{"id":11550,"date":"2019-07-30T10:09:08","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T17:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/?p=11550"},"modified":"2019-07-30T10:09:08","modified_gmt":"2019-07-30T17:09:08","slug":"tech-tip-thicken-command-surface-vs-form-environments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/tech-tip-thicken-command-surface-vs-form-environments\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech Tip: Thicken command, surface vs form environments"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, if you have been following my last few posts (How to Quickly Customize Orbit\/Pan Settings in Fusion 360<\/a>, Using the Pipe Command in Designs\/Solids<\/a>), you might have seen a theme starting.\u00a0 That focuses on understanding the difference between solid, Surface and t-spline geometry construction.\u00a0 More importantly, how they can be used together.\u00a0 Today, I am focusing on the Thicken command.\u00a0 First in Surfaces, then in Form\/Sculpt.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Surface tools are a powerful partner to solid geometry.\u00a0 First, surfaces can modify solids and can ultimately create solid geometry.\u00a0 They are parametric in nature and tool controls are very similar to solid construction.\u00a0 This is a set of tools that are a great first step towards Sculpt tools.\u00a0 With that in mind, let\u2019s talk about \u201cThicken\u201d in the Surface tools.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here is a quick surface loft that I built consisting of three sketch profiles.\u00a0 This surface body could split solid bodies or act as a termination for a solid extrude.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"surface<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The thicken command is in the create drop down menu.\u00a0 This tool takes the surface geometry and grows it to the solid body based on the thickness specified.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"thicken<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While in the tool, you can select the direction and distance of the thicken.\u00a0 In addition, one sided or symmetric.\u00a0 Operation controls are similar to Solid Feature creation (so you cold technically cut a solid with this tool as well).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"thicken<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Please note that the resultant thicken is relative to the curvature of the main form as it moves away.\u00a0 I thickened a second body in the opposite direction to highlight how the solid extends away from the original surface (highlighted).\u00a0 In addition, please note the Surface body is retained in the bodies folder.\u00a0 Fusion might have auto turned off visibility for you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"thicken<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now, please join me in the Sculpt\/Form environment.\u00a0 I constructed a complex \u201csurface\u201d based on a cylinder primitive with two creases.\u00a0 Edited the form slightly to get this form.\u00a0 It is not airtight, and if I \u201cFinished Form\u201d now, it would yield a Surface Body.\u00a0 Valuable, but it might not be my goal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Sculpt<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I could always thicken this form as a Surface within the Surface tools.\u00a0 That would yield a nominal thickness.\u00a0 If that is not the goal, try the Thicken tool in Sculpt\/Form.\u00a0 That tool is found in the Modify drop down menu.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"thicken<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Similar to the Surface tools, it allows you to select the direction and distance.\u00a0 In addition, you can choose the Thicken type.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"thicken<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This allow you to create hared edges, smooth or open bodies (like \u201coffset\u201d in Surface tools).\u00a0 Play with the Direction options as well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This allows you to modify the outcome of the thicken right in Sculpt.\u00a0 Look how quickly I adjusted the form.\u00a0 This is now an air tight body and not nominal thickness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"thicken<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After finishing form, Fusion gives me a Solid body based on the Sculpt.\u00a0 I did a section view to show you how I modified the form in sculpt more clearly post thicken.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"sculpt\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I hope you enjoyed our quick exploration of the Thicken tool in two environments. Want even more learning?\u00a0 Check out these lessons: Thicken Surfaces: Part 1<\/a> and Thicken Surfaces: Part 2<\/a>.\u00a0 Follow me on Instagram @blaster701 and keep a look out for my next post on the boundary fill tool!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn more about the thicken command in Fusion 360 in both the surface and form environments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3158,"featured_media":11552,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-11550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fusion","dhig-theme--light"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTech Tip: Thicken command, surface vs form environments - Fusion Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn more about the thicken command in Fusion 360 in both the surface and form environments.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/tech-tip-thicken-command-surface-vs-form-environments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tech Tip: Thicken command, surface vs form environments - 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A Ft. Lauderdale, FL based consulting group serving a range of domestic and international clients. The diversity of products included Fitness Equipment, Medical, Industrial, Consumer and Kitchen products. Jeff also spent eight years as adjunct faculty at the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale. While there, Jeff taught Solidworks, Sketching, Product Design, Personal Watercraft Design and Design for manufacturing. While at the AiFL, Jeff also built an internship program with Reflex Design and the school. Jeff is an industrial designer based in South East Florida. He's married to Michelle and has two children, Indiana, 14, and Dylan, 10. Jeff exercises a lot and spends time on the water at home. Skateboarding, skiing and mountain-biking are also on the family activities list. Click over to Jeff's Instagram Account to learn more: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/blaster701","url":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/author\/jeffsmith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11550"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}