 MINUTES, love the quality of excplanation in every way !
Thank you so much for your videos Austin, they have helped me learn Fusion 360 and now I can do my own guitars better. There is still a lot to learn but loving the challenges it gives.
What a great tutorial! music and voice sound levels was good and the tips was fantastic. Been doing fusion 360 for many years and only now am i trying to learn how to use it properly. Thank you for this video
Austin, as a guy new to Fusion 360 (and CAD in general) I find your basic instruction stuff terrifically clear and useful. I struggle with what should be simple things, so your basic how-to videos are great for me. i hope you keep them coming. -- Hank
You got a new sub tonight as you brought to light something I didn't even realize was possible! I was nodding my head to #8 and I've been naming my sketches and components for some time but I didn't know you could pick names down in the timeline! This will be a game changer as just like in the browser it will make finding what I need to tweak so much faster. thanks!
This is an amazing video! I hadn't fully realized how important mastering the sketching environment is and I hadn't even thought about layering modelling types and processes into certain levels to follow. The tips here are invaluable regardless of ones skill level with Fusion. Tip #7, #8 & #9 were tips I had learned on my own while working with Fusion, as my former school recommended it, but didn't show any great tutorials on getting started, so I essentially had to learn everything myself and those three tips were some of the things I discovered along the way, but the fact that they're here and made me nod while you explained them, is fantastic, as I now know I made the right call. Tip #10 is probably, imo, the most important of them all, as if you don't have the mindset of an engineer when using CAD, then you're gonna have a tough time. So to sum the mindset up: Problems only exist to be solved and solving them is your joy. Also, look at problems like a you'd look at a jigsaw puzzle. The pile itself is a mess, but every individual piece is simple and easy to grasp. Don't try to solve everything at once. Do it piece by piece.
If you’re starting out using Fusion, then I’d recommend watching everything on this channel, but particularly this video and applying the 10 rules to everything you model. It’ll save you hours and hours of pain down the track. So good.
Very nice video, I'm learning fusion so I can make functional parts for 3d printing as a hobby, and keeping an eye on these things will help me a lot along the road. Hey I'm so new to this that I didn't even knew about the loft and sweep tools and many other things. Thank you.
Amazing delivery, thank you!
I appreciate your thinking and strategy, the presentation is clear and helpful, thank you!
Austin you’re putting out a lot of value. Thank you!!
Excellent stuff. I was aware of some - but not all of this. I've absolutely made the error of setting dimensions a lot more than i probably ought to have.
Will dive into use of constraints a lot more.
excellent content. thanks!
Glad I stumbled across your channel, this is going to be a great resource for improving my Fusion360 workflow. Great Video!
Outstanding video. I enjoyed it so much that I went ahead and subscribed to your channel and I look forward to seeing more of your videos in the future. Thanks for your advice, and I will take it to heart.
I love how the body flows into the neck on the underside of that guitar! looks so comfortable
Every and anytime i watch your videos i learn or discover a handful of things i NEED to learn, damn i can endlessly say the knowledge you have put out for my learning process has been mindblowing!
Thanks Austin!!!
Brilliant no bs content. Much appreciated
Great video! Especially function first, had not seen anyone else name there sketch's, will put that into practice on my next design.
Such a great video, thanks for these tips!
Dude this video is top notch. 10/10, we need more of that
Ty, amazing video !
What an amazing video thank you.
Thanks for the video! Good information!
Great video! 🎉❤
Excellent video Austin, with an understanding like this you should be a part of the Fusion team!
What a fantastic video, congrats and thank you!
Thank you for making this video.
Thanks very useful video😊
So informative @austin! I love the concept, try to build something you love, you will learn more and stay interested. I am doing Cam on Ambrosia, my design. But NO, I saw your easy belly carve video! LOL
Now, I’m thinking she needs some curves out back! Thanks for sharing all that knowledge again, Brother
I seriously had to take a few breaks, although it was only 12,5mins, because I became too excited. Pretty much every sentence was packed with information. I really wish youtube would start to implement some kind of "skill meter", not only as in skills in whatever the tutorial is about, but in the tutorial itself as well. Amazing. No nonsense here. Saved and subscribed.
BRILLIANT!! Can you *please* do a corresponding "10 Tricks" version? You know, stuff like performing patterns on things in the timeline, or having parameters that can be zero, or using units in expressions, or even just smartypants expressions themselves (like logic), or anything "cool" you've learned or discovered that gets you out of tricky situations ...
