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Thread: Alternative to Fusion 360?
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19th Sep 2020, 09:21 AM #1Diamond Member
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Alternative to Fusion 360?
Good Morning Everyone,
Apparently Fusion 360 is going commercial and no longer available for free.
Anyone know a good free alternative?
Thanks Ben.
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19th Sep 2020, 11:43 AM #2New Member
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F360 has always been commercial as far as I know. The Personal license is still listed: https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/personal
I had a hiccup with renewing one time, and it (and the sales staff) always want to direct you to a paid subscription, but I can confirm my personal license is still in place as of this morning.
Where did you see/hear that there was no longer a free option?
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19th Sep 2020, 12:50 PM #3New Member
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It remains free for personal use AFIK. No-one's asked me for any cash yet.
https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/personal
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19th Sep 2020, 02:08 PM #4Diamond Member
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They have crippled the free version quite significantly, there will be a lot of unhappy customers.
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19th Sep 2020, 03:24 PM #5Most Valued Member
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AutoCAD 2020 does a free "student" version, good for 3 years I think it is.
I've down loaded it but can't seem to get my head around it so I go back to my 2000 virgin.
KrynTo grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.
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19th Sep 2020, 03:40 PM #6Diamond Member
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I always thought this would happen. Get everyone hooked on it, then jack the prices up. Autodesk also now expect a separate license for each user now, considering most machine shops hot seat their cam between a few machinists, if they enforce it there will be some serious backlash. I hate Autodesk.
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19th Sep 2020, 04:36 PM #7Most Valued Member
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https://www.freecadweb.org/
Has some issues but it's worth more than you're going to be paying for it.
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19th Sep 2020, 05:28 PM #8Senior Member
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I use Blender for all my CAD stuff - it's certainly not it's primary function but it has no trouble making things like male/female threads or doing precision work/complex shapes. Free and open source.
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19th Sep 2020, 05:44 PM #9Most Valued Member
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Alternative to Fusion 360?
I’m using Freecad. It has its issues but as a new CAD user I’ve found it reasonably easy to work with and the different workbenches have done everything I’ve needed so far.
Steve
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19th Sep 2020, 07:46 PM #10New Member
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ah - here's the announcement.
https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/f...al-use-changes
Not sure that it makes a big deal to me (although the "10 active/editable documents" seems archaic). I suspect the people most affected will be the Eagle convert crew, limitations in export to PCB manufacturing formats will hurt, as will pulling simulation.
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19th Sep 2020, 08:01 PM #11Diamond Member
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Also the limitations in Import/Export will be an issue for some.
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20th Sep 2020, 09:12 AM #12Intermediate Member
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This is the email I received on Friday
"
Hi Bob,
Important changes are coming to your Fusion 360 for personal use software that you need to know about.
Effective October 1, 2020, functionality in Fusion 360 for personal use will be limited, and you’ll no longer have access to the following:
- Probing, 3 + 2-axis milling (tool orientation), multi-axis milling, rapid moves, automatic tool changes
- Multi-sheets, smart templates, output options for drawings (print only).
- Download options from public share links
- Cloud rendering
- Export options including DWG, IGES, SAT, STEP, and DXF (Note: DXF can still be saved via sketch)
- Simulation and generative design
- Unlimited active and editable Fusion 360 documents (10 doc limit).
- Fusion 360 extensions – Generative Design and Manufacturing Extensions
These changes are being made to allow us to scale, align intended usage with the various offerings, support advanced capabilities for Fusion 360 subscribers, and stay true to our guiding principles of democratizing design for everyone.
Fusion 360 for personal use is still free for those of you working on home-based, non-commercial design, manufacturing, and fabrication projects.
For more information about these changes, please refer here and the FAQ.Thanks again for choosing Fusion 360. Let me know how I can help.
Shannon McGarry
Community Marketing Manager
[email protected]Autodesk, Inc. • 111 McInnis Parkway • San Rafael, CA 94903 © Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved. Legal Notices & Trademarks. Privacy Policy If you do not want to receive commercial emails from Autodesk, please click here to unsubscribe. Autodesk, the Autodesk logo, Fusion 360, EAGLE, and HSMWorks are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.
Cheers,
Bob
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20th Sep 2020, 11:31 AM #13Golden Member
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I suspect that not every fusion360 user told the truth about their student/amateur status - I'm not a funsion360 expert but it looks as if the changes are aimed at curbing 'amateurs' and 'students' use of fusion360 in a commercial type way. I can't see the changes affecting me at all - the most significant for me MAY be the 10 active documents, I've got a lot of stuff I started and did not finish so I'll have to go through and either archive or delete them, more of a nuisance I guess - if I ever get to the stage (I seriously doubt it) where I need more than 10 active designs/files for the one project then I'll need to juggle things in and out of archive. I'm trying to keep designs how they were intended to be used ie all components in a design are in the one file/document, I believe 3D parametric design is meant to be done this way change one dimension on one component and all other affected dimensions on all components are automatically changed.
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21st Sep 2020, 05:17 PM #14New Member
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yeah to me this is *THE* reason you want things to be parametric rather than how sketchup for example keeps it. Change the thickness of a material once, and have everything change because of that change, not go and change fifteen components to be the new thickness, not to mention having to change the notches and recesses in all those 15 parts to allow mating of the other parts!
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21st Sep 2020, 05:57 PM #15Intermediate Member
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I subscribe to Eagle which has changed its name to Fusion360 + Eagle
Howdy
I designed a project under the free Eagle software 3 years odd ago. It worked well.
Then the specs in the project got more detailed and i change the board and it became bigger. Too big for free so I had to register and subscribe @ $130 odd a year so I could actually use the software to produce my PCB.
They have just taken this years subscription again...
Nobody sent me any letters saying things were changing?
Even the name change was a surprise to me.
I have had several Autodesk products over the years and the yearly renewal is costing me dearly.
But as they say you get what you payfor i guess?
james
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