& Construction

Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing

Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Fix corrupt models using the wound and heal method. On particularly difficult models, see how to remove the problematic region to allow changes to be made.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
12 min.
Transcript
00:04
Working with imported geometry from other C AD products can sometimes be difficult
00:08
due to the lack of history or poor modeling processes.
00:12
This is where Fusion direct modeling really shines.
00:17
Here is an example of an imported PRO E model.
00:21
As we interrogate the model,
00:23
you can see that there are extra edges on some of the corner filets.
00:27
Also notice that there are a lot of extra edges in
00:31
the filet that goes around the top edge of this model.
00:35
If we were to machine this, we could potentially see these edges on our finished part
00:40
due to non tangent curves.
00:43
It makes sense for us to clean up this model before manufacturing it.
00:48
Fusion's direct modeling is very powerful
00:51
yet there are even times when you will try to do a simple direct edit
00:55
and it will fail.
00:58
Here's a prime example,
01:00
we want to remove these two filets off of
01:03
the model to make it one nice continuous filet
01:07
when we select the filets and try to delete them,
01:11
notice that it fails and we receive an error message.
01:15
This is probably due to the odd neighboring filets.
01:20
So
01:21
how can we resolve this?
01:24
Let's use a method that I call the wound and heal method.
01:29
Basically, we are going to remove the problematic areas
01:33
and let fusion heal the regions back together.
01:38
The quickest and easiest way to create the wound
01:42
is to create a sphere and then subtract it out of the model
01:47
to create the wound. We first need to have a construction plane to locate the sphere.
01:52
We recommend using plane along a path,
01:57
select one of the edges near where you want to create the wound
02:01
and then drag the plane to the end of that edge.
02:05
Now,
02:06
using the sphere command,
02:08
we can place the sphere right where it needs to be.
02:14
You wanna make sure to size the spherical
02:16
wound to enclose all of the problematic area,
02:21
do not leave any small sliver faces.
02:24
However,
02:25
don't make it so large that it starts to destroy other areas of your model.
02:33
Now, you can see how the spherical wound has removed all of the problematic area
02:38
and now we have nice clean boundaries.
02:42
Let's repeat the procedure on the other side.
02:55
Now,
02:56
when we delete the filets,
02:57
you can see that it works this time.
03:01
This is because the spherical wounds created clean boundaries
03:05
that weren't touching problematic areas.
03:10
We can also easily delete the wounds by just selecting the single spherical face
03:15
and selecting delete.
03:25
Next, let's take a look at the region at the top of this part.
03:30
We have a lot of work to do up here.
03:32
But because it's connected to the rest of this complicated park,
03:36
any change we try to make could potentially fail.
03:41
So instead of creating just a small wound,
03:44
we're gonna amputate this whole region away from the rest of the model.
03:50
An easy way to do this is to use a profile to split the region away.
03:57
We will use a simple rectangle. In this example,
04:09
after doing a split body, using the rectangle as the splitting tool,
04:13
you can see that we are left with two separate bodies.
04:19
Let's go ahead and hide the larger part for now
04:24
by working on such a smaller section of the complicated model,
04:27
we have a better chance of our modification working as fusion
04:31
is not having to calculate all of the neighboring faces.
04:37
The first thing to change is that there are
04:39
three ribs that are in a weird orientation.
04:43
One of the ribs looks correct,
04:45
but the other two are off center.
04:49
Let's delete the two ribs that are incorrect.
04:57
Now,
04:58
we want to remove the filets off of the remaining rib,
05:02
but we don't want to have to select all of the filet faces individually.
05:08
We can just draw a selection box around the whole rib.
05:12
Then using the shift key
05:14
uns select the three faces that define the rib.
05:20
This way,
05:21
we are able to select a large selection of faces without having to do it manually.
05:28
When we complete the delete command,
05:30
we can see that all of the filet faces were removed,
05:33
but the ribs stayed in place.
05:37
The next step is to remove all of the problematic filets on the top,
05:41
we obviously don't want to select them individually.
05:44
So let's look at it from the side and draw a selection box around all of them.
05:50
However,
05:51
it also selected the top face
05:54
so we can just hold down the shift key to unselected
05:59
with all of the filets on the top face selected.
06:02
Let's go ahead and delete them.
06:05
However,
06:05
notice that we get an error message saying that the filets cannot be deleted.
06:11
This seems like it would be a simple direct edit.
06:14
So why did it not work
06:17
again?
06:17
It's probably because of issues with the neighboring filets and faces
06:22
that's causing fusion to not understand how to heal those regions.
06:28
The solution here is to remove as many of the neighboring faces at the same time.
06:35
So
06:36
let's select the top faces again.
06:38
But this time
06:39
we'll hold down the shift key and select all of the vertical filet areas. Also,
06:51
then
06:52
we'll add in the large filets at the bottom using the shift key.
