Fusion 360 for a beginner

[davidyat]

I decided to try my hand at Fusion 360. I've never used a CAD program before and wanted to try. I bought the Autodesk Fusion 360 Basics Tutorial and am going nuts. Nothing from the book seems to work. I've tried to make the first couple items many times and most of the time the program says it won't work or doesn't look anything like the pictures in the book. Can anyone give me any suggestions where I can learn CAD. I'm being factious but it seems, to just draw a line, you have to hit 17 buttons and search drop down menus to get anything done. Why is this program so convoluted?
Grasshopper

 

[blighty]

Fusion 360 like most cad programs don't make much sense when you first use them, but after awhile things begin to click.

what are you having the problem with?

there are lots of good vids on YT...... NYC CNC Fusion friday is a good place to start.
just found this one.....
then we have Lars Christensen

 

[chucketn]

50+ years ago, I was a manual draftsman, pencil and paper type.
I left a career in drafting for a 22 year stint in the USAF. Over the years since retiring from active duty, and a second career maintaining computers in the public education sector, I've tried most flavors of CAD. Then I stumbled, no, make that tripped over Fusion. I could not make sense of CAD at the start, but I found Paul McWhorter's excellent tutorial series on Youtube, and now am quite comfortable designing my own projects in Fusion. I had a bunch of help from Tutorials by NYC CNC and Lars Christensen, as well as others. Don't give up. If this 70 year old can do it, anyone can...
There are also a couple Facebook forums that can answer questions, and I'm willing to help any way I can.

 

[XD351]

Brad Tallis is another guy on youtube that does tutorials on fusion .

 

[retailer]

For me Lars Christensen tutorials are one of the best he explains as he goes and not too quickly so you can follow along with him and go through the same steps as he does it, I found that downloading his tutorials was better than following along online, once downloaded you can pause easily rewind and go back over the same steps if you need to - I've only just started using Fusion360 late last year and as others here have said - persevere and do a bit of practice each day it will eventually start to make sense.

 

[davidyat]

First, if I can build model steam engines that run and run good, I figure I have a MIND. I can think. I purchased the above tutorial. My problem is, I am following a tutorial build EXACTLY by the instructions. Then it tells me to go to "Constraints" and click "Coincidence" then the 2 end points of a sketch. When I do that, I get the line, "Failed to Compute" or another line telling me "I suck", you don't know what you're doing. Or I might be told to click a button and I spend the next 15 minutes searching for that button in, I don't know how many drop down lists, until it shows up accidentally behind a button they never told me about. In today's day and age, there seems to be no rhyme or reason. As a kid, I had 2 or 3 choices for a problem. Today, a problem can have a billion or 2 choices to fix a problem. Whenever I see, "new and improved", I cringe as to how bad they just screwed something up. I just want a tutorial that does what it says it will do. The tutorial book above is useless to me so far. You spend the time to follow instructions, the get the line, failed to compute and you start all over again and get the same results.
Grasshopper

 

[popnrattle]

for any CAD/CAM software there is no substitute for "seat time". I try to do a little bit EVERYDAY. I just love youtube.

 

[Gordon]

I have used a 2D CAD program (Visual Cadd) for the last 15+ years. I tried Fusion 360 and it is so convoluted I cannot get anything done. I am used to just entering coordinates to move to another point. In most of the 3D programs I have tried it takes several steps to do things I am now doing in one step. If there was a way to just do manual entry life in 3D would be much easier. Every time I try to learn a program I just come back to it just is not worth the trouble. This is a hobby for me at this point, not a new career.

 

[stragenmitsuko]

That is why it's often called confusion360

 

[davidyat]

So I'm trying to follow the first Lars Christensen video. I think I see where the confusion is. In the upper left corner when I open my Fusion 360, I see (Startup License). In Lars' Fusion, I don't see it. He must be using the full purchase of Fusion. I'm guessing the free version doesn't have all the bells and whistles, Lars has. Am I correct on this? Do I have to spend over $500 to get this program to follow someone, or can I learn from the free version?

 

[davidyat]

I just might take Gordon's advice. It's just a hobby for me. Just stick to following someone else's drawings and just make the model and don't try to teach an old dog new tricks.
Grasshopper

 

[blighty]

have you activated it?

it free to use for hobbyist.

 

[David Hothersall]

So I'm trying to follow the first Lars Christensen video. I think I see where the confusion is. In the upper left corner when I open my Fusion 360, I see (Startup License). In Lars' Fusion, I don't see it. He must be using the full purchase of Fusion. I'm guessing the free version doesn't have all the bells and whistles, Lars has. Am I correct on this? Do I have to spend over $500 to get this program to follow someone, or can I learn from the free version?

You need to have an Autodesk account which gives you access to use the product for free as an enthusiast. It used to be an indefinite licence if you had a a small business with a turnover of less that $100k a year or were an enthusiast but it appears its a time limited offer for 1 year now.

