When Simplify3d v5 was released there was a lot of mention about how you can design in Fusion 360 and then send to Simplify3d v5 and whenever a change is done in Fusion 360 there would be "Live Tracking" synced to the object in Simplify3d v5.
There does not seem to be any documentation internal or external about how to enable or use this feature.
From within Fusion 360 I've tried each of the export / 3d print options to Simplify3d v5 and once loaded into the slicer window I will make revisions in Fusion 360 that are not reflected in Simplify3d v5.
Any advice or suggestions welcome, thanks!
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austingeorge
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Tue Oct 22, 2019 6:41 pm
Re: v5 Live Tracking from Fusion360
Here's some steps that should work:
- open the 3D model in Fusion 360 and choose Save as Mesh
- output the mesh to a STL file in your computer
- import the STL file into Simplify3D
- go back to Fusion 360, change the design, and repeat the output to mesh process using the same settings as before
Simplify3D should then give you a prompt automatically reloading the new geometry.
The big benefit is that if you already added supports, modified the 3D model orientation, created custom process settings, etc, all of those same settings are retained for the new geometry. It updates "in place" instead of having to repeat the entire setup all over again like you had to do in V4.
- open the 3D model in Fusion 360 and choose Save as Mesh
- output the mesh to a STL file in your computer
- import the STL file into Simplify3D
- go back to Fusion 360, change the design, and repeat the output to mesh process using the same settings as before
Simplify3D should then give you a prompt automatically reloading the new geometry.
The big benefit is that if you already added supports, modified the 3D model orientation, created custom process settings, etc, all of those same settings are retained for the new geometry. It updates "in place" instead of having to repeat the entire setup all over again like you had to do in V4.
Re: v5 Live Tracking from Fusion360
I've done this with Inventor and I think the confusion might be that it does not link to the Inventor or Fusion file itself as you work on it.
It's linked to the .stl file you export from fusion and only knows the file has changed when you re-save the .stl file with the same name and over-write the original file you have open in S3D.
It's linked to the .stl file you export from fusion and only knows the file has changed when you re-save the .stl file with the same name and over-write the original file you have open in S3D.
Last edited by ydj on Wed Jan 11, 2023 11:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: v5 Live Tracking from Fusion360
That's right.
S3D senses if the loaded STL file is changed and asks for an update.
So it's not tracking Fusion360, the original software that creates the STL file is not important.
S3D senses if the loaded STL file is changed and asks for an update.
So it's not tracking Fusion360, the original software that creates the STL file is not important.
Re: v5 Live Tracking from Fusion360
It is an ok implementation of auto update but Fusion likes to tag file names with version numbers that change after every save. This mainly happens when you export several files at the same time and the files auto name with component, version and bodyname. Single file saving this can work as you can control the file name.
Programmatically the file name string should be able to disregard the version number and this could be permanently solved. ComponentName_vXXX_BodyName.stl. The colored portion of the file name string can be programmatically disregarded in comparing new version of file to old version of file.
Programmatically the file name string should be able to disregard the version number and this could be permanently solved. ComponentName_vXXX_BodyName.stl. The colored portion of the file name string can be programmatically disregarded in comparing new version of file to old version of file.
