Import and Edit STL Files in Fusion 360 2024

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Get the Demo files (and tips) here ➞ bit.ly/STLfiles Helpful video? Buy Kevin a coffee ➞ www.buymeacoffee.com/pdo

[@dbtest117]

Thank you very informative. Will put to good use. I do think though the loft on the bottom corner looks odd 10:13, not sure but wouldn't it have needed a triangle shape on each side just curved in one plane to become completely accurate? Maybe I'm picky or don't fully grasp how the geometry turns out.

[@ludwig2345]

I REALLY respect that you not only provide the files (and tips) for free but ALSO a transcript! Transcripts are the best thing ever!

[@ProductDesignOnline]

@@ludwig2345 glad to hear that! Appreciate your feedback 😃

[@MikiCab1]

One of the best Fusion 360 videos I have ever seen. Usually there is one step missing that prevents the student from being able to follow along without hours of frustration. Very well done. You are now my Fusion 360 tutor of choice.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thanks, Richard! Happy learning :)

[@SkintSNIPER262]

This time it's a pay wall.

[@attack125]

@@SkintSNIPER262 i didn't see a wall when i watched this video. did you? (don't say stupid crap)

[@SkintSNIPER262]

@@attack125 do you know what a pay wall is? Don't project your stupidity onto me.

[@brandonleirer4928]

I don't know if they changed/updated this, but at 1:13 there was no "Mesh Display" option in the drop down. After some searching I found that the face group colors can now be turned on via "inspect > Display Mesh face groups"

[@pioun777]

shift + F

[@jesperandersson2542]

@@pioun777 Thanks

[@thedevo01]

@@pioun777 You are a saint.

[@tomasnielsen5132]

I watch this film every time I need to do this. Fusion 360 manages to complicate the most essential things so much. Thanks for this film!

[@glittalogik]

Sharing because this might come in handy for other newbies who want to trim off parts of a complex mesh body without loads of faffing about: - Create a new 'tool' body in the desired negative shape - Position the tool intersecting with the unwanted bits of your converted mesh body - Combine the two bodies using Solid > Modify > Combine > Cut - The tool and unwanted mesh bits go bye-bye and you're left with nice smooth surfaces. I figured this out while adding a threaded end-cap STL to my project. The walls of the cap were way too thick, so I made a hollow cylinder shell with inner diameter matching my desired outer diameter for the cap. I slid the cylinder down over the cap, did the above, and now it's perfect :) The threaded area is a maze of tiny faces that I don't want to screw up (heh) so this was a great way to fix the rest with no risk to the functional bit.

[@Jacno77]

thanks works great, used this to get rid of lots of triangles on a disc

[@samanawayadatta891]

This is probably the only video in the entire 3D Modelling landscape that exactly solves my problem. Very thanks, mate.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Glad to hear that! Thanks :)

[@apparentlywyatt]

This is the exact video I've been searching for since I started using fusion in December. Thank you!

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Glad to hear that, Wyatt. Hope you're enjoying Fusion 360 :)

[@joelstolarski2244]

Me too. And just now, completely out of the blue. Was just scroling down videos

[@Ritter_Kotzenplotz]

Saaame, so glad theres finally a video thats up to date

[@DanieleCappelletti]

Me too thank you very much

[@quentinlecoq]

Clearly the best fusion video out here. Clear, concise, fast. I understood way much here than anywhere. Thanks a lot!

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thank you! I appreciate the kind words. Glad to hear you learned a lot :)

[@NordriOfUthgard]

You literally just made my day! I was really frustrated with Fusion 360 a few days ago because I wasn't able to use the prismatic method and had no idea how to clean up the mess Fusion left me with. Horrified by the choice of learning another CAD software (start from zero again - who has the time?) or paying more for a single piece of software than I paid for my laptop I had to put the project on hold for a few days. Now this workaround seems fast and easy enough for my needs and will save me a lot of headache in the future, thank you so much!

[@rainydaytoast1490]

I have been watching a few fusion 360 tutorials on and off for the last couple years as I’ve needed and I find your to be the better of them. Clear and concise! Thank you! Subbed.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thanks for the kind words and support. Appreciate you! :)

[@MikiCab1]

Great video. I usually just draw everything from scratch and do the best I can. I am right in the middle of a project right now that I may try this on.

