How to Upload New Environment in Fusion 360?

By the end of this video, you'll know how to use the loft command in Fusion 360. I'm going to cover many of the options in the Loft dialog. I'll also exist walking you through both a beginner and a more advanced loft instance, with stride-by-footstep instructions.

What is the loft feature?

A Loft creates a shine transition between two or more profiles or faces.

In that location are three different loft features in Fusion 360.

Solid

Solid Icon (blueish)

Location
Design > Solid > Create > Loft

Surface

Surface Icon (orange)

Location
Design > Surface > Create > Loft

Form (Sculpt)

Form Icon (purple)

Location
Design > Form > Create > Loft

Reference Image

Terminate Atmospheric condition

The end condition controls the transition from the offset and terminate profiles of the loft command.

At that place are six types of cease conditions in Fusion 360. Which end condistions are available dependso n the blazon of geometry selected for the profile.

Connected (Complimentary) – In that location is no finish status applied

Direction – Applies an angle measured off the sketch plane. Define the Takeoff Weight and Takeoff Angle. Always bachelor when the Loft profile is a 2D sketch.

Tangent – Applies a G1 status off the Loft profile. Available when the Loft profile is the border or face of a body.

Smooth – Applies a G2 status off the Loft contour. Available when the Loft profile is the border or confront of a body.

Sharp – Transitions to a sharp point. Available when the contour is a sketch betoken or construction betoken.

Point Tangent – Applies tangency at the signal to create a dome shape transition. Available when the profile is a sketch point or structure indicate.

Takeoff Weight

Available when the end status is set up toDirection. Specifies the amount of influence the takeoff bending has along theLoft path.

Takeoff Angle

Bachelor when the end status is fix toDirection. Specifies the outset angle of the transition from the profile.

Tangency Weight

Bachelor when the cease status isTangent,Polish, orBespeak Tangent.

Tangent Edges

Specifies whether theLoft operation merges tangent edges or not.

• Merge Merges tangent edges.
• Keep Keeps the tangent edges unmerged.

More than Tutorials with Loft Examples

Transcript:

By the end of this video, you'll know how to use the loft command in Fusion 360. I'm going to cover many of the options in the Loft dialog. I'll also exist walking you lot through both a beginner and a more avant-garde loft example, with step-by-stride instructions. If you're looking for the avant-garde tips and tricks then you can skip ahead by using the timestamp that I accept downwards below in the video description.

Put simply, the loft control is like connecting the dots. Using the loft feature will join the selected profiles, resulting in a solid or surface.

To start, y'all should know that the loft command is available in 3 different environments.

Nosotros have the solid modeling loft command, found under the "create" dropdown of the solid tab. The surface modeling loft command, found nether the "create" dropdown of the surface tab. Lastly, we have the grade loft command, which is simply available if you're in the Grade or sculpt environment.

At their core, all of these loft commands work similarly. Each loft feature does have some minor differences that I'll be covering near the stop of this tutorial.

Let's start with a basic loft project, where I'll walk you through many of the options in the loft dialog.

I'thou going to create a 100mm center circle on the bottom XY origin plane.

We'll demand to create the second contour on a construction airplane since we don't have whatsoever other faces or surfaces to reference.

I'one thousand going to create an offset airplane 100mm off of the XY origin plane. Once the construction aeroplane is completed I'thousand going to create a center rectangle off of the starting time aeroplane. I'll use the dimensions of 100mm in both directions.

At this point, we have the minimum requirement for creating a loft in Fusion 360.

I'thousand going to activate the loft command from the shortcuts box, where I'll choose the blue solid modeling version. Detect how the Surface loft control shows up, but the Grade loft command does not. The Form or t-spline loft will only show up in the shortcuts box if y'all're in an active Course environment.

With the loft command active, we'll first demand to select our profiles. The start thing to know is that the order yous select the profiles does matter, which we'll take a look at in just a minute. For now, I'll but select both profiles.

Here nosotros have the most basic loft, connecting a circle with a square, which is a shape that tin't exist created with the revolve tool.

In the profile department of the dialog, you'll notice a plus symbol and the letter of the alphabet "X". Equally you're selecting profiles y'all may find that you selected the wrong profile. If that is the instance, simply select the profile you want to remove, and click the "X" or remove button.

If you desire to add more profiles, y'all can hit the plus symbol or the add push button and click the sketch profile that you would like to add together.

