How to use complex sketch entities

00:02

How to use complex sketch entities?

00:05

After completing this video,

00:06

you'll be able to

00:07

create a sketch spline,

00:09

create a conic,

00:10

and create a blend curve.

00:13

To get started in Fusion,

00:14

we want to open the supplied data set ComplexSketch.

00:17

F3D.

00:19

We're going to begin by editing sketch one.

00:21

Sketch one contains a couple of lines on the left hand

00:24

side and a couple of arcs on the right hand side.

00:27

In this video,

00:27

we're gonna be exploring the use of complex sketch entities.

00:31

Specifically,

00:31

we'll talk about two different types of spines,

00:34

conic curves,

00:35

as well as the blend curve.

00:37

To get started,

00:38

first,

00:38

let's take a look at splines.

00:40

There are 2 different types of spines that we can use in fusion,

00:43

a flip point spline and a control point spline.

00:46

Both will create complex curves,

00:48

but they have slightly different uses.

00:50

The fit point spline allows us to create a spline that

00:53

has the fit points directly on the spine curve itself.

00:57

Once the spine is created,

00:58

you'll notice that we have green handles with dots on the ends.

01:01

If we hit escape to get off of our spine tool,

01:04

as we move these handles about,

01:06

we're controlling the tangency direction

01:09

as well as the weight or influence of that tangency.

01:12

We can apply dimensions and constraints directly to the handles.

01:15

For example,

01:16

we can use the co-linear constraint between this and the line on the left hand side.

01:21

We can also apply constraints such as tangent

01:24

between this line itself and other curves.

01:27

If we need to,

01:28

we also have the ability to add or remove splind

01:30

points or control the curvature at each individual point.

01:34

If we had escape to get off of our constraint tool,

01:37

we can move about the points.

01:39

And then we can also activate their handles.

01:42

It's important to note that generally with the points blinds,

01:45

the fewer number of control points,

01:47

the better curvature you'll get.

01:49

So you want to limit the number of points you

01:50

have to only manage to get the curvature you need.

01:54

We can select points and use delete on the keyboard to remove them.

01:57

In this case,

01:58

we'll delete both,

01:59

and we can also select a spline,

02:01

right click,

02:02

and insert a fit point spline if we need.

02:04

For example,

02:05

if we need to add a point back in the center.

02:07

Let's hit escape and delete that 0.1 more time.

02:11

In addition to applying constraints like tangency,

02:14

we also have constraints such as curvature.

02:17

There's a difference between tangency or G1

02:19

continuity and curvature or G2 continuity.

02:22

Tangency only controls the direction,

02:24

which means we still have the ability to apply a dimension here.

02:28

Go to right click and use this as an aligned dimension

02:30

and give it a value of 20 millimeters.

02:33

We can do the same thing over here,

02:35

applying an aligned dimension.

02:37

And in this case,

02:38

we'll set this one at 40.

02:40

Now our spine is fully defined.

02:43

Let's go ahead and select Create spline and use a control point spine.

02:48

Unlike a fitpoint spine,

02:49

a control point spine has an external cage for the spine curve.

02:54

Control point splines allow you to define the degree of the

02:57

spine by selecting 3 or 5 at the creation time.

03:00

This is going to determine the number of points required

03:03

in order to calculate that spine.

03:05

Once again,

03:06

we can use tools like co-linear,

03:08

and co-linear will allow us to take one of the

03:10

sly controls and make it co-linear with another entity.

03:14

If we use the curvature constraint,

03:16

this is gonna dictate that the curvature direction as well

03:19

as the radius of that curvature or the amount of influence

03:23

is dictated by that constraint.

03:25

You can see that this first construction line in the control cage is now black,

03:29

while the others are still orange.

03:31

If we had a skate to get off of our constraint tool,

03:34

we still have control over the geometry by manipulating these internal points.

03:38

But keep in mind,

03:39

just like with a 5 point spine,

03:41

the fewer control points generally the better the curvature will be.

03:45

In this case,

03:45

if we select a point and delete it,

03:48

we'll be able to reduce the number that we have on the spine.

03:51

There will be a situation where it'll start to remove constraints,

03:54

so you do have to be careful once you create your spinets.