07:02
When we hit the delete key,
07:04
all of the filets are removed all at once.
07:08
Now we can go back and add the filets back onto the model.
07:19
Notice how nice the one millimeter filet looks on the top edge. Now
07:25
to finish up, we can do a radial pattern on the rib
07:29
to put them back into the correct location.
07:46
Finally, we can add the one millimeter filet around the edges of the ribs.
07:58
So
07:58
very quickly, we were able to fix all of the problematic areas in this region.
08:05
The last thing to do is to join the two parts back into one part
08:10
using the combined join command.
08:14
So
08:15
the wound and heal method is really helpful when working with imported geometry.
08:23
Let's take a look at another example. With this truck grill,
08:28
it has been determined that the little mounting bracket would be stronger if it
08:32
was moved to be lined up with one of the existing supporting ribs.
08:40
This should be a simple move
08:42
but notice when we try and move the bracket fusion can't do it.
08:47
This is probably due to poor modeling practices on the imported model.
08:53
Notice that there is a small sliver face here
08:56
and extra faces on the front of the model that don't make sense,
09:01
we can fix that by selecting them
09:04
and using the delete key.
09:15
Now that we have fixed this area. Let's try the move again.
09:25
Unfortunately,
09:27
again, it fails.
09:30
We're gonna have to use our amputation example here,
09:40
just draw a simple rectangle around the area we want to work with.
09:45
We can then use this rectangle as the splitting tool. When we split the body,
09:58
let's hide the larger part for now.
10:02
Now let's try the move.
10:09
Notice that it works this time
10:11
because we have separated all of the rest
10:13
of the problematic model from this section.
10:17
In this example,
10:19
we want to move the mounting bracket a very specific distance.
10:23
However, we don't know what that distance is.
10:27
We can solve this by projecting the existing geometry
10:31
and drawing a reference line from the center of
10:33
the mounting bracket to the center of the rib.
10:45
Now, when we run the move command, we can select a point to point, move
10:51
and specify the two points.
10:56
Notice how the mounting bracket moves the
10:59
correct distance to be perfectly centered.
11:08
After turning the other part back on,
11:10
we can combine the two bodies back into one.
11:18
So
11:18
here you got to see how we were able to fix
11:21
an imported part with no history tree using direct modeling.
Video transcript
00:04
Working with imported geometry from other C AD products can sometimes be difficult
00:08
due to the lack of history or poor modeling processes.
00:12
This is where Fusion direct modeling really shines.
00:17
Here is an example of an imported PRO E model.
00:21
As we interrogate the model,
00:23
you can see that there are extra edges on some of the corner filets.
00:27
Also notice that there are a lot of extra edges in
00:31
the filet that goes around the top edge of this model.
00:35
If we were to machine this, we could potentially see these edges on our finished part
00:40
due to non tangent curves.
00:43
It makes sense for us to clean up this model before manufacturing it.
00:48
Fusion's direct modeling is very powerful
00:51
yet there are even times when you will try to do a simple direct edit
00:55
and it will fail.
00:58
Here's a prime example,
01:00
we want to remove these two filets off of
01:03
the model to make it one nice continuous filet
01:07
when we select the filets and try to delete them,
01:11
notice that it fails and we receive an error message.
01:15
This is probably due to the odd neighboring filets.
01:20
So
01:21
how can we resolve this?
01:24
Let's use a method that I call the wound and heal method.
01:29
Basically, we are going to remove the problematic areas
01:33
and let fusion heal the regions back together.
01:38
The quickest and easiest way to create the wound
01:42
is to create a sphere and then subtract it out of the model
01:47
to create the wound. We first need to have a construction plane to locate the sphere.
01:52
We recommend using plane along a path,
01:57
select one of the edges near where you want to create the wound
02:01
and then drag the plane to the end of that edge.
02:05
Now,
02:06
using the sphere command,
02:08
we can place the sphere right where it needs to be.
02:14
You wanna make sure to size the spherical
02:16
wound to enclose all of the problematic area,
02:21
do not leave any small sliver faces.
02:24
However,
02:25
don't make it so large that it starts to destroy other areas of your model.
02:33
Now, you can see how the spherical wound has removed all of the problematic area
02:38
and now we have nice clean boundaries.
02:42
Let's repeat the procedure on the other side.
02:55
Now,
02:56
when we delete the filets,
02:57
you can see that it works this time.
03:01
This is because the spherical wounds created clean boundaries
03:05
that weren't touching problematic areas.
03:10
We can also easily delete the wounds by just selecting the single spherical face
03:15
and selecting delete.
03:25
Next, let's take a look at the region at the top of this part.
03:30
We have a lot of work to do up here.
03:32
But because it's connected to the rest of this complicated park,
03:36
any change we try to make could potentially fail.
03:41
So instead of creating just a small wound,
03:44
we're gonna amputate this whole region away from the rest of the model.
