In today’s tutorial, we’re going to talk about how to use the sweep tool inside of Autodesk Fusion 360 to create shapes along a set path.

This can be especially helpful for creating objects with a profile that need to follow some sort of path in your models.

When you first activate this tool, you’ll see that there are actually 3 kinds of sweeps you can do – single path, path + guide rail, and path + surface.

The way this tool works is actually pretty simple – simply select a profile, or a sketch shape that you create, select a path, and use the sweep tool to extrude this object along that path.

This works along straight paths like this curve, but it also works along curves that go in a 360 degree circle. For example, if this path went all the way outside the outside of a shape, we could select the entire shape and the profile would be extruded along the entire path. Notice that it merges back into itself where your object starts as long as you set your distance to 1.

If you only want it to go part way around your path, you can adjust the distance settings to set the distance the profile follows.

Notice that the sweep tool will automatically turn corners with your profiles, making smooth corners.

One thing to know about this tool is that it pairs nicely with the plane along path construction plane option – this type of construction plane will add a perpendicular plane to your path, making it easy to sketch profiles.

If you look down near the middle of your sweep tool options, you’ll also notice that you can set your swept objects to taper, meaning get larger or smaller along the extrusion, as well as twist – the twist function has some really interesting applications for certain kinds of extrusions.

You can also use the sweep function to remove material with the cut function or create intersections. This can be really helpful for adding detail to more complex objects.

Note that there is also a sweep function contained inside of surface mode, which we haven’t really discussed much yet, which can allow you to extrude using just a line rather than a filled in profile. Notice that there will be some work required to make this surface into a solid.

There’s another interesting option in the sweep tool that allows you to create a shape with a guide rail. A guide rail is basically a second input you can use to dictate more about the extrusion you’re creating.

Generally, the profile you’re trying to extrude needs to touch the guide rail and your initial profile.

From there, you can set your profile, path, and guide rail in order to extrude your shape. Notice that the “extent” option will allow you to set your profile so that it extrudes to the very end of the guide rail path.

Possible applications –
- Wood base or trim
- Removing material – creating reveals, etc
- Complex profiles with a guide rail
- And more!