[@vlozity]

wow... finally a really good tutorial to clean STL models, thanks!

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thanks for watching! :)

[@isaaclutz7639]

Thank you are a life saver! fusion 360 had crashed on my laptop and I hadn't fully backed up my 2 year long design (ik a horrendously stupid mistake) I had all the most recent files in stl though. so this video greatly helped me be able to use them!!!

[@sualpozel1]

A great video for all who are on the personal license of Fusion 360 and work with mesh bodies.

[@Koushakur]

6:24 Assuming the model got correctly centered and is symmetrical I think it would be easier to use a circular pattern instead, so you get it all done with a single feature on the timeline rather than 9

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Would likely work with this model. I wouldn't generally recommend patterning surfaces. With more complex files it will wreck havoc, especially when you go to Stitch the surfaces back together :)

[@Block-Shock-and-Fabrication]

Thank you so much, Usually I have no problem converting a mesh from step file. But what I'm working on is more complex/weird geometry. I was missing one step that was critical to correctly converting to a solid body. Again thank you. Extremely good tutorial! Adding to playlist❤🎉

[@christoskaragiannis7973]

The amount of useful information in 14mins of video is amazing. Thank you!

[@stathyena]

Still disappointing they have prismatic locked behind a paywall, but that's how companies work nowadays. Great video! Super appreciated.

[@kevinschilling6813]

This was exactly what I needed with 360 getting greedy. How would I manage anything threaded? The STL I need to modify has threads. When I start to delete triangles the threads get very wanky! All in all, an outstanding work around for those of us that use the Personal Version of 360. THX!!

[@OCDRex11]

If only we could keep the previous versions that didn't botch STL importing. I honestly have lost a lot of love for what they changed with importing. But this makes me a little happier to go back and try! TY!

[@MinionAtTheGate]

This guy is fantastic at what he does. As for editing STL files in fusion 360 free version you are limited as to what you can do compared with the paid version. I found it easier and quicker to achieve my desired results by just starting from scratch in Fusion 360 using the original STL as a guide. That object he's working on - I could make it a lot quicker than editing that STL

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thanks! Rebuilding the file from scratch is often easier for hobby users. Repairing sections can be handy if you just need to add text or change one aspect.

[@MinionAtTheGate]

@@ProductDesignOnline Thanks for all of your excellent videos btw.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

@@MinionAtTheGate thank you! Appreciate you watching and taking the time to comment. 😎

[@ColinWatters]

Great video. I've been using F360 for awhile and still learnt a few new tricks. Will have to book mark this vid.

[@malakov5]

Thanks a lot for this. There are tons of videos about cleaning up STL but they are all on the paid version or a student license and sometimes fail to mention that. This video really helped me get to started.

[@mv_1097]

This is seriously the one and only video that helped me! Thank you and cheers!

[@cryzz0n]

Well this is definitely gonna help me with modifying all those "almost exactly what I'm looking for!" things out there! Done some real butchershop jobs on a custom headsetstrap intended for Quest 2 that I remodeled for my HTC vive Gen1. This video about a year or so back would have made my life soooooo much easier! But convert to brep, split body, loft and just use cut to flatten out surfaces have worked fairly well. I wouldn't wanna look at it through any sort of analytic lenses though...

[@stefanwalden3339]

Thank you so so much for this guide. You saved my day, and probably many days to come 😀

[@MikeCarr07]

Do you have the freeware version? This doesn't seem to work anymore

[@SuperGomii]

As a student, you might have just saved my Degree. Thank you so much!

[@reaford2004]

I find your videos to be amazingly helpful. I really wish you offered some sort of "live" course. I think it would be amazing. I am a physician by training and have essentially learned Fusion360 (at least many concepts) completely from your videos.

[@97JoMiller]

This was super helpful! It really helped me get moving on editing files where I can take something "close" that someone else created and then edit it from there to fill my actual needs. AWESOME!

