Complex Facets with Move Command in Fusion 360

What if you want more complex faceting than the basic technique provides. Well there is a simple way to add complexity and visual interest to the shapes you just created. Just tilt some of the facets with the rotation feature of the MOVE command.

Start by creating a faceted gem using the techniques described in the first tutorial. Sketch a polygon and extrude it with a negative taper angle. In the examples below, we use an eight sided shape (octagon).

Now open the MOVE Command and:

• Set the MOVE OBJECT type to FACES. 
• Select the "All-In-One" option as the MOVE TYPE. 

Select one of the faces of the shape and pick a point on the face. Fusion 360 will try to snap to certain points like the middle or ends of edges or the center of the face. Each point will allow you to change the faces in different ways, but there are a few that work well.



Pivot at Center of Bottom Edge
If you select the lower edge of the selected face you can change the facets without changing the main shape's perimeter. Using the center of the edge keeps it simple. Choosing alternating faces gives an interesting results (So faces 1,3,5,7 on an 8 face objects). Notice that all the shapes below have stayed equal sided octagons but the faceting has changed completely.

Pivot at Top Edge 
You can also select the upper edges of the facets. This allows you to easily change the overall shape. In the image below, the octagonal shape was changed to a square shape.

Pull/Push Top
You can select the top face and pull or push the face to change the height of the Shape (or you can open the original Extrude command and enter a different value)

Tilt the Top
You can rotate the top face. This is useful for making natural or uncut gem stones, or for glass planter boxes.

Rotate Sides to Create a New Shape
You can even change the shape of the object. Try selecting a corner of the face and rotating it to create a pear or heart shaped gem.

Going Farther and Making it Easier
Making constant changes to multiple faces again and again can be time consuming and annoying. But you can combine the MOVE command with PARAMETERS and PATTERNS to make changing shapes much quicker and even more flexible. That's the subject for the next tutorial.

(NOTE: The all-in-one movement option is flexible, but it tends to fail when using parameters. See the section on using parameters for more details.)

Download and print on A4 or Letter for a handy reference.

Read the Entire Series of Faceting Tutorials

to Learn How to Make Even More Complex Faceted Shapes and 

Check out all of our Fusion 360 Tips, Tricks and Tutorials.

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