MapBoards Pro

Win64, English

Icarus Soft Landings,LLC

MapBoards Pro arranges bodies in a model optimally on boards, leaving your model untouched. You can then use Autodesk® Fusion® additive manufacturing or output a flat panel in SVG or DXF format.

Version History

General Usage Instructions

Please follow the Getting Started link below, which gives you an overview of the available features. It will be time well spent, enabling you to get the most out of this add-in.

Getting Started

When a project moves from the design phase to the build phase, a material estimate and layout are needed to guide the manufacturing process. MapBoards Pro can help with both.

With your model open in Fusion Design workspace, the following steps are taken:

Invoke MapBoards or MapBoard Pro
From the Lumber tab, update the Width and Lengths for each board type (Material and Thickness) to match lumber dimensions available or that you plan to acquire
Select the radial button on each board type to include them in the map generation
From the Options tab, select the desired Map Output Type (Component Bodies), Arrangement Type, Component Spacing, Board Edge, Cut List and other options
Select OK to execute MapBoards Pro.

Once complete, the created map will be displayed alongside the design on the XY plane (Z up) (optionally Y up on XZ plane). The map visibility can be controlled with the LightBulb on the newly created map component. If the Cut List option is selected, a CSV file will be created at the location specified. It will include a sorted list of all components with dimensions and a summary or required lumber. This file can be imported into a spreadsheet such as Google Sheets. The Cut List can be used to create labels or to be used as a checklist.

If you selected a Map Output Type of DXF file, then the layered DXF file created can be imported into other CAD and CAM software for use with CNC, water jet, plasma, or laser. The DXF file will have the selected profiles included as separate layers.

The DXF create can have 4 or more layers as perimeter, insets (one for each unique depth), cutouts, and labels. These layers are viewed from the top view. Bottom insets can also optionally be included. The components are placed with the largest face down and the face with the most features facing up to be included in the export. A post-mapping task is available to flip components in the resulting map if needed.

The same layered information is exported with the Export SVG context menu option. This SVG export can be used for further nesting when imported into other programs such as Deepest.

If you plan to complete the cutting with a CNC Router, the following steps are suggested.

To continue with Fusion’s additive manufacturing, you can right-click on the map object in the browser tree and select Manufacturing Model task, select the board to export and the create setup option. This will create a manufacturing model with the board isolated. You can now create the desired tool paths to drive your CNC or laser.

If you will be completing your manufacturing with other software or your machine setup requires DXF or SVG files to create tool paths, you can use the post-mapping exports for SVG or DXF to export flat panel files for that purpose.

Again, please go to the link below for a description of the available add-in features to help with this process.

MapBoards Pro Description.

Screenshots

Commands

Installation/Uninstallation

Install:

The installer that ran when you downloaded this app/plug-in from the Autodesk App Store will start installing the app/plug-in. OR, simply double-click the downloaded installer to install the app/plugin.

Uninstall:

You can unload the add-in without uninstalling it by clicking the "Stop" button when the add-in is selected in the list box on the "Add-Ins" tab of the "Scripts and Add-Ins" dialog.

Unchecking "Run on Startup" causes the add-in not to be loaded in future sessions of Fusion.

To uninstall this plug-in, exit the Autodesk product if you are currently running it, simply rerun the installer, and select the "Uninstall" button.

OR, you can uninstall it from 'Control Panel/Programs and Features (Windows 10/11), just as you would uninstall any other application from your system.

Additional Information

Here is a link to the sample design shown in the video demo of MapBoards. You can open or download it to view in Fusion and then run MapBoards on it once installed.

https://gallery.autodesk.com/fusion360/projects/120224/mapboards-demo-design