Hi,

am not istalling powermill (cracked ) i was just asking
Understood, I know its very tempting and ten plus years ago I too did as you were contemplating. In the end I got sick of not being able to ask questions on forums such as this
and certainly not the software manufacturers forum. Eventually I did the right thing and ditched the pirate stuff and used either cheap or free CAM.

Fusion 360 has floated to the top in my opinion.

Fusion 360 is free to hobbyists and start-ups. Such a free version may have restrictions that I am unaware of....but even with restrictions it is a very good piece of software,
not necessarily without its faults but very good nonetheless. May I suggest download it and get started. You will have about a year to decide whether you want to subscribe.
This would get you 2D, 2.5D and 3D toolpaths and indexing fourth axis.

Simultaneous four axis is quite a step up in cost. Machining Extensions are offered as a free one month trial. If you get yourself and your machine set-up properly and then pull the trigger
on a free trial you'll have a full month to generate as many four axis toolpaths as you can. Even when the trial ends you still have the toolpaths and you can carry on with those indefinitely.
If I recall correctly Machining Extensions are also offered in it may be weekly or it might be monthly subscriptions. No doubt it would be a costly way to do it but like before you can spend the week
madly producing toolpaths which you can keep and use for years after.

As I have posted I already have, and have done for several years, Fusion's basic subscription. Whether you can get either a free trial or buy a short duration subscription of Machining Extensions
WITHOUT having a paid up subscription to Fusion Basic is unknown to me, I'd suspect not. If that's the case then I had to recommend Fusion Basic. While four axis toolpaths might be the pinnacle of
what you do, whats the bet that just good 2D, 2.5D, 3D and 3D plus indexing 4 will be very useful.

My subscription is coming due soon. The Basic subscription is due at the end of June. It's a slam dunk for me.....I use it, and I use it, and I use it.....I couldn't make a living without it. The Machining
Extensions subscription becomes due at the end of July, and it will cost $3000NZD, give or take. I'll be hard pressed to find the money for it. I have been somewhat silly in that when I got the subscription (July 2022)
I did not have my fourth axis properly set up and had no fifth axis. As a consequence much of this past year while I've had a good subscription I have not used it nearly as much as I should have.
I have generated plenty of four axis toolpaths now that my fourth axis is complete, but I'm still not finished my fifth axis, and would guess that it will be another month or so before the fifth axis is done
and by then I'll have little time to experiment before the subscription expires. I did not judge this well.

I may perforce be required to take short duration (one week?? one month??) Machining Extensions subscriptions if I can't find the money for a full years subscription.

Craig