Great video, thanks 👍
wow, just crisp and very very helpful. Thanks a lot.
great video!
I just found your channel and look forward to learning more about fusion 360 from it.
Thanks dude!!
you deserve at least half a million subs! this is pure gold. Please keep on creating valuable content, a lot of us need you! :)
Good video. Been using CAD in one form or another since 2002, and I agree with every fusion360 tip outlined here.
thank you!
I couldn't agree more. A component for each new part you need is sciential
Very good video, thank you
Good tips, and i'm glad that i already employ most of them in my usual workflow. But one huge addition is necessary: User Parameters!
After learning that Sketches should be my #1 step for every design, i soon after learned that using User Parameters for those Sketches are more like #1.1 than #2 ;-)
Excellent
Awesome video. Lots of good reasoning behind each tip.
I know this is almost splitting hairs, but I prefer the adage “Form follows function” since it doesn’t place function higher than form, it simply states that form should only come after the function has been established. After that, you can go wild with all the form you want.
Thanks for this just battling with assembly. All these tips will help alot. Cheers
Great video; I have never thought about tool hierarchies where you should try and use one tool before others.
Yes this is a really good unspoken one. Often a shell should happen after filleting. This one is easily logical, because it is often the only option. But the trick with two extrudes instead of a loft or sweep is one that is harder to explain and teach. So yes certain feature types should have a preference over others.
Another one that helped me a lot was to think about how I would manufacture it. For example, if I have only one plane of access from 2.5D machining or 3D printing, then I would try to limit sketches and features added outside of that plane and base all of my referencing within that plane. Also almost all of those features would be extrudes or revolves.
If I am turning a part or designing for someone else turning, I would draw it as a sketch with the intent to revolve (as opposed to drawing axially to extrude) and put operations from one side on one sketch and then operations after flipping on another sketch. This way they remain logically separate and you don't end up doing something that looks cool but can't be fabricated
Well, i wish this existed 2 yeats ago. I had to learn most of this myslef to get my certification. Good video with great points.
I'm a beginner at fusion but I'd like to learn to design guitars too! The wood grain guitar was pretty sweet looking!
Good vid! I picked up some tricks!
The Best Fusion 360 video ever !!!!! You should make advanced project based tutorial. Really wished there were website or some sort of resource , which would provide exercises with increasing complexity ; so anyone could start with a cube and after many many exercises late, exit as a pro.
Your tip about “make everything as a component” would be much higher on the list and for me as a long time F360 user, it would be number 1. When I get into trouble it’s because I started out thinking this will be simple so no need for components; bodies will be fine. Then when I try to go back and make my bodies into components, it is often impossible to move the base sketches into the component because some other body is dependent upon the sketch so it has to remain at the top level - and things get only get uglier from there. I have started some fairly complex projects over from scratch because of this mistake. Think components, components, components.
This! I also go into things thinking that they'll be fairly simple but actually getting into the rhythm of setting up a component correctly would have saved me pretty much every time! I need to practise this much more.
Construction planes make excellent parametric references. You can always go back in time and create new construction planes at the start without breaking anything.
Absolutely underated video.
The irony is newbies will not appeciate the depth of what you are saying ...
While the veterans would be ike "duuuuuddde ... where were you when I deployed !!? LOL
I would pay for a full fledge fusion360 course by this guy.
Wait... a video tutorial that starts right away, without any bs introduction, strait to the point??? How could this be real in 2023???
Awesome!
Dude that was good video
Great video Austin. I've been using Fusion since around 2018 and love it. I've developed some bad habbits with it that I need to stop doing and one is with sketches. Any chance you could do a video on best practices with sketches. I'm always creating sketches on the same face rather than editing the existing one..
Wonderful
Great video and I Subbed 🤘🤘 Do you have plans for Tutorials or is that basically what you do in your guitar videos?
Thanks! All of my guitar videos cover fusion 360 techniques that can be applied to any other model. Though I do plan on doing more non-guitar stuff in the future. PC is out of commission right now due to overhauling our garage. Hope to have more videos in the next couple weeks.
I am very much having to relearn 3D modeling from scratch…
To top it off, this is just an offshoot of a hobby, as I switched away from mechanical design, to electronics nearly 20 years ago… So I am jumping into a whole new world in design philosophy with all the development the design programs have gone through.
I am learning, slowly shifting my design brain from 2D design space.
These kind of videos really show how different current 3D modeling SW is.
