Discover the different ways of accessing and customizing tools in Fusion 360 to enhance your workflow efficiency. This article explains the functionalities of the toolbar, toolbox, and the right-click marking menu in Fusion 360's workspace.
Key Insights
- The toolbar in Fusion 360's workspace can be customized according to frequently used tools, which can be easily added or removed by selecting the dropdown arrow or hitting the X key respectively.
- The Toolbox, accessible by hitting the S key on the keyboard, offers another method of customization, allowing tools to be placed within it for quick access by mouse movements.
- The right-click marking menu in Fusion 360 organizes tools based on the angle from the original click, providing a visual guide for tool usage and allowing for quick selection and execution of different commands.
In this video, we will look at the different ways of accessing tools in Fusion 360. In a previous video, we looked at workspaces and user interface in Fusion.
We know that different workspaces can influence which tools are available, depending on which workspace we are in. If I go to the Model workspace, I can see that I have Sketch, Create, Modify, Assemble and so on, and selecting the dropdown menus, I will see the different tools associated with that panel. These tools are workspace specific and sorted according to their use.
If I know that there is a tool that I am using more often than other tools, when I hover over it, I will see an arrow on the right side of my dropdown. By clicking this arrow, I can move that tool into my toolbar. I can also hit the X to remove a tool from my toolbar.
Feel free to customize your toolbar if you find yourself using different tools more often. Another way to customize your workspaces is by using the Toolbox. The Toolbox is a dialog box that can be accessed by hitting the S key on your keyboard.
When you hit the S key, a toolbox will appear and it will read with the name of your current workspace. So, because I am in the Model workspace, the Model toolbox has appeared. You will see that the Extrude and Fillet tools are here in the Model toolbox, but I can find any tool by typing in a different tool and selecting it.
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Again, I'm hitting the S key on my keyboard to bring up the toolbox, and I will search Chamfer. And when I hover over Chamfer, again, you will see an arrow on the right side of this toolbox dropdown. Clicking that arrow will move Chamfer into my Model toolbox.
So, if there are tools that you do not want to be located on your toolbar at the top of the screen, but rather follow you around with your mouse movements, you can place them in your toolbox, hit the S key, and there they are, quickly accessible by your mouse. Again, if I type in Chamfer, I can always hit the X to remove it from my toolbox. Another way that Fusion 360 allows you to access tools is with the right-click marking menu.
Traditionally, when you right-click in a program, a dropdown window appears, and you will get different options. This is the same in Fusion 360. I can see my workspaces here and all of the associated tools, Isolate and switching between workspaces, my Appearance and Physical Material options, and other options depending on my selection set.
However, at the top, you will see what is called the marking menu. This is a collection of tools that is organized depending on the angle from your original click. When I right-click, I can see at the top of my marking menu is a Repeat.
This will always repeat the last tool or command that you have used. On the left is Undo, and on the right is Redo. Additionally, when I am in a tool, on the left will be Cancel, and on the right will be OK.
I will go to the left and click Cancel. Sketch is always down, and I can click the sketch or hover to see my sketch options. I can go back up and back down.
Fusion will place commonly used tools in the upper left, right, and bottom left and right of the marking menu, or in Sketch, commonly used sketch tools. The marking menu is helpful not only because it visually allows you to see which tools you are using, but also that it allows you to click and drag to use different tools. I will show you what I mean in the Sketch workspace.
I will create a sketch and choose this arm as my plane. We will go over the sketching tools in another video, but for now, I would like to show you how the marking menu works. When I right-click and go down to Sketch, I can choose Circle, and then draw a circle, right-click, OK.
I can also go down and up to the left, and if I do that quickly, I do not need to see the options at all. So with a right-click, I will go down and up, and I will be in the Circle command. And I will click and drag to the right, and I will say OK.
The marking menu allows you to open up different tools and hit OK and Cancel when you are done with your options in your tools. I can also undo and redo by clicking the right button on your mouse and dragging to the left and to the right. Again, if I do not know where my tools are, I can always move slowly to select each tool.
But once I understand where my tools are, I can use the right-click and drag up to Repeat, down to enter my Sketch workspace tools, left to undo, right to redo, and when I am in a command, left to cancel, and right to hit OK. Using the marking menu, toolbox, and workspace customization options in Fusion 360 allows you to customize your workspace and use efficient workflows while you are creating and designing in Fusion 360. In the next video, we will look more closely at our Sketch tools.
I will see you in the next video.
