Bodies vs Components | Fusion 360 Core Concept

[@ProductDesignOnline]

This video is a shortened version from my Masterclass: Fusion 360 for Woodworkers. Check out the full course curriculum here - bit.ly/woodworkingCourse - *TIMESTAMPS* 0:00 - Understanding Bodies vs Components in Fusion 360 0:37 - Top-Down vs Bottom-Up assemblies 2:46 - Drawbacks of Top-Down assemblies 3:45 - What is a Body in Fusion 360? 4:39 - Types of Fusion 360 bodies 8:18 - What is a Component in Fusion 360? 10:23 - When to use Components or Bodies 12:55 - Fusion 360 Rule #1 13:39 - Fusion 360 Rule #2

[@yayingzhang1506]

Thanks!

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thanks for your support!

[@kevinchiu8596]

So underrated, deserves way more love

[@mythosarts]

I am brand new to Fusion, and your videos are far the best for my style of learning. I am so thankful for your tutorials! Great work, and thank you.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thanks, Jeff. Happy new year!

[@ChipLinck]

One critical piece of information not covered is making a cut list for wood working. You have to use components to be able to create a table with your cut list in it. This is really useful when you are done and want to quickly create your cut list for what you need. You can even include nails, screws, drawer pulls, etc. if you add them as components.

[@tgkonstux4127]

any chance you could link to a video of this?

[@ero0k-b7l]

THIS IS THE *BEST* KZbin CHANNEL EVER. THIS MATERIAL COSTS A LOT OF MONEY. THANK YOU SIR YOU ARE A GENIUS

[@martinrcflyer4089]

Hi Kevin, what a great video. Foundational and a must see for anyone using Fusion 360. You clearly explain how Components are different from Bodies, like Apples are from Pears. One thing you missed though, which I think helps in a practical sense for beginners to get their minds around it, is that Components an Origin and an Origin Plane In fact they have to include one Origin/Plane, whereas Bodies have no Origin of their own. This feature was fundamental helping me to understand the different ways I should use bodies and components when designing for 3D Printing, where one only really uses Solid Bodies, not surface etc. I hope this will help others understand the key concepts you highlighted and explain so brilliantly. Keep up the good work.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thanks, Martin! Wonderful addition - thanks for sharing this!

[@christopher8116]

Are you saying that components have an origin and a origin plane. Although bodes to not have an origin ?

[@dfontanesi]

Your videos are always so carefully thought out and articulate. Great job.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thanks, Dan!

[@tyh7388]

Wish I found these tutorials a while ago. Thanks for the all the time and effort you put into your videos!

[@Bholekibhakti9]

You deserve 1 million subscribers.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

haha thanks :)

[@SuperJsToysChannel]

I am new to Fusion 360. this is really useful basic knowledge. thank you very much

[@DanSoussi]

As always, your videos are a wealth of information and presented in a pace I can follow. Despite feeling I have progressed from being a Fusion 360 nube, I still feel I have not mastered moving bodies between components and ensuring they are not still in some way linked to their original creation point, if that makes sense. I would welcome further videos with coverage to this area. Looking forward to future videos.

[@cialatr]

This was very useful! I think without watching this, I would have kept getting the vocabulary wrong too! Thank you! It's good to learn that a body and a component are not interchangeable terms.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Glad it was helpful! Cheers :)

[@pinchingstars]

TLDR: 8:43 Thanks for the videos, I actually really appreciate that you go in depth.

[@eric-eklund]

Awesome idea, thank you. I am about to design a sauna in Fusion and thinking about the process. Would you recommend cresting a new component for each beam in the framing and then sub-assembly the framing. And joining together each beam component to the right position? And do the same for the walls, each side is a sub-assembly off wall components where each component is a stud or wall board? Thank you in advance.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Yes! That will give you the full benefit of being able to use Joints... And will also make sure that if you create a parts list later, everything shows up as the correct quantity.

[@eric-eklund]

@@ProductDesignOnline awesome, i did this and it went so much bather then my first attempt. Though when i copy one sub-assembly (the wall) all the changes i will do after will reflect on bot the sides? One wall should have a window and not the other one.

[@IdahoSpudnick]

I build hoof trimming trucks. Basically rolling squeeze chutes they are armored with metal tubing all the way around I have been trying to do a complete drawing of one but keep getting stuck in different ways. I’m a welding shop and need to draw weldments and structural components

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Hi Steve. Proper weldments are one area where Fusion 360 lacks a feature (if you're looking for similar functionality to SolidWorks). Are there any other areas or workflows that you're finding challenging?