03:58

You can use tools like dimensions

04:01

to create a completely fully defined spine.

04:04

Keep in mind,

04:04

however,

04:05

that this is much more difficult as the spines become more complex.

04:10

Let's go ahead and take a look at the blend curve option.

04:13

With Blend curve,

04:14

we can either drive tangency or curvature continuity of the blend curve.

04:18

We then need to select two entities,

04:20

and it'll generate a curve between them.

04:23

All three of these are valid options for us to create and generate complex curves.

04:28

If we had escape to get off of our tool,

04:30

note that with each one of these,

04:31

we have the ability to turn on curvature combs.

04:34

Curvature combs are a great analysis tool

04:36

that allows us to see the curvature direction

04:39

and amount

04:40

at each blind or curve.

04:43

The use of advanced tools like spines and the blend curve,

04:47

as well as the use of curvature combs to analyze the curvature and geometry,

04:51

are more advanced sketching techniques.

04:53

But it is a good idea to become accustomed to these

04:56

tools and figure out how they work for your own designs.

04:59

There is one more tool that we want to take a look at,

05:01

and that's the conic curve.

05:03

The conic curve is another way to define a

05:05

great curve as the starting point of your designs.

05:08

Conic curves are defined by 3 points and a row

05:11

value or an arrow slider that we can adjust.

05:14

A conic curve mathematically is a plane that's

05:17

slicing through a cylindrical cone at an angle.

05:20

The higher this number is closer to 1,

05:23

the steeper the point will be on the top and the closer to a true triangle.

05:27

As we get lower,

05:28

the closer we are to a straight line.

05:31

The great benefit here for conic curves is that the curvature is well defined,

05:35

and the input is going to be a very nice set of curves for any of your designs.

05:41

Keep in mind that it does take a bit of practice to

05:44

understand and be able to apply these curves in your own designs,

05:47

but without practice,

05:49

you won't get any better.

05:50

So make sure that you do play around with them before moving on to the next step.

Video transcript

00:02

How to use complex sketch entities?

00:05

After completing this video,

00:06

you'll be able to

00:07

create a sketch spline,

00:09

create a conic,

00:10

and create a blend curve.

00:13

To get started in Fusion,

00:14

we want to open the supplied data set ComplexSketch.

00:17

F3D.

00:19

We're going to begin by editing sketch one.

00:21

Sketch one contains a couple of lines on the left hand

00:24

side and a couple of arcs on the right hand side.

00:27

In this video,

00:27

we're gonna be exploring the use of complex sketch entities.

00:31

Specifically,

00:31

we'll talk about two different types of spines,

00:34

conic curves,

00:35

as well as the blend curve.

00:37

To get started,

00:38

first,

00:38

let's take a look at splines.

00:40

There are 2 different types of spines that we can use in fusion,

00:43

a flip point spline and a control point spline.

00:46

Both will create complex curves,

00:48

but they have slightly different uses.

00:50

The fit point spline allows us to create a spline that

00:53

has the fit points directly on the spine curve itself.

00:57

Once the spine is created,

00:58

you'll notice that we have green handles with dots on the ends.

01:01

If we hit escape to get off of our spine tool,

01:04

as we move these handles about,

01:06

we're controlling the tangency direction

01:09

as well as the weight or influence of that tangency.

01:12

We can apply dimensions and constraints directly to the handles.

01:15

For example,

01:16

we can use the co-linear constraint between this and the line on the left hand side.

01:21

We can also apply constraints such as tangent

01:24

between this line itself and other curves.

01:27

If we need to,

01:28

we also have the ability to add or remove splind

01:30

points or control the curvature at each individual point.

01:34

If we had escape to get off of our constraint tool,

01:37

we can move about the points.

01:39

And then we can also activate their handles.

01:42

It's important to note that generally with the points blinds,

01:45

the fewer number of control points,

01:47

the better curvature you'll get.

01:49

So you want to limit the number of points you

01:50

have to only manage to get the curvature you need.

01:54

We can select points and use delete on the keyboard to remove them.

01:57

In this case,

01:58

we'll delete both,

01:59

and we can also select a spline,

02:01

right click,

02:02

and insert a fit point spline if we need.