[@maximthemagnificent]

I find frequently that even if I already know the main tools used in your videos I pick up great quality-of-life ones along the way! Thanks.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Glad to hear that, Maximilian! :)

[@Way2Do]

I was searching for another video but I'm happy that KZbin recommended yours. Simple and perfect. Subscribed to your channel to keep learning! Thanks

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thanks! :)

[@h3Xh3Xh3X]

What is the advantage of combining faces and removing triangles? Should you do this for the entire mesh, or only the parts you wish to modify?

[@tinkerman1790]

You are my hero! This tutorial really helpful for all hobbyists of 3D printing and modeling who running personal edition of fusion360 likes me. Thx! 😎

[@ChronOJohn2]

I think I finally understood how my arch-enemy - lofts work. Thank you!

[@patricklang7201]

Might it be possible to update the guide with the latest (march 24) Fusion?

[@mgregggphone]

That helped me a lot. Thanks! I can now edit my downloaded STLs

[@micah2936]

How did KZbin know I needed this I didn’t even google search it, I found my own method to do it and then had this recommended

[@adamali7840]

Great Video. Learned a bunch of new tricks!

[@peacekper]

Thank you so much for the helpful video! I haven't touched any CAD software in about 10 years and recently got into 3d printing and these videos are awesome.

[@ms.awesome]

I know ur in there NileRed

[@Reckless_Incorporated_utv]

No its nileblue

[@FAMBEEZO]

Dude, spot on. I’ve been going crazy wondering who this guy sounds like. This is RiverBlue

[@noah6784]

​@@FAMBEEZOhe should be using river Rubicon scene then

[@John-fn6jd]

your the best, I love your teaching style..very clear and concise. def helped me to get much better in fusion360

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thank you John! I appreciate your continued support.

[@pieterpennings9371]

answered my question quickly and without nonsense!

[@Deses]

Thank you for this video, this is incredibly useful. I barely touched the Surface workspace of Fusion360 and now I see the potential it has.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Surfaces open up a whole new world. Happy learning! :)

[@han_zhang22]

Best fusion video out there thank you so much

[@prateekrajbhandari]

Thanks!

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thanks, Prateek! Appreciate your support :)

[@DJProPlusMax]

Thank you! I used the first method. Super simple, and well explained!

[@matejkuka797]

this helped me a LOT ! thank you Mr. :)

[@ilansagital3519]

simple, clear, just amazing. Thank you 🙏

[@mauriicio--i]

Thanks! I was stuck for almost an hour trying to do this!

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks, Mauricio! :)

[@ConsultingjoeOnline]

"Project tool" just blew my mind. THANK YOU!

[@ConsultingjoeOnline]

Point-to-point too! Could have used that the other day

[@maxwamsley]

Got to 2:00 and was good to go! Great video!

[@BlueLightSpecial2023]

The demo file above is causing an error when Convert Mesh is applied. I'm using parametric with prismatic. When converted, a Compute Failed message is generated and the resulting object is corrupt. EDIT: When creating face groups, reducing the Boundary Tolerance from the default 0.001 mm to 0.01mm resolved the issue.

[@MarcBesancenot]

Your tutorials are the clearest and easy to follow, thanks A LOT ! Fusion 360 sometimes made me losing my nerves ^^

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thanks, Marc! :)

[@TheAciditty]

Display Face groups was moved to the Inspect dropdown, if anyone can't find it.

[@cfoust100]

Wow this video was so unbelievably helpful thank you

[@barkster]

great video thanks, learned more about meshes than anything

[@erick2will]

Absolutely outstanding content! I was looking for this content since I'm a hobbyist fusion 360 user. Thank you very much!👏👏👏👏👍

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Thanks, Erick! Glad to hear that :)

[@diederrr]

how do you easily orient an stl with poor faces for TOP FRONT ect. like on a round object or something with no flat parallel surfaces?

[@bdwoodworking6411]

Thank you! Loved your video and to the point explanation. However, I have been trying to follow your steps with my project I'm not able to get the same results. I'm very new to Fusion 360 and to 3D printing and I'm trying to add text to an oddly curved STL surface that I downloaded (sort of a wavy surface). I know how to add extruded text to a solid body but regardless of what I try to do, I can't add text to this project. Again, I've watched your video countless times so I'm wondering if there might be another option without paying an arm and a leg for the full version. Thanks for any help. Cheers!

