Fusion 360 extensions: How do they work?

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Fusion 360 is undoubtedly one of the design and engineering software that has had more developments in recent years. In this article, we will look at everything related to Fusion 360 extensions.

 By not having an annual release, Fusion is evolving rapidly and every month there are new features and extensions to the software. This makes Fusion 360 better, but it also makes it difficult to keep up.

Fusion extensions sometimes generate doubts, in terms of the functionalities they offer and/or knowing which one is going to cover the needs you have. Therefore, we have prepared this article where we describe in detail all the extensions that Fusion 360 offers.

In this context, Autodesk Fusion 360 can be used in many different ways, depending on the needs of each company or project. That’s why Autodesk has created a great amount of extensions for Fusion 360 that give users access to advanced design and manufacturing technologies, such as complex machining strategies, generative design, and additive manufacturing workflows.

What is Autodesk Fusion 360 used for?

  1. Design and modeling: Quickly create multiple design interactions.
  2. Simulation: Test your designs early in the development process to determine feasibility and catch potential errors before they occur.
  3. Generative Design: Quickly generate high-performance design alternatives from a set of manufacturing and material constraints.
  4. Manufacturing: Rapidly generates trajectories reducing cycle times and machine and tool wear, and manufactures high-quality parts.
  5. Collaboration: Real-time collaboration platform for all parties involved (internal and external) in project development.
  6. Documentation: Avoid export. Easily derive 2D drawings directly from your 3D models to ensure manufacturing accuracy.

 In addition, by incorporating these extensions, you can customize your Fusion 360 experience and align this powerful software with your project needs.

 a. Extend your platform. Eliminate unconnected tools and implementation overhead by extending your workflows with specialized technologies. All on a single platform.

 b. Simplify your production processes. Improve operational efficiency with automated and optimized workflows that connect teams. Increase your manufacturing throughput and get your products to market faster.

 c. Make innovation easier. Innovate more and better with access to new tools that reduce non-value-added processes and improve team collaboration to develop smart products in a simplified way.

 Autodesk Fusion 360 can be used in many different ways, depending on the needs of each company or project. And that’s why Autodesk has created several extensions for Fusion 360 that give users access to advanced design and manufacturing technologies, such as complex machining strategies, generative design, and additive manufacturing workflows.

 All of the file extensions listed below are supported by Fusion 360 but may contain completely different data types:

  • .DWG
  • .F3D
  • .IPT
  • .SAT
  • .STEP
  • .STP
  • .X_B
  • .X_T
  • .3DM.

 Fusion 360 can use different file formats for various purposes: for example, to load configuration settings, load input data Fusion 360 or generate output data after processing.

 Also, remember that with Fusion 360 you can try to convert the file with a specific extension, to others, also compatible with Fusion 360. Simply load the file with Fusion 360 and choose “Save As”, choose a new format and save the file. However, remember that if you are an inexperienced user and perform the operation incorrectly, it may not be possible to reopen the file.

What are the advanced extensions of Autodesk Fusion 360?

  1. Generative Design (Generative Design Extension): Quickly explore infinite variants of high-performance design. Reduce weight and optimize the performance of your products to the maximum, according to specific needs.
  2. Manufacturing and Machining (Machining Extension): Get access to more 3- and 5-axis strategies and additional toolpath optimization and process automation features.
  3. Additive Manufacturing (Additive Build Extension): Automatically print high-value 3- and 5-axis metal parts, create high-quality finishing operations, and generate fully associative support structures.
  4. Fabrication and Nesting (Nesting & Fabrication Extension): Unlock advanced nesting and fabrication capabilities to create optimized, associative multi-sheet designs for sheet metal and non-metallic parts in preparation for cutting on CNC machines.
  5. Data and file management (Manage Extension): Access expanded data management capabilities for engineering change requests, version management, automated part numbering, and more.
  6. Team collaboration (Team Participant Extension): One collaboration and data management software for additional users. Share with your customers and/or collaborators, and review and manage design projects online on any device, anywhere.