Switching from Sketchup to Fusion360?

[Rivet Miscounter]

I didn't realize that Fusion360 brought the hobby license back.  I was introduced to that option at some point during Covid, installed it, and was about 2-3 weeks into going through some YT tutorials on it when I got an email that they were discontinuing it.  So I just walked away at that point and didn't realize they had reversed course on that decision.

[bigdawgks]

I'm not sure if SolidWorks has something similar, but Fusion 360 also has a python and C++ API that you can use to add custom features. This is supported even in the free version. I used this to write a script for generating rivet seams from sketch lines. It's pretty intuitive and they give you plenty of examples to study off. Overall I'm impressed by what Fusion 360 offers at no cost.

[JeffB]

I'm not sure if SolidWorks has something similar, but Fusion 360 also has a python and C++ API that you can use to add custom features. This is supported even in the free version. I used this to write a script for generating rivet seams from sketch lines. It's pretty intuitive and they give you plenty of examples to study off. Overall I'm impressed by what Fusion 360 offers at no cost.

Writing scripts, or being able to write scripts is helpful, but there's a lot of features in SolidWorks that allow you to copy a feature along a path.  In SW, you just create a path as a separate sketch.  Then you create the feature (rivet, bolt head, etc...), select that feature and then select "Curve driven Pattern", then tell it how many to copy/drive along that curve.  Easy peasy...

Never done a script in SW though.  The old 2D AutoCAD, MatLab and Excel, yes, but not SW.  Never had the need to.


Jeff



Jeff

[Sumner]

..... there's a lot of features in SolidWorks that allow you to copy a feature along a path.  .....Jeff

Fusion has that also and I've used it quite a bit....



... like for the pit track above and ...



.... other features on the turntable build.  Print files are up on thingiverse and more info here....

https://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Turntable/Turntable-Index.html

Sumner

[bigdawgks]

Writing scripts, or being able to write scripts is helpful, but there's a lot of features in SolidWorks that allow you to copy a feature along a path.  In SW, you just create a path as a separate sketch.  Then you create the feature (rivet, bolt head, etc...), select that feature and then select "Curve driven Pattern", then tell it how many to copy/drive along that curve.  Easy peasy...

Never done a script in SW though.  The old 2D AutoCAD, MatLab and Excel, yes, but not SW.  Never had the need to.


Jeff



Jeff

Fusion 360 has the same functionality, and I use it as part of my script. The difference with the script is that I don't have to go through all the steps of creating the rivet feature everywhere I want to start a linear pattern. I can just click on a bunch of different sketch lines, specify the diameter and spacing, and the automation does the rest. It's a real time saver when you got a lot of different rivet seams in a model.

The other advantage of the script is that it will automatically group all the rivet seam operations together in the timeline, making it much neater.

There are probably other repetitive operations you can improve with the automation capabilities the API provides too. But out of the box, I think F360's feature set already matches that of SolidWorks. It's been a long time since I last used SolidWorks but all the familiar operations I remembered using were all present.

[Sumner]

....I use it as part of my script. ....

Do you have an example of a script that you can post.  Not all the steps but what the script looks like?  I'm interested in how this works (I'll google also to see if there is YouTube on it).  Thanks,

Sumner

UPDATE:   Just looked at a YouTube where they used Copilot to write a Python script.  Pretty amazing but when I asked it to write a script for a 1 inch cube I got a body .7?? x .7?? x .3?? instead but probably something I did on my part.  Start to stop was less than a minute for me to do that never having done it before so I can see there is a lot of potential there for some applications.

[Jesse6669]

I have tried Fusion 360 but tbh I always revert back to TinkerCad.  I just haven't found the need for the more sophisticated software.  Yet. 

[cnw780]

I just tried Fusion out today.  It does seem to be quite like Sketchup and the interface doesn't seem too overwhelming.  I personally think one could learn it pretty easy if you are familiar with Sketchup.

~Tim

[bigdawgks]

Do you have an example of a script that you can post.  Not all the steps but what the script looks like?  I'm interested in how this works (I'll google also to see if there is YouTube on it).  Thanks,

Sumner

UPDATE:   Just looked at a YouTube where they used Copilot to write a Python script.  Pretty amazing but when I asked it to write a script for a 1 inch cube I got a body .7?? x .7?? x .3?? instead but probably something I did on my part.  Start to stop was less than a minute for me to do that never having done it before so I can see there is a lot of potential there for some applications.

There are a few examples included in the product. If you go to the scripts menu you can view and edit the examples in VS code (which it should install for you). You can also pretty easily debug your code with breakpoints. If you go to the website they have some additional documentation and an extensive class reference. It only took me a couple hours to pick it up.