November Update Preview

We are not far off from our November update. We had hoped to release the 8th. We found a few last issues we wanted to take a week and test to make sure we got right. The update is full of improvements you have asked for.  Let’s look at each area in detail.

Collaboration

The new Data Panel has been enhanced based on feedback. Improvements should make usage easier.

• The delay in thumbnails appearing on newly saved or uploaded items has been removed.
• Items show spinner while saving helping users understand what is happening with their design data.
• The project drop-down chooser now uses project folder images that match the folder images assigned in A360 Web.  This makes finding projects easier, especial for users who are members of many projects
• When looking at projects with many members, the side pane now shows a link to More. This provides access to the complete list of project members.
• It is easier to identify selected items as they now show with a new blue selection box effect.
• Files that have unsaved changes will display “*” as a suffix to the item’s tab display name.

The activity pallet now allows replies to comments. This creates threaded comments that better organize discussion on an item.

Offline Improvements

• Creation of drawings can now be done offline.
• Right click menu is now enabled to insert items when offline and to create a drawing of the item.

Usability

Multi-aspect Fusion data

• When you create a Fusion 360 design, the item now has multiple aspects that include the modeling workspaces and two new workspaces for Animation/Explosions and CAM.  This replaces the old workflow where you needed to switch tabs to move between CAM and Modeling.

• When you switch workspaces the model is always up to date with respect to changes. Toolpaths will be marked out of date if they are affected.

• A360 Web viewer provides access to each aspect using navigation along the left side of the viewer by the search field. This UI will improve in a future update.

General UI

• Keyboard access to open/close data panel Option+Command+P (Mac) and Ctrl+Alt+P (Windows).
• Keyboard access to hide/show the activity pane Option+Command+A (Mac) and Ctrl+Alt+A (Windows).
• Improved move command to add access to the Set Pivot tool, a.k.a reorient, from the command dialog.

Grid

• Improved XYX identification in layout grids shown in Red (X), Green (Y), and Blue (Z) colors.
• Improved grid settings allow the override of the grid spacing and definition of custom 
increments.
• New grid snap behavior for 
align command. Allows snapping to the grid for quick and easy precise positioning.

Timeline replay

• Improved error messages for multiple errors in rebuild.
• The compute progress indicator lists the name of features that take a disproportionally long time to 
compute.
• Timeline playback will show hidden items temporarily as each step is played. Displaying hidden items makes it easier to understand sketch and construction geometry.

Improved association from timeline to model and timeline to browser

• A new timeline option enables the Component Color track. This adds color hints to the browser and timeline to help quickly visually associate features to the components they affect. If you turn on color cycling in the Inspect tools the colors match those assigned to 3D geometry.
• The color cycle functionality has been changed to keep colors consistent across all instances.

Form

Sketch Improvements

• The horizontal and vertical constraints are combined into a single horizontal/vertical constraint. Selected geometry is analyzed and the closest condition (horizontal or vertical) is applied. Perfect 45 degree lines with respect to X or Y will default to horizontal. This single constraint type reduces unexpected constraint results as most users are constraining lines that are close to the condition they need but may not know the correct condition due to the current viewport orientation.
• Sketch origins now align to the parent components origin, not to edges of the faces to which they are created. This creates a more predictable X and Y axis in new sketches.
• Sketch fillet creates an equal constraint for multiple fillets created in same command. This makes it easier to add multiple sketch fillets and have them controlled by the first driving parameter.
• Grid improvements have also been made when sketching. These improvements make it easier to work against the model’s XYZ direction. Simplifying sketching and removing cases where results were ambiguous or frustrating.
• When creating a sketch, the viewport will auto-look at the sketch and disable perspective. X, Y and Z direction are set to make it easier to know direction. The sketch look at follows left hand rules. Exiting the sketch returns the privies viewport orientation. this can be disabled in the preferences.
• Like the layout grid, the sketch grid shows X and Y in Red and Green.
• Sketch creation can now inference and pick up snap points to geometry that does not lie in the sketch plane. The New Sketch look at behavior makes these new inference points easy to see since the camera now is looking directly at the sketch as the inference preview is projected into the sketch plane. You can sketch, constrain and dimension without pre-projecting geometry when looking at the sketch.
• By default when creating sketch dimensions Fusion 360 will prompt for the dimension value. This can be disabled in the preferences.
• Sketch trim now defaults to the new Power Trim behavior. 
Power Trim enables users to simple press and drag the cursor and all lines crossed are trimmed.

