For smaller parts, especially planar parts, I like to use a flat bed scanner and put them right on the glass. As long as everything is flat on the glass. There are no parallax errors or lens distortion either! Also, if the dpi is embedded in the picture, fusion usually gets the scaling right without ever having to calibrate.
There are programs that completely remove lens distortion based on the camera body and specific lens. I use DXO - supports any major manufacturer and has manual distortion fix if you are so inclined :)
@@aztecwarrior7373 if you have a somewhat flat object you can place it on a flatbed scanner as if it were a document and scan it. The image created by the scanner will have no perspective or lens distortion at all.
To calibrate, if you don't have distinct points on an object to select and measure, you can include a reference object in the photo as well, say a cube or even the calipers or a ruler with markings...... Scale one you scale the other.
I'm a Laser Quest arena designer who really enjoyed the custom shape creator in Bryce 7. That software is no longer supported and Bryce is crashing regularly. This tutorial has pushed me to use Fusion for my next project. Thank you so much for making such an easy to follow tutorial. I can now create my custom shapes in 3D!!!
Thanks for the counter bore tip. I've noticed it multiple times when sketching, but I haven't actually noticed that it could be used from other part plane as you did. This will come handy in future as I've personally always created confusing amount of sketches in my drawings.
Great to see this done natively in Fusion... quite a few steps... I have had decent luck using the "Trace" feature in Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape, save as DXF vector from either of those and import to fusion
Also found if you scan it hires (1200 ppi) to a PDF then bring into AI you can get a better trace. The more detail though the more time you spend cleaning up the trace before export. Also AI isn't as accurate as ACAD or Fusion but plenty good for proto work...found slight variation in Dims between the trace and DXF. May give Inkscape a try...Thanks!
Always love this technique! Much easier in Fusion than older CAD programs. I would add, think like the designer than made the part initially. Designers don't usually pick long odd dimensions, so if the part is from Europe, and you measure it to be 2.02234mm , odds are it's just 2mm. Also, I rarely find splines when reverse engineering functional, non-artistic parts (Even curvy S shapes are usually tangent arcs) so arcs are the right way to go here.
Some great fusion tricks, thank you! I think using an scanner and placing the flat side of the handle down on the bed would give you an very good image to trace.
*from a beginner's perspective* Instead of tangent-ing the arcs, you can also fillet them. I just move the arrow when filleting the arcs and when I see fit, I close the fillet command! But I saw that you used the fillet command after drawing the sketch, which it can also work! Nice video!
na, a spline is worse than UN politics... splines are not meant to be used where precision is a most(by a few exceptions)... take a look at my tutorial in my channel is in spanish and I am using rhino3d... but there, you will find how to work with curves... best tutorial... (I most say that I think that a plug in seems to be needed here I believe that the program T Splines would do just fine and should bring better shapes)
Robert Ostman: Only if you don't understand splines and what defines c0 c1 c2 continuity and what is required for each condition. Splines are definately the tool to have used, T splines are complete overkill for such a trivial set of continuity conditions.Get a plugin or spend 15 minutes educating yourself. The statement that splines are not meant to be used for precision is ridiculous to the point of absurdity, I've been using Alias for design for over 20 years, guess what has always been the primary precision drawing tool.
I also would prefer splines, you have better control over the continuity and the curve forming than with arcs. Didn't he already use splines for drawing these kind of things? I smell a brain fart.
lol, in alias you aren't using splines you are using a different set of curves that by the way their name escapes my mind, (Bspline???) but the difference is in the equation that forms the curves and in the way to handle (mold)the curve to your liking... as far as I know in alias is all about curves with 1 single span, so you would have needed many curves to create that shape... t splines does a task like this in record times... with a final result that appears to have been done with a more expensive software...
I've made it work from an iPhone photo, but whenever I can, I use an 85mm lens - makes life a lot easier. Any lens that is referred to as "portrait lens" works well for this. Also to do a simple, yet asymmetrical, outline like this splines give a better result. For more complex shapes I use the same method with Bezier curves in AI or CorelDraw and import a DXF of the curve into Fusion.
Started using that attached canvas & calibrate feature after your first vid on it, started putting 6" scale in pictures for calibration reference. Nice work, as always. 👍👍
I also like to start with b-splines and add in arcs, lines, and constraints to get it just right. You can also do another attached canvas with a side view if the fillets aren't good enough.
1) Put the phone camera at the middle of the object. 2) Scan the object with printing scanner to get rid of angle. 3) convert the jpg to dxf first in online tool.
I made gears for my chainsaw like this, but I learned something new about the counter bores and including them on the original sketch. Very handy for future things. Thanks!
I'v done the same thing on 3 different parts recently. i first mark 2 points on the object (for scaling later) then take scans of it in a normal household scanner. bigger parts i take multiple scans of and put it all together. you still get perspective problems but its not too bad.
