3D Modeling & Printing: Mastering Vase Design in Autodesk Fusion

1. Introduction: 3D Modeling & Printing: Mastering Vase Design in Autodesk Fusion: Hi. I'm Martin. Assistant at trainer maker and senior professional in the AEC industries. Over the years, I've seen the incredible rise of free de printing, especially when it comes to creating standing custom pieces for your whole. If you ever wanted to turn your creative ideas into tangible ye catching products, you're in the right place. In this hands on course, I'll guide you, step by step through designing and rendering a twisted free divorce using autisk fusion. This isn't just about learning software. It's about mastering a skill that's at the forefront of modern design and fabrication. By the end of this course, you won't just know how to use uske fusion. You'll be ready to create and free the print your very own uniquely designed laws. Plus, I share tips and tricks to help you work smarter and faster. Whether you are new to free the printing, just getting started with utters fusion or looking to sharpen your skills, you're in the right place. This course is designed for you. I've broken everything down into short digestible chapters so you can learn at your own pace and revisit any topic anyti. And here is the exciting part. Your class project is to design and freely print your own ways. Then share a picture with our community. I can't wait to see what you create and welcome you to the class. Let's get started and bring your Ds to life. 2. Laying the Foundation: Starting your 3D Design Journey: Let's kick things off the right way by saving your project. It might seem like a small step, but it's a crucial one that sets the stage for everything that follows. Once that's done, you're ready for the next step, creating your first component. Think of a component as a container that holds all the essential details of your design. While it's not strictly necessary for this particular project, it's a good habit to develop now so that you're always prepared when working on more complex designs. For this project, we'll stick with the standard internal component. This is perfect since we're keeping our vas design within this file and won't be importing it elsewhere. Once you've named your component, make sure to check the activate option. This will ensure you're ready to dive right into creating your design. Next up, we'll start with the sketch, the foundation of your three D masterpiece. Head to the toolbar on the left and activate the sketch tool. Choose a construction plane to work on. Since we're designing a S that stands upright, the horizontal plane is the logical choice. For my vase, I'm starting with a polygon. But remember, this is your design. Feel free to follow along with your own creative choices. My vision is a twisted thin vase with lots of soft edges. And because it needs to be three D printed without supports, will keep the overhangs gentle. No printing in mid air. I'll be using the inscribed polygon tool for this sketch. This tool allows me to center the polygon at the origin, which is handy when aiming for symmetry. I'll set the dimension to 200 millimeters. This size will make the vase too large for my three printer, but don't worry. It's all part of the plan. We'll tackle scaling in the slicer later on. Now, my polygon needs more edges, so I'll right click to open the marking menu. This shortcut saves us from having to dig through the drop down menu every time we want to repeat the inscribed polygon. Autodesk fusion even helps out by snapping to the center of one of the edges. I'll set the distance to 200 millimeters again. And just like that, we've got to sketch to work with. We're not done yet, though. There's some refining to do. I'll see you in the next lesson where we'll continue shaping this vase. Thanks for sticking with me, and let's keep going. 3. Trimming and Prepping: Getting Ready for the 3D Twist: Now that we're ready to move forward, it's time to clean up our sketch. We only want to extrude one edge, so we'll need to trim away some of the excess. Let's grab the trim tool from the toolbar. When I first started using this tool, I made the mistake of clicking around like crazy. Don't fall into that trap. Instead, press and hold your left mouse button. You'll see a small eraser appear allowing you to smoothly remove unwanted lines without giving your mouse a workout. As you trim, you might notice some small symbols popping up. Those are collinear constraints. If you click on one, you'll see its name in the bottom right corner of your screen. These constraints ensure that certain objects share a common line. They won't play a major role in this project. They can feel like the elephant in the room when they start appearing everywhere. I wanted to point them out. With our sketch cleaned up, we're all set for the next step. I'm excited to see you in the next lesson where we'll bring this sketch to life by turning it into a three deform that we can twist and shape. Let's keep the momentum going. 4. Sculpting the Form: Setting the stage for the Twist: In this lesson, we're taking our sketch to the next level by extruding it. But hold on, we're not using the standard extrude tool you might be familiar with from the solid modeling workspace. Instead, we're diving into something even more exciting. Click on Create Form to enter the sculpting environment where you have the freedom to craft amazing shapes. Like the usual extrude tool with the shortcut key E, this one is tucked away in the create drop down menu. But it's well worth the extra click. Once you select your profile, a menu will pop up. In my case, I've got 24 edges, but your design might look a little different. As we start extruding, you'll notice options for the angle and the number of front faces. For now, we'll skip the angle and zero in on those front faces. To give us a clearer view, I'll start by giving my vase some height. Now, as we add front faces, pay close attention to the black lines that appear in the middle of the vase. They're crucial to shaping your design. In this demonstration, I'm keeping it simple with two front phases, but feel free to experiment with more if you're feeling adventurous. These front phases are the heart of our design, setting the stage for what comes next. Speaking of what's next, no surprises here, we're going to twist our ways. Get ready to see your creation take on a whole new dimension in the following lesson. Let's keep the momentum going. 