Refine complete the form body

00:02

refine and complete a form body.

00:06

After completing this video, you'll be able to use flatten mirror and thicken

00:12

Infusion 3 60.

00:13

Let's carry on with our trigger with

00:14

mechanics design at this point we've created the

00:17

basis for a form body and we're not going to do the entire form body.

00:21

But we do want to talk about a few more aspects of it.

00:24

The first thing that we want to talk about is how to add intricate detail.

00:28

As I mentioned,

00:29

we want to use the least number of

00:31

faces possible when we're working with foreign bodies

00:34

but there comes a time when we need to add specific detail.

00:38

That requires us to add more edges or faces.

00:41

For example, on this edge, if we want to add a crease,

00:44

we can double click this edge and we can use

00:46

the option to insert edge or even add a crease.

00:50

Now there are a couple of things that we should keep in mind

00:53

creasing an edge.

00:54

Or using something like beveling and edge will add additional

00:57

edges or maintain a hard edge between adjacent faces.

01:03

If we want to control this in a smoother manner,

01:05

it requires a little bit more hands on

01:07

approach and precision using something like insert edge.

01:11

So let's take a look at using insert edge

01:14

and from this view we're going to bring these edges close together.

01:18

When we bring the edges close together.

01:20

What we're doing is we're creating a tighter transition between the shapes.

01:24

We can hide the canvas image for now.

01:27

So as you can see what we're doing

01:29

here is we're creating a tighter transition between

01:32

the two adjacent faces and this is because if we go into box display mode,

01:37

what we have here is we've got a single edge right next to another edge.

01:42

We can manipulate these to change the way that the curvature works.

01:45

For example, if we go to modify edit form,

01:48

we can pull this edge back just a little bit and this will

01:51

affect the way in which that crease or that sharpened edge behaves.

01:56

Let's go ahead and repeat this process up here.

01:59

I'm going to double click on this edge and I'm going to use insert edge

02:04

And again from my front view double clicking the mouse wheel to fit the screen.

02:08

We're going to pull these edges relatively close together.

02:11

Now there is no specific number that will work

02:15

because this is a percentage value between other edges.

02:18

So for example,

02:22

side because there's not as much distance between these two edges.

02:26

So in general I go between about 0.52 point one and that gives me a nice tight crease.

02:31

Also keep in mind when we do this,

02:34

what we're doing is we're using the simple insertion

02:36

mode because that allows fusion 3 60 the ability to

02:40

not only insert the edge but also adjust the topology underneath.

02:44

If we go to our box display mode using Alton one,

02:47

we can make adjustments to this by scaling this

02:49

edge up and down or moving things around.

02:52

If you decide that you don't want that crease there,

02:54

it's as simple as selecting the edge and using delete on the keyboard to get rid of it.

02:58

So in this case we can maintain that smooth transition.

03:03

If we want to manually fade the crease away, this has to be done in a different manner.

03:08

For example,

03:10

we're going to select this bottom edge here and we're going to shift double

03:13

click up to here and we'll use modify insert edge Infusion 3 60 we can

03:19

create what's called a T point and this is an instance where the end

03:23

of one edge will end in the middle of another creating this T point.

03:28

Now that's perfectly okay.

03:29

But what we want to do is we want to tighten that crease up as we get further forward.

03:33

So in order to do this, I'm going to select these two edges.

03:37

Select insert edge and we're gonna put these two closer together.

03:42

Then we're going to use modify insert point and connect the two open edges.

03:49

Now, when we take a look at this using control and the number four to hide my edges,

03:53

you can see that the transition is still there but

03:56

we can control how close or how narrow it gets.

03:59

So this allows us to have a nice transition on the handle and then have

04:03

it blend away or tighten up as we get to the top of the device.

04:07

Going to use control and the number six to bring my edges back.

04:10

And you can also go to your display settings,

04:12

visual style and use shaded with visible edges only or shaded to remove the edges.

04:19

Now that we've explored ways in which we can add some additional detail.

04:22

Let's talk about mirroring this to the other

04:24

side and creating a thickened version of it.

04:27

So first we're going to go to symmetry and take a look at mirror internal.

04:31

And mirror duplicate when we create a duplicate body.

04:35

It'll create it across a plane or a selected reference when we use mirror internal.

04:40

It'll take a body that is already across that plane and it'll make it symmetric.

04:45

So in this case we're going to say mirror duplicate

04:49

and we want to select our mirror plane.

04:52

Notice here that there is a weld option

04:54

and there is a well tolerance.

04:56

What we want to see here is this green symmetry edge that happens between the bodies.

