My cad background is as follows. I learned to modify electrical schematics using autocad electrical many years ago, and it’s been 6 or 7 years since I did that. I wasn’t awesome at it, and I didn’t create well from scratch. I’ve never done anything 3D related except for open parts the engineering department where I work designed in solid works. I feel the first step for me is to learn fusion and be able to draw/model things. If you were advising someone like me, does that seem like a reasonable first step? What would you suggest (a particular book, course, or other online instruction). as far as learning to use the software? I’m willing to pay for useful instruction.
Thank you in advance!
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Glancing through the course list, I can see a few that look promising
I haven’t used these in particular, but I’ve found that Autodesk does create good training material in general.
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As a beginner myself I started with the built-in training available from Autodesk. I then looked for specific training as I ran into questions or needs on YouTube.
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The best way to learn fusion is via free tutorials on YouTube. Lars Anderson is great as well as Product Design Online. Both are free and require no money on your part. There are probably others as well.
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I echo all of the responses so far. Without specifics on the types of parts you intend to design (levels of complexity, etc) The three areas I would get familiar with are the F360 forum, their practice modules, and the various training session offered from a vast group of YouTube channels. The training modules are great for really good start. As you get more advanced, the Forum and YouTube videos will help you learn specialized skills. The F360 forum is very active and is a really great tool in particular.
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I have been using F360 for so long they froze my price I pay to the 2015 subscription rates and I get all the Beta invites (like the new Web based version).
All that said, I am still learning something new every day I open that package.
You just can’t find an app that includes all of these features in one package. AND! The fact you can “rent for a day” features that would be normally out of your budget is just the bomb.
As far as learning, YouTube has a lot of content. Find some beginners videos and when you find one that you like follow the whole series.
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All of the tutorials and lessons assume some 3D strategy exists going in. Having a good modeling strategy requires good drawings. Unless you have a lot of time visualizing in 3D under your belt, its best to start in 2D.
Try drawing orthographic views even in rough sketch form or a 2D vector software --I keep an old Windows machine around specifically to run AutoCAD 2010. Its 2D only, lean and fast. You could do this in Fusion or SW too in the sketch environment but keep to 2D until you have a really good idea of where you think its going. Even if you deviate from this point, its a solid approach and should help a lot.
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Good advice. If you can’t see it in your head you can’t model it.
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One of the best video series I have seen on YouTube for brand new F360 users is “Learn Fusion 360 or die trying”. It gets you going with the basics, and some of the key differences from things like microsoft products that make F360 not very intuitive for a lot of people. I still suck at F360, but at least this got me going and somewhat productive.
Here is lesson 1: Learn Fusion 360 or Die Trying LESSON 1: Introduction tutorial for Absolute Beginners - YouTube
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Wow , thanks for all the info everyone! I will definitely take the 2d sketch advice to heart, as this is how I work now, and see where it goes. I found a few series on YouTube that I will be watching the beginnings of each before diving completely into one.
Matt
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I recently started the learning journey and downloaded the free version first. Then found a number of tutorials from Autodesk related to fusion 360. After a year or so I now can draw basic furniture plans and cut parts on my avid CNC. I’m not aware of any comprehensive course but I did one from Portland CNC and that got me started as well. Good luck.
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I got my start in Fusion 360 with Brandon Cullum’s “Furniture Design in Fusion 360” course. It was fantastic, and totally worth the money. He guides you through modeling a fairly complex piece of furniture so you can see all the details of how to sketch, extrude in 3d space, and do various types of joinery. He also has a separate course on CAM, which was critical for me being able to translate my designs into machinable parts. It doesn’t look like he’s updated either of the course in the last year, so it’s possible there’s a bit of drift from the capabilities of Fusion 360, but he covers the basics really well.
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I am far from an expert, but I will offer the following advice that I learned the hard way: get used to the workflow of New Document, then right click, “new component” activate component, and then model in that component.
Modelling in the document component is only really good in fusion if it is a total 1 off - e.g. a one piece part with no assembly, joints, etc.
When you model assemblies, you learn the drawbacks of having sketches in the document root but the components in the tree down from that. IMO, fusion works best when you try to keep all sketches for a body within the same component as the body. likewise with construction planes and other stuff. Only use document root for planes that are used to mirror components, etc.
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THIS 100%
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The problem I had learning Fusion stems from the fact that over the past few years Fusion evolved. So much so that many of the YouTube videos quickly went out of date. If you find that what you see in the video doesn’t match what you see in Fusion stop and find something you like that’s as new as you can find. IMHO.
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Look up Product Design Online. His videos are great! (And up to date)
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I second the Product Design Online YouTube channel.
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