Well that is good at least. I can live with that as I rarely have all the components open.
The lack of probing, tool changes, and rapids though just seems arbitrary and dumb. Even the cheapest desktop CNC from China can do probing with a cheap puck probe. I can understand limiting access to 3.5+ axis machining. Hell I could even understand limiting access to post processors for higher end CNCs or preventing chip loads over a certain amount that can only be obtained from “professional” grade CNCs.
The lack of .STEP also is BS. I share a large number of my designs as 100% Open Source on places like Thingiverse. This includes the source files not just STLs. The lack of .STEP export means that I cannot share them in a format that is considered the basic standard.
Probing doesn’t limit you from using a probe to setup work offsets, etc. These are just Probing ops for inspection, part alignment, tool wear etc. Things I’ve never used and pretty sure Grbl wouldn’t support. In my eyes, advanced features. http://help.autodesk.com/view/fusion360/ENU/?guid=Fusion_CAM_how_to_probe_html
ATC/M6, I can see this being debatable as they are thinking tool changer, we are thinking manual tool change script. I still separate out my G-code by tool and even operation, makes it easier to resume if a failure happens. Have been meaning to try and make a plugin for my CNC motion software so I can select multiple files and it moves to the next automatically. A script could fix this of course but creates an additional external step and variable for error.
Given the stink this whole thing has created across “The Makers” of all kinds, I suspect there is at least some consideration going on inside Autodesk of the implications of what they’ve done.
I do hope enough blow back happens in this regard that some limitations are reconsidered. Like Rapids, did I mention that? that is the worst offender IMO.
Seriously. I know it’s not a huge thing, but I find it to be a bizarre restriction. It could really slow some operations down.
“hope” might be a better word to use rather than “suspect”. I get the sense from the continually updated blog that the Fusion Team does realize and care, but AUTODESK isn’t in it for that.
I have used Fusion sometimes more then 48 hours in a row lol, more then most on here for sure. I am paying the 800 for a 3 year. I think less then a dollar a day is fair for my usage amount, even if it is only to keep a few stupid options. Love the program and I am not mad at the price, but I think this is a PR disaster for Autodesk and it should have been handled way better.
They should have just came up with very attractive upgrades and offer a pay version that includes them, instead of maliciously taking away basic functionality to force a subscription. That is dirty business!
If this leads to a bigger budget for more advanced development that would be a big plus side. Also if they are in dire financial straits like so many others due to Pandemic, they might need this to survive?
I do feel weird plugging away on the worlds most hated software (At the moment), and up until a couple days ago I was enthusiastically telling everyone to learn Fusion! Doh!
Did I read correctly they are adding features for paid subscription? Advanced tool path options that were not available before on the free version?
I paid $150 for the Worldcraft Quake engine editor in 1996. I remember pausing between any adjustments on the map for 60 seconds waiting for my top of the line Pentium Pro 200 MHZ with 16 megs of ram to calculate. It had 1/100th of the functionality of Fusion.
We have come a long way!
The sad thing is the business people that made these decisions are often times not stupid. They know the repercussions of their actions still justify it in some way or another. Fusion is still great for free software, let’s just hope the business managers don’t cripple it too much that make it unusable. I still think $10-$15/mo is totally reasonable for Fusion and I would pay that in a second but $25+/mo is starting to get pricey for someone that makes very little off this hobby.
Off topic a little - I am novice Fusion user, but use it daily as a professional tool. I don’t believe I actually make any money with it, quite the opposite really. Designing, programming, and extracting some semblance of a professional result from a Shapeoko, all costs me considerable time. I cant bill for this time. Had it been a paid offering, I am not sure I would have ever spent the time(money) to learn how to use it. But for the lack of a couple very simple things, like functional text tools, I’ve really come to enjoy fusion.
For a couple billable hours a year, I can have a subscription. Not much to fret about there. But, for me, in my early stages of usage, I am not particularly invested. Before I pull the trigger on a subscription, I am surely going to shop. Probably sign up for a student seat with Solidworks. The cost is no comparison. But neither are particularly expensive relative to most hobbies, and to me, the software and knowledge gained is more valuable than any hard upgrade I could do to a Shapeoko.
On another note, if you are buying, don’t pay for the upgrade until a few days before the deadline. Why pay early and lose the extra time on the tail end.
Have read this and several other threads about the changes to Fusion 360, concerns about availability of functions in the future, and other CAD/CAM software options out there and they’re relative functionality… I have just now realized the solution that will make everyone happy.
The next version of Carbide Create just has to replicate all the functions of Fusion 360.
Problem solved! Let me know when it’s ready, guys. Going to go have lunch.
I’d be happy to pay $300/year for Fusion360, I’m concerned that the price will likely end up in the $1000/year range. I judge this on the features Fusion has relative to similar options. It does seem like a lot for a hobby, but I figure it might push me to sell enough projects to cover the cost.
I use Solidworks for design too, which I prefer to use for designing, but having CAM and CAD so seamless in Fusion360 is pretty hard to beat, plus the HSM based CAM is easy and powerful.
Vectric Vcarve and Carbide Create Pro are great for more artistic type jobs and signmaking, but at this point in time they can’t fill the same role as a parametric modeller like Fusion or Solidworks. (CC Pro and F360 make a great combo)
Can anyone clarify what the “10 active file limit” means? My typical design involves a rectangle with a couple bosses and holes, nothing complex. Does the file limit mean that I can only retain 10 files in the cloud storage Projects tab and anything else will need to be archived?
FWIW, & I’m probably using the wrong terms from ignorance, but I rarely assemble multiple “files” or individual saved designs into a larger design. Not totally sure how the limits would affect my use. Most of my use right now is related to the Shaper Origin so CAM is not even an issue. I could default back to Sketchup, but I’ve been trying to pivot to F360 as a learning experience to be able to leverage CAM for future uses.
On the big picture, my dos centavos is that while I love having free access to the software I don’t see a business case justification for AutoDesk beyond the expectation that free users would grow into paying customers. I suspect that policing the free users became more costly/impractical than expected which prompted backtracking on the long-term commitment, true hobby users would stick with it and anyone who was gaming the system would be incentivized to pay up. “Free” was always a marketing strategy to get users familiar with the product and ultimately convert them to subscribers.
Like many here, I’m disinclined to adding another $XX in monthly subscription to my discretionary costs, I’d be more likely to pay $100-ish for an annual hobby license and not have to see the billing on every monthly statement.
Apparently it is 10 files which you can actively edit/modify.
It’s my understanding that f you’re using assemblies you can reference archived parts/files on a read-only basis. The parts would need to be unarchived before editing.
that is the worst offender IMO.