fusion 360 turning a drawing into a 3d

The March 2022 Fusion 360 update brought several enhancements to 3D Sketching. Make sure yous have version 2.0.7805 or newer.

Before the update, 3D Sketches were cumbersome and difficult to handle. Creating 3D sketches required the use of the Motility command. It proved to be a slow and confusing process, unlike 3D Sketching from competitors, such as Solidworks.

Sketch Commands Supported by 3D Sketch
Sketch Constraints Supported by 3D Sketch
Differences Between 2d and 3D Sketching
When to Apply 3D Sketches
Create a 3D Sketch in Fusion 360
Practice a 3D Sketch – Sweep a Side Tabular array

Sketch Commands Supported by 3D Sketch

This Fusion 360 update brings new 3D sketching behavior to the following sketch features:

Line
Rectangle tools
Point
Spline tools
Circle tools
Conic Curve
Ellipse
Polygon

Sketch Constraints Supported by 3D Sketch

3D Sketches also support the use of the following sketch constraints:

Horizontal/Vertical
Coincident
Tangent
Equal
Parallel
Perpendicular
Set/Unfix
Midpoint
Concentric
Colinear
Curvature

With these enhancements, yous now immediately see origin axes, planes, and rotational manipulators to help create your 3D sketch.

Moving from one sketch plane to another is as easy as moving your mouse cursor in the management you want to sketch. Guidelines then announced to help you empathise where the sketch is going to exist in 3D space.

Differences Between 2D and 3D Sketching

In a second Sketch, we constrain sketch geometry to the aeroplane used to create the sketch. Yous can create a new 2D sketch on each of the following:

XY, YZ, or XZ origin planes
Faces
Construction planes

A 2D sketch aeroplane tin originate anywhere in 3D space. However, the selected plane restricts sketch geometry to that plane.

With a 3D sketch, Fusion 360 removes the planar restriction allowing you to create sketch geometry anywhere in 3D space.

Information technology'south important to annotation that 2d sketches also exists every bit an individual Sketch feature in the parametric timeline. Y'all'll ofttimes have several different sketch features that make upward a design.

Contrary, 3D sketches will be one single sketch feature in the timeline.

Sketch dimensions and constraints tin sometimes be harder to update and manage with 3D sketches – making the concept ofdesign intent harder.

Knowing when to use a 3D sketch instead of a 2D sketch can make all the difference.

When to Utilise 3D Sketches

There's no question that 3D sketches come up with extra complexity. That may accept y'all wondering, "When should I utilize a 3D Sketch?"

In short, use a 3D sketch to create a path for tubing, sweeps, lofts, or surface edges, when the blueprint continues to multiple planes.

Employ a 2D Sketch to create planar (flat) sketch geometry for common features like extrude and circumduct.

3D Sketches are also skilful for:

Routing
Sweep Path
Guide Bend
Surface Extrudes
Curve-Driven Patterns
Dissever (Body) Lines
Assembly skeletons

In summary, use a 3D sketch if it will save time creating the model when compared to using traditional planes and 2D Sketches.

3D sketch example objects:

Wheel handlebars
Shower caddy
Axe caput
Furniture with continuous shapes

Example objects than could be created with Fusion 360's 3D sketch feature

Create a 3D Sketch in Fusion 360

Select theSolid tab in theDesign workspace. SelectCreate Sketch in the toolbar.
Select the initial aeroplane or face up to brainstorm the sketch on.
Check the3D Sketch box in theSketch Palette.

Select 1 of the sketch commands supported by3D Sketch. The 3D Sketch Manipulator volition appear at the default location (0,0,0).
Select a sketch plane or adjust the3D Sketch Manipulator. If desired, switch to a dissimilar sketch airplane past selecting it (XY, YZ, or XZ) or rotate the sketch plane by dragging any rotation handle.

Click anywhere on the agile sketch airplane to create the start sketch point. Hover forth the axis until its extension line displays, so click to place the point to restrict the betoken along an axis.
Go along to identify sketch points as desired. The origin of the3D Sketch Manipulator will shift to the last bespeak y'all placed, every bit you place 3D sketch points.
ClickEnd Sketch in the toolbar to stop the sketch.

