3D Modeling Polyhedra in Fusion 360: Part 2 - Icosahedron and Dodecahedron

[@jaydmathewson]

You're my hero. I've been using Fusion 360 in the hope of producing some 3d models and fractals but I've struggled with the platonic solids. Things never quite worked out. After searching youtube for a long time, I stumbled upon yours. Besides being very entertaining it all made sense and I did it, and I get it. Big thank you. Do more video's, please

[@Señormakey]

Some of the more recent videos have explored other methods of achieving what you're looking for without being as memory intensive. If you found that one helpful, those should be as well.

[@jaydmathewson]

@@Señormakey thank you, I'll check them out

[@tiger12506]

For those finding this in 2021, Fusion 360 has some better tools that can make this a lot easier. Now there are videos on youtube that show doing this entirely with sketches and infinitely thin patch bodies rather than making solid models and deleting faces like shown here. That lets you skip the draft angle calculation etc. For me, however, I wanted to actually build a polyhedra out of plywood, so I wanted the actual solid model workflow this guy shows at the start, and it is excellent. Thanks for the video!

[@wdwdHenry9022]

it's okey Bob you are doing great we all love you and your work very much. Thanks buddy!

[@greysonmitchem]

Have you tried doing this in Patch mode? You can draw your polygon, convert it to a patch, then copy/move at the defined angles - without needing to extrude and calculate the draft angle. Then you can stitch into a solid, and if you want it to be hollow, you can shell it in Model mode.

[@Señormakey]

Greyson Mitchem I would prefer that method generally, but what I found is that this method is usable outside of Fusion, with Catia, Solid works, and Inventor (generally, not exactly) and hits a lot more people with recognizable actions. I plan to continue this series with much more complex polyhedra, and will be using the method you described. I'm glad you pointed it out, and I hope others see your comment

[@greysonmitchem]

Thanks Dave! Keep up the great vids! I learned some great new tricks from you!

[@IvanCarosati]

Thank you guys, your technique was quick and easy! Everything worked as expected and stitched together fine!

[@JensRoever]

Great video. To speed up the assembly you could skip the copy and use mirror with side face as mirror plane - works like a charm and a lot less typing :)

[@Redleafs2022]

Hello. Thank you for a good tutorial. Could you explain how to transfer it to vector in oder to do with paper. Thank you.

[@trinityellis4551]

Will deleting the internal faces make the object solid? If I wanted the shape to be hollow (with a wall thickness defined by the extrusion completed earlier), do I just ignore the internal face deletion?

[@mahster]

Very cool! I was able to make this. I want to cut the object in half? When I use a cut tool, as they are components, the entire object disappears by the time I get to the mid point. Anyway around this?

[@Señormakey]

Create a plane, use the "split body" tool, and it should slice it right in half

[@cookiesaregreat]

Thank you! Great tutorial! I was able to follow the steps and reproduce the exact same results. One note - it wasn't 100% clear that you needed to delete ALL of the interior faces before you're able to stitch everything together. Other than that, super clear.

[@Señormakey]

I have a few other videos that actually reapproach the creation of this solid, and there's ways to do it that don't require deleting each face. What I've found is that there are at least 5 ways to create a regular solid

[@elizabethmartin7118]

Would love for you to go through each one. I know it's a lot of work! Thanks so much!

[@Señormakey]

I usually am very hard on myself in terms of making a crisp video (arguable), but your comments have stuck with me. Uploading a video now, just me working through a dodecahedron. Long, but hopefully not too long!.

[@elizabethmartin7118]

Love your videos and completed the first one without too much difficulty. I am very new at Fusion 360. I am stuck on your second video at around 2:22. I don't know how you duplicated your component. Can you help? Thanks!

[@Señormakey]

Hey thanks! So, there are two ways to duplicate a component. The first is using the move tool and checking the "Create Copy" box, you can do it that way. The other way is to select the body/component, right click > copy, then select the containing folder and right click > paste.

[@elizabethmartin7118]

Well, I figured that out and now on the last step of the dodecahedron and stumbling a bit.

[@Ryxxi_makes]

( 90 deg - (Dihedral / 2) ) ; Lower Dihedral angle if you want a shorter pyramid.

[@eddievanhorn5497]

Would you be able to make a video showing how to make a truncated icosahedron?

[@Señormakey]

I've now added it to my list. I hope to get a few videos made this weekend

[@Señormakey]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6u2iGuKZpysiac

[@elizabethmartin7118]

Hi Dave, Again love these videos but I'm stumped again. I am on the final step where you have to go into stitch and delete things but I can't figure out what you are deleting. I need private lessons! Ha! Sorry for all the questions but am so excited when I complete one of these. Thanks so much!

[@Señormakey]

Oh!. So the beveling we did in the initial step creates faces at the correct angle and we can mate faces together to get the part to work. what I did was hide one of the pentagon shapes, and delete all of the faces that are not on the OUTSIDE of the shape. So, essentially, all of the faces made when we extruded the pentagon; delete those. Leave the largest face behind, get rid of everything else. Because all the shapes are linked, we only have to delete 6 faces, and all shapes will replicate the others. Hopefully, that helps.

[@elizabethmartin7118]

Thanks Dave! You are brilliant!

[@elizabethmartin7118]

Btw, I got it! All done!

[@Señormakey]

Are you gonna make it in real life?

[@elizabethmartin7118]

Yes! Made it and printed it! Thanks to you!

