Components and bodies

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In Fusion, you can create all components of your design in context

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and define the mechanical relationships and motion between them, all organized within a single environment.

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Look at the Browser to understand how you can use components to organize your design.

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A component is a container for design elements, like sketches, construction geometry, bodies, origins, and even other components.

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The top node in the Browser is a top-level component that exists by default in every design.

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Document Settings, Named Views, and Joints are always located in this top-level component.

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You can create as many components within a design as you need.

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Each component is capable of motion, has its own unique origin and coordinate system, and has its own timeline.

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Each component also has a name, number, and description that displays in a parts list.

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You need to use components to organize your design if you plan to use any of the manufacturing

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or documentation tools in the Manufacture and Drawing workspaces.

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It is important to organize your design,

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so that you and anyone you are collaborating with can quickly understand the relationships between components.

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As a best practice, first create a new component within your design, activate it, and then begin defining its geometry.

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From the Browser, right-click the top-level component and select New Component.

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Then, define the settings in the New Component dialog:

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Click the Type drop-down list, and select Standard or Sheet Metal.

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Select Internal or External for the location of the component relative to the design.

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Enter a component Name.

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For an Internal component, you can change the Parent, if needed,

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or select From Bodies to select one or more bodies to convert to components.

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For External components, click the folder name to specify the location where you want to save the new design.

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Finally, select Activate to activate the new component upon creation.

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Click OK to create the new component.

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You can also access the New Component command on the toolbar from the Create or Assemble panels,

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or while you are in a command such as Extrude.

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Activate the command, select the profile you want to extrude, change the Operation to New Component, then click OK.

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Locate the new component in the Browser, and remember to change the name to something meaningful.

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By keeping component-specific changes nested within the component timeline,

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your design stays well organized and the timeline is easier to understand and interact with.

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In the Browser, you can drag one component into another.

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In this case, the assembly icon indicates that the component contains additional components.

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You can activate any individual child component nested under the parent component or activate the parent component.

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You can create joints to define mechanical relationships and motion between components.

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You can also reuse components within a design.

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Right-click a component in the Browser and select Copy.

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Right-click the parent component where you want the copy to appear, then select Paste.

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This creates an identical copy of the original component.

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The components share the same name, except for the :1 and :2 at the end of the name.

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When you make a change to one copy, the other updates to reflect that change.

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However, you can position each instance of the component independently.

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Note that selecting Paste New instead of Paste creates an identical copy that is not linked to the original.

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Then, a change to one copy does not update the other.

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You might also have an external design that you want to reference as a component in your current design.

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To do this, in the Data Panel, navigate to the design you want to reference, right-click the design, and select Insert into Current Design.

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Use the manipulator or adjust the settings in the Move/Copy dialog to position the component, then click OK.

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The inserted design displays as a component in the Browser.

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The link icon indicates that it is an external reference, or Xref for short.

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In the Data Panel, the inserted design is now listed in the Uses section for the current design,

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and the current design is now listed in the Used In section for the inserted design.

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If you or a collaborator open the inserted design, make a change, and save it,

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the current design will display a warning symbol over the component in the Browser and in the Application bar,

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indicating that the Xref is out of date.

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Right-click the component and select Get Latest Version or click the icon in the Application bar to see the latest changes.

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If you right-click and select Break Link, the component is inserted directly into the design,

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and the link between the two designs is severed.

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In Fusion, you can create 3D bodies within any component in the assembly of your design.

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A body is a single container for a contiguous 3D shape.

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This could be a simple primitive like a box, cylinder, or sphere, or a more complex 3D shape.

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If you split a single body, it becomes two bodies, because the original 3D shape is no longer contiguous.

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Each body is contained within a component, whether located in the top-level component or one you created intentionally.

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Each component can contain multiple bodies, but note that you cannot create joints or motion between them.

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There are a few things to consider when creating bodies:

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Before you modify a body, make sure you activate its component first.

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Consider isolating the component before you modify the body

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to avoid creating unnecessary relationships between bodies across different components.

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If you copy and paste a body, each copy remains independent.

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Changes you make to one body will not affect the other.

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Bodies do not display in drawings or in a bill of materials.

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If your design requires motion between components,

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it is best to create components first, then create bodies within their respective components from the start.

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If you have already created a body in the top-level component,

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you can create a new component later by right-clicking the body and selecting Create Components from Bodies.

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The tools and operations you use to create the original body, however, remain in the top-level component

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and are still associated with its timeline.

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This can make the timeline difficult to understand and interact with as you evolve your design.

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If you activate the component now, its timeline only contains this body to component operation.

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The history does not come along with it.

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The best practice here is to create a new component first, name it, activate it, and then start designing.