The next item you should be aware of is the finish condition. There are six different cease conditions, with the availability depending on what type of geometry is selected.

I've put all 6 types and their descriptions on this tutorials resources page at ProductDesignOnline.com/22… that's ProductDesignOnline.com/22 [two-two].

If I click on the default of "connected" you'll come across that I only take one other option, which is the direction. I'll go ahead and expect at this from the front view, then you can see what happens as I modify the first profile to the management option.

Find how the loft goes from having a straight and efficient line to having an angled line.

The direction selection applies an angle measured off of the sketch plane. This option is ever bachelor when the loft profile is a 2D sketch.

The default "continued" option merely connects the profiles in the nigh efficient style, which is why we have a straight line from the circle'due south edge to the edge of the rectangle.

If we don't want this to simply exist a straight line and so we tin can also define the guide type, by defining a guide track or a centerline.

You tin likewise elevate around the default runway that were created betwixt each profile.

I'll exist walking you through adding custom rails with the next loft example. For at present, permit's have a await at using a centerline to further define a loft.

I'm going to hit "OK," to close the loft command.

I'll hide the body and create a new sketch off of the XZ origin plane because this plane is perpendicular to the two profiles and directly in the eye of each profile. On this middle plane, we tin sketch out whatsoever sketch geometry that connects from the bottom profile to the tiptop contour. The key takeaway is that your centerline sketch geometry must be continued to the eye bespeak of all the profiles that you lot're connecting.

Because I created both profiles off of the center origin signal, the center bespeak was automatically projected. If yous don't have a center point to snap to you volition need to either project ane or create one with the "bespeak" sketch characteristic.

I'm going to connect the profiles with the iii-signal arc tool, making sure it snaps to each center point.

After finishing the sketch, I'll drag information technology to before the loft characteristic in the timeline. I'll double-click on the loft to edit the loft and I'll select the "centerline" rail type. After that, we merely need to select the centerline.

Immediately later on, the loft volition conform based on the centerline. As you can run across, this is a very simple way to further ascertain your loft results.

Let'south take a look at why the order of selecting the profiles matters and so I'll walk you through an advanced loft case.

I'll click "OK" to update the loft. I'm going to create a new offset profile off of the top face of the model. I'll create a centre circle on the construction plane and cease the sketch.

Once again, I'll need the loft command at the end of the timeline, so I can reference the sketch I just created.

After re-editing the loft control, I'm going to clear out the centerline, every bit that doesn't connect all three profiles, so we can no longer use information technology.

I'll then click the "plus" symbol in the contour section and I'll select the pinnacle circle profile. Observe how this connects all iii profiles and creates a overnice transition from one shape to some other.

More often than not, y'all'll always want to create your lofts by starting at one end and then selecting the profiles in guild equally you work your way to the other terminate.

Watch what happens to this loft if I were to click the middle profile terminal.

You lot'll see the shape folds in on itself, creating unrealistic geometry, which in many cases Fusion 360 won't be able to solve.

In the case that you select profiles out of order, or if you make up one's mind to add profiles subsequently on, then you can e'er reorder the profiles without having to reselect them.

You can either select the profile guild from the dropdown list on the model or by selecting the gild in the loft dialog.

Let'due south now have a wait at lofting a more than circuitous object. I'll walk you through an ergonomic handle with spots for each finger to residual.

I'g going to hide the basic loft component and I'll create a new component for the handle.

I'll first attach a reference image to help recreate the contour. If you're looking to follow along, I've placed the reference image on this tutorials resource page at ProductDesignOnline.com/22.

I'll attach the prototype to the XZ origin plane and then I'll calibrate the epitome to have an approximate handle height of 125mm.

I like to beginning the get-go contour off of the bottom origin plane, so I'm going to re-edit the sail paradigm to adjust the position so information technology aligns with the bottom plane. I'g also going to centre the image to the origin indicate.

For the first profile, I'll create an ellipse on the XY origin airplane. I'll make the major axis 40mm and the minor axis 30mm.

One thing to understand with more advanced lofting is that you'll oft want to break the lofts into sections. I'm going to break this handle into three main sections. For the first loft, I'm going to loft from the bottom of the handle to the heart of this top bend. For the 2d loft, I'll loft from the eye of the superlative bend to the cap of the commencement of the nozzle. Finally, for the tertiary loft, I'll create the large area of the nozzle.