05:02

This means that we have symmetry and we can select. Ok,

05:06

I'm going to use all two and three to try to take a look at

05:09

a smooth display and you'll notice that it doesn't give us a smooth display.

05:12

There is a potential problem here because of the single point of contact.

05:16

What we need to do is we need to carry those four edges across,

05:20

which means that we have to do a little bit of manual work.

05:22

So we'll go to modify insert point will come from this point here

05:27

we'll go down to the middle of this edge and we'll hit enter.

05:31

Once you've created that we can select this.

05:33

Offending edge and hit delete on the keyboard.

05:36

This essentially creates a four sided patch but we

05:39

still have to connect these corners as well.

05:42

Let's go to insert point and will come from this corner down to the middle and say okay

05:48

now we can try to view this in smooth display and if it doesn't work

05:52

then the next step is going to be to try to use utilities and repair body

05:57

selecting the body and having it tried to repair any issues

06:01

by using the auto repair option.

06:04

And then we can say okay

06:07

when we take a look at this from the side it's still not producing a smooth display.

06:11

And part of the reason that we see that now is because of this face here.

06:15

This face is perfectly on the mid plane which means

06:19

that it's not going to be able to rectify it.

06:21

So what we're gonna do is we're going to select that face and hit delete

06:26

once we get rid of that face. Now we're able to see the rest of the saw

06:30

but we don't have the handle connected anymore.

06:34

The way that we need to approach this now that we have a body on both sides

06:38

is for us to get rid of some geometry or to use bridge to combine them together.

06:43

If we use bridge, we can select the bridge tool

06:47

and we can go from this face to this face.

06:51

Now you'll notice that it might produce a problem because of symmetry.

06:55

So you might need to select the faces across the symmetry in order to get this to work.

07:00

Once we do that, I'm going to reduce the number of faces between down to one and say,

07:05

okay,

07:06

you can see that it was able to connect those but these bottom faces,

07:09

I'm going to select and delete leaving them open on the bottom.

07:12

We never did finish off the bottom and that's okay because in

07:15

this video we're only exploring the concept of creating these foreign bodies.

07:20

Now that we've connected these together,

07:22

we can see some issues that are being presented.

07:24

The star points any time we have a transition or a change in direction.

07:29

This is where we have three or five

07:31

edges coming together instead of the traditional four.

07:34

This happens in these bottom two corners and appear

07:38

in order to make sure that this doesn't produce an issue.

07:41

Generally what we do is we add additional edges and we

07:44

move the star point further away from a change in curvature.

07:48

So in this case, what I'm going to do is I'm going to insert an edge

07:53

and then I'm going to go into my box display mode and begin manipulating the shape.

07:58

I'm going to double click on this inside edge.

07:60

Use modify edit form and scale it down slightly.

08:03

Then I'll select this inside vertex and I'll pull this up slightly as well.

08:08

Then I'm going to take this outside vertex and I'm going to pull it down slightly

08:12

to view this in smooth display.

08:14

And what we've done is we've taken the start point and we've moved it one edge away.

08:19

We can do the same thing on the bottom by either

08:21

extruding that down or going to modify an insert edge,

08:26

inserting an edge means that the star point is

08:28

no longer located directly on the transition of curvature.

08:32

This takes a bit of work and it takes some time and

08:34

you can see here we still don't have a perfect result.

08:37

It will take a little bit more work to fix.

08:39

So make sure that you play around with these options inserting and removing edges.

08:43

To see if you can get to a situation

08:45

where you no longer have star points causing problems.

08:49

Another thing that we can do is we can insert edge and

08:52

we can use the exact option and exact will make sure that

08:55

we maintain the same shape and it'll insert as many edges or

08:59

versaces as it needs to in order to maintain that shape.

09:03

So in this case we would need to do a little bit more

09:05

rita apologizing in order to move that star point a bit further away

09:09

but we already have a better result

09:13

from here.

09:13

The next thing that we want to talk about is

09:15

some additional tools in the use of flattening and thickening.

09:19

So I'm going to use undo to get rid of that last subdivision and I'm

09:24

going to go to modify and I'm going to look for the flattened tool.

09:27

A flattened tool will allow us to select versus is in this case,

09:32

I'm going to select the vertex is across the bottom here.

09:35

And what it's going to do is it's going

09:37

to average their position relative to each other,

09:40

flattening them out.

09:41

Note that we can do this with control points with

09:44

surface points when we're looking at in smooth display.

09:47

These will be surface points and we can also

09:50

select a specific plane or a parallel plane fit.

09:54

Will allow it to average the position between all of those.