5. Crafting the Core: Shaping Your Vase's Form: I. Let's dive into shaping this vas together. If you're having trouble seeing the front faces or the lines that divide them, don't worry. You're not alone. You can easily switch between different visual styles using the navigation bar to get a better view. Now, head over to the toolbar and find the option to ditafm. This tool is incredibly flexible, offering a wide range of settings. While it might be attempting to explore them all, we're going to stay focused on the essentials, so we don't stray too far from our goal. Let's start by selecting the black line that divides the front faces on the voice. Under transform mode, you'll see a variety of tools at your disposal to help you reshape the form. I'm choosing the multi setting because it offers great flexibility with its different controllers, making it easier to experiment and find the perfect shape. Next, let's talk about coordinate space. I'm opting for word view here. Cordinate space dictates the orientation of the manipulator, and the word view aligns it with the model's origin, which suits my needs perfectly. When it comes to the selection filter, I'm going with edge, which allows me to focus solely on the edges. You can explore other settings, but for this particular task, edge is just what we need. Now it's time to add some flare to your ways. Drag the handlebar found in the multi transform mode tool to adjust the shape. If you prefer more precision, you can work with the scale by entering specific numbers instead of using the handlebar. Once you're happy with how it looks, go ahead and right click to select repeat dit form. For the next step, I'm going to work with the larger part of the vas. I'll expand my selection. Transform mode multitude makes it easier to rotate the vase, and you can choose whether to rotate it manually or enter exact numbers. I tend to gravitate towards logical numbers like 35 or 45. But sometimes an odd number like 39 can add an unexpected and pleasing touch to the design. What started as an idea is now beginning to take shape, but at this stage, our vase is still just a fin sb. In the next lesson, we'll bring it closer to completion by closing it off. Stay tuned. 6. Sealing the Gaps: Filling and Refining Your Vase Design: We're facing a few challenges with our ras. It's too thin, the ideas are too sharp, and there's no bottom. But don't worry. We're going to tackle these issues one by one. Let's begin by addressing the top and bottom of the walls. We'll fill in those open areas first. This step is crucial because it lays the groundwork for refining the details later. Once we have a solid structure, we can easily subtract or modify elements as needed in future steps. To get started, you want to find the fill hole option in the modified drop down menu. There are plenty of choices here, but I like to streamline the process. I usually open form shortcuts using the keyboard shortcut as, then search directly for fill hole. It's quick and gets you right where you need to be. Once you've selected an edge, the hole will close up. I recommend using the Claps fill hole mode for this project as it sets up tolls perfectly for the next steps. There are other options like reduced star and fill star, but I'll stick with collapse since it does exactly what we need. After you're done with the top, go ahead and repeat the fill hole process for the bottom. With that, our utoke fusion project is moving forward. In the next lesson, we'll take a closer look inside our boss and decide on the best actions to take from there. See you soon. 7. Transforming Your Vase: From Form Modeling to Solid Cuts: I hope you've enjoyed your time exploring the form modeling environment, but now it's time to take the next step. Let's click Finish Form and dive into some of the regular solid modeling tools. Remember that Shallow was, we had just a few steps ago. Let's flip on the section analysis and take a closer look. When we flip our selection analysis, we now see a solid field model exactly as planned. Now, tog off the visibility of your analysis in the project. Let's enter the sketch environment. You might be wondering why we didn't use the sketch environment while still in the form environment. The reason is simple. We're preparing to perform an extrude cut operation. Start by selecting a vertical construction plane and sketching a rectangle. This sketch will help us remove parts from our as with one sketch at the top and another at the bottom. Here's something to keep in mind. To desk fusion allows parametric modeling, so you can always go back and revisit your sketch if the result isn't quite what you imagined after performing the extrude cut. Don't worry about getting it perfect right now. The key is to keep moving forward and refine your work later. Now, here's a quick tip. You can use a guiding rail by hovering above your first sketch. It won't change the end result, but it adds a professional touch and can be handy in many situations. I fought I'd sneak that in. When sketching, it's often better to make it slightly larger than the area you plan to remove. This way, you avoid leaving behind any tiny unwanted part during the extion. Now, press the e key to activate the extrude command. Change the direction to symmetric, so you capture both sides of the