Great tutorial! Thank you so much. Was very easy to repeat the process for the part I was trying to make. As an absolute beginner, appreciate it very much.
Whoa...! That was awesome! I have been following along on a few of your tutorials, only solidly picking up tips and be able to repeat them. I actually got this one... woo..lol. I have only drafting experience with the old green live top! Been hand drawing everything for 45 years... so yeah I am way behind. But KUDO'S to you brother for taking your time to share!!! Loved it!
Great video. I don't know if it's because I'm starting to get the hang of F360 or if it's because you slowed down when you're teaching but this video was extremely useful to me and I'm just a beginner. Some of the earlier videos that I watched went by too fast and I couldn't follow them. Either way, much appreciated.
Thx (again), John, for a nice video, w/ some gems along the way. Now, as you noted, there are certainly other ways to do this. And, in fact, some commenters offered up some good suggestions. Here's my take... - Automatic bitmap to vector "tracing" can be useful in a number of cases, but it generally does not create the most optimal splines. Sometimes, they're not even "acceptable", depending on the requirements of the project. On the other hand, sometimes they're "good enough". Experience and personal assessment will apply. - Capturing the image can be done w/ camera, or 2D scanner. To minimize lens distortion when using a camera, I look directly down on the object; get as high up as practical; and zoom in. - Engineering accuracy vs. "functional" vs. aesthetic will dictate what method(s) to use in the reverse engineering. [25+ yrs of experience - B.S.E.E.: Elec. Eng., w/ emphasis on computers/robotics; 3D animator/modeler/programmer/tech writer/teacher/mentor; and current 3D printing lab manager/trainer/instructor at Factur makerspace in Orlando, FL. I love this stuff!:)]
P.S. Not big fan of F360 splines. Much more comfortable w/ Adobe, but would love to keep process all in F360. So, any suggestions, links, insight, etc. on F360 splines would be much appreciated. TIA.
Thx! Latest path shows storm tracking straight up thru Orlando! Got my provisions. Securing outdoor things today. Just gonna ride it out. Lived thru Charlie in 2004, so have some idea of what to expect. Also, born during Category 5 hurricane ("Donna"). You stay safe and dry, too!...
Flatbed scanner/high contrast image, import image file into Inkscape, Left Click Image, [Path -> Trace Bitmap], [Brightness cutoff -> Update -> Ok], Remove Fill, Add Stroke, delete original image, Save as DXF. This will give you the profile without the added steps of creating profile from scratch. Import DXF into CAD and scale. This process works much more efficiently for more complex shapes. If you're only reproducing a knife handle John's process works fine.
To avoid all the tracing, I usually scan the part or take a photo with a zoom lens (to reduce parallax issue), convert to SVG in Inkscape, import SVG in Fusion, extrude, then scale to whatever size I need.
Photos taken from a camera are viewed as perspective projection (round holes are never true). Try scanning the part with a flat bed scanner (600 dpi or better). That will get the part image closer to true scale because of parallel projection which is what CAD is based on.
Excellent verbal and visual presentation of doing this. You really took the time to go slow enough for me to follow and take notes, as I have never done this before.
Hi, this was a great video and helped a lot. How ever, it stops short because NO one on TH-cam shows you how then to create the toolpaths. Could you please consider doing that?
If only fusion could convert scalar images to vector format directly it would be super easy. There is software that will do that, but edge detection is critical so lighting, and contrast need to be perfect for it to work right.
I wish this was a little more detailed in its explanation. As others have said, it's really helpful to take a photo of a ruler next to the piece for calibration but even better is to flatbed scan the part with a ruler as it helps to reduce parallax error and distortion. Regardless, this is a good exercise if just needing a single part but where it quickly fails is if you have several parts that will fit together and you need all the holes to line up to tight engineering tolerances. I found in these cases, even with scanning and very accurate calibration, you can have holes (like two parts with a connective screw or bolt hole) that the holes can be a millimeter or so off from one another. This causes you to have to go back and do a lot of design rework to get them to match up perfectly whereas if you had just measured the initial part very carefully and then drew everything else from the outset based on the first part you can avoid these hassles. So while I like this feature and ability for "quick copy" of a single item, if you are making anything of a more complex nature with layers or a series of stacked components you can immediately run into alignment hassles, especially where holes are concerned.
Usually people take photo because it's fast and easy, but forget that scan it is also quick and actually more accurate since it doesn't have perspective distortion as much as the photo. ;)
A good trick that gives me decent results is to use splines for sketching the outlines as close as you can and then when the basic shape is achieved, you can segment those splines into arcs with pre-defined tolerance to maintain shape. This will give you a much cleaner G-Code. I do this with GibbsCam, don't know if Fusion360 has a segmenting feature though.
