Users can start designing in a blank canvas (like a traditional 3D CAD program) or use an industrial design workflow to start sketching over imported images. There is also a Render workspace for generating realistic pictures of your designs, an Animation workspace with tools for creating videos, a Simulation workspace that allows use of finite element analysis (FEA) to simulate how the design performs under various loads and conditions, and a CAM workstation with tools for producing toolpaths for fabricating designs using computer numeric control (CNC) machines.Īdditional functionality still under development-such as Live Review collaboration support a Mesh workspace with tools to modify and repair mesh bodies Event Simulation for nonlinear, time-dependent, dynamic events printed circuit board tools and CAM machine configurations-can also be enabled via the Preferences dialog. The Simulation workspace includes tools for using finite element analysis to investigate performance.

A ViewCube in the upper-right corner of the canvas enables orbiting of the design or the ability to view it from standard positions. The Patch workspace enables creation and editing of 2D or 3D surface geometry.Īfter selecting a tool within the current workspace, users work on the design within the canvas, left-clicking to select objects and right-clicking to access a marking menu that contains frequently used commands. Sculpt is a sub-environment of the Model workspace, with tools for pushing and pulling vertices and edges to achieve the desired shapes. For example, the Model workspace provides tools for placing 3D solid primitives, and for sketching and converting sketches into features, like what is found in a traditional 3D CAD environment. When selecting a workspace from the toolbar drop-down, users will find tools and commands specific to that workspace. To simplify things, the program’s capabilities are grouped into workspaces. Tabs across the top of the window let you select among open projects, whereas the Application bar provides tools for accessing design files.

The Fusion 360 user interface seems quite spartan compared to other products. Since then, the company has continued to improve Fusion 360 with frequent updates, to the point that it rivals and sometimes exceeds the capabilities of its own Inventor software. Two years later, Autodesk discontinued Inventor Fusion when it released Autodesk Fusion 360, a full-featured 3D CAD/CAM/CAE tool for collaborative product development, combining organic modeling with precise solid modeling. Inventor Fusion offered solid and surface modeling tools, and supported parametric and freeform modeling. Back in 2012, Autodesk introduced Autodesk Inventor Fusion as a technology preview, a free extension to its Inventor software that ran on Macs and PCs.

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