Book Image

Improving CAD Designs with Autodesk Fusion 360

By : Kevin Michael Land
Book Image

Improving CAD Designs with Autodesk Fusion 360

By: Kevin Michael Land

Overview of this book

Autodesk Fusion 360 has become an indispensable tool for designers, tinkerers, and engineers worldwide thanks to its versatility that allows for large-scale assemblies and smaller, quick 3D prints. If you’ve faced challenges with learning Fusion 360, this book will help you overcome them and build the confidence to design your own projects, explaining step-by-step instructions and the purpose of each tool. In this book, you’ll dive into the design workspace and learn sketching fundamentals such as setting up a component, recognizing when a sketch is fully constrained, and parametrically flexing models. Through trial and error, you’ll work on multiple easy-to-build projects to create simple, useful items that can be quickly 3D printed for use around the house and then advance to much bigger projects that require joint connectivity and large assemblies. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to sketch fully parametric designs, translate them into 3D models, and create your own unique designs.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
1
Part 1: Simple, Fun Projects for Around the Home
7
Part 2: Bicycle Water Bottle Holder Project
13
Part 3: FORM Modeling Techniques
17
Part 4: Working with 2D and 3D Scanned Images

How to determine design intent

When someone asks, “What is design intent?”, they are asking how a certain object is meant to work and how it will react if changes are made to it. In the following example, you can see two identical models, both with a drilled hole in the middle:

Figure 3.1 – Two models that look the same

Figure 3.1 – Two models that look the same

Note the location of the hole from the left edge; the hole goes all the way through the solid object. I turned on the Wireframe mode via the Visual Style dropdown at the bottom of the screen to show the inside of the solid model.

Important note

There are a few different visual styles within Fusion 360 located within the Display Settings category at the bottom of the screen. These settings help you customize the way you display your model. Wireframe mode allows you to see within the model, which helps to locate any drilled holes or other hard-to-see features. Shaded with Visible Edges is the most common style,...