I'm not sure, but I think the CAM processor from Fusion 360 can interpolate splines to arcs if you set the arc tolerance in the machining operation panel.
Klaufmann that would be handy if Gibbs cam did that. If i put a contour tool path to a spline, Gibbs will out put thousands of little line segments to simulate the curves but makes the machine move considerably slower and a much larger G-Code.
I had a similar problem in CamBam when I wanted to import a contour I made in another program, which was composed of lots of linesegments. There were so much short G-Codes that the machine couldn't handle them fast enough and stopped multiple times while cutting. After that I discovered a possibility to round the whole contour with a tolerance and that worked great. I don't know your program, but maybe there is a setting for that you haven't found yet?
Klaufmann there is a setting for tolerance but it only increases or decreases amount of segments. Gibbs really isn't that great at interpolating splines to arcs
Really excited to learn 360 but my pos 8 year old laptop just won't run it... one day when I can get a new machine I will be binge watching all the 360 tutorials on youtube!
I have been using this feature a lot lately, but the biggest problem I have when I bring in my canvas it always seems to bring it into the software squished to a funny sizing. I take the picture on my iPhone and then email it and save it to my downloads folder. Even when I calibrate it in the one plane say the length, it doesn’t correct it in both the length and the width. To correct it I have to sketch on some lines to a correct lengths and then scale the canvas manually which seems to take forever. What am I doing wrong? Any help would be great. Many thanks cheers, Ben
Been trying to do something similar. Used flatbed scanner then Inkscape trace bitmap to turn image into SVG outline. Put SVG into Fusion then extrude. Problem is that Fusion refuses to fillet. Looks like outline is too complex.
I love your videos I have commented on a few other videos regarding some of the design problems I am having with my framelock folder I'm designing. Just started using fusion about 6 days ago and have a pretty awesome design thanks to your videos but would love some help with the grind on the knife. I have just been using press pull and perhaps I should be using something like sweep to move the cut along a curve? I would love to talk with you about it when you have the chance
Isn't there a tool in here that lets you add points along A-line. So you can add new radius zones and adjust lines more directly without having to create new ones like this?
I've done something similar with other software (cambam and draftsight aka 2D autocad by solidworks) your method works for simple shapes that fit well to arcs and lines. It is not so great for anything complex or organic, and tracing a lot of lines could take hours on something complex. If i may suggest, 2 free/opensource programs save a lot of headache: GIMP and Inkscape 1. take the picture from a little higher to reduce the error of the holes 2. drop a ruler into the picture so the pic contains the scale 3. open picture in GIMP, create paths and export them (.svg) 4. open the .svg ("vector image") in INKSCAPE, convert to dxf 5. import that into cad (F360) and scale it In gimp you have much nicer edge detect and color tools: *magic wand or color select tool to get the edges you want (threshold, feather & anti-aliasing options to smooth it and get however much you want) also don't forget that you can select the background and then invert to get what you want *you can try to select everything you need at once or do each chunk and merge later *then, (either right click or menus at the top) Select> To Path this makes a line/vector of your selection outline. If you go to your layers list, there is a tab at the top for paths *in the paths list, you can select one and right click then export (.svg) 2 last tips before moving on to inkscape: *grab 2 distinct lines with numbers from your ruler with this (snap points to set scale accurately in cad) *if you converted each piece to a separate path, you want to combine them all into 1 path before exporting: in the paths list, click a path (highlights in blue on list) and at the bottom click the button for "path to selection", now click another path in the list and hold SHIFT while clicking "Path to Selection", keep doing this until you have all the paths you need, then click the "Selection to Path" button. next to that new path, click the box to display it (shows an eye, and the path will shop up in red) if you have everything you need, then export it. Inkscape: *open the .svg *click drag a box around your geometry *file>save as DXF actual option is something like Desktop Cutting Plotter (Autocad dxf r14)(.dxf) **Note: inkscape also has very good vector cleanup tools like smoothing, arc approx, & snappoint reduction etc. that may be nice before exporting into a cad format. Hope that helps someone who is about to go insane trying to trace in cad
How did you learn Fusion 360? I am looking everywhere for a good book, course, or video program and haven’t been able to find anything that is straight forward and truly takes the beginner into consideration. I really liked how you describe what you are doing and display the keys you are using as you go through the process. That is huge for e newby like myself! Thanks for the great tutorials and I look forward to any advice you can provide on the best way to learn this program.
Probably a bit late now, but as an 80 year old noob, I found th-cam.com/video/A5bc9c3S12g/w-d-xo.html and subsequent parts on CAM by Lars Christensen were excellent, with useful real-world background info' included, and they got me started with this fantastic program. You may need to find some commands in different places as the recording is with an earlier version, but as he uses mainly keyboard commands, this problem is eased. He has a very pleasant manner, which is a bonus!