02:04

For example,

02:05

if we need to add a point back in the center.

02:07

Let's hit escape and delete that 0.1 more time.

02:11

In addition to applying constraints like tangency,

02:14

we also have constraints such as curvature.

02:17

There's a difference between tangency or G1

02:19

continuity and curvature or G2 continuity.

02:22

Tangency only controls the direction,

02:24

which means we still have the ability to apply a dimension here.

02:28

Go to right click and use this as an aligned dimension

02:30

and give it a value of 20 millimeters.

02:33

We can do the same thing over here,

02:35

applying an aligned dimension.

02:37

And in this case,

02:38

we'll set this one at 40.

02:40

Now our spine is fully defined.

02:43

Let's go ahead and select Create spline and use a control point spine.

02:48

Unlike a fitpoint spine,

02:49

a control point spine has an external cage for the spine curve.

02:54

Control point splines allow you to define the degree of the

02:57

spine by selecting 3 or 5 at the creation time.

03:00

This is going to determine the number of points required

03:03

in order to calculate that spine.

03:05

Once again,

03:06

we can use tools like co-linear,

03:08

and co-linear will allow us to take one of the

03:10

sly controls and make it co-linear with another entity.

03:14

If we use the curvature constraint,

03:16

this is gonna dictate that the curvature direction as well

03:19

as the radius of that curvature or the amount of influence

03:23

is dictated by that constraint.

03:25

You can see that this first construction line in the control cage is now black,

03:29

while the others are still orange.

03:31

If we had a skate to get off of our constraint tool,

03:34

we still have control over the geometry by manipulating these internal points.

03:38

But keep in mind,

03:39

just like with a 5 point spine,

03:41

the fewer control points generally the better the curvature will be.

03:45

In this case,

03:45

if we select a point and delete it,

03:48

we'll be able to reduce the number that we have on the spine.

03:51

There will be a situation where it'll start to remove constraints,

03:54

so you do have to be careful once you create your spinets.

03:58

You can use tools like dimensions

04:01

to create a completely fully defined spine.

04:04

Keep in mind,

04:04

however,

04:05

that this is much more difficult as the spines become more complex.

04:10

Let's go ahead and take a look at the blend curve option.

04:13

With Blend curve,

04:14

we can either drive tangency or curvature continuity of the blend curve.

04:18

We then need to select two entities,

04:20

and it'll generate a curve between them.

04:23

All three of these are valid options for us to create and generate complex curves.

04:28

If we had escape to get off of our tool,

04:30

note that with each one of these,

04:31

we have the ability to turn on curvature combs.

04:34

Curvature combs are a great analysis tool

04:36

that allows us to see the curvature direction

04:39

and amount

04:40

at each blind or curve.

04:43

The use of advanced tools like spines and the blend curve,

04:47

as well as the use of curvature combs to analyze the curvature and geometry,

04:51

are more advanced sketching techniques.

04:53

But it is a good idea to become accustomed to these

04:56

tools and figure out how they work for your own designs.

04:59

There is one more tool that we want to take a look at,

05:01

and that's the conic curve.

05:03

The conic curve is another way to define a

05:05

great curve as the starting point of your designs.

05:08

Conic curves are defined by 3 points and a row

05:11

value or an arrow slider that we can adjust.

05:14

A conic curve mathematically is a plane that's

05:17

slicing through a cylindrical cone at an angle.

05:20

The higher this number is closer to 1,

05:23

the steeper the point will be on the top and the closer to a true triangle.

05:27

As we get lower,

05:28

the closer we are to a straight line.

05:31

The great benefit here for conic curves is that the curvature is well defined,

05:35

and the input is going to be a very nice set of curves for any of your designs.

05:41

Keep in mind that it does take a bit of practice to

05:44

understand and be able to apply these curves in your own designs,

05:47

but without practice,

05:49

you won't get any better.

05:50

So make sure that you do play around with them before moving on to the next step.

After completing this video, you'll be able to:

  • Create a sketch spline.
  • Create a conic.
  • Create a blend curve.

Video quiz

Which type of sketch curve uses a Rho value?

(Select one)
Select an answer

1/1 questions left unanswered

Step-by-step guide

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