Using the new AI Assistant in Fusion
- Brad Tallis
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Autodesk Fusion has added a powerful new tool into the Autodesk Assistant. This tool uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help you design parts faster. In the past, the assistant mainly searched for help documents. Now, it can actually perform tasks inside your design workspace. While the tool is currently in a tech preview, it already shows great promise for speeding up your workflow. You can ask it to create shapes, find specific features, or even change materials using simple commands.
Getting Started with the AI Assistant
You can find the Autodesk Assistant by clicking the new icon at the top of your Fusion screen. Because this is a tech preview, some features might change over time. The AI is very powerful, but it can be a little slow right now. It works best when you give it very descriptive prompts. For simple tasks like drawing a single box, manual tools are probably still faster. The real power comes when you ask the AI to do complex tasks or find specific items in a large design.
Creating Complex Sketches with AI Prompts
One of the best ways to use the AI is for repetitive or math-heavy sketching. For example, if you are 3D printing a tool organizer, you might need a row of holes that change size. Doing this by hand requires a lot of manual math and dimensions.
The AI can handle this easily. You can tell it to:
Create a row of circles with specific starting and ending diameters.
Set specific increments for each circle size.
Space the circles so they do not overlap.
Align the bottom of every circle to the x-axis.
When you run a command like this, the assistant shows you its thinking process. It calculates the radius, X-location, and Y-location for every entity. It even converts units automatically, such as changing inches to centimeters for the Fusion sketch engine. This saves you from placing dozens of different diameter and tangent dimensions yourself.
Centering Objects Automatically
After creating a row of circles, you might need a frame around them. With the Autodesk Assistant, you can simply ask it to "create a rectangle centered around all the circles." The AI takes a "screenshot" of the current state of your design to see where the circles are. It then calculates the perfect position and draws the rectangle for you. This turns a multi-step geometry problem into a one-sentence request.
Querying and Modifying Parts
The AI is excellent at finding specific features in a complex part. Imagine a part with hundreds of holes. Finding and selecting only the holes that go all the way through would take a long time.
You can ask the assistant to select all cylindrical holes that pass through the entire part. The AI analyzes the geometry, finds the faces, and can even color them red so you can see them better.
Once the AI identifies these parts, you can give follow-up commands. You can ask it to color the chamfers touching those holes or apply fillets to every edge except the ones you just colored red. This "exclusion list" logic is much faster than clicking every edge one by one.
Changing Materials and Appearances
The assistant can also handle administrative tasks for your model. Instead of digging through menus, you can tell the AI to change the physical material to aluminum. You can also tell it to set the appearance to a specific color, like polished gold.
To verify the change, you can check the properties of your component. The AI correctly updates the physical properties, which is important for weight calculations and engineering tests.
Using AI for Manufacturing Help
If you are moving from design to manufacturing, the assistant acts as a built-in tutor. You can ask it how to create a setup for a CNC machine. The AI will provide a step-by-step guide:
Open the Manufacture workspace.
Click on New Setup.
Choose your operation type, like milling.
Select the model and work coordinate system.
The assistant even provides links to the official documentation if you need more detail. It bridges the gap between a search engine and a functional tool.
Troubleshooting AI Responses
Sometimes the AI might give you advice instead of actually changing your model. This usually happens if you just asked it a "how-to" question. To fix this, you need to clear your chat history.
If you ask "Should I remove small fillets?" the AI stays in "advice mode." If you then tell it to "delete fillets," it might just explain how to do it rather than doing it. By deleting the chat history, you reset the AI so it knows to start working on the geometry again.
Cleaning Up Your Model
The AI is very helpful for "de-featuring" a model before manufacturing. You can ask the AI to find and delete all fillets smaller than a specific size, such as 0.1 inches.
The AI will:
Search the entire body for fillet features.
Compare their sizes to your request.
Ask for your permission to proceed.
Remove the features from the timeline.
This is a great way to clean up a part quickly without hunting through the design history.
Conclusion
The AI features in the Autodesk Assistant are a major step forward for Fusion users. While it is still in the tech preview stage, the ability to generate geometry and query complex parts with text is a massive time saver. It handles the math and the tedious clicking so you can focus on the big picture of your design.
Comments