Preparing Autodesk Fusion 360 for CoDesign

Created: November 01, 2021 | Updated: July 31, 2024

Parent page: Installing & Configuring Altium CoDesigner

Altium CoDesigner is an interface for transferring printed circuit board designs between the ECAD and MCAD design domains. Once the CoDesigner add-in has been added to your MCAD software, CoDesigner can pass design changes back and forth. Design changes are passed through an Altium Workspace, which acts as a bridge between the ECAD and MCAD domains.

► Check the version compatibility between your MCAD software and CoDesigner

To access the Altium CoDesigner panel in Autodesk Fusion® you must install an Add-In (Plugin), as detailed below. You can download the MCAD CoDesigner plugin from the Altium website download page.

Installing and Configuring CoDesigner in Autodesk Fusion®

CoDesigner is only available for the Microsoft Windows version of Autodesk Fusion 360.
The Fusion 360 Personal license is supported by Altium CircuitMaker, but not by Altium Designer.

To interface to and from Autodesk Fusion, you need to install the Altium CoDesigner for Autodesk Fusion 360 Add-In.

Install and enable the Add-In to access CoDesigner in your MCAD software.

To install the Add-In:

Close Autodesk Fusion before installing.
Download and install the Fusion 360 Add-In (AltiumCoDesignerFusion360_<VersionNo>.exe).
Launch Autodesk Fusion and confirm that the Add-In is installed and available. If it is, the Altium CoDesigner tab will be available on the ribbon, as shown below.
The CoDesigner Add-In adds the Altium CoDesigner panel to Autodesk Fusion. All collaboration activities are performed through this panel.

Displaying the CoDesigner Panel

CoDesigner is accessed through a panel in Autodesk Fusion.

In Autodesk Fusion, the Altium CoDesigner panel can be enabled by clicking the Altium CoDesigner menu entry or button, as shown above.

Connecting to your Workspace from Autodesk Fusion

Autodesk Fusion collaborates with your Altium design software through a Workspace, to which you must sign in.

When you are not signed in, the Altium CoDesigner Tab will include sign-in fields, as shown below. There are two sign-in modes, one for signing into an Altium 365 Workspace, the other for signing in to a Workspace on an On-Prem Enterprise Server.

Connecting to an Altium 365 Workspace

Signing in to an Altium 365 Workspace.

Select the Altium Account option in the Altium CoDesigner panel.
Enter the email address you use to sign in to Altium Live as your Email, and your Altium Live Password.
Enable the Remember Me option to retain the details (including the password) and automatically connect to your Workspace (through the Altium 365 platform) each time Autodesk Fusion is started.
Click the Sign In button to connect.

Multiple Workspaces are supported - open the CoDesigner menu and select the required Workspace.

Menu used to select the active workspace, to change to a custom server, or sign out

Connecting to an Altium Enterprise Server Workspace

Signing in to an On-Prem Enterprise Server Workspace.

Select the Custom Server option in the Altium CoDesigner panel.
The first time you sign in, you must specify the Server Address (URL) to connect to your On-Prem Enterprise Server Workspace. The address will be provided by your system administrator.
Enter your User Name and Password, these will also be provided by the system administrator.
Enable the Sign in Automatically option to retain the details (including the password) and automatically connect to your Workspace each time Autodesk Fusion is started.

Once you have signed in, you are ready to start collaborating through Altium CoDesigner.

CoDesigner has been installed and is ready to use.

Notes:

Refer to the Note in the right-hand pane for information on which features will be available in your installation of MCAD CoDesigner. At this stage, Autodesk Fusion supports the Enclosure Exchange and Advanced History features from the advanced feature set.
The representation of copper and silkscreen is different from what is implemented for other MCADs; in Autodesk Fusion they are represented by sketch-only based components within the bare board part. These components are hidden by default, you can make them visible and build 3D features such as an extrude or an extruded surface, if required.
If you experience performance issues with the initial pulling of a PCB into Autodesk Fusion with more than 500 components, components below a specified height can be excluded from the transfer process.

These limitations will be addressed in an upcoming release.

Configuring the Autodesk Fusion Collaboration Settings

Once you have signed in, CoDesigner settings can be configured in the Altium CoDesigner Settings dialog, opened via the Settings menu entry in the CoDesigner menu (show image).

Use the Altium CoDesigner Settings dialog to configure the CoDesigner options.