I spent several years working with 2D CAD, and could burn through a project quickly. I was quite proud that I could work much faster than more experienced guys… I loved the process, and took the time to layout the design space/tools for efficiency.
Then I learned early 3D modeling when AutoCAD 2000 was released… Where 3D modeling was heavily derived from the 2D space. But I enjoyed working with the 3D modeling, because I could often times design a part in 3D, and use the automated schematic generator built into AutoCAD to create the 2D drawings… Faster than I could draft it out.
But that work was very much focused on hard dimensions, being an extension of the 2D design spaces. I am also very vague on the particulars, as I only used it for about a year, so the techniques were not as hard ingrained as the 2D was.
Also learned a bit about new schematic and dimension layouts for CNC work, where critical dimensions are based on a fixed origin point rather than traditional length/height/width measurements… That one was an offshoot of work, where a tech in the field needed to know some dimensions for an adapter plate, as the one they received seemed to be out of spec, as it would not line up… Dug up our design documents, and was confronted with a very different schematic dimension layout than I am used to. Definitely one set up for programming CNC…
I’m getting too old for this… heh…
love it
Very well done! I may join your discord server!😊
Thanks for the video, nice job! Do you have or do you recomend a video for people who starts explaining the use of the components, bodies, sketch etc.. for me is a little bit mess all this. Thanks!
Would love to see a video on how you'd do the 3d stuff you made in the "3d sketch" section without using 3d sketches!
@Austin Shaner, Excellent video!! Thanks!. One question please.
Is there a way to change/brighten/darken the colors of the various tools showing up esply during selecting/sketching? For example I find it near impossible to see the small square that shows up when the mouse pointer goes over a point. There are many other areas where I struggle, his is just an example.
nb: I have partial color blindness (the usual red/green effect that many men have, thanks to women who carry it to next generation boys).
Hi Austin, I like your videos and tutorials a lot. Thx for sharing your knowledge. The design of your CNC mill looks very interesting, too. Would you share those design files or only the drawings? Cheers, Klaus
you should make a mini course this was awesome
I love how almost mellow the school of thought for Fusion360 is. If you can break it down, you can build it.
(Although, I guess that's true for any CAD software. It's just Fusion360 is so fluid/intuitive in it's UX.)
It still depends. I was using creo for a long time and nx for a short time. There your model three is your "time travel", and the model itself is the result. You steps doesn't shape the model, instead your steps are the model.
It was strange to first work with inventor/creo, since you are working with a model that is a model as it is, you can check to the past, but the model is fine without it.
Good video thanks for the tips. May I ask how do you learn? Is there a great manual or website of guides out there? When I get stuck I goto youtube which can be great or very hard to pin down my issue and take hours to find a video that has what I need. I love youtube for tutorials but is something more efficient for help?
I would also say,
"Somwtimes you will be better off re-making a design simply to make things cleaner and more organized."
During product design, i often have to design iteratively in such a way that creates a great final product, but is messy as hell.
In those circumstances, i remake the model knowing what i now know. It helps especially when working with a customer or in a team.
Hello Austin, nice work, can you please create a more complex object using the technique of the third part of the video "Don't fall into the 3D sketch trap"?. When I want to make a complex shape I always prefer to use Rhino because it is easier to sketch in 3 dimensions, but I really want to see your technique.
Great video! How do I change my workspace from white to how yours looks?
I got fusion 360 recently. I somehow missed the new component button and made this one toy I wanted to try and model in various pieces among various projects. Is there a way to try and assemble them together. I'm glad I found out about components before trying to give it moving parts but I also worry that I should dont understand the limits of 3d printers.
Hey Austin! Love your content and it's great to see a Fusion 360 wizard out there!
I'm hosting another 3D CAD speedmodeling tournament this year, and qualifications run throughout June. Feel free to take a look a LMK if you have any questions - I bet a wizard like you could go pretty far, and it'd be cool to see F360 win it this year (An Onshape user won last year, Inventor 2 years ago, and a SW user the year before that).
Hey Toby, sounds fun! Though my schedule is pretty chaotic this summer so I don't know if I'd be able to commit to certain dates. I'll be watching it for sure though!
Good video. Another tip. Know what features in your file's timeline depend on other features. That way, you avoid unwanted results when you need to suppress or delete something.
Absolutely, though that does take a lot of experience to understand intuitively.
@@austinshaner It would be good to have some kind of feature in Fusion to identify dependencies like that and maybe group or reorder them. For me I often manually group or deliberately keep references unlinked. But some kind of referencing UI would be nice so you can quickly identify which features are going to cause issues.
