Fusion360 tutorials

Has anyone on the forum bought a book on Fusion360 recently which they could recommend to a beginner to 3D CAD? I know about the online resources but I like to have a textbook or two about subjects new to me to relieve the tedium of online reading sometimes. Anything before 2020 I believe will be out of date because of modifications to the user interface. Thanks in advance.

Roy

My local model engineering society held a Fusion360 course last year by Zoom which was a great success. I write this during lunch break from modeling a 5" gauge locomotive using it.

The official guide is "Autodesk Fusion 360. A Power Guide for Beginners and Intermediate Users (4th Edition)" It is dated 2020. There may be 5th edition now but the 4th covers everything I want to do. The book is published by the developer and is not cheap. I think it is sold through Amazon. There are essentially two indexes which can be a bit confusing. There is a companion website, www.cadartifex.com, which I have not looked at (I prefer to use a book).

I wish you all success at using Fusion 360.

JA

Hi Roy,

If you find the official guide a bit expensive there are other introductions/tutorials that you may find useful (some may be for older versions):

***Link***

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Thor

Edited By Thor 🇳🇴 on 05/01/2022 14:43:13

Thanks chaps. I can stretch to the cardartifex book fortunately. At the moment the only place in the UK selling the new 5th edition is Amazon, which I refuse to use, but I will pick up a copy when there is an alternative source. Thanks again.

Roy

While you are waiting for the book have you seen this series of help documents for Fusion 360 from Autodesk ?
There are numerous single title docs that you could copy from to print your own reference library.

**LINK**

Emgee

Edited By Emgee on 06/01/2022 00:08:48

I'd be interested to see how you get on with the Cardartifex book Roy, I was only thinking the same a few days ago. I can manage simple stuff (for my 3D printer) but sooner or later I'm going to get stuck! My only concern is that the book seems to go out of date due to F360 updating the layout/commands...

Also, thanks to Thor for his links, I've had a quick look at them and downloaded a couple of guides for reference...

Emgee, thanks for the link, I've used those notes occasionally to get to where I am with it now, or when i've forgotten how to do a command...

Thanks Emgee for reminding me about the manufacturer's documentation, I've actually used it a couple of times to date. Having had another look it's better than I had realised, especially the embedded video tutorials. I've just spent a happy hour or two learning more about constraints.

The problem I have Henry is getting stuff to stick in my old brain. It helps now that I have a second screen on my PC so I can keep reference/tutorial material open at the same time as Fusion 360 so that I can more easily go back to remind myself again about what I've already forgotten! I've been using Paul McWhorter's videos and they've been very useful as a starter. Continual product updates to user interfaces is a modern curse unless you are selling training.

Aye, I know the feeling since having Covid at the beginning of November my brain isn't what it was, long Covid apparently, and I know just what you mean. I usually use F360 on a 17" laptop on my lap so not much space for another screen, hence thinking about a reference book.

Roy and Henry

If using Fusion and you want to view the instructional videos just open another Tab and go to the linked page saved in your bookmarks FUSION folder and chose which tutorial you want, just click the highlighted Fusion icon to return to your work, this leaves the chosen page open so it's simple to move between the 2.
Obviously better to have a 2nd screen though.

If you don't have a Fusion folder set up in your Bookmarks folder I suggest you insert 1 so each time you use a Tutorial you can add the page link for the article into your Fusion folder for quick reference if needed again.

Emgee

I got this book off Amazon - it's about £13.



It feels a bit cheap, and isn't exactly slick, but it teaches you all the basics through tutorial examples. By the end of it I could do basic modelling, and a few other more advanced tricks.

I'd recommend it for a beginner who can't be bothered sifting through endless YouTube videos and then trying to remember the techniques. Also good for old folks like me who just want a book for quick reference, not something online.