Create a freeform model

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Create a free form model.

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After completing this video, you'll be able to

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create a freeform box face, a cylinder and change the display mode.

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In fusion 3 60. We're gonna begin with a new untitled document.

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We want to begin talking about freeform modeling,

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how to get started with a freeform model and what that actually is.

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So inside of Fusion 3 60 on the create menu,

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you'll notice a purple icon that says create form

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freeform modeling uses T spline functionality which

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is a type of subdivision modeling.

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When we select this box, you can see now that we have a new contextual workspace.

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We're now looking at form tools which allow us

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to create and modify or manipulate freeform bodies.

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We want to get started by first learning how to create a basic

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freeform body before we ever get started talking about how to modify them.

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When we select the create drop down, notice that we have create sketch,

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a handful of primitives,

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a face option and then a couple of tools

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that look similar to our surface or solid tools.

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We're not gonna be focusing on the create sketch or the

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traditional extrude revolved sweep or loft tools in this video.

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Instead, we're gonna focus our attention on creating freeform primitives.

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Primitives are the most common way to start a free form model.

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And there are a handful of ones that we want to focus on.

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We're first gonna get started by selecting create box.

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The first thing we need to do is select a plane

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and notice that the rectangle that we're creating is

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either a center or a two point rectangle.

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For this example, we use center and we'll select the origin as our starting point.

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You can manually enter dimensions here for the length and width.

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But as soon as we left click,

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it's gonna move to a secondary dialogue box

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which allows us to modify those values here.

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Freeform modeling is a form of direct modeling.

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It's something that we do without capturing history.

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So you can manually change these values,

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but we're going to move on to manipulating each individual vertex, edge or face.

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So these numbers are not strictly binding for the overall design.

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What we do however want to focus on is the fact that we can

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increase or decrease the number of face divisions that we have for length,

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width and height.

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The more divisions that we have in general on a free form model,

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the harder the shape is to control.

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So it's a good practice to get started by using the fewest number of faces possible.

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We can always add or divide the bodies up later on,

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but it's a lot harder to get back to those simplified shapes.

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So for a freeform box,

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we're gonna start with two length faces with faces and height faces,

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we'll say OK. And now we've created a free form body

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if we expand the body's folder, note that we have body one,

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once again, free form modeling does not capture history.

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These tools will be direct tools,

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which means that if we make any changes to the design,

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those are going to be directly affecting the model.

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Now also keep in mind that the creation of primitives

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is going to only happen once you are not going

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to be able to go back and edit that primitive,

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you have to simply either make adjustments directly

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on the model or create a new primitive.

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For right now,

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let's go ahead and hide body one and let's

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move on to creating another type of primitive.

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In

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this case, we wanna take a look at creating a free form cylinder.

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Once again, we need to select a plane and we're gonna start at the origin and again,

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drag out

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and notice that we've got onscreen manipulators

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that allow us to increase the height,

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the diameter as well as the number of divisions that we have in each direction.

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This can be extremely helpful as you can get a

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nice visual indication of how the design is changing.

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Once again,

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it's always a good idea to use the fewest number

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of divisions possible when you get started on a design

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inside of the cylinder dialogue similar to the other dialogues,

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we will have options for things like symmetry.

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We can toggle on mirror symmetry and determine whether it's going to be length,

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width

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or height

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or we can toggle on circular symmetry.

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In the case of a cylinder, we can have circular symmetry

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and we can set this based on the number of symmetric faces.

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If we increase this to two,

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notice that we're getting additional divisions in the center here,

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we're gonna say OK. And the green lines are gonna represent lines of symmetry.

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This means if I select a vertex, a face or an edge,

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that same edge in each position across the symmetry is

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gonna be selected and will change with the model.

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Let's go ahead and hide body two and let's

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take a look at another type of freeform model.

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And this is going to be create and face

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when we select create face. Notice that we have a couple of different options.

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We've got a simple mode, we've got an edge mode and we've got a chain mode.

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We also have a number of sides set to four or multiple sides.

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There is also an object snap option which does

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allow us to snap to an existing reference,

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for example, a 3D scanned mesh.

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But for this example, let's stick with the simple insertion mode. And four sides

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begin by selecting a plane

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and then begin starting to lay out the four sided patches,

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we can go back to existing vertices

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and continue building out our shape.

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Keeping in mind that this is going to be a plainer face

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and then we can adjust its shape later on by selecting edges, vertices or faces.

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Now, this is a great way to begin a design

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that either matches a complex shape or is snapping to a reference such as a 3D scan.

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Now,

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each of these models are very easy to start creating

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and the challenge comes when you begin modifying them.

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But there is one more aspect that we want to

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talk about before we move on to modifying freeform models.

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Let's go ahead and hide body three and go back to body one.

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And we want to go to our utilities

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and select the display mode option.

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We're gonna select the free form body on the screen

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and notice that we have three different display modes. We've got box display,

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control frame display

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and smooth display.

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The box display or the control frame display are

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great ways to work on your freeform models.

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When we think about a freeform model,

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we have an exterior cage or box that's

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controlling the tangy direction for the surfaces.

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You can see that this box display is controlling the Tang agency of this edge

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and this edge here is controlling the tang agency of the underlying smooth surface

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as we begin making changes to our free form models,

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being able to toggle back and forth between a box display, a

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control frame display and the smooth display will be extremely handy.

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This can be done with the short cut keys,

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alt and three and alt and one going back and forth between box and smooth on a

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windows machine or you can use option and three and option and one on a Mac machine.

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Let's take a quick look at how the modifications will affect this control frame.

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So under the modified menu, we're gonna select edit form,

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we're gonna box select from the upper left to the bottom, right, the center position

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and begin pulling this up.

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So as we begin to manipulate the box or the outside cage of our design,

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notice that the tangy direction

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is maintained across these two edges,

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all we're simply doing is we're increasing the height of the box

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or the control frame which is pulling on the underlying surface.

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Now, if we rotate this model around a little bit and go to a left view,

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left click and then box select the center position or manually select that vertex,

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you can see here that we're able to pull that single vertex up.

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And once again, we're changing the overall shape of our design

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and this is gonna take a little bit of work to get a handle on.

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So it's a good idea that you practice playing around with the creation of

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freeform bodies first before we get into diving down into how to modify them.

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But this is the basic way that we can create our freeform bodies

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before you move on.

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If you want to continue playing on with this design, make sure that you do save it

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and then you can move on to the next step where

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we learn more about how to edit the freeform bodies.