vase evenly. Fusion will automatically understand that you're performing an extrude cut, so go ahead and press ak. Now, we have a flat bottom, a flat top, and a solid fill body. Everything is going according to plan. I will see you on the next lesson where we will start working on the inside of our was. 8. Perfecting your Vase: Mastering Shell Tools and Infill Optimization: Let's take a closer look at our section analysis. See that solid blue infill, that's what we need to remove to achieve the perfect ase. Earlier, we mentioned that our vase was too in, now's our chance to fix that. By selecting the fase, we want to remove with the shell tool. We not only get rid of the unwanted infill, but we also get to set the inside thickness to our lighting. Think about the advantages of a fickery a side. It offers better water resistance, adds a satisfying heft to the vas, and gives the whole piece a more stable and premium feel. But there are trade offs too. A thicker wall means a longer three D printing time, more material used, and ultimately higher posts in time, money, and where on your equipment. It's all about finding the right balance. I'm going to set my thickness to 4 millimeters. With that done, you'll notice our shell action popping up in the timeline. If you ever need to tweak it, just right click any step in the timeline to edit those features. Now, let's explore our creation from all angles using the view cube in the top right corner of the fusion canvas. Our voice has a flat cut bottom giving it the stability it needs to stand firm, but we're not done yet. We've got more design goals to shek off our list. In the next lesson, we'll dive into the selection filters where some truly amazing flexibility awaits, S there. 9. Smoothing the Edges: Advanced Selection and Fillet Techniques in 3D Design: Let's refine those edges and bring out the best in our ways design. Selecting the entire was may seem like a good idea, but it won't always get you the smoothness you're aiming for. Plus, selecting each edge individually, far too slow. Here's a nifty shortcut. Head over to the selection filters drop down in the top right corner. Switch off select and tick body edges instead. Now, selecting all edges just became a breeze, saving you from the tedium and freeing up your time for the fun, creative parts of our project. Next, activate the Pili tool. We have a lot of edges lined up and ready. The radius you can apply here we is based on your vases design. My design is tightly packed at edges, so I need to stick with a smaller radius. When it comes to corner type, it is all about your style. I switched from rolling ball to set back for that nice, smooth detail that I personally think adds a nice touch of quality. Don't worry if you go too big. Fusion is smart and will nudge you if the radius doesn't fit your design or if the curvature setting is off the mark. Tweaking your's appearance is not just rewarding, it's downright, enjoyable. And who knows Your masterpiece might just be the next highlight in the project gallery. Let's keep this momentum going and dive into custom appearances next time. Thanks for joining me today. See you in the next lesson. 10. Bringing Your Vase to Life: Adding and Customizing Appearances in Autodesk Fusion: Imagine being able to see your designs in detail before you ever start building. That's one of the great advantages of using water desk fusion. Today, we'll make your vase look as impressive on the screen as it will in real life by adding a nice appearance to it. To begin, you'll find appearances in the modified drop down menu. But here's a tip to make things easier. Keyboard shortcuts. They're incredibly useful infusion. Instead of searching through menus, simply press the A key to open the appearance menu right away. Simple, listen it. Once you're in, you've got choices. You can brows through variety of appearances organized by materials, or if you're after something specific, use the search function to find exactly what you need. This was, I'll choose ABS, a commonly used material for free de printing plastic prototypes. But don't worry. Choosing ABS here doesn't mean you're stuck with it when you go to free to print. You can still choose other materials like PLA, if that suits you better. If you want to adjust the appearance to get it just right, simply right click on it. This allows you to tweak the settings and explore a range of colors and finishes until you're satisfied. Once you're happy with your choice, click done and close the appearance menu. That's it. Your vase is looking brilliant. In the next lesson, we will take it a step further and create a stunning rendering of your vase. It is going to look fantastic, so stay tuned. 11. Mastering Vase Rendering in Autodesk Fusion: A Step-by-Step Guide: Rendering in autodesk fusion is straightforward, and you have both free and paid options at your disposal. But before we dive into that, let's establish a good routine. It's always a smart idea to save your project regularly. You'll notice that each time you say it, the current version appears on the file name. You can also add a version description or even mark it as a milestone, if you like. But for now, I'll keep it simple and just click safe. Next, we need to switch from the design workspace to the rendering environment. You can do this easily by navigating to the top left corner and selecting the appropriate workspace. Once you're in the rendering environment, right click on the Canvas and choose scene settings from the marking menu. Personally, I prefer working with the headlight when rendering, so I'll switch the background from solid color to the cool light environment. The brightness looks good as it is, so I won't adjust it, but I'm not too fond of the shadows. To fix that, I'll click on the position button and rotate the scene slightly. Ground scale is not relevant in this particular scene, but it might be if you are working with other environments in your project. Take a moment to view your ways from different angles, if you're curious about how the cool lights are affecting it. For this tutorial, I'll use cloud rendering to create our image. I'll set the aspect ratio to a classic widescreen format and leave out settings as suggested. This rendering is free, but if you're interested in more advanced renderings, you can use flex tokens to pay for those. The queue time for this job is less than 20 minutes, so I'll hit render and take a break while the rendering completes. The strong coffee sounds like just the thing right now. I'll see you in the next lesson where we'll review the results together. 