09:56

So we're going to say, okay,

09:58

what we've done is we've taken those vortices

09:60

and we've averaged their position to flatten them.

10:03

The next thing that we want to do is turn this into a solid body.

10:06

This can be done after finishing the form and

10:09

taking the surface in the design work space and

10:11

converting it to a solid or we can create

10:14

a thickened version of it here using modify thicken.

10:19

Now there are pros and cons to each method.

10:21

When we use thick in here in the form workspace,

10:24

we have some control over the thick and type.

10:26

We can have a soft edge,

10:28

a sharp edge or no edge which will allow us to just create an offset version of this.

10:32

We can also determine whether it's normal or relative to an axis.

10:37

In most cases we're going to want to use the normal option.

10:40

I'm going to give this a two millimeter thickness and say okay,

10:46

the benefit to doing this in the forms workspace

10:48

is now we have direct control over the versaces,

10:51

edges and faces on both the inside and the outside.

10:55

This allows us to add or reduce the thickness in certain areas if needed.

10:60

Now that we've explored creating a form body,

11:02

the next thing for us to do is to turn this back into a solid body for the design.

11:07

When we select finish form fusion 360 will automatically convert the form body

11:12

into a solid body if it was closed or a surface body. If it was open.

11:17

If there are any issues with the conversion,

11:19

you'll be prompted to address the problem

11:21

inside of the forms contextual environment.

11:23

But at this stage now we have a complete solid body that we can add solid features too.

11:29

An opening for the trigger.

11:31

We can add vents in the side or we can

11:33

go back into the form and continue to manipulate it

11:37

at any point in time.

11:38

We can simply finish the form as it is a feature

11:41

in the timeline and continue to work with the solid body

11:45

for this example, we're pretty much done.

11:47

But let's go ahead and bring back our trigger model and the internal mechanics and

11:51

you can see that there are some clearance issues that would need to be addressed.

11:55

This is a great model to play around with and I

11:57

suggest that you continue to play around with the form body,

11:59

learning how to use some of the tools,

12:01

keeping in mind that you should save the thicken operation till

12:04

the very end as it becomes a bit more complicated to manipulate

12:08

at this point, let's go ahead and make sure we save the design before moving on.

Video transcript

00:02

refine and complete a form body.

00:06

After completing this video, you'll be able to use flatten mirror and thicken

00:12

Infusion 3 60.

00:13

Let's carry on with our trigger with

00:14

mechanics design at this point we've created the

00:17

basis for a form body and we're not going to do the entire form body.

00:21

But we do want to talk about a few more aspects of it.

00:24

The first thing that we want to talk about is how to add intricate detail.

00:28

As I mentioned,

00:29

we want to use the least number of

00:31

faces possible when we're working with foreign bodies

00:34

but there comes a time when we need to add specific detail.

00:38

That requires us to add more edges or faces.

00:41

For example, on this edge, if we want to add a crease,

00:44

we can double click this edge and we can use

00:46

the option to insert edge or even add a crease.

00:50

Now there are a couple of things that we should keep in mind

00:53

creasing an edge.

00:54

Or using something like beveling and edge will add additional

00:57

edges or maintain a hard edge between adjacent faces.

01:03

If we want to control this in a smoother manner,

01:05

it requires a little bit more hands on

01:07

approach and precision using something like insert edge.

01:11

So let's take a look at using insert edge

01:14

and from this view we're going to bring these edges close together.

01:18

When we bring the edges close together.

01:20

What we're doing is we're creating a tighter transition between the shapes.

01:24

We can hide the canvas image for now.

01:27

So as you can see what we're doing

01:29

here is we're creating a tighter transition between

01:32

the two adjacent faces and this is because if we go into box display mode,

01:37

what we have here is we've got a single edge right next to another edge.

01:42

We can manipulate these to change the way that the curvature works.

01:45

For example, if we go to modify edit form,

01:48

we can pull this edge back just a little bit and this will

01:51

affect the way in which that crease or that sharpened edge behaves.

01:56

Let's go ahead and repeat this process up here.

01:59

I'm going to double click on this edge and I'm going to use insert edge

02:04

And again from my front view double clicking the mouse wheel to fit the screen.

02:08

We're going to pull these edges relatively close together.

02:11

Now there is no specific number that will work

02:15

because this is a percentage value between other edges.

02:18

So for example,

02:22

side because there's not as much distance between these two edges.

02:26

So in general I go between about 0.52 point one and that gives me a nice tight crease.

02:31

Also keep in mind when we do this,

02:34

what we're doing is we're using the simple insertion

02:36

mode because that allows fusion 3 60 the ability to

02:40

not only insert the edge but also adjust the topology underneath.