[@jimbarchuk]

Hi Steve! Your post is a year old but I had an idea about your design issues so I'll write it up. Weldments as a connection tool caused the issues, but other connection tools could just as easily mess up too. It was the 'top down' and 'components are containers' comments in the vid that caused this idea. I'm thinking, 'the design fails because it's not starting at the top. Where *is* the top?' And the answer I found was, 'the cow is the top.' Excuse me while I crow a bit, this is pretty brilliant. I don't have ideas this good very often and I'm having fun with it. LOL!!! I think of this as the 'aroundment' problem. You need to contain a cow. With normal design, you start building the frame at one point, go around the cow in width, height and length, and meet up "somewhere on the other side." That's where points don't line up. Or they do but won't 'connect.' I think this is one way to describe the root of issue: Both ends/legs of the structures that goes around the cow are part of the same component/container, and when the meet on the other side won't 'connect to itself. F360 basically says, 'Nope nope nope, not gonna do it, try again.' :( Yes, been there, done that. My idea is to build the cow itself into the design, so the aroundment bits always have a 'common shape' to reference and hang on to. Not just 'the' cow though, or one cow, but the cow as it exists through *time* as it passes *through* your machine! Stick with me on this... A cow walks up to your machine. There's a gate, and the side rails start, and maybe there's a ramp. The cow is the shape that your machine must contain. Create a sketch shape the height and width of a cow, imagine it's facing the gate and ready to enter the machine. Create an extrusion that moves forward into the machine (the machine that isn't there yet, this is just the cow.) Make the extrusion as long as you want the cow to walk into the machine. I'm guessing that after it walks into the machine the exit gate is in front of the cow and it stops there. If you need a ramp to get into the machine, extrude upwards at an angle, then go forward the length of the cow at a level angle, and have the cow outline go down another angle at the other end.. You should have a blocky shape on your screen that looks one of two ways. If it's just a cow, no ramps, there's a rectangular block about 3' wide, 8' long and 6' high, or similar. You can make the outline more realistic if that's important for how the animals are held. If it has ramps then those shapes are attached to the one in the middle, and slope downwards on each side. So there's your cow. Now build the cage around it. I'm not going to say at all how to do that because there are a few ways and you know what you prefer. But here's an idea for how to continue, that keeps an original 'reference' cow available in the background. Yes timeline could do this to but this will be faster later. The cow as shown can't be the actual design surface; it's too small, the cage is bigger than the actual cow. It needs to be enlarged to allow for largest animals, tubing diameters and such. Leave the cow there, and build another box around it. I forget the name of the tool for that, but it references one body to create another completely around it. Make it x% wider and y% longer by whatever factors you use to get to your overall size. Then turn off the cow, but it'll still be there. The box that you built around the cow is hollow. If there's no roof, take that off. With the box shape left, use the corners and edges to define endpoints of tubing. Cut the front and back off the box and split those vertically to make barn door gates, or don't split it to make a single gate, or the gate drops and becomes a ramp, you know what you're doing. Here's another way to say it: The Trail of Dimensional Authenticity starts with a single fully defined component, and everything references back to it.

[@marianososa4309]

Your videos are even better than Autodesk's

[@JeremyTaylorNZ]

Instead of just saying 'rule number one, always start with a new component', it would have been useful to inform anyone who wasn't previously blessed with this insight how they can move/convert the body(s), sketches etc they've already drawn and made into components because that is NOT obvious

[@mecanodesign7245]

Awesome video, How to export all these parts of wood to a DXF file?

[@fikamora]

Thanks so much for your thoughtful and detailed videos! On to the soft!

[@cherylchristensen3515]

Great job training and explaining some otherwise technical concepts. Excellent correlation to things people understand - file folders.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thanks, Cheryl! Glad that was helpful :)

[@sabaabdullah7110]

hat's off to you sir , really thank you.

[@souvikbiswas6736]

Hi, can you make a video on toggle system used in injection molding machine?

[@practicalengineering6965]

thanks

[@whitneydesignlabs8738]

Thanks for sharing. The best practices and naming tips are great. I came from Solidworks and am struggling over some of these concepts. Your video helped a lot.

[@jithupavi5223]

really a great one to understand thank for ur resourses shared quite catchy for beginner

[@Onkarr]

Very helpful 👍

[@m16owner]

In that case wouldn’t it make sense to creat a “side boards” component which would have two identical bodies inside? Otherwise I can’t think of a situation where there would be more than one body in any component

[@tarahgudmundson3532]

Any tips for when I am trying to remove a nested component and make it its own component, but I can't drag and drop any of my assemblies for some reason?

[@AP_EDUARDO]

Thank you so much for this video (and all of your videos) they are very helpful.

