{"id":75010,"date":"2025-02-12T07:07:14","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T15:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/?p=75010"},"modified":"2025-02-12T07:07:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T15:07:18","slug":"advanced-product-design-engineering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/advanced-product-design-engineering\/","title":{"rendered":"Advanced Product Design and Engineering in Autodesk Fusion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Autodesk Fusion software is one of the most powerful design and engineering tools available on the market. It allows industrial designers and mechanical engineers to design, analyze, and manufacture their ideas. Thankfully, there are plenty of learning resources to help people new to CAD\u2014or just new to Fusion. However, it can be difficult to find more advanced content that shows how to get from an intermediate level to an expert level\u2014how to design and engineer the best products possible and do so more quickly and easily. In this technical session, you\u2019ll learn the most effective techniques to take your product design and engineering skills to the next level and beyond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re interested in becoming a Fusion design and engineering expert, this is the article for you.<\/p>\n\n\n

Early decisions with BIG impacts<\/h2>\n\n\n

Your very first step is choosing an origin and orientation. The position and orientation of your part relative to the origin is critical and can determine how easy or difficult your design will be. Changing your part\u2019s position or orientation relative to the origin after modeling history is created is not easy. So, choose wisely!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, what axis should face upwards? Keep in mind that Fusion sets the Z-axis by default. If you’re working with another designer and their CAD software is set up to the Y-axis by default, consider doing the same. If you plan on using a CNC machine for your design, you might want to stick with the Z-axis. Note that using joints between origins will allow rotations between these parts along the Z-axis, So, if you do choose to use Y up, you may want to create a Joint Origin at the Origin, but oriented normally to the Y-axis. Jointing to the newly created Joint Origin will allow for proper rotation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And speaking of the origin, where should it be? Most engineers place the origin in the center of the component. Should the origin be in the center, top, or bottom of the component?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a look at the following examples below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This alignment allows you to easily insert this assembly into a given space, like a room, office, or factory. However, small items that sit on top of the table will require manual alignment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This alignment allows you to import small items onto the table quickly and easily. However, you will have to manually align this assembly into a space. <\/p>\n\n\n

Shared vs. individual origins<\/h3>\n\n\n

Next, what is the difference between shared versus individual origins? Shared origins allow you to throw all parts into an assembly more quickly and easily since they will always snap in place. However, the 2D drawings for each part serve as a challenge since parts won’t align to the world coordinate system. Individual origins give you more control over each part and 2D drawing creation is much more straightforward. The trade-off is that part assembly takes more time.<\/p>\n\n\n

Types of modeling methods<\/h3>\n\n\n

We’ll go over three types of methods: bottom-up modeling, top-down modeling, and hybrid modeling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With bottom-up modeling you can design each part individually with separate files and assemble all parts in a given assembly. You can also edit individual parts within the context of the assembly. This will give you more control over data, including versions and release states. It will also enable you to work on one component or subassembly within a design at the same time as someone else works on a different component or subassembly of the same design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes with some drawbacks, however. Most notably, it’s slower than top-down modeling. It’s also more difficult to share parameters. Certain features may not be available via Edit in Place. Propagating changes require you to update references. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, is top-down modeling. This is when you design all parts together within a single file. It’s a faster method with all the features available to you. Changing one component immediately propagates to all other components. The downside is slowed team collaborative efforts<\/a>, difficulty controlling data releases, and it’s trickier to re-use a component in another design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the name suggests, hybrid modeling is a cross between bottom-up and top-down modeling. Common parts are designed individually via separate files, and then inserted into assembly as needed. Each subsystem of a design is a separate individual file, but custom parts are designed within each file. <\/p>\n\n\n

Form modeling<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

You can think of form modeling as sculpting digital clay. You can push or pull any face, edge, or vertex. It’s more of an art form than engineering. Form modeling is also incredibly fast, so it’s perfect for concept ideation. This also means that it’s not parametric. Downstream operations and features can still be parametrically tied to the result of a body created in the Form Workspace.<\/p>\n\n\n

Using parameters<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

Parameters allow one value, found in a single location, to affect multiple sketches<\/a> and features. It can be based on other dimensions or even other parameters. It can use equations and logic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here are some tips for using a parameter table:<\/p>\n\n\n\n