12. Perfecting Your Render: Downloading and Showcasing Your Final Image: There's something special about that moment when your rendering is almost complete. The anticipation builds, especially knowing that the queue time was estimated at under 20 minutes, and in this case, it's already down in just 6 minutes. The result is looking fantastic and I can't wait to download it. If you're planning to do some post processing, consider downloading your image with a transparent background. This saves you the hassle of removing the background later, giving you more flexibility to work with the image. When you're ready to download, just confirm the details. You'll have the option to verify or change the file name and pick where you want to save it. The suggested file name combines the project title with the date and time which is really handy. It means you can easily download multiple images and keep them organized without worrying about duplicate names. Here's the image I've just downloaded. It's turned out beautifully. I can't wait to see your projects in the gallery. See you in the next lesson where we will go through the process of exporting the file so we can set it up perfectly for our upcoming print. 13. Streamlining Your Workflow: Effortless File Export for 3D Printing: Exporting your file in utters fusion is a breeze. Let's walk through it together. First, make sure you've saved your latest version. Once that's done, navigated the drop down menu in the top left corner and find the export option. Now, some people might opt for the three D print option, but I'd like to stick with the export method just above it. It's a good reminder that there are often multiple ways to achieve the same goal in fusion. This project, we'll be using an ETL file to feed into our free Di printing slicer. Once you've selected ETL, you're ready to export your file. Just a head up. Exporting your ETL file involves a quick transition through the Cloud, so make sure you're connected to the Internet, and that's it. Exporting is that simple. In the next lesson, we'll dive into setting up your Free Di print. See you there. 14. Mastering the Slicer: Scaling, Slicing, and Preparing for Your 3D Print: I. Working with the slicer is an essential part of the FD printing process. Today, I'm using process slicer software. But don't worry if you're using something different. You can still follow along and get a sense of what the Slicer does and the options it offers. To start, I'll import our STL file from the drop down menu in the top left corner. Since my project was designed in millimeters, I will avoid using the second import option which could mess up my dimensions. Once the file loads, it appears on the virtual three D printing bed. As expected, we get an narrower message letting us know the object is outside the print area. This was planned and mentioned earlier in the course, so no surprises here. Why did I intentionally make my vase too big? It's a perfect opportunity to demonstrate how scale factors work. Imagine a scenario in your future free Di printing adventures where you need a small prototype before ordering a larger high end print from an industrial free printer. I will adjust the scale factor to 25%. Or you can find tune your free D print settings, I often prefer to stick with one of the popular presets. Lower layer heights might use more material, but usually result in a better finish while larger layer heights are great for foster prints. Once you hit size, you'll get the detailed breakdown in the sized info, showing you the estimated print time and material usage. The legend in the top left corner also gives you a clear view of your freed print breakdown. Finally, export your G code, load it into your freed printer and enjoy watching your creation come to life. Thank you for sticking with me throughout this process. I look forward to seeing you in the next and final lesson. 15. Showcasing Your Creation and Staying Connected: Congratulations on reaching the end of the course. You've learned a lot from sketching to free modeling, and now it's time to celebrate your achievement. Before we wrap up, I have three final steps for you to complete that will help you make the most of your new skills and stay connected. First, chart your project in the project gallery. I'm excited to see the incredible designs you have created. Please share a picture of your twisted ways in the project gallery. You can upload either a photo realistic rendering or a photo of your freely printed masterpiece, whichever you prefer. Your work will inspire others, and it's a great way to showcase your creativity. Two, Follow my profile and leave a review. If you found this course helpful, why not share it with your friends or network. Learning is always more fun when it's done together, and you might even inspire someone else to dive into the exciting world of freed modeling and printing. I also have other courses, available hero Skillshare along with a collection of tutorials on YouTube. I'd love to see you again in another course or tutorial so on. Thank you so much for joining me on this creative Yoni. Keep exploring Keep creating, and I hope to see you again, sylvia. Thank you.