[@hveliorum8252]

Thanks a lot!

[@jannatulrabibahamaharo9086]

Thank you.

[@brezovprut4431]

How to deal with imported large component assemblies and regroup thousands of individual components more conveniently?

[@buddwieser]

Love your videos man. New Zealand

[@avejst]

Thanks for sharing 👍😁

[@IceCreams62]

Great explanation Kevin, thanks a lot

[@Mr2Xri]

Hello Kevin, could you make a future video especially with an example about subassemblies and when do you suggest to use them?

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thanks - love the idea! I definitely need to do a video on assemblies and subassemblies.

[@JMayhemMusic]

Inventor offers parametric modeling as well.

[@TheDarkstar826]

This is so useful to understand this crap. Thank you!!

[@SigamaCrafts]

Thats why im here 🤣

[@vicradon]

Hi Kevin. Thank you for this awesome explanation. I have a question on components. Should I copy a component or mirror it? Also, is there a style guide for naming components?

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Great questions, Osinachi! You can copy or mirror - that will often depend on your design intent and other intentions. For example, if you're creating a parts lists you'll want to copy instead of mirror. Otherwise, the mirrored parts will show as 'different' on the parts list. Naming components is really up to you. Generally, I try to name things concise, but descriptive so someone else new to the file could understand what it represents.

[@rjlatheart]

K, This was a great refresher, thanks

[@matthewhuber4330]

how do I find the video that comes before this one?

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Hi Matthew. This video is a shortened version from my "Masterclass: Fusion 360 for Woodworkers." Check out the full course curriculum here - bit.ly/woodworkingCourse

[@kenweiland9816]

Hi Kevin. Great video. If you drag components together to make a sub-assembly, how do you then break them apart if you don't want the sub-assembly anymore?

[@ProductDesignOnline]

You would have to redrag them to their new position. There's no way to "ungroup" them :)

[@kimpanattoni]

I understand this now, coming from Solidworks, however... Every time I try to add sketches to my newly created body, I get an error saying that doing so is illegal and cause a bad dependency. If a body is supposed to contain all of the elements of that particular object, why do I get this error? I have no idea why this ought to happen based upon the instructions in this video. What am I doing wrong?

[@bruce5724]

Great job, thanks alot :)

[@onecarwood]

Damn your spot on. I was asking someone today how they set up their projects. You getting my Alexa recordings! Lol

[@ELECTRICMOTOCROSSMACHINE]

Nice.

[@istvanszabo4650]

Hi, nice post thanks. Is there any system requirement, like NVidia Quadro if you access F360 through browser? Moreover, can you sync offline projects woth the online library? Can you use both online and offline versions one after the other? Thanks. Regards Istvan

[@DennisMurphey]

Great stuff i needed it

[@toby5407]

Rule #1 always start a design with a new component. So I draw a circle and extrude it, under operation, should I choose "New Body" or "New Component"? What is the difference? It is so confusing. Coming from SW.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Generally, you should already have a component created and active before you sketch out the Circle/Extrude it. Think of Components as 'folders' or ways to group all your sketches, bodies, construction planes, and other features that relate to that part. The intention is that you can copy, delete, insert into another design, etc...without risk of losing critical relations/refrence objects that destroys the parametric nature of the file. There's not a 1 for 1 equivalent in SW. The closest thing would be to think of Components as a 'Part File'...but that analogy gets messy when it comes to assemblies as Fusion 360 caters to both bottom-up and top-down assemblies methods, as well as some unique hybrid approaches.

[@toby5407]

@@ProductDesignOnline kind of understand. Thanks for making such a great tutorial.

[@adityavarma7366]

Could you please make a video on how to use tool's in meshmixer ..I am facing a issue while inserting .stl file in meshmixer for 3d printing

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Hi, aditya. Can you elaborate on the issue that you are facing?

[@DargoDog]

Great information here. Seems like the term "component" is a bit of a misnomer, and should actually be called a "file".

[@radon8452]

Hello Kevin, I want to know which software do you suggest for Photorealistic rendering & Animation?

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Hi A. Z Status. My personal favorite is "Keyshot 8".

[@173roberto]

How can I make the feature design tree not expand too much. I had the problem when I tried to make an assembly that I lost in the Feature tree beacuse it was huge, not like SW that only saves mates in assemblies but Fusion also saves joints in the same tree.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Creating sub-assembly components will help you keep things organized (group several components that make sense). Other than that, it's hard to say without seeing a specific file or example :)

[@173roberto]

@@ProductDesignOnline I wish I could find the equivalent to the coincident solidworks mate. And also how to align planes or use sketch entities with joints

[@HockingRob]

Hi As a beginner and not an engineer I find the use of terms outside of those in Fusion 360 quite confusing . As an example you use the word assets. I guess as a veteran and expert this make sense but not to me. Unless you define assets clearly its a worry. Another term used quite a bit is a container. Bodies, assemblies and components ball contain stuff.. Sorry Just sayin. I still found this very useful :)

[@broom6958]

can i let bodies interact between two components?

