Fusion 360 tutorials

[Mark J]

Any suggestions for Fusion 360 tutorials?  I downloaded the free hobby version last night and have been struggling to get started with it.  I have tried some tutorials supplied by Autodesk (Matt Perez) and an independent You Tube from Lars Christiansen and these have not been helpful.  

[Chestnut]

I've used the autodesk ones, i thought they were ok. What type of stuff are you wanting to do?

[Mark J]

I want to make some templates.  I found a makers space (Make It Here; Downers Grove, IL) where I can have access to a CNC router to make the templates, but I need to learn Fusion 360 to make the CNC go.  SketchUp won't cut it, so to speak, and I want to move away from SketchUp anyway.  

[Mark J]

More specifically, what I'm wanting to do is make the dang program start, as in step one.   

I turn it on and open a new file and instead of getting a three sided translucent marker with red green and blue arrows marking the center of the space, I get a completely opaque black object, that besides being annoying is difficult to work through.  This is how it was out of the box, and I can find no way to change it.  The Autodesk tutorials don't even show the thing, nor do they mention to get rid of if or how. 

But even if I choose to ignore the thing I can make a 2d rectangle, but can't get it to extrude to a 3d shape no matter what I do.  I haven't chosen to explore what frustrations lie beyond this particular level of bliss.  What I want is something like Bob Lang did for SketchUp.  Start at the beginning instructions where I can follow along in my own version of FU 360 and learn how to make my very own cube.   

 

  

[JohnG]

Jay Bates made a video or two that he walked through making something in F360. I used that as a starting point, and to pick up a few new tips and tricks. It moved along pretty fast, so a lot of pausing and rewinding was needed to pick up the fine details.

Basically, you start by creating a “sketch” (2d drawing). Once you have finished drawing that, you close the “sketch” and then can extrude and make other 3D actions. Depending on the complexity, you can end up with many sketches on different planes. You can always reopen sketches and add to them or edit them. 

Can’t help with the black box. Looks like sketch planes that didn’t render properly. 

[Woodenskye]

Mark search for a guy on YT named Lars Christiansen.  I believe he works for the developer of fusion360.  

[Mark J]

51 minutes ago, JohnG said:

Jay Bates made a video or two that he walked through making something in F360. I used that as a starting point, and to pick up a few new tips and tricks. It moved along pretty fast, so a lot of pausing and rewinding was needed to pick up the fine details.

Basically, you start by creating a “sketch” (2d drawing). Once you have finished drawing that, you close the “sketch” and then can extrude and make other 3D actions. Depending on the complexity, you can end up with many sketches on different planes. You can always reopen sketches and add to them or edit them. 

Can’t help with the black box. Looks like sketch planes that didn’t render properly. 

Crazy thing is that I make the 2D rectangle, then as soon as I extrude it to 3D the model dissapears!  It's still there, but invissible.  

[wtnhighlander]

Just a guess, but the image you posted makes me think there is an issue with your PCs video driver. Not playing well with Fusion, at least. You may need to delete and re-install Fusion, watch carefully for any error messages during the install. Maybe just update the video driver.

[Mark J]

7 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

Just a guess, but the image you posted makes me think there is an issue with your PCs video driver. Not playing well with Fusion, at least. You may need to delete and re-install Fusion, watch carefully for any error messages during the install. Maybe just update the video driver.

Good guess, that was the ticket! 

I,me, have now made a box.  Who knows what the rest of today may bring!  

[Llama]

What did the rest of your day bring?

 

[Mark J]

I was able to draw out the jig I was trying to model.  It took a few tries as I stumbled and fell up the learning curve.  I'm no expert and I'm sure I've forgotten some, but I count that day a success.

[Mark J]

No idea if this book on Fusion 360 is any good, but it is a recent copyright.  

https://nostarch.com/cad

[lewisc]

I've been playing around with Fusion 360 over the last few months. This series has been good to learn some skills: The interface has changed as there was a recent update but most things are reasonably similar- maybe just a different order or location of finding it. I'm really happy with what I've been producing so far, especially the rendering. I've had a go at a few of the tutorials and tried a simple coffee table. It's not to difficult to find your way around after while.

 

 

[Mark J]

Did you make all the images above?  If so you're doing better than I.  I've figured out how to model what I need to see to evaluate a design, but that's as far as I've gone.

 

[lewisc]

Yeah, I’ve drawn them.  The nut, bottle and paper clip are from the tutorials. They’re actually fairly simple - he explains it really well.   
 

I found some dimensions for a table and had a go at drawing one up with a few features. I’d say start to finish was no more than 15mins.