How to Import and Edit 3D Mesh Files Easily | Autodesk Fusion

In this Autodesk Fusion KZbin video, Matt demonstrates how to work with imported mesh files, create new geometry, add them to the mesh body, and ultimately export and 3D print them. If you often find files online that are OBJ, STL, or 3MF, and you need to modify them, this is the video for you!
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[@xXHowsthisXx]

This is super useful! I always tried to convert meshes into bodies to modify them, but never to convert bodies into meshes! That's so much easier and cleaner

[@RusakovLA]

You skipped the important part - how to trace the center of a meshed circle/Solid of revolution. Not always it is in the origin point.

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

Very True, we covered this in another video about designing scan based parts(which I am not sure if its online or not yet). But for that I would suggest using a mesh section sketch and fitting curve to mesh. The circle won't be constrained but once you have it, fix it in place and that is likely the best center point you will get.

[@adamdabrowski931]

As always, great educational video!

[@rowycoracing]

That was very helpful. Thank you!

[@scorrigan87]

This is exactly what I needed!!!! Thank you so much!!!

[@kerryviney3466]

Many thanks for a very informative video.

[@PierreMilcent]

Excellent !! Very usefull approach for my RC modelist experience

[@Giekeme]

As a hobbyist I clicked this video expecting to be told to get the payed version, but instead I learned new ways to use the free version. Thank you!

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

Yeah to the best of my knowledge the only tool missing from the mesh workspace for a hobby user is the ability to convert a mesh file to an "organic" body. Which takes your mesh, attempts a quad conversion, and then converts that to a T-Spline body in the forms workspace. This is part of the product design extension which hobby users don't have access to. you could still convert your mesh external to fusion before bringing it in to Fusion and use the Convert tool while in the Forms workspace to get to the same end result.

[@larryh5758]

@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign Do you have a tutorial on how to do this? If I take a quad remesh from Rhino and import it into F360 as an STL, I can't even select the mesh in the Forms workspace convert dialog box.

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

@@larryh5758 On the official Autodesk channel there are a few videos on this. I do have a video on my channel covering this as well kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHWsgn6wediae5Ysi=9cEHfi3ju5i9yV9p&t=455 STL file type, unless I am mistaken, is triangular mesh only. So if you have a quad mesh in Rhino and save it as an STL then it likely turns that into triangles. You would need an OBJ quad mesh to be able to bring that into fusion and convert to a Tspline body.

[@larryh5758]

@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign Thank you. I'll give it a try. I'm relatively new to this and didn't know that STL and OBJ had those differences. There is so much to learn, and I've found your videos very helpful. Beyond very simple examples, I'm finding reverse engineering challenging.

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

@@larryh5758 Yeah there are nuances to mesh files. at a basic level STL is triangle mesh only, no other data. OBJ can be quad mesh and can bring along some basic material information. When you save a mesh as OBJ you might notice an additional MTL file that goes with it. Other mesh types like FBX have the ability to actually store more info such as 3d print settings. I think FBX is the direction things are going BUT a lot of print slicers (including Fusion since it works off the CAD data) can now import STEP file geometry and provide additional benefits such as creating true Arc movements in the code that is used to move the print head instead of a bunch of small straight lines.

[@RonUSMC]

Yes! The other big thing that I do just a bit more than these is cutting a model up. Several of the slicing software pieces do cut along planes, but sometimes you want to add some keying and leave a little extra for tolerance, but they usually cut like a knife. Besides, not all of them do it that well. Meshmixer used to do it well, but they point to here. I've gotten pretty good with F360 but have been meaning to learn how to do "parts", so I could key pieces together.

[@siddharthpatil4917]

yes

[@2thlesswithta2s2]

Great tutorial. I use mesh-edits a lot. Typically, I want to tighten tolerances on mating parts or print-in-place joints. I suspect my printer & printing process has better tolerance capability than many mesh models out in the wild are designed for - most of them have very sloppy fitment. So I import them into Fusion and do these mesh-edit operations. But I usually start with Create Mesh Section Sketch to get the existing dimension off of the imported mesh. Then I edit the sketch and use offsets that I use to extrude my solid bodies. Then I tessallate & combine the mesh bodies as you have described.

[@ah-64apache84]

Oh the origin is right in the middle of the mesh's hole? Now thats convenient :) I still don't know how to use existing mesh geometry to reference against when modeling. At this point why even use a CAD program...