I'm going to create an offset plane 110mm from the XY origin aeroplane. The handle gets smaller towards the top, so I'll create a second ellipse, making this one 35mm at the major axis and 25mm at the minor axis.

I'll terminate the sketch and nosotros're ready to create our guide rail.

Get-go, I'thousand going to drop the opacity of the canvas down so it's not quite as opaque, so information technology's easier to trace the epitome.

I'll then create a sketch from the XZ origin plane, as I want these rails to be defined in the center so the shape is symmetrical. Nonetheless, it's important to annotation that rails do not need to exist created directly in the centre every bit the centerlines exercise.

To create guide rails you can utilise any of the sketch geometry. The key takeaway is that you'll always accept to make sure that your guide rail touches every single profile. This indicate can't exist stressed enough. I oftentimes come across beginners struggling to get their loft to piece of work considering the rail aren't snapped to each profile.

For example, if you have 5 profiles it needs to touch all 5 at some signal. In our example, we have simply two profiles, so I'm going to use the spline command to trace the handle shape.

Starting at the bottom, I'll make sure that it snaps to the major axis of the ellipse. If you lot're creating a guide rail and having trouble getting information technology to snap to a profile so yous have a few unlike options. You can projection the point, create a structure line, create a sketch bespeak where you desire it to snap, or y'all can apply a coincident constraint after the fact, to forcefulness it to stay together.

In this case, the showtime of the spline snapped into the major axis of the ellipse. I'm going to trace this image, placing points at all the vertices.

Once I become to the top, you'll see that the end of the spline is not wanting to snap to the top ellipse. I'm going to merely click to place the signal and so I'll use a coincident constraint to force it to connect with the endpoint of the major axis.

Because I'g going to create a second loft on the top of this one, I'm going to likewise add a vertical constraint to the spline handle, then the exterior geometry ends upwards with a smoother connexion to the next loft.

I'm going to actuate the loft command and then nosotros can encounter how the guide rail works.

I'll select the bottom profile as the get-go, and the top profile as the second.

At the moment, nosotros have a nice directly handle with a minor taper. To add our guide track I'll simply click the plus symbol for the rails section and I'll select the spline geometry. Notice how the loft shape at present zig-zags and follows our desired shape. Still, I don't want the back of the handle to have the aforementioned zig-zag effect, so we'll need to create a second guide track.

I'll hit the "abolish" push in the loft dialog so nosotros can create a second spline for the back. I'll retrace the back silhouette, once again making sure that the starting and ending points of the spline snap into each profile. If not, I'll forcefulness them to with the coincident constraint.

Once again, I'll also add a vertical constraint to the handle of the top spline point.

I'll reactivate the loft command, and this time I'll select both guide rail. Notice how the contour of the handle is now further divers, with the help of track. If we wanted to, we could continue to add rails on the sides of the profiles. In fact, we could technically add every bit many rails as we would like, then long every bit they all touch every contour in our loft.

For at present, I'll click "OK" to ostend the loft so we can expect at creating the 2nd loft to finish off the handle.

When working with the loft command, information technology's a best practise to intermission the object into sections that could be lofted individually. This will give you more control and make it easier to create guide rail, as they won't take to touch every bit many profiles.

Typically, when starting a new loft from another, you'll want to project the surface geometry. I'm going to select the top surface and I'll projection the ellipse geometry onto the surface.

I'll also create a structure line running across, and so I have endpoints to connect the rails too.

Then, before we can create the side by side profile, I'm going to showtime create 1 of the guide rail. I'll then use the guide rail to create a construction plane for the side by side contour.

I'm going to trace the bottom of the shape using the spline tool and the coincident constraint to force the points to snap to the beginning profile. I'll also make sure there is a vertical constraint added to the get-go spline handle, then the geometry has a nice transition from one loft to some other.

After that's complete, I'll create a construction plane on the finish of the guide rail using the option "Plane forth path".

From that plane, I'll then create a new sketch, where I'll create a 2-point circumvolve, with the first point starting from the end of the spline. I'll make the circle 35mm in diameter. To help ensure the rail snaps into the circle I'k going to create a sketch bespeak where the track should connect.

And so, I'll create another sketch on the XZ origin aeroplane, where I'll create the top rail, once over again, making sure that the spline points snap into the ellipse and circumvolve respectively. If not, I'll use the coincident constraint to force them to snap together. I'll also add a vertical constraint to the bottom spline handle.

