Can’t Draw? Try Fusion 360®

I have an extremely dark and personal secret to reveal… I am not the best at drawing. This never really was a big issue since I have taken courses like “Art History” instead of art and always leaned toward sculpting and designing. However, I have recently gotten into engineering. I have been building raspberry-pi retro consoles, installing some large-scale integrated circuits to get moving features in my Lego sets, and just modeling fun physics projects.

This is where my lack of drawing capabilities has reared its ugly head. Since I typically don't have the resources to build these projects available at my fingertips, I am forced to put my ideas on paper, where trial and error is free. As much as I appreciate sketching some rough ideas, I don't enjoy the process. Just to my luck, my engineering class introduced me to Fusion 360. This is a modeling software and tool that is essentially limitless.

This software has given me the freedom to design anything I want online, and I can go back to the drawing board as many times as needed without worrying about wasting materials and resources. The possibilities are endless, but my skills are just developing. Although you can look online and see absolutely mind boggling things that have been made in Fusion 360, actually making those things is mind bogglingly difficult… especially if you’re new.

When I first launched the software, I spent 10 minutes figuring out how to create a square. From there, I spent another 20 minutes trying to figure out how to turn that square into a rectangle. It is one of those programs where you just have to fiddle around and experiment with everything. I am still learning the ropes for the program, however here are a few things I have designed.

A Vase

An Object in the Physics Room for Testing Light

A Globe

A Gumball Machine

These are just some of the first things I have designed in the program, although they start out simple, each design improves my knowledge and skills using the program. The last object, the Gumball Machine, has some neat features:

The moving elements at the top can be opened.

The crank can be turned.

And, lastly, the door for collecting the gum-balls can be opened.

The ability to have moving elements only expands the limitless possibilities that are already possible with Fusion 360. Now, despite my drawing capabilities, I can create and design anything. I also can test different materials, shapes, sizes, without going through endless amounts of foam and cardboard.

Although the program is not the easiest to learn, it is very rewarding. I encourage anyone to try out Fusion 360, by either signing up for the free trial or finding a similar program. I obtained Fusion 360 through an educational license, as without it, the price is quite high. So the free trial or another similar program might have to suffice until you feel confident that this is the program you want.