[@unsuccessful_bank_robber]

Nice 👍

[@user-nd3gd8qk9h]

GOOD TIP！ NEVER SEE THAT COMING

[@timwilliams632]

Since Fusion doesn't allow us to select mesh points when making a sketch, I often end up in space claim creating planes and sometimes just points for reference that are on the mesh and then save this as a Step file and bring that into fusion to do my work. It would be great if Fusion allowed selecting vertices and edges of mesh in design mode when solid or surface modeling

[@lemelmaker]

The section analysis at the end showed that the added base and part of the original model were hollow. How did it print?

[@MadeInMichigan]

I like this method a lot better than trying to convert meshes back into bodies.

[@ockamrazor477]

I keep using prusa slicer to fix stuff and importing and exporting to onshape/solidworks. Fusion may save some steps.

[@62emare]

This is a method I knew and used for long, as with all meshes the more the triangles the more the time is needed (and often the computer dies). When I have a very complex mesh I used to split it in smaller parts and work with them. Then I rejoin them together at the end. But also this method does not always work. It depends on the mesh.

[@ColtonsHobbies]

How do I fix STL files and methods that actually work? I hear from your other videos that meshmixer was retired and not supported because fusion has a lot of those features but it is a struggle to take any of these files and “fix” them in fusion. Closing holes and the like. Do you have a video or know a good tutorial video for how to clean up these files in fusion?

[@wombat3024]

I've completely failed to successfully convert anything in Fusion. if it saves, the file is corrupted when I open it again, and it takes a couple of hours to allegedly save it anyway. Really really p***d off with the inability to actually do anything with a fairly complex STL. All the examples I've seen in videos are with a tiny object that I could have drawn in 10 minutes anyway.

[@masterchief6523]

Is this applicable for making artificial limbs???

[@JD2jr.]

sure?

[@Te4mUp]

Changes toolpath to go the "other way" and makes literally no other changes. All of a sudden my tool skips sections lol. Blend was in beta for like 5 years. It's not in beta anymore. Get it together....

[@seedmoreuser]

Don't think 99% of the STL models are going to be aligned to the grid. So this workaround seems like it'll take more time than just reverse engineering it.

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

It will be a crap shoot depending on where the model came from. Upon import there are options to snap it to the origin, but if the rotation is off that gets tricky! You can go into Direct Edit mode and create planes based on 3 points by selecting areas of the mesh and use those (or axes) for your design of new mesh bodies.

[@PierreMilcent]

I think you are talking about the circle and how to have them at the correct center ??? The solution could be this : 1. copy the object and hide one of the two 2. do a convert to mesh 3. create the sketch 4. project 3 point of the circle, 5. draw a new circle from this 3 points 6. enlarge the circle and finish the sketch 7. hide the converted object in mesh.

[@timwilliams632]

Right! Wouldn't it be nice if we could select vertices of the mesh to align to a plane or other object? I believe we can interact with the mesh using t-splines, so the capability can't be too foreign. But in the several years I have been using fusion, they haven't allowed us to select mesh edges and vertices in design mode.

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

@@timwilliams632 I believe the reason (not being a developer at autodesk, just guessing) that you can only access the verts of a mesh in direct edit mode is that performance would take a huge hit. It already does with mesh models which is why right-click and making them unselectable helps. And thats just Fusion highlighting the faces. IF it had to figure out which verts and edges and faces were selectable when you ran your cursor over it the program would stop all together. And thats why in direct mode you end up with paint selections rather than it highlighting a vert like you would get in Forms for example.

[@JD2jr.]

@@LearnEverythingAboutDesign They could make it only selectable when you chose a specific tool, slow interactions only when getting references but make the whole process smoother

[@Te4mUp]

Buggier than wine programs ran on a hackintosh that didn't have the correct plist files. No issues taking my money though that's for sure.

[@bindumiller]

The mesh tools in Fusion really suck! Sorry to be so harsh, but 90% of the time, the mesh will not convert to solid successfully. It will partially convert to surface only--useless! I mostly use 3D Builder, anymore, to modify meshes. It's simple, logical, and just works. I wish Fusion would develop a mesh tool that was as simple. At this point, if I'm working with a mesh, I'm not using Fusion.