At this signal, we're ready to use the loft tool. I'll select both profiles, starting with the start i on the existing surface. Then, I'll select both guide rails. Before clicking the "OK" button you'll likewise desire to decide if you want this second loft to create a new body, or to join the other loft trunk.

You'll see that nosotros tin besides create a new component, employ the loft tool to cutting away bodies, or the intersect option, which removes all material from the solid that does not overlap the new feature. For at present, I'll set this to "Join" and I'll click "OK".

Lastly, I'll create one last offset plane off of the top surface. I'll set the offset altitude to 45mm.

I'll first projection the other circumvolve to this sketch, ensuring that we use the same center point. I'll then create a new center circle with a bore of 75mm. I'll besides create two sketch points on the circumvolve, so information technology's easier to connect a guide rail.

Nosotros'll then need to use the 3-betoken arc tool to ascertain the guide rail. I'll also employ the ancillary constraint to force these lines to connect.

Repeating the loft control, we can create a 3rd loft that finishes off the overall shape of the handle and nozzle.

Looking at the model, there are a few things I would practise at this bespeak. First off, it appears that the transition from the first loft to the second loft is not completely smooth, as you can see this pucker or line. This is caused past the width of the shape having different geometry most the coming together point. To set this, we would need to ascertain a few more guide rails for each loft, making certain they're parallel at that meeting point.

I would besides and so apply fillets to the model, where the 2nd loft and third loft are joined, further smoothing out the transition. Every bit well as calculation a fillet to the bottom border of the handle.

To finish up this tutorial, I want to prove you lot the differences betwixt the surface and form loft commands.

I'll drag the timeline marker to just before the first loft command and I'll plow the original sketch geometry dorsum on so I can reuse it.

This time, I'll activate the surface loft command from the shortcuts box. Lookout what happens every bit I recreate the loft. At a distance, everything seems to piece of work the same. All the same, y'all'll notice as I zoom in that this just created a surface torso, which is represented past the thin gray and xanthous surface. With surface lofts, the ends won't automatically be sealed off and you'll have to use the Patch command to exercise and so.

Other than that, the surface loft command follows the same rules and best practices as the solid modeling loft control.

Before I show you the Class loft command, allow me know which loft control you notice yourself using the most by commenting "Solid" or "Surface" down below in the comments!

While you're at it, click that thumbs up button to let me know you lot're learning something new in this tutorial.

I'k going to undo the surface loft command then we tin can take a look at the Class loft control.

To access the course loft command, I'll enter the form or sculpt environment.

To start the loft we'll need to follow the same steps as the other two loft commands. Once the loft is created, this is where the form loft command becomes unlike.

Notice how I have all of these t-spline faces that are connected to make up the body. The difference in the form loft control is that we can ascertain the number of faces in each direction. We tin also define whether the faces should exist uniform, which is the default or we tin set this to the curvature option, where the number of faces adapts based on the divers curvature.

I'll click "OK" to consummate the loft. At this betoken, you're left with a t-spline body that can exist manipulated merely similar whatsoever of the other t-splines in the Form or sculpt environment.

For case, I tin elevate over the front end of the shape to select it. I'll edit the form and I'll elevate the planar management icon towards the left to change the handle's thickness.

A few other things to notation with the Class loft control is that it won't be recorded in the timeline below, as everything is only created nether the grade icon. Along with that, you'll see the Class loft just allows one to create a new trunk or component, as you lot're not allowed to cut or intersect from any of the form bodies.

To summarize, the loft command is available in three different formats. Solid modeling, surfacing, and sculpting. The loft command is unremarkably used to span the gap between sketch profiles. Be certain to intermission circuitous objects into multiple lofts, which will brand it easier for you lot to avert mutual loft errors.

Terminal simply non least, I want to give a shoutout to Jim Ferguson for supporting all of the Fusion 360 content that I make!

If you accept institute my tutorials to be helpful in whatever style so consider supporting by becoming a Patron or making a one-fourth dimension donation on my "Buy me a Coffee" page. All of the contributions aid me keep the website upward and running and volition help me continue to invest in more gear so I can continue to create high-quality tutorials.

As always, I truly appreciate you taking the time to watch this tutorial. Click that thumbs up icon if y'all learned something in this video.

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