Shannon McGarry
Elevate your design and manufacturing processes with Autodesk Fusion
Start a new design
Create a new Fusion design to get started. Click the Create menu then select Design.
Give your design a name and assign a project. Use projects to organize your designs and related data.
A new empty design is opened. We will insert two images as inspiration for the design. Please save the “right” and “front” images that are attached below.
Insert concept images
We have a couple concept sketches that we will use as a guide for the model. The Attached Canvas command inserts an image into a design and attaches it to a plane or face.
Use attached canvas to insert the “right” view. Select the plane shown to position the image. Set the opacity around 50 to let objects behind the image show through. Check the Display Through setting to let the image show through bodies that are in front of it.
The Calibrate command lets you control the size of the image. You pick two points and set the distance value between those points. Right-click the canvas in the browser and select Calibrate.
Pick two points at the widest part of the shaver and enter 50 mm for the distance.
Repeat the Attached Canvas command to insert the “front” image on the plane shown below. Remember to set the Canvas Opacity to 50 and enable Display Through. Remain in the command to position the image.
Use the manipulators to rotate, move, and scale the image as shown below.
Create form
We will work in the Sculpt workspace to create the highly curved shape of the shaver body. Click Create Form to create a form operation in the timeline and enter the Sculpt workspace.
We will use a cylinder as the base shape to create our shaver then use Edit Form to push-pull geometry to get the desired shape. Click the Cylinder command in the Create pull-down. Click the face shown to position the cylinder.
Click to specify a center point then click to specify a diameter.
When working in the Sculpt workspace, you use faces, edges, and vertices to control the shape of your design. You want to balance the minimum number of faces created with the amount of control needed to get the desired shape. Set the Diameter faces to 8 and the Height faces to 6. Select Mirror in the Symmetry drop down and check the Y Symmetry option.
Refine the shape
Use the Edit Form command to move, rotate, and scale geometry to get the desired shape. Edit Form lets you push-pull on edges, vertices, and faces to change the shape. Some tips with using Edit Form:
- Window select to select a range of faces then move or rotate with the manipulators.
- Moving faces gives course controls. Moving vertices gives fine control.
- Double-click an edge to select the edge loop.
- Select an edge loop then use the scale manipulators to change the size.
- Use Box Display (control + 1) to display the control vertices. Use control + 3 to return to Smooth Display.
Change to the front view and repeat the Edit Form process to get the desired shape.
Now that we have a shape that we are happy with, click Finish Form to exit the Sculpt workspace and return to the Model workspace.
Patch Surfaces
The cylinder is an open surface body. Switch to the Patch workspace to cap the surface and stitch everything into a solid.
Click the Patch command then select the front edge. This creates a flat surface on the front of the shaver.
Repeat the Patch command and click the bottom surface. Set the continuity to Curvature to get a rounded surface.
Click the stitch command and select the three surface bodies. Change the tolerance to 0.05 mm. Both edges should display with a green highlight to show that the surface bodies meet with the tolerance value.
The end result is a solid body. You can then continue with modeling operations to shell or otherwise refine your design.
More to come. Design Differently!
-Patrick