8: Data Translation - Import & Export

in manufacturing you often need to use the same design data across different CAD systems fusion 360 enables you to work with files from a number of other CAD systems like SolidWorks and manipulate them with powerful parametric and direct modeling capabilities it also provides a platform to manage any file you want whether it's a CAD file or any other file you would like to store in the cloud this lets you leverage the secure storage sharing and collaboration capabilities available in fusion 360s data management platform to get started I'd like to import a SolidWorks assembly into fusion 360 you can do this in a few different ways either inside the fusion 360 application or in the a 360 web interface here in fusion 360 if I click the file icon notice there is no open option because all of my data is stored in the cloud in order to bring designs in to fusion 360 from other CAD file formats I need to upload them into the cloud first to do this I'll expand the data panel before moving on it's worth mentioning that the terms import and upload are used interchangeably within fusion 360 and refer to this concept of moving data created elsewhere to fusion 360 an important consideration when uploading is that you must choose the project into which you'd like to upload your data this way you can manage who has access to it once you've uploaded it for organizational purposes you might want to add it to a project with other designs and data that are related to it I'll select a project from the data panel and at the top I can click the upload button in the pop-up I can either select files to upload or I can drag and drop them or the folders that contain them here I'll click the select files button and browse for a file the file type filter allows you to narrow down your results and displays the supported native file formats I'll select a SolidWorks assembly file and its associated part files for this example notice that the associated parts in this assembly were safe in different formats but they can all be imported in this single step when I click open you'll see that the files appear in a list in case you forgot to choose a particular project for importing this ahead of time you can change the destination from here as well when I click upload a window with the status of the upload appears and at any time you can close this window and continue to work fusion 360 will continue the upload and translation in the background with the model uploaded are located in the data panel and double-click to open it the assembly opens in fusion 360 preserving its assembly structure here in the browser keep in mind that all imported geometry in fusion 360 is opened in direct modeling mode providing you with the flexibility to edit models quickly and easily I'll make a quick edit and when I do notice that there is no timeline to turn on the timeline to capture design history you can right-click the top-level assembly in the tree and select capture design history when I do you'll see that the timeline reappears and will capture any subsequent edits it's also worth mentioning that there are no mates or constraints carried over from the imported geometry assemblies are imported as non-rigid individual components without any previous mates or assembly constraints they might have had imported assemblies like this are great candidates for as-built joints as well as rigid groups if you want to quickly remove some degrees of freedom moving on exporting your designs in fusion 360 is a simple and straightforward process as well under the file drop-down menu I can click export I'll give it a name and for this example all exported as a step file I'll click Save and the file is successfully exported in this format you can open it in other CAD systems that said since I imported this design on a 360 you can always just share the project where it is stored to give anyone access to it right away at this point I've imported and exported a model from here in fusion 360 but let's shift gears for a moment and look at how you can import and export your designs as well as your design data directly from a 360 in your web browser with some additional capabilities as well next to each projects name in the data panel there is an icon which expands the design tile and allows you to go to a 360 for details clicking open details in a 360 opens a web browser and takes you to the design details in the a 360 dashboard all selected and here in a 360 you'll see the details of the design data can be added to this project using a 360 in a variety of ways from this project view entire folders can be dragged and dropped to upload to the project I'll drag a folder into the web browser and when I do an upload window appears with a few options before the upload completes for now I'll just click cancel and show you another way to upload here in the project view you'll notice an upload icon I'll select it and a window appears similar to the one you saw earlier in fusion 360 with the option to drag and drop files or folders I'll drop a folder onto this dialog box and the upload begins the individual or composite options allow you to choose whether or not the files are listed individually or if they are displayed as a single assembly design because we're uploading an assembly I'll select composite with the file selected and option set I'll click the upload icon and a notification appears letting me know that the files have been uploaded and that they will appear at the top of the Activity Feed if the new design is selected from the feed a window appears with a preview of the part all without ever having to leave your web browser from here this data can be shared or downloaded using the icons here at the top of the window and they can be exported from here like I showed you a moment ago in fusion 360 before wrapping up I'd like to return to fusion 360 and show you one last thing regarding items that were imported using the a 360 interface I'll navigate to the data panel once again and locate the assembly I just imported in a 360 notice that the imported assembly shows a SolidWorks file type and does not show a 3d cube icon which indicates a fusion 360 design in the thumbnail title importing items into a project using a 360 assumes that you are planning to use them as files and does not automatically translate them into fusion 360 data to do so you must first right-click on it and select create fusion design when I do an upload progress window appears as the file is translated in the cloud to a fusion 360 design when it's complete a new fusion design appears in the data panel with the 3d cube icon on the thumbnail that tells you it's a fusion 3d data type if I double click it the design opens and edits can be made the import and export capabilities within fusion 360 can handle a wide variety of file types fusion 360 provides you with a single interface for managing files from other CAD software enabling you to import non-native designs to the cloud and export to various formats all without ever leaving the interface this flexibility saves you time and allows you to keep focus on your designs instead of on managing files

Channel: Autodesk Fusion 360

Views: 10,107

Keywords: fusion 360, autodesk, design, engineering, mechanical design, mechanical engineering, industrial design, product design, software, CAD, CAD software, Computer Aided Design, Modeling, Rendering, 3D software, Autodesk fusion 360, cloud based CAD, CAD in the cloud, cloud, Free CAD, Free CAD Software, Autodesk CAD, cloud manufacturing, free CAD program, 3D CAD solution

Id: ienDU10C-rQ

Length: 8min 24sec (504 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 20 2015