Nicely done. I might reach for form before surface, but maybe I should re-think that 😉
I struggled with that one a bit. The reason I chose surface over form is that the surface tools better utilize constraints and sketch profiles. So it's easier to define a specific shape in the surface environment which is also parametric so it plays nicer with the timeline. For me, forms are essential for very organic shapes that don't need to fit specific constraints, and generally estimate a certain shape rather than a tightly defined one.
I would say if you already know you're going to use the form tool, it's better to have the form as early in the timeline as possible so that other parametric features are based off the form, rather than the form based off other features.
I like the reasoning. Better ability to constrain is definitely a plus for the surface tool. Also forces you to think through the final design a bit. As an aside, I have really appreciated your variable chamfer flow… have had multiple occasions to use.
@Ron Buck that has been a game changer for me. I've used it in a lot of different scenarios where I need a nicely faired curve to gradually increase in depth. I will often just use that than sketching a curve and split face.
Its too bad that "constraints" are about as clear as mud.
I watched this 5 months ago and realised that I had given a thumbs down then. Now that I rewatch it today I have no idea why I did that and to be honest I think I 100% agree with you. Sorry for this!
10/10
I am a complete beginner in 3D. My goal is to learn modeling mainly focused on 3D printing. Small parts and toys right now and all just as a hobby but I do have already a few ideas what I could focus on later to make some money. I started researching different software and Fusion 360 is something that I think would be a good start. Your video caught my eye and that is why I want to ask you a couple things. Hopefully you would not mind helping me. #1 Is Fusion 360 the best way to start? and #2 How should I start learning it on my own without paying somebody else for tutoring? Thank you.
Learning a new skill is always a good thing. 👍🏻 If you are looking for an easy path into 3d modeling, I would suggest Google sketchup (free version). It is a very straightforward software compared to something like fusion, inventor, solidworks etc. Sketchup will give you a basic understanding of how 3d modeling works, and the skills you pick up there will be (mostly) transferrable to other software. But if you want to learn a professional level software like fusion, it's definitely worth the investment of your time. Short of some niche engineering/product design specific features, The free version of Fusion has the same modeling capability as packages WAY higher in price (tens of thousands $$). It's pretty damn hard to beat.
As for learning resources, I would suggest UA-cam videos to get you started. Look for videos focused on the basics, like sketches, simple extrude/revolves etc. Get used to the interface, and the general workflow (create sketch on "X" plane, turn that sketch into 3d via a feature like extrude, revolve, sweep etc.
Once you've got the basics under your belt. Start playing around with the other features, read the tool tips carefully on how yo implement them, and if you run into issues... back to UA-cam.
There are of course some paid courses online that can guide you through this in a more structured way, if that's the path you'd like to take.
"the past informs the future, the future informs the past"
brilliant
@Austin Shaner I’m new-ish to fusion but really respect your approach. I’m looking to design things like exhaust manifold and intake pipes, so your comment on NOT using 3d sketches interests me. I’m too new to even know what to look for as an alternative, any tutorials or terms I should be looking for?
They have improved the 3D sketch engine since this video. A bit. The thing with 3D sketches is that they’re hard to fully constrain and drive parametrically. I think your use case might be one of the exceptions. I tend to use intersection curves (basically define the path of the desired sketch element on two perpendicular planes, do a third sketch and project -> intersection curves). This involves three sketches total for every one 3D sketch but is often easier and more stable to drive parametrically.
There are use cases for 3D sketch, definitely. But for me it’s not one of the first tools I reach for.
How did you change the colors of the fully constrained lines and dimensions to white and green, respectively?
im getting better at sketching. new to the program. but man do i feel WAY more comfortable working in 3D vs trying to sus out wtf im trying to do to warp some 2D lines into a 3D object. i wish i had a VR environment where i could mold with clay or something. but i also come from metal and wood working so i really like.. NEED that 3D space to prototype and just feel out what im doing. im not as good in the software space as i am with even just a welder and plasma cutter or router table - much less some bridgeports
When I time travel on a large timeline, I set my position in the timeline just past the feature I'm about to change. Many times I can advance through the features catching the little errors and fix them before the whole timeline eats itself.
^ this. I should have mentioned that. Thanks for commenting.
Good tip. Go methodically through the timeline to understand how dependency affects the stability of it. Once you get a good understanding of it you start to model your early features in anticipation of what your late features are going to need.
