Fusion 360 Construction / Reference Geometry

Control Fusion 360 construction geometry via tools/fusion-construction. All dimensions are mm. Output is JSON.

Orient yourself first

tools/fusion-construction planes     # all construction planes
tools/fusion-construction axes       # all construction axes
tools/fusion-construction points     # all construction points
tools/fusion-construction measure --body Body1   # body properties (volume, area, CoM)
tools/fusion-construction vertices --body Body1  # all vertex positions

Construction Planes

Planes are the foundation for sketches. Fusion provides 3 built-in planes (XY, XZ, YZ) and you can create custom ones.

Create offset plane

The most common operation — place a plane parallel to a base plane at a distance:

# 50mm above XY plane
tools/fusion-construction offset-plane --base xy --offset 50 --name ShelfPlane

# 25mm in front of XZ plane
tools/fusion-construction offset-plane --base xz --offset 25

# Offset from an existing custom plane
tools/fusion-construction offset-plane --base ShelfPlane --offset 19.05 --name NextShelf

Create angled plane (arbitrary orientation)

Two input modes:

# Mode 1: Point + normal vector
tools/fusion-construction angled-plane --point 50,50,50 --normal 1,1,0 --name DiagonalCut

# Mode 2: Three points defining the plane
tools/fusion-construction angled-plane --p1 0,0,0 --p2 100,0,0 --p3 0,100,50 --name RampPlane

Plane rotated around a line

Create a tilted plane by rotating a base plane around a sketch line:

tools/fusion-construction plane-by-angle --base xy --sketch AxisSketch --line 0 --angle 45 --name TiltedPlane

Midplane

Create a plane halfway between two parallel planes or faces:

# Between two built-in planes
tools/fusion-construction midplane --p1 xy --p2 ShelfPlane --name MidShelf

# Between two faces of a body (use body:face syntax)
tools/fusion-construction midplane --p1 Panel1:Panel1_face_0 --p2 Panel1:Panel1_face_1

Tangent plane

Create a plane tangent to a curved surface:

tools/fusion-construction tangent-plane --body Cylinder1 --face Cylinder1_face_2 --name TangentCut

Delete a plane

tools/fusion-construction delete-plane --name MyOldPlane

Construction Axes

Axes are used for revolves, patterns, and as references.

# List all axes
tools/fusion-construction axes

# Through two points
tools/fusion-construction axis-2pt --p1 0,0,0 --p2 100,100,0 --name DiagonalAxis

# Along a body edge
tools/fusion-construction axis-edge --body Body1 --edge Body1_edge_0 --name EdgeAxis

# Perpendicular to a face (through its center)
tools/fusion-construction axis-perp --body Body1 --face Body1_face_0 --name FaceNormal

# At the intersection of two planes
tools/fusion-construction axis-intersect --p1 xy --p2 xz --name OriginX

# Delete
tools/fusion-construction delete-axis --name MyAxis

Construction Points

Reference points for snapping, dimensioning, and plane creation.

# List existing
tools/fusion-construction points

# At specific coordinates
tools/fusion-construction point --pos 50,30,20 --name CenterRef

# At a body vertex
tools/fusion-construction point-vertex --body Body1 --index 0 --name Corner

# At center of edge (midpoint) or face (centroid)
tools/fusion-construction point-center --body Body1 --entity Body1_edge_3 --name EdgeMid

# Delete
tools/fusion-construction delete-point --name CenterRef

Measurements

Distance between entities

The --e1 and --e2 flags use a type:value format:

Entity spec	Meaning
body:BodyName	Entire body
face:Body:FaceID	A specific face
edge:Body:EdgeID	A specific edge
plane:xy	A construction plane
axis:z	A construction axis
point:x,y,z	An arbitrary 3D point

# Distance between two bodies
tools/fusion-construction distance --e1 body:Panel1 --e2 body:Panel2

# Distance from a point to a plane
tools/fusion-construction distance --e1 point:50,30,20 --e2 plane:xy

# Distance between a face and a body
tools/fusion-construction distance --e1 face:Body1:Body1_face_0 --e2 body:Body2

# Distance between two points
tools/fusion-construction distance --e1 point:0,0,0 --e2 point:100,100,100

Angle between planes/faces

# Angle between two built-in planes
tools/fusion-construction angle --e1 plane:xy --e2 plane:xz

# Angle between a face and a plane
tools/fusion-construction angle --e1 face:Wedge:Wedge_face_0 --e2 plane:xy

# Angle between two faces
tools/fusion-construction angle --e1 face:Body1:Body1_face_0 --e2 face:Body1:Body1_face_2

Body physical properties

tools/fusion-construction measure --body Body1

Returns: volume, surface area, center of mass, bounding box, dimensions, face/edge/vertex counts.

Vertex listing

tools/fusion-construction vertices --body Body1

Returns all vertex positions — useful for polyhedron workflows and verifying geometry.

Complete command reference

Planes

Command	What it does
planes	List all planes (3 built-in + user-created)
offset-plane --base P --offset D [--name N] [--component C]	Plane parallel to base at distance
angled-plane --point x,y,z --normal x,y,z [--name N]	Plane at arbitrary orientation (point+normal)
angled-plane --p1 x,y,z --p2 x,y,z --p3 x,y,z [--name N]	Plane through three points
plane-by-angle --base P --sketch S --line I --angle D [--name N]	Plane rotated around sketch line
midplane --p1 ID --p2 ID [--name N]	Midplane between two planes/faces
tangent-plane --body B --face F [--point x,y,z] [--name N]	Plane tangent to curved surface
delete-plane --name N	Delete a construction plane

Axes

Command	What it does
axes	List all axes (3 built-in + user-created)
axis-2pt --p1 x,y,z --p2 x,y,z [--name N]	Axis through two points
axis-edge --body B --edge E [--name N]	Axis along a body edge
axis-perp --body B --face F [--name N]	Axis perpendicular to face
axis-intersect --p1 PLANE --p2 PLANE [--name N]	Axis at intersection of two planes
delete-axis --name N	Delete a construction axis

Points

Command	What it does
points	List all construction points
point --pos x,y,z [--name N]	Point at coordinates
point-vertex --body B --index I [--name N]	Point at body vertex
point-center --body B --entity E [--name N]	Point at center of edge/face
delete-point --name N	Delete a construction point

Measurements

Command	What it does
distance --e1 SPEC --e2 SPEC	Minimum distance between entities
angle --e1 SPEC --e2 SPEC	Angle between planes/faces
measure --body B	Body properties (volume, area, CoM, counts)
vertices --body B	All vertex positions of a body

Decision guide

I want to...	Command
Sketch at a specific height	offset-plane then sketch on it
Create a miter cut plane	angled-plane with the bisector normal
Find the middle of a panel	midplane between its two faces
Place a hole at a body's center	measure to get center of mass
Check if two panels are parallel	angle between their faces (0° = parallel)
Revolve around a diagonal	axis-2pt then use in fusion-solid revolve
Pattern along an edge	axis-edge then use for pattern direction
Verify body dimensions	measure for exact volume/area/bounds
Find exact corner positions	vertices to list all vertex coordinates

Common mistakes

1. Offset direction confusion. Positive offset goes in the plane's normal direction. For XY: +Z (up). For XZ: +Y (into model). For YZ: +X (right).

2. Forgetting to name planes. Auto-generated names like "Plane1" are hard to reference later. Always use --name.

3. Deleting helper geometry. Angled planes in parametric mode create helper sketches/planes. Deleting them breaks the construction plane.

4. Measuring with wrong entity type. The distance command needs explicit type:value format. body:Body1 not just Body1.