02:44

If we go to our box display mode using Alton one,

02:47

we can make adjustments to this by scaling this

02:49

edge up and down or moving things around.

02:52

If you decide that you don't want that crease there,

02:54

it's as simple as selecting the edge and using delete on the keyboard to get rid of it.

02:58

So in this case we can maintain that smooth transition.

03:03

If we want to manually fade the crease away, this has to be done in a different manner.

03:08

For example,

03:10

we're going to select this bottom edge here and we're going to shift double

03:13

click up to here and we'll use modify insert edge Infusion 3 60 we can

03:19

create what's called a T point and this is an instance where the end

03:23

of one edge will end in the middle of another creating this T point.

03:28

Now that's perfectly okay.

03:29

But what we want to do is we want to tighten that crease up as we get further forward.

03:33

So in order to do this, I'm going to select these two edges.

03:37

Select insert edge and we're gonna put these two closer together.

03:42

Then we're going to use modify insert point and connect the two open edges.

03:49

Now, when we take a look at this using control and the number four to hide my edges,

03:53

you can see that the transition is still there but

03:56

we can control how close or how narrow it gets.

03:59

So this allows us to have a nice transition on the handle and then have

04:03

it blend away or tighten up as we get to the top of the device.

04:07

Going to use control and the number six to bring my edges back.

04:10

And you can also go to your display settings,

04:12

visual style and use shaded with visible edges only or shaded to remove the edges.

04:19

Now that we've explored ways in which we can add some additional detail.

04:22

Let's talk about mirroring this to the other

04:24

side and creating a thickened version of it.

04:27

So first we're going to go to symmetry and take a look at mirror internal.

04:31

And mirror duplicate when we create a duplicate body.

04:35

It'll create it across a plane or a selected reference when we use mirror internal.

04:40

It'll take a body that is already across that plane and it'll make it symmetric.

04:45

So in this case we're going to say mirror duplicate

04:49

and we want to select our mirror plane.

04:52

Notice here that there is a weld option

04:54

and there is a well tolerance.

04:56

What we want to see here is this green symmetry edge that happens between the bodies.

05:02

This means that we have symmetry and we can select. Ok,

05:06

I'm going to use all two and three to try to take a look at

05:09

a smooth display and you'll notice that it doesn't give us a smooth display.

05:12

There is a potential problem here because of the single point of contact.

05:16

What we need to do is we need to carry those four edges across,

05:20

which means that we have to do a little bit of manual work.

05:22

So we'll go to modify insert point will come from this point here

05:27

we'll go down to the middle of this edge and we'll hit enter.

05:31

Once you've created that we can select this.

05:33

Offending edge and hit delete on the keyboard.

05:36

This essentially creates a four sided patch but we

05:39

still have to connect these corners as well.

05:42

Let's go to insert point and will come from this corner down to the middle and say okay

05:48

now we can try to view this in smooth display and if it doesn't work

05:52

then the next step is going to be to try to use utilities and repair body

05:57

selecting the body and having it tried to repair any issues

06:01

by using the auto repair option.

06:04

And then we can say okay

06:07

when we take a look at this from the side it's still not producing a smooth display.

06:11

And part of the reason that we see that now is because of this face here.

06:15

This face is perfectly on the mid plane which means

06:19

that it's not going to be able to rectify it.

06:21

So what we're gonna do is we're going to select that face and hit delete

06:26

once we get rid of that face. Now we're able to see the rest of the saw

06:30

but we don't have the handle connected anymore.

06:34

The way that we need to approach this now that we have a body on both sides

06:38

is for us to get rid of some geometry or to use bridge to combine them together.

06:43

If we use bridge, we can select the bridge tool

06:47

and we can go from this face to this face.

06:51

Now you'll notice that it might produce a problem because of symmetry.

06:55

So you might need to select the faces across the symmetry in order to get this to work.

07:00

Once we do that, I'm going to reduce the number of faces between down to one and say,

07:05

okay,

07:06

you can see that it was able to connect those but these bottom faces,

07:09

I'm going to select and delete leaving them open on the bottom.

07:12

We never did finish off the bottom and that's okay because in

07:15

this video we're only exploring the concept of creating these foreign bodies.

07:20

Now that we've connected these together,

07:22

we can see some issues that are being presented.

07:24

The star points any time we have a transition or a change in direction.

07:29

This is where we have three or five

07:31

edges coming together instead of the traditional four.

07:34

This happens in these bottom two corners and appear

07:38

in order to make sure that this doesn't produce an issue.

