Mesh to Outline

for Autodesk® Fusion® · version 1.0.0

Mesh to Outline cuts a mesh body with a plane and draws the section as a normal sketch of lines, arcs, circles and fitted splines, ready to extrude, loft or dimension. It can also draw a whole stack of sections between two picks and extrude them into one solid body.

It runs only on your computer. It collects no data and needs no internet connection. Privacy policy.

Requirements

The current release of Autodesk Fusion, on Windows 64-bit or macOS.
Nothing else: everything the add-in needs is inside it.

Where to find it

Mesh tab → Modify panel → Mesh to Outline, next to Convert Mesh. If Fusion's Mesh panel is not found, the button is under Utilities → Add-Ins instead; the Text Commands palette says where.

To turn the add-in off or on: Utilities → Add-Ins → Scripts and Add-Ins → Add-Ins tab → MeshSectionSketch → Stop / Run.

Quick start

Insert → Insert Mesh, and set the units to mm.
For one section or a stack, make a construction plane where you want the cut (Construct → Offset Plane), or use any flat face.
Mesh tab → Modify → Mesh to Outline.
Choose the Action first: Single slice, Stack or X-Ray. Pick the mesh body, then the plane (Single slice, Stack) or the start and end (X-Ray), and click OK.

Settings

Setting	Default	What it does
Action	Single slice	Single slice: a single sketch. Stack: several sketches on offset planes. X-Ray: a stack between a start and an end pick. It decides which picks the dialog asks for.
Mesh body	—	The mesh body to cut.
Plane	—	Single slice and Stack: a construction plane or a flat face to cut on.
Start / End	—	X-Ray only: a construction plane, a flat face or a click on the mesh. The slices run parallel to the Start plane, or the End plane if Start is a mesh click, so at least one must be a plane or a flat face of a solid. A click on a flat mesh face snaps to that face.
Spacing	0.2 mm	Stack and X-Ray: the distance between sketches.
Sections (count)	10	Stack only: how many sketches, 2 to 400.
Direction	Along the normal (+)	Stack only: along the plane's normal, against it, or both sides.
Fit tolerance	0.08 mm	How far a fitted curve may sit off the raw section.
Join gaps up to	2.5 mm	Loose ends closer than this are joined, so an outline broken only by hairline cracks comes back as one closed profile. 0 draws exactly what Fusion's own mesh section draws.
Trim slivers up to	0 mm	Cuts out thin out-and-back slivers where the mesh has a double skin. 0.3 mm is a good start on a leaky mesh; 0 leaves the outline as traced.
Outline only	off	Keep just the outer outline: loose open pieces and inner loops are skipped, so each sketch is one clean profile.
Extrude each slice	off	Stack and X-Ray: each sketch is extruded to the next slice and joined into one stepped solid body.
Hide mesh after	off	Hides the mesh body when done. The mesh is never deleted.

Messages you may see

Message	What to do
Empty cut skipped	The plane misses the mesh there.
WARNING: the outline did not close in N slices	The mesh has holes wider than Join gaps at those slices. Raise Join gaps to the value the warning gives and run again.
WARNING: N slabs could not be extruded	The sketch was drawn, but Fusion found no profile to extrude there. The per-slice list says why.
Autodesk Fusion has updated its Python	Install the latest release.
Mesh to Outline is incomplete	Install the zip for your computer again.
Another add-in has loaded an old copy of numpy	Turn that add-in off, restart Fusion, and try again.

Undo and uninstall

Each run adds sketches (and, if ticked, one body) to your design; Undo or deleting them removes them. To uninstall, stop the add-in in Scripts and Add-Ins, then delete the MeshSectionSketch folder from Fusion's add-ins folder (where that is).

Support

Email support@stltosolid.com. Please include your Fusion version, your operating system, and the lines in the Text Commands palette that start with MeshSectionSketch:. More at stltosolid.com.

Autodesk and Autodesk Fusion are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates. stlToSolid is not affiliated with or endorsed by Autodesk. Third-party licences: THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt in the download.