Practice 3D Sketch – Sweep a Side Tabular array

Fourth dimension needed:20 minutes.

I happened to come across this "C Side Table" on Amazon and thought information technology was the perfect 3D Sketch beginner project.

This tabular array design could theoretically apply 2D Sketches. However, we can make the tablemuch faster using 3D sketches.

SelectCreate Sketch in the toolbar

Beginning the sketch by selecting the XY origin plane. We'll click this aeroplane to start by cartoon the bottom of the table every bit if information technology were sitting on the ground.
Turn on 3D Sketch

Select the 3D Sketch checkbox in the Sketch Palette to turn it on.
Activate Line & Habitation View

Select the line feature in the toolbar or hit the keyboard shortcut "L." Select the "Home" position next to the ViewCube. This will help united states of america sketch in iii-dimensions.
Describe Get-go Line from Origin

At this point, we can first the line past setting the showtime bespeak at the origin betoken.

Similar to a 2D sketch, we will drag our mouse cursor along the green Y-axis. Type out 45cm for the length so click where the line snaps into the Y-centrality. Fusion 360 will automatically add a "horizontal/vertical" constraint for us.
Draw Line Direct Up

We tin showtime to sketch the pinnacle of the table by moving our mouse cursor to the blue z-centrality. The cursor should snap to the z-centrality when close.

Blazon out 60cm for the top. Carefully select the blue z-axis to set the line, making sure it automatically add a vertical constraint.
Heading Back Toward Center

For the 3rd line, we'll want to head back toward the center, while following the light-green y-axis. If you haven't already noticed, see that the origin planes move to the end of our line while in 3D sketch manner.

This is where things start to go tricky with 3D Sketches. We don't desire to overuse sketch dimensions. Instead of typing out a dimension, click to identify the line forth the y-axis.

Shift-click the endpoints of the line we just placed and the origin signal or the original starting point of our showtime line. Select the "horizontal/vertical" constraint in the toolbar. This will ensure they stay the same length while making it easy for u.s. to update but one dimension.
Reactivate Line Command

Select the line feature in the toolbar. Select the endpoint of the line we just placed.

The 3D sketch planes and manipulators will reappear in one case yous select the endpoint.

For this line, we'll blazon out25cm for the width. Make sure to snap the line in place along the blood-red x-axis.
Heading Back to the Right

We'll now want to create a line heading back to the right.

Since we've already defined our length, we'll want to apply sketch constraints instead of sketch dimensions for this 1. Click forth the light-green y-axis where the line snaps in at the same length of the opposite line.

Hit the "Escape" key on your keyboard. Shift-click the endpoint of this line and the contrary line. Select the "Horizontal/Vertical" Constraint in the toolbar. This will force the line to stay the same length.
Heading Straight Down

Reactivate the line command in the toolbar. Select the endpoint of the last line we created.

Heading straight down, click to place the line along the blue z-axis where it snaps equidistant to the opposite line. The line should be 60cm.
Finishing off The Lines

Let's finish off the lines by mimicking the "C" shape on the opposite side.

Place the kickoff endpoint at the red y-axis. Create the second line by clicking the origin point.

Hit the "escape" key to articulate the line command.
Adding the Concluding Constraints

To ensure our sketch is fully-constrained, we'll need to add together the final constraints.

It appears the last line created does not have a constraint forcing it to remain in 1 direction. Just select the line and then select the "Horizontal/Vertical" constraint in the toolbar.

Our sketch is at present fully-constrained. We can double-check this past looking for the cerise lock icon next to the Sketch name in the Browser.
Turning the Sketch into Pipes

Our sketch is now complete. We're prepare to use the Piping command to turn the sketch into piece of furniture.

Select theSolid tab in the toolbar. SelectPipage from theCreate dropdown. Select the 3D sketch geometry.
Adjusting the Pipe Features

We'll want to set theSection type toSquare. We can also change the thickness of the pipe by changing the section size.

I've enteredtwo.5cm for thesection size.

Select the "Hollow" checkbox, which displays thesection thickness. For the section thickness type out2mm.
Congrats and Side by side Steps

Y'all've now completed the 3D Sketch! Finish off the model by calculation boards to the tiptop – or whatever surface you lot desire!