[@tomflock9916]

What the hell?! How did you know that yesterday I was trying to clean up Proton Pack stl files with my hobby license? The timing of this video is uncanny, ty!

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Glad to hear that, Tom! Thanks for watching :)

[@D4RKFiB3R]

Has the Mesh Display > Face Groups option been moved in recent updates? I can't find it. Thanks.

[@pioun777]

shift + F

[@tikemhomas]

The prismatic version will not work for me. But when I use the faceted version, it gives me an error and will not allow me to delete individual faces. Is there a way to combine a groups of faces into one face still?

[@flantc]

Why couldn't Autodesk make a video this clear? This is perfect! Thanks!

[@AnthonyRose]

i'm not seeing the mesh display settings in my instance of F360, is that a recently added feature?

[@miktoyou]

Following the video i ran into the same issue. I did solve it though, go to Utilities Tab > Inspect > Display Mesh Face Groups. A quicker way is to use SHIFT + F.

[@AnthonyRose]

@@miktoyou Thanks for the tip!

[@miktoyou]

@@AnthonyRose No Problem!

[@HopeScreen]

is there any source or video that tells the viewer that what software has the best options for stl editing for reverse engineering

[@syahti]

why me error insert .stl when generatefacegroups1... error messange boundary tolerence is out of range. the valid rnag is form 1e-08 cm to 0.01cm

[@TheArtofWalls]

Can't find "Mesh Display/Face Groups" in my Display Settings. Have they moved it to anywhere else or is my Spanish translated version missing this option?

[@pioun777]

shift + F

[@bennynordgren]

Great vid but I'm stuck att 2:47 with a orange surface body and cant make out what you are saying, i´m working on a pipe shaped object with two additional holes in it

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Have you tried to "patch" the two holes (surface Patch tool)?

[@intelli_mw]

Great tutorial for us n00bs. Thanks!!!

[@SethStringham]

So I'm following this tutorial, but when I convert mesh I end up with a bunch of floating solid pieces that are disconnected, instead of one solid piece. Any suggestions? It does seem to appear that when generating face groups, not all of the faces are placed into a group.

[@fletcherluders415]

Thank you, this was very straightforward and helpful!

[@jasonstation]

orange surface body: find and close the open a's?

[@mikeboi784]

Awesome video Just what I needed thank you you should get a radio job sound like I heard you on there

[@nsboost]

Thank you for this! I might be able to apply this to the file that’s been kicking my but for the last week. 😁👍

[@Solider134]

I don't have mesh display - face groups settings, is it normal? My version is for personal use (hobby)

[@ProductDesignOnline]

It looks like they just moved it to the Inspect dropdown in a recent update. You can also use Shift + F.

[@karlla1220]

So, this video means that all those thing can be done automatically if I paid, right?

[@ProductDesignOnline]

The Prismatic feature will convert *most* items. It's available on the EDU, Startup, and Commercial licenses. The general rule of thumb, if it can be built in Fusion 360 natively then it will likely convert. If you need the occasional file converted, just post in the PDO community space, and myself or another member would be happy to do so - community.productdesignonline.com/

[@dsdkustom8143]

Great job. Do you have a video on how to hollow and imported stl file?

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Not at the moment...but that's a great topic. Thanks! :)

[@yasin_uyghur]

I am using free version and i could not use the Parametric feature, what is the different between Faceted and Parametric ?

[@pascal4613]

I dont have the mesh display option under Visual style.

[@rschapman]

Prismatic appears to now be in the Hobby version.

[@AntonioGarcia-ry8kv]

Does cura have these options as well?

[@lgbfjbsupporter5566]

New Sub, thanks Im just starting with F360 and its a pretty big pill to swallow... Not sure how good you are with computers but I will be needing to replace/build a new computer soon as F360 really puts a load on my current system. If its within your purview perhaps a computer build that is focused on or around F360 speed and performance. As you go through the components you would choose a good, better, best option would be great to help stay within a persons budget. Just an idea. Thanks again.

[@steadfast9354]

When I try deleting mesh faces, it gives the following error: "Error: Cannot delete individual faces. To delete the whole body, please use the Browser or Selection Filters."