Check out this link https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/fusion-360-for-hobbyists

 

[Brian Hutchings]

Plus one for Lars Christensen, without his first 3 tutorials I was ghetting nowhere but after the first one I was away.
The reason that Lars version does not show 'Startup' is that he works for Autocad as a trainer so he is provided with the full version as part of his job. The startup version and the one that Lars uses are identical but be aware that the program has undergone a revision in the last month so may well look different in appearance to the illustrations in a book.
It is not an easy programe to get your head round but stangly, it helps if you have not done CAD before. I have and had to unlearn everything I knew.
Please persevere with it and it will start to make sense.

 

[lemelman]

So I'm trying to follow the first Lars Christensen video. I think I see where the confusion is. In the upper left corner when I open my Fusion 360, I see (Startup License). In Lars' Fusion, I don't see it. He must be using the full purchase of Fusion. I'm guessing the free version doesn't have all the bells and whistles, Lars has. Am I correct on this? Do I have to spend over $500 to get this program to follow someone, or can I learn from the free version?

The free version, also known as the trial version, is the complete package. If you satisfy the terms of using it free of charge, then you get the complete system with no restrictions. Fusion is constantly under development, so it's not unusual to find that some things mentioned in tutorials or shown in videos have changed. Updates are issued fairly frequently.
Don't be put off, once the penny drops it's a super system.

 

[Preston Engebretson]

Hola David, Lars version is equal to your free licence...I have the same...

There are differences, due to the version being run...many times his is an older version
and the one I am on automatically gets updated...thus, small differences...

I find it Very Helpful to have a second computer screen to have the Tutorial Running on and
Fusion 360 on the larger of the 2...that way, you are Not clicking between screens and can just
pause and rewind while working in 360 to figure it out...

I too had a rough start, but love it in general now...

Best Regards,

Preston

 

[n1326e]

Davidyat.............

Here's the program you want by Paul McWhorter.
Learn Fusion 360 or Die Trying LESSON 1: Introduction ...

I'm only a hobbyist and was at the same place you are and for many weeks watched all kinds of youtube instructional videos, including 'TinkerCAD', until I found Paul's series. After I watched ( and followed along with) his videos I branched out to others, especially those of Las Christensen. I left Fusion360 a number of times, thinking there must be a better (free) system but always seemed to come back to it. Fusion 360 is free to Hobbyists or small businesses (under $100M sales)/yr, the instructions are on their website.
Hope that helps....Tom

 

[XD351]

First, if I can build model steam engines that run and run good, I figure I have a MIND. I can think. I purchased the above tutorial. My problem is, I am following a tutorial build EXACTLY by the instructions. Then it tells me to go to "Constraints" and click "Coincidence" then the 2 end points of a sketch. When I do that, I get the line, "Failed to Compute" or another line telling me "I suck", you don't know what you're doing. Or I might be told to click a button and I spend the next 15 minutes searching for that button in, I don't know how many drop down lists, until it shows up accidentally behind a button they never told me about. In today's day and age, there seems to be no rhyme or reason. As a kid, I had 2 or 3 choices for a problem. Today, a problem can have a billion or 2 choices to fix a problem. Whenever I see, "new and improved", I cringe as to how bad they just screwed something up. I just want a tutorial that does what it says it will do. The tutorial book above is useless to me so far. You spend the time to follow instructions, the get the line, failed to compute and you start all over again and get the same results.
Grasshopper

Try drawing two separate squares then click the coincident icon then click on one side of one square ( doesn’t matter what side) then click on one side of the other square (doesn’t matter what side either)and the two sides you clicked will join or become coincidental to each other .
Make sure you dimension both squares first so they become defined otherwise strange things can happen ! You will know when they are defined as the lines will turn black and if it is enclosed the inside will turn a tan colour.

 

[Foozer]

"the next 15 minutes searching for that button"

When in the sketch workplace, hit the 'S' key to pull up the Sketch Shortcut Menu - enter desired term e.g. Sweep - into the search box.

Language challenged that I am most of the terms in Fusion I had to look up to find language that made sense to me as with 'Coincident - Two lines or shapes that lie exactly on top of each other'

So an end point on one line Coincident to an end point of another line is those two points one atop another. Jefferson once said "Never use two words when one will do" but was silent upon three or more words, so for me "one atop another" is the same as Coincident.

 

[chucketn]

So I'm trying to follow the first Lars Christensen video. I think I see where the confusion is. In the upper left corner when I open my Fusion 360, I see (Startup License). In Lars' Fusion, I don't see it. He must be using the full purchase of Fusion. I'm guessing the free version doesn't have all the bells and whistles, Lars has. Am I correct on this? Do I have to spend over $500 to get this program to follow someone, or can I learn from the free version?

No difference in free or paid versions of Fusion 360 that I know of. My issues in following the tutorials is they usually use the new interface. I had just got familiar with the old one... Many of the tutorials don't necessarily have the same layout/setup I have. Gets confusing until I figure out how to get mine to look like theirs.

XD351, I just looked up Brad Tallis to see if I had seen any of his videos. I hadn't, so thank you. I enjoyed hos 26 tips, learned a bunch of new stuff.