I imagine using a scanner would work better as long as the part would fit inside... you dont have to deal with parallax and angle issue from taking an image from a single point. Then you can bring the image into photoshop and crop it out as a single 2d body shape on a transparent background. Save it as a vector file and import it into fusion and extrude it from the body. It will save time outlining the part in fusion as photoshop has better tools to do it for you. especially when the shape becomes more complex.
Really enjoyed your video! Would it be possible for you to expound on the process, perhaps showing how you mirror your handle, and creating a toolpath with in fusion 360 with speeds and feeds?
no, failing lets you figure out how to succeed, he's dead right, especially for iterative development. Hoping to succeed first time requires dumb luck that 1/ doesn't inform you and 2/can't be counted on. Its just rolling dice and hoping for the best. Im talking product development here.
Learning how not to do something is better than getting it right the first time, since once you know how not to do it, that knowledge can be used in several other aspects of your work. Especially when it comes to process development and identifying inefficiencies that cost you time and/or materials.
I'm no F360 expert but if I was trying to recreate the exact shape I think I would have first tried to use the sculpt environment first to see how close I could get it.
Thanks, John! Well-timed...I have a repair part I need to make on my 3D printer for a pole lamp, and this method should make it a lot easier to get it right. If you are looking for ideas for future vids, how about one on the assembly feature? I know most of your parts are single component, or components joined with joints (like the clamps), but I'm currently designing a cart for a TIG welder and I need to position components relative to each other, without them touching each other. For example, two cross bars in the base frame that are each attached to the side rails, but not to each other, yet I need the space between them to be specified. I did it by making a temporary spacer component, then deleted it, but there must be a better way. Ditto with positioning the wheels (casters in front, wheels on axels in the back) so they sit on the same plane, so I can fit the wheel support brackets in the right size and position. Again, made a temporary reference component, but not fun or efficient...is there a better option? Thanks for the vids...very useful for education, ideas, and motivation to try new things! -- Mike
it'd be better to take your reference measurement off one of the holes for your initial scaling of the picture, it's a more repeatable number, you can't be sure you set the calipers on the same exact spot you set the points to scale the image, but that diameter of the holes is a set value.
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Before you take your picture, lay a ruler next to the object. It makes it easy to set the scale in Fusion.
Yup, I have done that before and it works like a charm!!
Do you have a tutorial on this? I'm not sure now it helps? ... I'll still have to input actual size right?
I would say its important trying to take the picture from as far away as possible. In that way the perspective will not distort the object.
Sumperman95 Thanks!
@@ravenmooore That way you can calibrate on to the ruler, which has its own scale on it :)
For smaller parts, especially planar parts, I like to use a flat bed scanner and put them right on the glass. As long as everything is flat on the glass. There are no parallax errors or lens distortion either! Also, if the dpi is embedded in the picture, fusion usually gets the scaling right without ever having to calibrate.
Very nice!
Awesome idea! I was considering that, but I use cameras with post processing...
Place a ruler or known length object next to it to cal with.
Go with a telephoto zoom lens for no perspective/fisheye distortion. Or drop it on a flatbed scanner.
thank god someone's said it
There are programs that completely remove lens distortion based on the camera body and specific lens. I use DXO - supports any major manufacturer and has manual distortion fix if you are so inclined :)
Please explain your " flatbed scanner concept." I am an old man trying to learn new tricks lo
@@aztecwarrior7373 if you have a somewhat flat object you can place it on a flatbed scanner as if it were a document and scan it. The image created by the scanner will have no perspective or lens distortion at all.
@@KenColangelo €So, I can use my printer scan option with the same results?
Didn't know about extrude from object. Very handy!
To calibrate, if you don't have distinct points on an object to select and measure, you can include a reference object in the photo as well, say a cube or even the calipers or a ruler with markings......
Scale one you scale the other.
I'm a Laser Quest arena designer who really enjoyed the custom shape creator in Bryce 7. That software is no longer supported and Bryce is crashing regularly. This tutorial has pushed me to use Fusion for my next project. Thank you so much for making such an easy to follow tutorial. I can now create my custom shapes in 3D!!!
Thanks for the counter bore tip. I've noticed it multiple times when sketching, but I haven't actually noticed that it could be used from other part plane as you did. This will come handy in future as I've personally always created confusing amount of sketches in my drawings.
Great to see this done natively in Fusion... quite a few steps... I have had decent luck using the "Trace" feature in Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape, save as DXF vector from either of those and import to fusion
Also found if you scan it hires (1200 ppi) to a PDF then bring into AI you can get a better trace. The more detail though the more time you spend cleaning up the trace before export. Also AI isn't as accurate as ACAD or Fusion but plenty good for proto work...found slight variation in Dims between the trace and DXF. May give Inkscape a try...Thanks!
