Lesson: The Fusion 360 User Interface

In this lesson, you’ll learn to navigate the

Fusion 360 user interface.

Learning Objectives

• Use the right click marking menu.

• Identify areas of the Fusion 360 user
interface.

The completed exercise

1. Open a new file.

2. Learning the user interface is an important part

of learning a new program. Fusion 360 is no
different. This module will describe various
aspects of Fusion 360’s user interface. The
upper right corner of the screen displays your
name. Clicking on this will expand a drop-down
menu that has access to important information
such as your profile and preferences. Click on
the Preferences option to open the Preferences
window.

3. The preferences dictate how you interact with

the program. Examine the options for controlling
the UI behavior, then click Preview in the left
column.

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 4. In the Preview’s General section, make sure the
UI Preview option is activated. This changes the
look of the interface and how you access tools.
If you have to activate this option, Fusion 360
needs to be restarted before you can see the
changes.

5. In the Manufacture section, activate the Machine

Configurations option. Click the OK button in the
Preferences window to accept the changes.

6. The Application Bar is in the upper left corner of

the screen. Click on the page icon to expand the
File menu. Examine the options in this drop-
down menu and notice they are frequently used
commands. The Application Bar also has
functions for saving a file, undoing a command,
and redoing a command.

7. The Application Bar also has a Show Data

Panel button. Click on this button to expand the
Data Panel.

8. A list of your projects, libraries, and sample files

will be listed in the Data Panel. If you’ve never
used Fusion 360 before, the Data Panel will look
like the image to the right.

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 9. Click the Hide Data Panel button to close the
Data Panel.

10. The Toolbar is along the top of the screen. Tabs

in the Toolbar help customize the tools
displayed in the Toolbar. Activate the various
tabs and notice the different types of tools that
appear in the Toolbar.

11. The Toolbar’s tools are divided into groups. The

Create group has icons representing several of
the tools used to create things. However, the
Create group has more tools than the icons
indicate. Click the Create group’s button to
expand the drop-down menu. This will display
the many tools inside the Create group.
Examine these tools and notice in which
instances they would be useful. Repeat this
process to investigate the options in each of the
Toolbar’s groups. Hovering your cursor over a
tool will activate a tooltip. Reading these tooltips
can help you understand the tool’s usefulness.

12. The large open area in the screen is called the

Canvas. Right-click in an open area of the
Canvas. The right-click marking menu appears
on the screen. This menu gives you quick
access to several commonly used tools. The
command you most recently used will be at the
12 o’clock position.

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 13. Select the right-click marking menu’s Sketch
option.

14. This will open a secondary menu with context

specific options. Several of the most commonly
accessed sketch tools are in this menu. The up
arrow icon at the 12 o’clock position will return
you to the right-click marking menu.

15. The tools can be accessed even quicker by

using the right-click marking menu’s gestures
feature. Hold down the right mouse button, drag
it downwards to the 6 o’clock position where the
Sketch option was in the right-click right view
menu, then drag upwards to the 10 o’clock
position where the Center Diameter Circle tool
was in the Sketch menu. This simple gesture will
quickly create a sketch and open the Circle tool.
Your efficiency can greatly increase as you
become familiar with this feature.

16. The Browser is on the left side of the screen.

This will have information regarding your design.
Views, sketches, bodies, components, and
much more will be represented in the Browser.

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 17. In the bottom left corner of the screen, click the
plus icon to expand the Comments box.
Comments about the file can be stored here for
future reference. These comments can remind
you of important dimensions or they can help
deliver information about design decisions to
your collaborators. Screenshots can be added to
these comments. Minimize the Comments box
by clicking the minus icon.

18. As information is added to the file, the features

will populate in a timeline. This timeline will be in
the blank area at the bottom of the screen. The
timeline marker can be adjusted to activate
various points of the timeline. This timeline
marker is the icon in the left of this step’s image.

19. The navigation and display settings can be

accessed at the bottom of the Canvas.

20. Navigate through each of the options. For

instance, the Display Settings button has many
options for controlling the environment, the
visibility of objects, the camera, and much more.

21. The View cube is in the upper right corner of the

Canvas. This can be used to quickly orient your
view to standard positions. Clicking on the face
of the cube will adjust the camera to view the
model from the selected direction. The house
icon button will return your model to the Home
view.

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 22. The View cube’s drop-down menu has options
for customizing some of the display settings.
Some of these options are duplicated in the
Display Settings button at the bottom of the
Canvas.

23. The Change Workspace button is in the upper

left corner of the screen. Fusion 360 is currently
in the Design workspace, but this button can be
used to enter different workspaces that have
different functions and different tools.

24. Click the Show Data Panel button. Inside the

Data Panel, click the New Project button.
Change the name of the project if you want.

25. The new project is added to the Data Panel. If a

name is chosen for the new project, this name
will be displayed on the new project. Double-
click on the new project to open it in the Data
Panel.

26. Inside the new project, subfolders can be

created. Click the New Folder button and add a
name to the new folder.

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 27. People can be invited to collaborate on your
project. Click the People button in the Data
Panel. Entering an email in the field will send an
invitation to your collaborators. Any
collaborators for the selected project will be able
to see all the information inside the project. They
will have access to open files, manipulate them,
delete them, and more.

28. In the Data Panel’s Libraries section, click the

Assets option.

29. The Assets folder has several subfolders for

different types of CAM related files.

30. The Data Panel’s Samples section has several

different types of samples. The samples most
relevant to this course will be the CAM Samples.
Click on the CAM Samples option to see the
sample files.

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 31. Examine the sample files. This folder also has
subfolders with machine tables, post-
processors, workholding, and tutorials. Some of
this information will be used during this course.
Make sure you understand how to access the
CAM Samples from the Data Panel.

32. Click the Hide Data Panel button to close the

Data Panel. Continue to the next module.

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