This way you can adjust the "sensitivity" of your early features to what you may need later and not break your model as much!
Subscribed, but also what setting for that nice blue background
At the bottom of the screen where you change your display settings, under environment, there is a new one. I think it's called blue river or something to that effect. I'm not at my pc right now to double check. It's a great environment because it still keeps the model textures nice and bright, and the color scheme for lines/dimensions isn't difficult to see.
Hello, thanks, this was helpful. I often use Fusion 360 to create, but this has serious issues. For example, I sometimes want to go back to a sketch early in the timeline and make a change based on a feature or sketch later in the timeline. I wish there were a way to go back on the timeline and be able to project from future sketches for reference. At some point, a design will become to unwieldly and impossible to align because of this and I sometimes have to go back to square one and recreate the design from the beginning, which is a huge waste of time. Do you know of any way to reference or show sketches later in the timeline when editing an earlier sketch or feature? Cheers!
You can move elements of the timeline around, so you may be able to move the sketches in the right order. This can have unwanted consequences, of course.
Unfortunately no, but sometimes you can rearrange your features in the timeline by dragging them around. It won't let you move a feature before something that it is dependent on, however. But I've done this a few times with certain sketches to make sure they are early in the timeline and available for projections at later steps.
Sometimes when I see this problem my advice is to reference both of those features to a point that is invariant of time. Perhaps the origin, or sometimes a key dimension that you know you use at the start and at the end.
Sometimes they can be an angular dimension or rotational pattern - if you know you need a four hole pattern then reference this from one of the starting sketches and then you can use it again later.
Great tutorial! So much useful information. Great Job! I'm curious about the CNC router model at about 8:30. Is this available somewhere?
Thank you! Unfortunately it's not. This was one of about 10 different cnc designs I've modeled in the past, and I was never satisfied with it, so I never actually finished it. What I did like about this design was the simplicity of construction, full access to the top surface, hidden motors/ballscrews/rails etc, and being significantly more rigid than your average 8020 design. I didn't feel comfortable with how the gantry attached to the y axis rails since they arent rated for hanging loads, the vertical machining solution (hole cut in the top), and generally the price for those expensive (thick wall) extrusions.
Maybe I'll finish it someday 😅
@@austinshaner Thanks for the reply. Sorry to get so far off-topic, but this design appears to have some very interesting COTS components that I would be interested in knowing more about. would you be willing to share it with me?
@danhembree2675
Respectfully, no. However can tell you where I sourced all these parts from. The extrusions/brackets are misumi brand, downloaded either from the manufacturer parts site in Fusion, or directly from misumi's website. The rails/ballscrews/bearing blocks were downloaded directly from Hiwin's website. The spindle mount was downloaded from Avid cnc's website, though I believe I modified it. The spindle I either downloaded from grabcad or modeled it myself (I can't remember). That will get you 90% of the model. The mounting plates/steel covers etc I designed to fit those components.
@@austinshaner Understood. Thanks for the MFG info. Seems like a good source, thank you
I'm not really sure what I want to get out of this, but I have an itch to scratch and designing products that can actually be manufactured would help scratch it
I'm really interested in your model shown at 5:49 - the mechanical iris. I have a project in mind that could use something similar but probably at a different scale. Would you be willing to share your model for this, or even a step file of it ? Thanks !
That iris box model was something I designed for my girlfriend (now wife) about 4 or 5 years ago.I intended to use it as a proposal box, where i would give her a key that would turn the small gear which would open the iris revealing the ring. I never quite got it ready in time for when I wanted to propose. So i purchased a smaller (but awesome) iris box from Etsy.
I'd be willing to share the model, but it's pretty messy. I was doing what I said in TIp #6 where I was figuring out what was required to make it work - but the workflow was still pretty terrible. If you'd like, I'll post it on my discord server under the resources tab and you can download it from there.
That is now shared on the resouces tab on my discord server.
How do you get those colored boxes above the timeline? Are they some kind of organization feature?
I believe it's from the "display component color" option which is under inspect. It gives each component a random colour which is super useful, and if you activate the whole file you'll see all the different colours in the time line in order
Quality. Thank you for no "hey guys, blah, blah, blah."
Bro, can you please help me with something? Using fusion 360 to create a metal sign for my daughter, from the band Korn. Created a rectangle to place the canvas, I imported on, traced out the four letters using the spline tool. But when I go to create a cut path, it only sees either the outer edge of the rectangle or one of the letters not all of them. What have I missed?