Great tutorial. I took a screenshot of your knife handle and went through the exercise myself step by step. This will be super helpful in the future.
Always love this technique! Much easier in Fusion than older CAD programs. I would add, think like the designer than made the part initially. Designers don't usually pick long odd dimensions, so if the part is from Europe, and you measure it to be 2.02234mm , odds are it's just 2mm. Also, I rarely find splines when reverse engineering functional, non-artistic parts (Even curvy S shapes are usually tangent arcs) so arcs are the right way to go here.
Some great fusion tricks, thank you! I think using an scanner and placing the flat side of the handle down on the bed would give you an very good image to trace.
Better than arcs with tangency would be splines joined with constant curvature.
Made a guitar pick box using this method! Came out perfect. Thanks!
Love the part at the end with the counterbore and keeping it on one sketch plane. Thanks!
*from a beginner's perspective*
Instead of tangent-ing the arcs, you can also fillet them. I just move the arrow when filleting the arcs and when I see fit, I close the fillet command! But I saw that you used the fillet command after drawing the sketch, which it can also work!
Nice video!
unsure why if someone is such an expert they would watch a tutorial. Helped me out no end cheers.
Attached Candice is very quickly becoming one of my favorite fusion features
That last tip was well worth the watch, cheers
Spline would have been my choice for developing this.
na, a spline is worse than UN politics... splines are not meant to be used where precision is a most(by a few exceptions)... take a look at my tutorial in my channel is in spanish and I am using rhino3d... but there, you will find how to work with curves... best tutorial... (I most say that I think that a plug in seems to be needed here I believe that the program T Splines would do just fine and should bring better shapes)
Robert Ostman: Only if you don't understand splines and what defines c0 c1 c2 continuity and what is required for each condition. Splines are definately the tool to have used, T splines are complete overkill for such a trivial set of continuity conditions.Get a plugin or spend 15 minutes educating yourself. The statement that splines are not meant to be used for precision is ridiculous to the point of absurdity, I've been using Alias for design for over 20 years, guess what has always been the primary precision drawing tool.
I also would prefer splines, you have better control over the continuity and the curve forming than with arcs. Didn't he already use splines for drawing these kind of things? I smell a brain fart.
lol, in alias you aren't using splines you are using a different set of curves that by the way their name escapes my mind, (Bspline???) but the difference is in the equation that forms the curves and in the way to handle (mold)the curve to your liking... as far as I know in alias is all about curves with 1 single span, so you would have needed many curves to create that shape... t splines does a task like this in record times... with a final result that appears to have been done with a more expensive software...
Do you think of Bézier curves?
I've made it work from an iPhone photo, but whenever I can, I use an 85mm lens - makes life a lot easier. Any lens that is referred to as "portrait lens" works well for this.
Also to do a simple, yet asymmetrical, outline like this splines give a better result. For more complex shapes I use the same method with Bezier curves in AI or CorelDraw and import a DXF of the curve into Fusion.
Started using that attached canvas & calibrate feature after your first vid on it, started putting 6" scale in pictures for calibration reference. Nice work, as always. 👍👍
You make it look easy. Thank you, this video had shed a lot of light in my future cad designs.
I also like to start with b-splines and add in arcs, lines, and constraints to get it just right.
You can also do another attached canvas with a side view if the fillets aren't good enough.
1) Put the phone camera at the middle of the object. 2) Scan the object with printing scanner to get rid of angle. 3) convert the jpg to dxf first in online tool.
The most useful thing I found this works for is modeling flange surfaces like crankcase halves.
I made gears for my chainsaw like this, but I learned something new about the counter bores and including them on the original sketch. Very handy for future things. Thanks!
I'v done the same thing on 3 different parts recently.
i first mark 2 points on the object (for scaling later) then take scans of it in a normal household scanner.
bigger parts i take multiple scans of and put it all together.
you still get perspective problems but its not too bad.
Great tutorial! Thank you so much. Was very easy to repeat the process for the part I was trying to make. As an absolute beginner, appreciate it very much.
So many useful tips that I've been doing the hard way for so long. Super useful! Thank you
Great video... hope someday to have your speed and fluidity. A definite save into my Fusion library!
Turning up the transparency of the canvas really helps with sketches
Instant like and sub. Great tutorial! In speed, clarity, usefulness and so on. Thank you and keep them coming!
Whoa...! That was awesome! I have been following along on a few of your tutorials, only solidly picking up tips and be able to repeat them. I actually got this one... woo..lol. I have only drafting experience with the old green live top! Been hand drawing everything for 45 years... so yeah I am way behind. But KUDO'S to you brother for taking your time to share!!! Loved it!