Smart Sketch Update - when enabled, during a Pull MCAD CoDesigner only redraws the elements of a sketch that were changed in ECAD, keeping dimensions and constraints related to non-changed elements as they were. Disable this option if it produces undesirable results. Learn more about Smart Sketch Change support.
Ignore components smaller than <Value><Units> in height - the performance of Autodesk Fusion is affected by the number of components on the PCB. To help with this, smaller components can be excluded from the synchronization process. Configure this option to exclude components less than <Value><Units> when a Pull is performed. Note that the component height is defined in ECAD as a property of the component (footprint), it is not the height of the 3D model placed on the footprint.

► Learn more about configuring CoDesigner to ignore smaller components

Participate in the product improvement program - enable this option to automatically share technical information with Altium about your use of CoDesigner.

► Learn more about the product improvement program

Working with the Device Assembly

The 3.0 release of CoDesigner added support for Autodesk Fusion to work in the context of the Device Assembly. CoDesigner in Autodesk Fusion recognizes the PCB and the enclosure, supporting exchanging the enclosure between MCAD and ECAD. Learn more about Pushing the enclosure from MCAD to ECAD.

Select the enclosure in the model tree, then click the Enclosure button on the Altium CoDesigner button - check the panel to confirm it has been recognized.

Note that after insertion into the device assembly, Autodesk Fusion retains the positions of the PCB components relative to the device assembly. In the situation where the PCB is moved in the device assembly in MCAD and then the components are moved in ECAD, it is recommended to remove the PCB from the device assembly and insert it again, in order to reset those relations and to keep the proper placement of the components in the context of the device assembly.

Displaying the Copper and Silkscreen in Autodesk Fusion

In Fusion 360, the surface copper and silkscreen (component overlay) are created as Sketch Profiles drawn on the Board object. To simplify the process of displaying/hiding the copper and silkscreen layers in Autodesk Fusion, the Fusion 360 Altium CoDesigner ribbon includes the Advanced Geometry () button. Clicking the button will display the: top copper, top silkscreen (component overlay), bottom copper, and bottom silkscreen, sketch layers. Click a second time to hide those layers. These layers can also be selectively hidden/displayed in Autodesk Fusion's object Browser.

Use the Advanced Geometry button on the Altium CoDesigner ribbon to quickly show or hide the top/bottom copper/silkscreen layers.

The top/bottom Soldermask layers are not transferred to Autodesk Fusion. Instead, the board object has the color of the ECAD Top Soldermask layer applied.

Grounding Components in Autodesk Fusion

Autodesk Fusion supports the concept of defining a rigid relationship between a component and its parent, known as Ground to Parent (Autodesk help info). When this feature is enabled, the location of the component remains fixed relative to its parent, overriding any component location changes caused by a Pull from ECAD.

If a component's location fails to update correctly after a Pull from ECAD, right-click on it to check if it is grounded. If it is, select Unground From Parent (as shown below). The component will immediately move to the new location defined by the last Pull.

Individual components can be grounded to their parent, right-click to unground.

As well as manually grounding a component to a parent, Fusion automatically grounds the following components:

The first component created in a design
The first child of any component
A component that has been placed via Copy / Paste, or Paste New

To disable this automatic grounding behavior, uncheck the First component grounded to parent option in the General – Design – Assemblies page of the Fusion Preferences dialog.

Uncheck this option to prevent Fusion from automatically grounding components.

Working between Fusion 360 & Altium CircuitMaker

Developed for the maker community, Altium CircuitMaker makes schematic capture and PCB layout available to everyone. CircuitMaker can also connect to Autodesk Fusion 360 through Altium CoDesigner.

There are differences in how you work between Altium CircuitMaker and Fusion 360 compared to other supported ECAD tools and Fusion 360.

These include:

Altium CircuitMaker and Fusion 360 pass design changes back and forth through an Altium 365 Personal Space. An Altium 365 Personal Space is free, and is ideal for those who want to experience the cloud-based collaborative capabilities of Altium 365 without the need for a full Altium 365 Workspace in which to store their data.
Design changes are passed between Altium CircuitMaker and Fusion 360 using Save and Open type actions, rather than Push and Pull actions. For example, click the Open button in Fusion 360 on the Altium CoDesigner ribbon to load a design from ECAD (show image). You'll also automatically be notified when the design is saved in ECAD, a single click will bring those changes into Fusion 360, as shown below.

► Learn more about Collaborating with an MCAD Designer through the Fusion 360 CoDesigner Panel in Altium CircuitMaker.

Transferring design changes between Fusion 360 and Altium CircuitMaker is easier now.

Where to Next?

Now that CoDesigner is installed in your MCAD software and connected to your Workspace, the next step is to configure the relevant Workspace settings.

► Learn more about Configuring your Workspace Settings

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