Any time you need the same feature to appear multiple times in your design — bolt holes around a flange, teeth on a gear, fins on a heat sink, slots in a bracket — the Pattern tool is what you reach for. Without it, you would need to sketch and extrude each instance manually, which is slow, inconsistent and painful to update later. With Pattern, you define the feature once, set the count and spacing, and Fusion 360 places every copy precisely and automatically. Change the original and every instance updates at once. What Does the Pattern Tool Do? The Pattern tool takes a feature, body or component and repeats it in a defined arrangement. All the copies are linked to the original — edit the source and every instance in the pattern updates automatically. This is what separates Pattern from simply copying and pasting geometry manually. It is one of the most time-saving tools in Fusion 360 and something you will use on almost every mechanical design you build. Two Main Types of Pattern in Fusion 360 Fusion 360 gives you two main Pattern types, and which one you need depends on how your repeated features are arranged. Rectangular Pattern repeats features in a straight line or grid — think bolt holes in a row, fins evenly spaced along a heat sink or slots across a flat plate. Circular Pattern repeats features around a central axis — think bolt holes around a flange, gear teeth around a hub or mounting points evenly distributed around a circular face. There is also a Pattern on Path option for more advanced use cases where you need features distributed along a curved edge or sketch path, but Rectangular and Circular cover the vast majority of everyday design needs. How to Open the Pattern Tool Go to Solid in the top menu and look for Create → Pattern. You will see the submenu with Rectangular Pattern, Circular Pattern and Pattern on Path listed separately. Click the one that matches your design requirement. There is no single keyboard shortcut that opens the Pattern tool directly, but you can assign one in Fusion 360's keyboard settings if you use it often. How to Use Rectangular Pattern Step 1 — Create the Feature You Want to Repeat Build the feature you want to pattern first — sketch and extrude a single slot, create one bolt hole, or model one fin. Make sure it looks exactly right before patterning, because every instance will be an exact copy. Step 2 — Open Rectangular Pattern Go to Solid → Create → Pattern → Rectangular Pattern. Step 3 — Choose What to Pattern The first option in the dialog is the Pattern Type. Choose Features to repeat a specific timeline feature, Bodies to repeat an entire solid body, or Components to repeat a component in an assembly. For most everyday use cases, Features is the right choice. Step 4 — Select the Feature Click on the feature you want to repeat, either in the canvas or in the timeline at the bottom of the screen. It will highlight to confirm your selection. Step 5 — Set Direction and Quantity Rectangular Pattern lets you control two directions independently. For each direction, click the direction selector and pick an edge, axis or sketch line to define which way the pattern goes. Then set the quantity — how many total instances you want including the original — and the distance — either the total span across all instances or the spacing between each one. Fusion 360 lets you switch between these two distance modes depending on which is easier to specify for your design. Step 6 — Click OK Your pattern is created. All instances appear in the correct positions and are linked to the original feature. Edit the original and every copy updates automatically. How to Use Circular Pattern Step 1 — Create the Feature You Want to Repeat Same as before — build one clean instance of the feature you want to distribute around an axis. Step 2 — Open Circular Pattern Go to Solid → Create → Pattern → Circular Pattern. Step 3 — Select the Feature Click on the feature to pattern, just as you did for Rectangular Pattern. Step 4 — Select the Axis This is the key step for Circular Pattern. You need to select the axis that all the instances will rotate around. You can use one of the default origin axes, any cylindrical face on your model which Fusion will use the center axis of, or a custom axis you have created. For bolt holes around a circular flange, the center axis of the flange cylinder is almost always the right choice. Step 5 — Set the Quantity and Angle Set how many instances you want total, including the original. For six evenly spaced bolt holes, set the quantity to six. By default Fusion 360 distributes the instances evenly across a full 360 degrees, which is what you want for most circular patterns. You can reduce the total angle if you only want instances distributed across part of a circle rather than the full rotation. Step 6 — Click OK Your instances are placed evenly around the axis. Just like Rectangular Pattern, editing the original updates every copy automatically. When to