[@eliasleers6238]

Weird request: what about making a wireframe dodecahedron with 30 identical edge pieces that connect together?

[@adamrowedotcom]

30?

[@robertb3595]

this is great! didn't know it would be so easy. Can you make geodesic dome 3V ?

[@Señormakey]

Kinda a late reply, but I might just give that a go and see how it turns out.

[@barrettbogner5328]

This is an awesome vid. Thank you. I have a quick question though if you don't mind. I've got the shapes together, but I want to fillet the edges so when printed, they aren't sharp. However, when I try to do that, it doesn't really work. I'm new to F360 and CAD in general, so forgive me if it's a simple fix.

[@barrettbogner5328]

And nevermind. If I highlight the whole thing it fillets just fine. Of course I figure it out after I ask the question. Thanks again for the awesome vid!

[@Señormakey]

Hopefully, I will have a new set this weekend talking about 3D printing for beginners, as well as a few Fusion ones. Take care!

[@pankake0507]

Can you please do a video on how to create a truncated octahedron with this method???

[@Señormakey]

Sure thing. This method is old, but the new way will get the job done

[@pankake0507]

@@Señormakey Oh okay! Can you do a tutorial with the new method then?

[@Señormakey]

@@pankake0507 recorded, rendering now and uploading soon. Found it wasn't necessarily new in method

[@pankake0507]

MisterMakey thank you so much!!

[@MeBarnson]

Great tutorial! but i need some advice so now I end up with 12 different bodys and when I change the size in the sketch and make it bigger I get like 12*12 planes everywhere on my screen. If I change it to a smaller number than the original its fine though?

[@Señormakey]

This is definitely related to Fusion's issues with calculation. Go to the bottom of your screen to the timeline and hit the far left arrow sending you back to the beginning, and then use the arrow on the right to progress through it step by step. It usually fixes calculation errors, or you can see if it made a mistake and adjust it at the point of error.

[@IvanCarosati]

I'm having trouble stitching it at the end, it's complaining there are free edges. Visually looks good, any idea?

[@Señormakey]

I've not run into that error, but what you can do is make sure that all of the edges turn green when you go to stitch. If that's the case, then you should go back to the very first move/align command and be sure the faces/edges aligned as you intended.

[@IvanCarosati]

​@@Señormakey I've spent hours looking at it, but I'll try to rest and try again! Thank you, I'll let you know if I unravel the mystery.

[@maxsmith2320]

nice tutorial , how would i do a Pyramid in Fusion 360. Thank you

[@Señormakey]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKTZcp9rmqiVeK8

[@TinkeringJohn]

How did you get all the red lines to turn green when you stitched the icosahedron? This happened to me on the dodecahedron.

[@Señormakey]

It is likely that the polygons are not actually touching each other, or that you didn't remove all of the faces aside from the one that you need to make the shape.

[@TinkeringJohn]

Hi David. Thanks for the quick reply. I followed the video and did the same steps you did. What did you do to get the red lines to turn green on the icosahedron?

[@Señormakey]

Red means you haven't selected anything. So just select faces, or click and drag to area select. They should all turn green. If you preselect every part, it will automatically populate the selection, and thus be green

[@TinkeringJohn]

Thanks David. I followed the video exactly. I may go back and rejoin all the pentagons again. I am making geodesic spheres. I was using 123D Design and made 2V and 3V spheres. I had issues with merging triangles on the 4V sphere, so I decided to try making it on Fusion 360. I am green with this program which brought me here. I can't do it exactly your way because only 1 triangle is equilateral. 3 are isosceles and 1 irregular and their sides are different lengths so I can't do the same draft angle on all 3 sides of some triangles when creating the component (not all faces join at the same dihedral angle). I saw a video using patch mode to create a dodecahedron, and think that will be a better method for what I am doing. Thanks for this video.

[@koozdra]

Great video, thanks.

[@asdrty258]

3d array is a good tool choice

[@wdwdHenry9022]

I have red light all over when stitching. Suggestions?

[@videogame1291]

wouldn't it be easier to just patch the sketch in the patch workspace and then stitch it all together at the end? Instead of having to extrude, joint, and delete faces

[@Señormakey]

I ended up doing that for a later video, re-approaching this topic. I found that what was even easier was patterning half the shape from 2 pentagonal solids, then mirroring that and setting it into place. Then just a boundary fill+combine and I had 1 solid.

[@thatoneblackguy95]

I cannot for the life of me get all sides to match up correctly am i missing something?

[@Señormakey]

There are a few things that could go wrong, it's either an issue with the angle calculation, how you made the shape, or a mix of both. I've updated this video, and I have a bit more stable of a method further on my channel.

[@HilariousOperations]

Was following this tutorial to build a soccer ball until I found out I could use the align tool instead of entering all the joint angles

[@Señormakey]

It does the same thing, but is not parametric and uses different reference points. You can retroactively run into issues if you want to edit the size. If it fits your needs and it easier, by all means.

[@LostFootages666]

i think a dodecahedron has 12 sides and the icosahedron has20 sides

[@TheRealFrankWizza]

What was the really fast talking followed by a sigh of relief?

[@Señormakey]

D Johnson I have no clue. probably because I needed to breathe

[@TheRealFrankWizza]

nah it was something in the background. Sounded like someone talking in fast forward.

[@anventia]

Theres a easier way to make an icosahedron using the golden ratio.