Great video. I don't know if it's because I'm starting to get the hang of F360 or if it's because you slowed down when you're teaching but this video was extremely useful to me and I'm just a beginner. Some of the earlier videos that I watched went by too fast and I couldn't follow them. Either way, much appreciated.
Amazing! ToT and AvE are proud
to handle the perspective distortion use a tele-lense from far away and zoom all the way in.. that minimizes the distortion.
Thx (again), John, for a nice video, w/ some gems along the way.
Now, as you noted, there are certainly other ways to do this. And, in fact, some commenters offered up some good suggestions. Here's my take...
- Automatic bitmap to vector "tracing" can be useful in a number of cases, but it generally does not create the most optimal splines. Sometimes, they're not even "acceptable", depending on the requirements of the project. On the other hand, sometimes they're "good enough". Experience and personal assessment will apply.
- Capturing the image can be done w/ camera, or 2D scanner. To minimize lens distortion when using a camera, I look directly down on the object; get as high up as practical; and zoom in.
- Engineering accuracy vs. "functional" vs. aesthetic will dictate what method(s) to use in the reverse engineering.
[25+ yrs of experience - B.S.E.E.: Elec. Eng., w/ emphasis on computers/robotics; 3D animator/modeler/programmer/tech writer/teacher/mentor; and current 3D printing lab manager/trainer/instructor at Factur makerspace in Orlando, FL. I love this stuff!:)]
P.S. Not big fan of F360 splines. Much more comfortable w/ Adobe, but would love to keep process all in F360. So, any suggestions, links, insight, etc. on F360 splines would be much appreciated. TIA.
Swami Human I hope everything goes ok with you in Orlando with this storm coming. We are up in Tallahassee.
Thx! Latest path shows storm tracking straight up thru Orlando! Got my provisions. Securing outdoor things today. Just gonna ride it out. Lived thru Charlie in 2004, so have some idea of what to expect. Also, born during Category 5 hurricane ("Donna"). You stay safe and dry, too!...
Flatbed scanner/high contrast image, import image file into Inkscape, Left Click Image, [Path -> Trace Bitmap], [Brightness cutoff -> Update -> Ok], Remove Fill, Add Stroke, delete original image, Save as DXF. This will give you the profile without the added steps of creating profile from scratch. Import DXF into CAD and scale. This process works much more efficiently for more complex shapes. If you're only reproducing a knife handle John's process works fine.
This is exactly what I have been looking for thank you!
To avoid all the tracing, I usually scan the part or take a photo with a zoom lens (to reduce parallax issue), convert to SVG in Inkscape, import SVG in Fusion, extrude, then scale to whatever size I need.
Photos taken from a camera are viewed as perspective projection (round holes are never true). Try scanning the part with a flat bed scanner (600 dpi or better). That will get the part image closer to true scale because of parallel projection which is what CAD is based on.
I don't know how i didn't know about this technique already. Shure would have been really usefull when i was making a G36C stock for a paintball gun!
Fun project John. Videos have been really good recently, just the right amount of "what and why"
Excellent verbal and visual presentation of doing this. You really took the time to go slow enough for me to follow and take notes, as I have never done this before.
that very last trick you did was awesome, thank you
I chamfer my holes to get a counter sink hole.
Just awesome!
Hi, this was a great video and helped a lot. How ever, it stops short because NO one on TH-cam shows you how then to create the toolpaths. Could you please consider doing that?
Great job. I learn something today . thanks
This has helped me immensely. Thank You.
Thanks for the video. Good step by step direction
If only fusion could convert scalar images to vector format directly it would be super easy. There is software that will do that, but edge detection is critical so lighting, and contrast need to be perfect for it to work right.
Try fit point splines instead of the arc for the sides of the handle. Much easier to get the shape you want.
I wish this was a little more detailed in its explanation. As others have said, it's really helpful to take a photo of a ruler next to the piece for calibration but even better is to flatbed scan the part with a ruler as it helps to reduce parallax error and distortion. Regardless, this is a good exercise if just needing a single part but where it quickly fails is if you have several parts that will fit together and you need all the holes to line up to tight engineering tolerances.
I found in these cases, even with scanning and very accurate calibration, you can have holes (like two parts with a connective screw or bolt hole) that the holes can be a millimeter or so off from one another. This causes you to have to go back and do a lot of design rework to get them to match up perfectly whereas if you had just measured the initial part very carefully and then drew everything else from the outset based on the first part you can avoid these hassles.
So while I like this feature and ability for "quick copy" of a single item, if you are making anything of a more complex nature with layers or a series of stacked components you can immediately run into alignment hassles, especially where holes are concerned.
