Fusion 360 Spring Fling Brings More Parts, Capability

Autodesk's do-all application adds TraceParts engineering catalogs, new full round fillet tool and new send to Fusion 360 from Inventor 2022 option.

Whether you’re new to Fusion 360 or a long-time user you’re going to want to see what’s new in the Spring release. Every year, Autodesk’s solutions get a spring makeover and the company has done so, once again, announcing the latest versions of its popular software, including Inventor, Revit and Fusion 360. Fusion 360 is the cloud-based baby of the bunch and was originally introduced in 2013 to offer a combination of design, simulation and manufacturing tools in one solution. 

Today, Fusion 360 has a cluster of tools and extensions for 3D modeling, manufacturing, data management, 3D printing, simulation, rendering, and much more. It is available as stand-alone or as part of the Product Design & Manufacturing Collection.

This year’s update has new features that focus on interoperability, partnerships and new way to create fillets, new connectors for electronics and more.

For starters, if you’re using Inventor, you can now extend your Inventor workflow by sending your part directly into Fusion 360 with a click of a button.

A new command has been added to the Environments tab that enables users to bypass Desktop Connector and send part files directly to Fusion Team.

Fusion Team is included with a subscription to Fusion 360 and the Product Design & Manufacturing Collection.

Check out the video below to see it in action.

Luke Mihelcic, technical marketing manager, Autodesk, explained, “Fusion 360 has been inside of the Product Design & Manufacturing Collection for a while now and in this release is the ability to send files directly from inventor over to Fusion 360. If you’re doing machining, if you want to do some generative design or 3D printing or maybe you’re doing something with electronics… you don’t have to do an import and an export. You don’t have to deal with using Desktop Connector like we had to in the past. Inventor pushes it up to Fusion Team inside of Fusion, you open the file, and you can work with it. It stays associative, so if you update your model, you can push a new version up. And I think it gives a really nice workflow when you’re on distributed teams, and you’re trying to connect with manufacturing.”

Not only has Autodesk improved interoperability in-house, they’ve partnered up outside their doors to implement ways of working with third-party products. For instance, Fusion 360 now includes TraceParts engineering catalogs. Users will notice under the Insert drop-down menu bar the Insert TraceParts Supplier Components menu command, which gives users access to millions of supplier components, 3D models, CAD files, and 2D drawings. Once they find what they’re looking for, they sign-in to their TraceParts account, they can configure product options, dynamically preview them in 3D then hit download, which inserts the supplier component directly into the Fusion 360 canvas.  

As part of the Trace Group who joined the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) in the 1990s, TraceParts has been a long-term software partner of Autodesk to offer 2D drawings and 3D CAD models of industrial components to their millions of users.]

As part of the Trace Group who joined the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) in the 1990s, TraceParts has been a long-term software partner of Autodesk to offer 2D drawings and 3D CAD models of industrial components to their millions of users.]
TraceParts Supplier Components can be easily searched, configured and inserted within Autodesk Fusion 360.

TraceParts Supplier Components can be easily searched, configured and inserted within Autodesk Fusion 360.

If you’re 3D printing, Autodesk and its partners has you covered. Autodesk announced in this latest release that Fusion 360 now has support for HP Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) printers. The Fusion 360 Machine library now includes a virtual MJF printer to replicate an HP 3D printer’s build volume so when creating an additive setup, users can choose the MJF machine and the bodies selected will be placed in this new build volume. Once you are ready to 3D print, you can send your additive setup to HP’s SmartStream 3D Build Manager software using the App from Fusion App store.

We also saw that Xometry had announced recently the Xometry Instant Quote App for Fusion 360, a free app, which enables users to get an instant price and lead time from Xometry without leaving the Autodesk Fusion 360 platform. Per Xometry, through the partnership Xometry is offering 10% discount on orders placed through Autodesk Fusion 360, and Autodesk will offer a 20% discount on a Fusion 360 subscription exclusively to Xometry suppliers.

The Xometry Autodesk Fusion 360 app is the second collaboration between Xometry and Autodesk, as they currently have an existing add-in for Autodesk Inventor.

Additionally, if Fusion 360 users need more additive manufacturing capabilities they’ll want to check out the Additive Build Extension, which was released in October 2020. This extension available at an additional cost features metal powder bed fusion functionality through the first additive extension, as well as intelligent orientation and support structure generation.

The new Break View tool in the drawings environment is now available too, which was introduced in January as a preview. Looks like the Fusion 360 team has worked out the tweaks and now users can display long or tall parts and assemblies as a broken view. A broken or break view reduces the size of long models by removing irrelevant portions, to make it fit the drawing sheet. Dimensions that span the break show its true length. 

Users will find a new toolbar button near the Drawing View and can start the command, choose a view, then place the two locations where you want the break your model. 

Users can add a break to a base view, edit the break, and adjust the spacing between the two halves of your view. Your break can be either horizontal or vertical and you can add a dimension across the break, which displays the correct value.

Users will also find a new Full Round Fillet, which allows you to just that- create a full round fillet.

Users will also find a new Full Round Fillet, which allows you to just that- create a full round fillet.

Previously users had to select two edges and go by trial-and-error to get the closest result. Now within the Fillet tool, there is a new Fillet type called Full Round Fillet where users can select a face and the tool will automatically find the two opposite edges and create a full round fillet. Go to Design Workspace > Modify > Fillet > Type > Full Round Fillet to access.


New Full Round Fillet Feature

For electronics design users will find new connectors and a battery holder added to the content libraries under File > New Electronics Design > New Schematic > Add part.

Content selections now include connectors, such as RJ type connectors, D-Subs, and USB connectors. Users will also notice LED segment displays for read-out display and coin-style battery holder designs.

While the above touches on just a tad of what’s new we’d encourage you to see the Autodesk blog to learn more about what’s new and improved.

Aside from what we’ve mentioned Fusion 360 really does offer users a slew of options for computer-aided machining (CAM), cloud collaboration and data management, generative design and simulation, photo-realistic rendering and documentation, in addition to offering a number of extensions for an additional cost.

More information can be found on pricing and the available extensions here. Mihelcic said Autodesk encourages users to take advantage of all the Product Design & Manufacturing collection has to offer, stating one benefit of the collection is they can use the cloud securely with Fusion right at their fingertips, when they are ready!