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Your bodies can interact in any way (cut, intersect, combine) regardless of how the components are organized. The components are just there to keep the bodies "Group" how you need per other requirements :)

[@mohammadtabish5949]

From India

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Stay safe! :)

[@tds-uf6qp]

Can we convert a surface to a stl file for 3d printing?

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Yep - you can export surface bodies as STL files. However, note that they're very thin and in most situations won't print without getting "thickened" first.

[@marknthetrails7627]

👍✌🖖🥃good, straight forward, and understandable... thanks

[@Proven88]

I was really hoping you would cover how to create a component from a group of bodies. It seems like a really critical step, yet every single video I have watched seems to just completely skip this part.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

That's not a good practice, at all. You have to create your component(s) first so the relevant sketches, bodies, construction planes, etc are all placed in the correct component. If you create the component after the body, you won't have the sketches in there which will cause many issues with assemblies - especially if the part is copy/pasted or reused in other files.

[@TheHalloweenmasks]

I am still not clear😕

[@ProductDesignOnline]

What part(s) do you find confusing?

[@TheHalloweenmasks]

@@ProductDesignOnline Bodies and components. I am not clear of what they are or the role they play in a design.

[@Justin-fb7ni]

are you talking about components when you say parts?

[@ProductDesignOnline]

That's correct. Components = Parts.

[@tag_of_frank]

I'm more confused now. So bodies are a subset of components... okay... I still don't get when to use bodies over components

[@martinbolduc9602]

Not sure I understand why the entire bookshelf could not be a single component and each piece of wood a body within that single component??

[@ProductDesignOnline]

The main reason - You would not be able to use Joints per each board. The 'parts' would also display incorrectly in the parts list, as well as other disadvantages.

[@hugodi4zcr]

Tell us how it been!!

[@Gloriousvid]

Are you live?

[@jamesbarratt593]

so if container is like folder on computer, and a way to organise stuff, why have you put every section of a book case in its own container. surely one container labelled bookshelf would have sufficed. I think containers are so you can have joints. Example if you wanted a car modelled and the wheels each rotating independently the wheels would all be in their own separate containers. This is ridiculously hard when designing to remember to use containers. Even the first container when you start fusion. If its of unparalleled importance then fusion should ask the container name before you get past origin.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Hi James, I do agree that the naming and workflow could be improved.... just remember that components (containers) CAN include multiple bodies (or with your example, multiple books). I may not have made that very clear in this video.

[@jamesbarratt593]

Loads wrong with fusion I have to say. Anyway so heres the question. Mid design I open a new component. Then I sketch out the body and extrude it. Only the body does not appear in bodies under the new component. It still appears under the bodies of the first component list I was using. Why is that?

[@nill9503]

missing my ti line sir.

[@emblemcc]

small note.. can you update the quality of your sound? The voice has strange low-fi quality to it, which is quite annoying.. do not take this comment too critical, as the content is great as always, only the voice broken like this kinda forces me to skip the video

[@samehbijo]

guess how many time he said body :)

[@broderp]

Way too much info to properly digest and comprehend for the beginner. I'm sure at some point it will start to make sense, but not today. This confused me more than before I watched. You need to take each section and explain it. "Here's a body, let's make one"..then do another followed by how to create the assembly with examples of how changing one thing can imoa the other or whatever the case.

[@Beefdr]

I am not totally with him yet, but i know from past experience that sometimes, i have to listen repeatedly and maybe even take notes to get the main points and nuances. I will see if that happens here, but there may be others who are easier to understand after first listening.

[@alexflores4458]

For an absolute beginner it might be to much to grasp In 15 min, but for my self as +5 years CAD user coming from rhino, solid and inventor this video leave with the right questions (and base knowledge to ask those questions) to understand fusion quicker.

[@JayGee6996]

This video isn’t supposed to be step 1 of using fusion, although I wish this information was part of my initial steps into the software as I’ve had to learn the hard way

[@sahilgupta7628]

Hey Can you share your email please I am facing some problems in fusion 360 .

[@hongtse6723]

I wish I had watched this a year ago xD I have a few hundred components to takecare of now lol

[@chuuba_lover]

lol, toe kick

[@michaelcasper4727]

Have completed the project. 20211127