Usually people take photo because it's fast and easy, but forget that scan it is also quick and actually more accurate since it doesn't have perspective distortion as much as the photo. ;)
This is what I've been looking for, so to replicate film props seen on screen. Thank you :)
I like it, I saw something in industrial engineering with Solidworks is interesting
I wish I had watched this video weeks ago, So many features i wish i knew we're possible.
Perfect amount of info
You might be able to use a panorama shot to mitigate the perspective distortion a bit
A good trick that gives me decent results is to use splines for sketching the outlines as close as you can and then when the basic shape is achieved, you can segment those splines into arcs with pre-defined tolerance to maintain shape. This will give you a much cleaner G-Code. I do this with GibbsCam, don't know if Fusion360 has a segmenting feature though.
I'm not sure, but I think the CAM processor from Fusion 360 can interpolate splines to arcs if you set the arc tolerance in the machining operation panel.
Klaufmann that would be handy if Gibbs cam did that. If i put a contour tool path to a spline, Gibbs will out put thousands of little line segments to simulate the curves but makes the machine move considerably slower and a much larger G-Code.
I had a similar problem in CamBam when I wanted to import a contour I made in another program, which was composed of lots of linesegments. There were so much short G-Codes that the machine couldn't handle them fast enough and stopped multiple times while cutting. After that I discovered a possibility to round the whole contour with a tolerance and that worked great. I don't know your program, but maybe there is a setting for that you haven't found yet?
Klaufmann there is a setting for tolerance but it only increases or decreases amount of segments. Gibbs really isn't that great at interpolating splines to arcs
Really excited to learn 360 but my pos 8 year old laptop just won't run it... one day when I can get a new machine I will be binge watching all the 360 tutorials on youtube!
Your videos are very handy for beginners like me. Keep going!
For the people who have a low opacity on their image, go to canvases, right click on the canvas, edit canvas, there is a slider canvas opacity.
I have been using this feature a lot lately, but the biggest problem I have when I bring in my canvas it always seems to bring it into the software squished to a funny sizing. I take the picture on my iPhone and then email it and save it to my downloads folder. Even when I calibrate it in the one plane say the length, it doesn’t correct it in both the length and the width. To correct it I have to sketch on some lines to a correct lengths and then scale the canvas manually which seems to take forever. What am I doing wrong? Any help would be great. Many thanks cheers, Ben
Been trying to do something similar. Used flatbed scanner then Inkscape trace bitmap to turn image into SVG outline. Put SVG into Fusion then extrude. Problem is that Fusion refuses to fillet. Looks like outline is too complex.
nice. i use a scanner to get the picture. somewhat eliminates the perspective problems.
Cool 360 video
Realy helpful video. Thank you
You can also put the part on a document scanner
This works so well!!
better resolution and no lens distortion
I love your videos I have commented on a few other videos regarding some of the design problems I am having with my framelock folder I'm designing. Just started using fusion about 6 days ago and have a pretty awesome design thanks to your videos but would love some help with the grind on the knife. I have just been using press pull and perhaps I should be using something like sweep to move the cut along a curve? I would love to talk with you about it when you have the chance
Certainly a handy tool to use.
If you take the picture with a ruler or gage block next to the object, it's easier to adjust the scale.
I take photos on grid paper. You can use grids to reduce parallax errors.
I'm just learning and this taught me so many things!
Isn't there a tool in here that lets you add points along A-line. So you can add new radius zones and adjust lines more directly without having to create new ones like this?
Another great method is to put a scale or a ruler next to it when taking the picture(or scan), so it's easier to scale in Fusion.
Or place the Item on squared paper
This was super helpful! I always struggled with attached canvases!
This works really slick John! Thank you!
I've done something similar with other software (cambam and draftsight aka 2D autocad by solidworks)
your method works for simple shapes that fit well to arcs and lines. It is not so great for anything complex or organic, and tracing a lot of lines could take hours on something complex.
If i may suggest, 2 free/opensource programs save a lot of headache: GIMP and Inkscape
1. take the picture from a little higher to reduce the error of the holes
2. drop a ruler into the picture so the pic contains the scale
3. open picture in GIMP, create paths and export them (.svg)
4. open the .svg ("vector image") in INKSCAPE, convert to dxf
5. import that into cad (F360) and scale it
In gimp you have much nicer edge detect and color tools:
*magic wand or color select tool to get the edges you want (threshold, feather & anti-aliasing options to smooth it and get however much you want) also don't forget that you can select the background and then invert to get what you want
*you can try to select everything you need at once or do each chunk and merge later
*then, (either right click or menus at the top) Select> To Path
this makes a line/vector of your selection outline. If you go to your layers list, there is a tab at the top for paths
*in the paths list, you can select one and right click then export (.svg)
2 last tips before moving on to inkscape:
*grab 2 distinct lines with numbers from your ruler with this (snap points to set scale accurately in cad)
*if you converted each piece to a separate path, you want to combine them all into 1 path before exporting:
in the paths list, click a path (highlights in blue on list) and at the bottom click the button for "path to selection", now click another path in the list and hold SHIFT while clicking "Path to Selection", keep doing this until you have all the paths you need, then click the "Selection to Path" button. next to that new path, click the box to display it (shows an eye, and the path will shop up in red) if you have everything you need, then export it.