07:41

Generally what we do is we add additional edges and we

07:44

move the star point further away from a change in curvature.

07:48

So in this case, what I'm going to do is I'm going to insert an edge

07:53

and then I'm going to go into my box display mode and begin manipulating the shape.

07:58

I'm going to double click on this inside edge.

07:60

Use modify edit form and scale it down slightly.

08:03

Then I'll select this inside vertex and I'll pull this up slightly as well.

08:08

Then I'm going to take this outside vertex and I'm going to pull it down slightly

08:12

to view this in smooth display.

08:14

And what we've done is we've taken the start point and we've moved it one edge away.

08:19

We can do the same thing on the bottom by either

08:21

extruding that down or going to modify an insert edge,

08:26

inserting an edge means that the star point is

08:28

no longer located directly on the transition of curvature.

08:32

This takes a bit of work and it takes some time and

08:34

you can see here we still don't have a perfect result.

08:37

It will take a little bit more work to fix.

08:39

So make sure that you play around with these options inserting and removing edges.

08:43

To see if you can get to a situation

08:45

where you no longer have star points causing problems.

08:49

Another thing that we can do is we can insert edge and

08:52

we can use the exact option and exact will make sure that

08:55

we maintain the same shape and it'll insert as many edges or

08:59

versaces as it needs to in order to maintain that shape.

09:03

So in this case we would need to do a little bit more

09:05

rita apologizing in order to move that star point a bit further away

09:09

but we already have a better result

09:13

from here.

09:13

The next thing that we want to talk about is

09:15

some additional tools in the use of flattening and thickening.

09:19

So I'm going to use undo to get rid of that last subdivision and I'm

09:24

going to go to modify and I'm going to look for the flattened tool.

09:27

A flattened tool will allow us to select versus is in this case,

09:32

I'm going to select the vertex is across the bottom here.

09:35

And what it's going to do is it's going

09:37

to average their position relative to each other,

09:40

flattening them out.

09:41

Note that we can do this with control points with

09:44

surface points when we're looking at in smooth display.

09:47

These will be surface points and we can also

09:50

select a specific plane or a parallel plane fit.

09:54

Will allow it to average the position between all of those.

09:56

So we're going to say, okay,

09:58

what we've done is we've taken those vortices

09:60

and we've averaged their position to flatten them.

10:03

The next thing that we want to do is turn this into a solid body.

10:06

This can be done after finishing the form and

10:09

taking the surface in the design work space and

10:11

converting it to a solid or we can create

10:14

a thickened version of it here using modify thicken.

10:19

Now there are pros and cons to each method.

10:21

When we use thick in here in the form workspace,

10:24

we have some control over the thick and type.

10:26

We can have a soft edge,

10:28

a sharp edge or no edge which will allow us to just create an offset version of this.

10:32

We can also determine whether it's normal or relative to an axis.

10:37

In most cases we're going to want to use the normal option.

10:40

I'm going to give this a two millimeter thickness and say okay,

10:46

the benefit to doing this in the forms workspace

10:48

is now we have direct control over the versaces,

10:51

edges and faces on both the inside and the outside.

10:55

This allows us to add or reduce the thickness in certain areas if needed.

10:60

Now that we've explored creating a form body,

11:02

the next thing for us to do is to turn this back into a solid body for the design.

11:07

When we select finish form fusion 360 will automatically convert the form body

11:12

into a solid body if it was closed or a surface body. If it was open.

11:17

If there are any issues with the conversion,

11:19

you'll be prompted to address the problem

11:21

inside of the forms contextual environment.

11:23

But at this stage now we have a complete solid body that we can add solid features too.

11:29

An opening for the trigger.

11:31

We can add vents in the side or we can

11:33

go back into the form and continue to manipulate it

11:37

at any point in time.

11:38

We can simply finish the form as it is a feature

11:41

in the timeline and continue to work with the solid body

11:45

for this example, we're pretty much done.

11:47

But let's go ahead and bring back our trigger model and the internal mechanics and

11:51

you can see that there are some clearance issues that would need to be addressed.

11:55

This is a great model to play around with and I

11:57

suggest that you continue to play around with the form body,

11:59

learning how to use some of the tools,

12:01

keeping in mind that you should save the thicken operation till

12:04

the very end as it becomes a bit more complicated to manipulate

12:08

at this point, let's go ahead and make sure we save the design before moving on.

Video quiz

Which of the following Symmetry tools should be used to create an exact reflection of an existing form body about a symmetry plane?

(Select one)
Select an answer

1/1 questions left unanswered

Step-by-step

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