• Sketch Conic Curve allows precise blended shapes to be created. They are especially useful in stylized products. Conics are defined by three points and a Rho value. Double click the conic to edit Rho. Conics can be constrained tangent to connected sketch curves.

Timeline

• 
Timeline support for extruded surface.
• 
Timeline support for revolved surface
.
• Timeline support for surface sweep.
• Timeline support for offset surface.

Extrude can now use a work point or sketch point as the input for “To” terminations.

Delete feature(s) after the timeline play marker.

Assemblies

• Timeline support for Paste New of components. Copy and Paste of components now supports Paste New. This creates a new component with the same features as the copied source but is independent allowing features to be changed without affecting the source or other instances of the source. This makes it easy to create derivative designs of existing components.

Function

New Animation Workspace

Animation and Exploded Views

• Animations and assembly instruction authoring tools have been added to allow the creation of 3D exploded views and animations. These help tell the story of how products are used, assembled or maintained.
• Automatic explode tools allow users to quickly explode automatically based on assembly hierarchy 
(level).
• Manual explode tools give precise control of component transformations.
• Visibility tools capture changes in visibility components in time and can be edited to fade out parts over time for emphasis.


Story boards

• Story boards organize the multiple explosions or animations. Story boards can be created so that each new story board begins from the end state of the previous or clean using the models default visibility and position. This allows quick creation of serial storyboards or parallel storyboards.
• Story boards can be copied and pasted to create quick derivative works.
• Story boards can be reversed allowing an assembly animation storyboard to be quickly 
copied, pasted, then reversed resulting in a disassemble animation.
• Each story board has a scratch area at the beginning of the timeline. This allows edits that do not get recorded as events in the timeline.
• Story board events can be moved, deleted, and lengthened or shortened dynamically simply by editing the position and length of events in the timeline.


Camera recording


• Camera moves can be recorded while authoring a storyboard.
• Camera recording can be turned on or off as needed.
• Camera events are tracked in the timeline as events.

Annotations

• Annotations create pins associated to 3D geometry in time and can have text information 
associated to them.
• Selecting a pin will display the annotation information.
• Annotation events are tracked in the timeline as events.

Component Properties

• 
Components can be hidden and are tracked in the timeline as events.
• 
Components can have unique appearance properties in each storyboard

Playback

• When playing storyboards you can play one story board or all.
• Full screen playback creates a clean screen simplified experience making presenting 
storyboards easier to focus on the 3D graphics.
• A360 Web viewer allows viewing of animations. 
• AVI export  and rendering animations is coming in a future update
• Drawing support of explosions is coming in future update

Render Workspace

• 
Commonly edited properties have been added to the Appearances editing UI. This includes roughness and translucency.
• 
Duplicate materials are easier to identify and remove.


Fabrication

CAM Workspace

• Improved consistency with Autodesk CAM desktop solutions; HSMWorks and Inventor HSM.
• Updated Simulation tools. 
This includes a new option to stop simulation on collisions.

Updated Strategy options.

• (Ultimate only) Added stock options for fixed and relative cylinders and stock from a solid model. 
• (Mac only) Added ability to create and edit new tools.
• Improved images output to setup sheets.
• New NC Editor based on the Brackets editor. Users can select an NC editor of their own too.
• Added more post-processors

Drawings

• Drawing creation and editing is now possible on OS X.
• Drawing functionality has parity between Windows and OS X.


3D Print

• Added support for STL export to additional 3D print utilities. These include: Meshmixer, Makerbot, Cura and RepetierHost.
• Select the default utility in the preferences.

API

• Python scripting has been added. A dedicated Python IDE, documentation and samples makes ramping up on the additional language easy and familiar.
• Both Javascript and Python are still previews.
• Spyder is embeded and used for Python IDE and Debugging.

Introduction of Fusion 360 Ultimate

Fusion 360 Ultimate now delivers advanced tools.

Fusion 360 Ultimate includes:

• Animations
• 3 axis toolpaths
• 
Advanced support


Learning and First Customer Experience

• Better What’s new information making it more clear what has been updated.

• Access to specific help from Command dialogs makes it easier to get detailed learning on commands as you use them.