03:50
An easy way to do this is to use a profile to split the region away.
03:57
We will use a simple rectangle. In this example,
04:09
after doing a split body, using the rectangle as the splitting tool,
04:13
you can see that we are left with two separate bodies.
04:19
Let's go ahead and hide the larger part for now
04:24
by working on such a smaller section of the complicated model,
04:27
we have a better chance of our modification working as fusion
04:31
is not having to calculate all of the neighboring faces.
04:37
The first thing to change is that there are
04:39
three ribs that are in a weird orientation.
04:43
One of the ribs looks correct,
04:45
but the other two are off center.
04:49
Let's delete the two ribs that are incorrect.
04:57
Now,
04:58
we want to remove the filets off of the remaining rib,
05:02
but we don't want to have to select all of the filet faces individually.
05:08
We can just draw a selection box around the whole rib.
05:12
Then using the shift key
05:14
uns select the three faces that define the rib.
05:20
This way,
05:21
we are able to select a large selection of faces without having to do it manually.
05:28
When we complete the delete command,
05:30
we can see that all of the filet faces were removed,
05:33
but the ribs stayed in place.
05:37
The next step is to remove all of the problematic filets on the top,
05:41
we obviously don't want to select them individually.
05:44
So let's look at it from the side and draw a selection box around all of them.
05:50
However,
05:51
it also selected the top face
05:54
so we can just hold down the shift key to unselected
05:59
with all of the filets on the top face selected.
06:02
Let's go ahead and delete them.
06:05
However,
06:05
notice that we get an error message saying that the filets cannot be deleted.
06:11
This seems like it would be a simple direct edit.
06:14
So why did it not work
06:17
again?
06:17
It's probably because of issues with the neighboring filets and faces
06:22
that's causing fusion to not understand how to heal those regions.
06:28
The solution here is to remove as many of the neighboring faces at the same time.
06:35
So
06:36
let's select the top faces again.
06:38
But this time
06:39
we'll hold down the shift key and select all of the vertical filet areas. Also,
06:51
then
06:52
we'll add in the large filets at the bottom using the shift key.
07:02
When we hit the delete key,
07:04
all of the filets are removed all at once.
07:08
Now we can go back and add the filets back onto the model.
07:19
Notice how nice the one millimeter filet looks on the top edge. Now
07:25
to finish up, we can do a radial pattern on the rib
07:29
to put them back into the correct location.
07:46
Finally, we can add the one millimeter filet around the edges of the ribs.
07:58
So
07:58
very quickly, we were able to fix all of the problematic areas in this region.
08:05
The last thing to do is to join the two parts back into one part
08:10
using the combined join command.
08:14
So
08:15
the wound and heal method is really helpful when working with imported geometry.
08:23
Let's take a look at another example. With this truck grill,
08:28
it has been determined that the little mounting bracket would be stronger if it
08:32
was moved to be lined up with one of the existing supporting ribs.
08:40
This should be a simple move
08:42
but notice when we try and move the bracket fusion can't do it.
08:47
This is probably due to poor modeling practices on the imported model.
08:53
Notice that there is a small sliver face here
08:56
and extra faces on the front of the model that don't make sense,
09:01
we can fix that by selecting them
09:04
and using the delete key.
09:15
Now that we have fixed this area. Let's try the move again.
09:25
Unfortunately,
09:27
again, it fails.
09:30
We're gonna have to use our amputation example here,
09:40
just draw a simple rectangle around the area we want to work with.
09:45
We can then use this rectangle as the splitting tool. When we split the body,
09:58
let's hide the larger part for now.
10:02
Now let's try the move.
10:09
Notice that it works this time
10:11
because we have separated all of the rest
10:13
of the problematic model from this section.
10:17
In this example,
10:19
we want to move the mounting bracket a very specific distance.
10:23
However, we don't know what that distance is.
10:27
We can solve this by projecting the existing geometry
10:31
and drawing a reference line from the center of
10:33
the mounting bracket to the center of the rib.
10:45
Now, when we run the move command, we can select a point to point, move
10:51
and specify the two points.
10:56
Notice how the mounting bracket moves the
10:59
correct distance to be perfectly centered.
11:08
After turning the other part back on,
11:10
we can combine the two bodies back into one.
11:18
So
11:18
here you got to see how we were able to fix
11:21
an imported part with no history tree using direct modeling.
How to buy
Privacy | Do not sell or share my personal information | Cookie preferences | Report noncompliance | Terms of use | Legal | © 2025 Autodesk Inc. All rights reserved
Sign in for the best experience
Save your progress
Get access to courses
Receive personalized recommendations
May we collect and use your data?
Learn more about the Third Party Services we use and our Privacy Statement.May we collect and use your data to tailor your experience?
Explore the benefits of a customized experience by managing your privacy settings for this site or visit our Privacy Statement to learn more about your options.