3 Tips to Rotate in Fusion 360

Learn how to rotate a sketch and an object, and how to animate the rotation. If you have problems with orbiting a view in Fusion 360, you’ll find the solution at the end of this post.

Sketches and Objects

After selecting a sketch or an object, you can rotate it around an axis using the Move tool (Shortcut: M).

Steps

1. Left-click and hold and drag to select elements in the view.
2. Drop-down Modify menu > click Move/Copy.
3. Click the prompt box of Set Pivot.
4. Move the mouse pointer over the sketch to select a rotation point.
5. Click on the check mark of Set Pivot.
6. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the axis point to rotate it.
7. Click OK.

Constrained sketches cannot be rotated. The locked set of angles and distances does not allow shape rotation: first, select the sketch, click Edit Sketch, and then perform rotation steps. When you click Finish Sketch, the sketch is locked again.

3D objects, like 2D sketches, can be rotated around a selected axis.

To rotate an object: Select it, deselect other elements (hold down SHIFT and click on the element), press the “M” key on the keyboard, select the rotation point, and then rotate the axis. Finally, press OK to apply the rotation.

Animation

Animate a rotation of an object or part.

Steps

1. Select the component, either in the BROWSER or on the model.
2. In the Animation Timeline, move the playhead to where you want the animation to end.
3. Go to the Transform panel > Click Transform Components.
4. Drag the axis of the component to the desired location.
5. A new action appears that records a movement in the timeline.
6. Select the name of the component in the Timeline.
7. Drag the rotation axis or change the degree value > Click OK.

Start the animation to see how the element performs both movements at the same time.

Orbit View Shortcut

Two ways to move around your design and view it from different angles.

Steps

1. Hold SHIFT + Hold Scroller + Move mouse around to orbit.
2. Use the View cube (at the top right of the screen): Hold the cube with a Left-Click + Move it around to rotate the view.

If you don’t have a middle mouse button to orbit:

1. Click your user icon on the top right corner.
2. Go to Preferences > click General.
3. Change panning, zooming, and orbiting shortcuts to different software.

I chose Tinkercad because I am familiar with its navigation where I hold down the right mouse button to orbit the view.