I can't figure it out for days. 3D printer not detecting. I just started learning Fusion 360. It gives an error as below. Can you help me? "The operation failed. Try adjusting the values or changing the input geometry. Cannot convert mesh body to solid or surface body. Use Generate Face Groups or Direct Edit to align face groups to geometric features on the mesh body."

[@aashitgarodia]

Can you please tell me how to find and close the opening because I got a orange body :(

[@newns9649]

so i tried this because of your reply to my comment on the other video but when i delet a face, even if its all part of one flat surface it completely changes the shape of the face.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

When you're selecting Delete, are you in the Surface Tab? You'll get different results if in surface or solid tab while you select Delete.

[@mururoa7024]

The 3 point arc base on the 3 projected points leaves gaps and the extruded surface doesn't close on the edges it has to connect to. Seems like something else needs to happen for this technique to work with all types of curvatures.

[@nathanael_opoulos]

My fusion doesn't seem to have a menu option for mesh display settings...

[@MakerMike-bx5ms]

Holy Crap this was soooo helpful! THANK YOU!!!

[@powermos]

What is the purpose of creating face groups? They don't seem to be used in the conversion.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

The conversion tool does use them as a way to know if/when it can merge facets upon conversion. You can merge or change face groups if you have problematic areas (corners, small details, etc) that are not converting well.

[@dtolds]

Is there a reason I can't find the Convert Mesh feature? I even tried the shortcut without success

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Very strange. Can you check what F360 version number you're on? From the Help icon > About

[@scottybrow4587]

parametric is not available in my free version. 😕

[@PaulSuquet]

After "converting mesh", I end up with something like 50 shapes / triangles. Can Fusion not just create a solid body out of a set of shapes? In my case, this is a phone dummy (to test cases).So it's made out of dozens of shapes. I just need it to be a filled solid.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

I have a few other lessons that show how to convert STL via the newer "Prismatic" option. Prismatic will convert it into a solid body. However, it is only available on the other three licenses (not the free personal use license). Using the original faceted approach will leave you with mesh triangles (called facets). It really depends on the design and the file. Sometimes, you can clean up the mesh facets. While other times it's simply easier to rebuild the file. In general, the shape has to be something that could be created in Fusion in the first place. If it's an extremely organic model from Blender or some other mesh modeling program then it cannot be converted without the mesh facets. You can think of mesh and solid modeling as two different languages. The underlying math behind them is vastly different. That is why it is such a challenge to convert files. Fusion is actually one of the better programs at conversion. (I do wish the Prismatic option was available those on the free license though... as it is very powerful)

[@magicmanspaz]

When I convert some models i get broken/open holes where curved edges where?

[@ProductDesignOnline]

That is pretty common due to mesh geometry creation (particularly if the file was created in a mesh program originally). You can try to use the repair tool in the mesh tab to automatically fix it. Otherwise, you'll have to patch them with the surface tool.

[@wrxsubaru02]

I'm on hobby license and I can use prismatic feature, so not sure what you are talking about.

[@ProductDesignOnline]

You may have gotten lucky and slid through the barrier. :) In all seriousness, does it say 'Trial' (or similar) at the top? Sounds like you may be on the free 30 day trial (of the commercial license) that automatically starts with a Hobby license. They have not allowed Prismatic on the free license since its release in July 2021.

[@biozombieactive8792]

Sadly, the mesh I have will not convert via Prismatic setting. I have to manually convert all 10000+ triangles.

[@Vindolin]

Great video! I just wish Autodesk would offer us hobbyists an affordable version that would let us pay for those features. 😥

[@h0nzik_333]

Thank you, helpful.

[@srilemobitelsrile8809]

How do you add support to model?

[@parkermaggard8862]

What do you do if the whole thing is a complex shape?

[@ProductDesignOnline]

Can you give a more specific example (of an object)? There are many factors at play, and some models (organic/mesh type) are simply better suited for the mesh type of programs that they originated from.

[@parkermaggard8862]

@@ProductDesignOnline so I am working on a filter adapter for the PBF gas mask and I have the filter part imported basically a thic Pringle with a hole in the middle how to I get it to whare I can thread that hle in the middle