The past two weeks have been filled with a lot of Fusion 360 Tutorials. On Monday, February 15th, Lucas Ewing of Autodesk joined us for our first tutorial and showed us how to build the tip of a mechanical pencil. I actually had great difficulty keeping up with his tutorial since it was my first time using the software. But after a little one-on-one help I realized my main problem was that I didn’t understand the controls of moving around the 3-dimensional space. That helped tremendously.
When I went home I was able to practice a bit on my own using another Autodesk tutorial. I had made a bolt, and surprisingly I didn’t have nearly as many difficulties as I did when trying to make the tip of the mechanical pencil.
This past Monday, the 22nd, Gina Taylor and Nicole Chimienti demonstrated a tutorial for how to build a lamp. This seemed a lot more complicated, so I’m glad we had people to guide us through on how to do it. I learned a lot of valuable information when it came to using the software: like the difference between push/pull and extrude. This was also my first time using the design tools and took my abstract lamp idea and turned it into a plausible design idea.
These past two sessions and the on-our-own session in place of a reflection last week have certainly made me more comfortable with the software. Though I certainly don’t consider myself to be an expert any time soon, I am content with the amount of knowledge I have obtained within the past few weeks. I’m not really used to hands-on classes, so this style of teaching is very different to me. But so far I am really enjoying it!
In the next few weeks I’m hoping to become even better with the software. I need to start thinking of objects in the sense of how they can be designed in Fusion 360. When we first had our session with Lucas Ewing, his thought processes blew my mind in designing the mechanical pencil tip. I believe thinking in those terms will help me in my future semester project so that I can easily design whatever I’m going to make. Changing your thought process isn’t always easy, but that’s what learning is all about!
Hi Paige,
I thought the bolt was pretty difficult to make! I don’t know if it was because I was a little more unfamiliar with the controls within Autodesk, but I thought it was pretty hard overall. I guess the learning curve for this new software is high for anyone but I’m glad you’re picking up on the material quickly. Your lamp also looks great.
Hi Paige, I am so glad that you benefited a lot from the Autodesk tutorial. I had to miss the last class session due to a scheduled interview. I also had the difficulty to understand the control that allows moving around the 3-dimensional space, hope I will get it by practicing more.
Toheeb – I recall it only taking me about an hour.
Reid – Thanks for your feedback!
Hi paige, how long did that screw take?
Hey Paige! I too decided to make the bolt. I was surprised at the simplicity of it, much like you were. I think for a lot of us this was the first time really designing something, and I think we all learned a lot as well! Loved the post!