Inkscape:
*open the .svg
*click drag a box around your geometry
*file>save as DXF actual option is something like Desktop Cutting Plotter (Autocad dxf r14)(.dxf)
**Note: inkscape also has very good vector cleanup tools like smoothing, arc approx, & snappoint reduction etc. that may be nice before exporting into a cad format.
Hope that helps someone who is about to go insane trying to trace in cad
Video helped a lot thank you!
Looks pretty good
Thanks for sharing! It's nice to see some practical applications as I'm still super new to the software.
How did you learn Fusion 360? I am looking everywhere for a good book, course, or video program and haven’t been able to find anything that is straight forward and truly takes the beginner into consideration. I really liked how you describe what you are doing and display the keys you are using as you go through the process. That is huge for e newby like myself! Thanks for the great tutorials and I look forward to any advice you can provide on the best way to learn this program.
Probably a bit late now, but as an 80 year old noob, I found th-cam.com/video/A5bc9c3S12g/w-d-xo.html and subsequent parts on CAM by Lars Christensen were excellent, with useful real-world background info' included, and they got me started with this fantastic program. You may need to find some commands in different places as the recording is with an earlier version, but as he uses mainly keyboard commands, this problem is eased. He has a very pleasant manner, which is a bonus!
I imagine using a scanner would work better as long as the part would fit inside... you dont have to deal with parallax and angle issue from taking an image from a single point.
Then you can bring the image into photoshop and crop it out as a single 2d body shape on a transparent background. Save it as a vector file and import it into fusion and extrude it from the body. It will save time outlining the part in fusion as photoshop has better tools to do it for you. especially when the shape becomes more complex.
Really enjoyed your video! Would it be possible for you to expound on the process, perhaps showing how you mirror your handle, and creating a toolpath with in fusion 360 with speeds and feeds?
You can add a picture to each plane then merge them making a somewhat 3d image to work with.
Great, but maybe, you have to use a cv spline especially when you dealing with an organic surfaces.
Thanks John,
Would a better motto be "succeed FAST succeed CHEAP"
Steve
no, failing lets you figure out how to succeed, he's dead right, especially for iterative development. Hoping to succeed first time requires dumb luck that 1/ doesn't inform you and 2/can't be counted on. Its just rolling dice and hoping for the best. Im talking product development here.
Learning how not to do something is better than getting it right the first time, since once you know how not to do it, that knowledge can be used in several other aspects of your work. Especially when it comes to process development and identifying inefficiencies that cost you time and/or materials.
I think what he means is... If your're going to make mistakes (you will with machining) do it fast and do it cheap, as-to minimize loss.
Alpha transparency really helps when tracing
Simple and great
I use to scan the part in a flat bed scanner or a copying machine with the lid open..
I'm no F360 expert but if I was trying to recreate the exact shape I think I would have first tried to use the sculpt environment first to see how close I could get it.
Excellent !
I love that calibrate feature and hate there is no simple Bézier curve. I think I rather do nit in Corel Draw and just import the vector sketch.
thank you :-))) it helped me to replicate exactly one item !!!!!!!!!
Thanks, John! Well-timed...I have a repair part I need to make on my 3D printer for a pole lamp, and this method should make it a lot easier to get it right.
If you are looking for ideas for future vids, how about one on the assembly feature? I know most of your parts are single component, or components joined with joints (like the clamps), but I'm currently designing a cart for a TIG welder and I need to position components relative to each other, without them touching each other. For example, two cross bars in the base frame that are each attached to the side rails, but not to each other, yet I need the space between them to be specified. I did it by making a temporary spacer component, then deleted it, but there must be a better way. Ditto with positioning the wheels (casters in front, wheels on axels in the back) so they sit on the same plane, so I can fit the wheel support brackets in the right size and position. Again, made a temporary reference component, but not fun or efficient...is there a better option?
Thanks for the vids...very useful for education, ideas, and motivation to try new things!
-- Mike
you could scan it with a printer so there is no distortion due to the perspective
Awesome stuff 👍👏
it'd be better to take your reference measurement off one of the holes for your initial scaling of the picture, it's a more repeatable number, you can't be sure you set the calipers on the same exact spot you set the points to scale the image, but that diameter of the holes is a set value.
Doesn't Fusion have a "Hole" feature like Inventor? It would make creating the counter-bored holes automatic...
How do you make solids from splines? I can't get the desired shape from loft or sculpt.