Yes, Autodesk bought HSMWorks and integrated it into Inventor and Fusion. I was using Solidworks at the time and messing with the free 2.5D SW plugin was my first exposure to CAM. In contrast to that, the current CAM in Fusion includes true, simultaneous 5 axis machining. That's pretty amazing, given that it's (currently) free for hobby users. Last time I got a quote for 3 axis Sprutcam, it was over £1000.
There aren't any CAD programs that will import assemblies without complete loss of joints / mates unless I've been missing something. I haven't been following the Fusion import tool but if they can import assemblies with mates, that will be impressive.
I'll take a look at the FreeCAD videos - they look like a good starting point.
AutoDesk is screwing me again.
Changing the subscription is causing me pain. I bought Inventor 2015 5 years ago and it cost me an arm and a leg. I had used it when working and wanted to be able to open my designs after retiring. 2016 they change the license so it would now cost $4000 each year. Cant afford that. Still using 2015 version with no support or updates and no HSM for lathe. So started using F360 to be able to open my designs. Now they are changing the license so I won't be able to open my Inventor files anymore.
WTF pulling my hair out. How can a company be this stupid to screw over their customers so much.
i had in mind the 100000 $ stayed which is true according to this side: https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/fusion-360/startups
but somewhere apart from this forum i read 1000$. so that is quite confusing.
could someone again point out a link to the 1000$ limit for start ups?
thanks,
michael
Never been too impressed with how this cad data translation/competition pans out industry-wide myself, Bob. Problem not only limited to Inventor-vs-price or F360, its all over.
Pulling my hair almost every single week if not to re-stitch failed models, reverse engineer others, or plain and simply wasting hours trying to understand why a cad translator or another throws fun random errors.
NX at the Co. (customers, parasolids/catia/steps), an old seat of SW'16 which doesn't open recent customer's format half of the time, and FreeCad which surprisingly works better more than never for custom prog/learning.
Don't get me started in the CAM and posts dept, its as ugly. You are pulling your hair... I'm seriously wondering how come I still got any left lol
Sorry for the rant, just wanted to pass my regards and wish you good luck finding the way out of this
Anything I can help with just shoot me a PM, I'll see what I can do
I do understand and sympathise with the point Mecanix makes about needing to buy a stream of upgrades to read files created with this year's version of any software.It gets worse in a job shop that deals with a few customers running different systems.Asking for a STEP file can avoid most of the difficulty if the customer can be bothered to make the effort to supply one.Maybe a hint about having to increase the shop rate to cover the cost of the stream of upgrades/subscriptions would help to facilitate the creation of such a file.
We don't have many customers, at all, but it does create a massive and rather complex environment. e.g. 10 customers, from those add 15~20 suppliers each, suppliers have suppliers also... man parts & assemblies in various formats flies in&out its almost impossible not to go mental after 90 days. Can't believe we are soon to jump in year 2020 and still chasing 25hrs out of each day to do what could take 2.5hrs.
With that ranting now completed (lol), I really hope this F360 ditching-customers-thingy will bring a gigantic fresh new wave of tech, engineers and developers over FreeCad so we can all have perhaps, one day, an Open Source "industry standard" software we are all familiar and compatible with. That'd be revolutionary industry-wide.
Overview to the new licensing scheme: https://www.autodesk.com/products/fu...dTbnU3dHc9PSJ9
Personal / hobby users. https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/f...dTbnU3dHc9PSJ9
Startup users (up to $100k): https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/f...dTbnU3dHc9PSJ9
Seems the limit for startups is still $100k but you need to provide more concrete proof of your business turnover. For hobby users, the main change (currently) is the loss of import filters, team collaboration and tech support.
If you pay the $310/year, you can still open your files.Now they are changing the license so I won't be able to open my Inventor files anymore.
Gerry
UCCNC 2017 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html
Mach3 2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html
JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
(Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)
I am not sure I understand some of the comments posted here.
It seems as though some of you are complaining that a company wants to charge for its product that you use. How many of you work for free?
In reality, if you are a non-commercial user, it is still free. I just re-registered yesterday and it didn't cost me a penny.
Instead of back stabbing the company that is providing you with a very good product free of charge, even if it were for a limited time, you should be praising them and thanking them for supporting your hobby.
Chris D
Imho the cad / cam market changed drastically because of Fusion360.
Cad/cam is now almost a main stream software with a huge user base.
Not long ago a person or company had a $2+k entry into the cad cam market. The software was not always that good with lots of time consuming bugs. Now with free seats to learn and master cad modeling, I see people with crazy creative skills using this software more and more.
I think you're referring to my post in another thread.
From$1000/yr to $100,000/yr start-up license is still available (at Autodesk's discretion)
To qualify for a free license revenue must be below $1000/yr. The free license has lost some capabilities (mostly translators ?)
Imo $1000/yr revenue is only pocket money for tooling, not profit.
For a profit making operation $310 annual subscription is a very nice price. I wasn't whining, just pointing out $1000/yr is lemonade stand dollars.
Anyone who says "It only goes together one way" has no imagination.
This has turned into a fairly wide ranging discussion, bringing up may old issues about buying vs subscription, cloud based or not, access to older version files by newer versions, etc.
I guess my original point is directed at folks who have already decided fusion 360 was for them, and coming changes might make us change the way we obtain it. I share both sides of the argument about "free" software, I am grateful for Autodesk providing it as it has up until now, and skeptical that a large company will always be so generous to non paying users.
I personally chose to pay for the subscription based on the $310 per year, supposedly locked in at that price forever. Even though I have never used it for a business, and have no plans to do so. I viewed it as a fairly inexpensive way to maintain access the features I have available now, if the future leads to more reductions in the free version. I might be wrong, but I have no knowledge of any integrated CAD/CAM from a major player in the industry from anyone for even close to the same price.
Terry
the start up version is also free, i am using that for some time now. you have the full capacity of the software.
to my understanding it is also free in the new model from autodesk as i got from a 4 day old post on the autodesk website.
please correct me if i am mistaken.
michael
Yes, free for start-ups after applying and getting accepted. At least that's how I read it:
https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/f...artups#qualify
I'm not operating a business but do sell the occasional item. If that's more than $1000/yr who knows ? Certainly not Autodesk.
Sorry for any confusion.
Anyone who says "It only goes together one way" has no imagination.
You still have me confused. Where is this $1,000 per year coming from? The qualifications for the Startup License are:
- Businesses with 10 or fewer employees.
- Businesses (including parent entities) generating less than $100,000 USD in total annual revenue.
- Willingness to share your story with the Autodesk Fusion 360 community.
If you make less than $100K (not $1K) a year from your business use of Fusion, you can still use the software for free. This is the license I use, but I'm thinking of upgrading to lock in the Commercial Version price.
*EDIT* I was just looking further into this and found what you are talking about:
*Individuals with “hobby businesses,” generating less than $1,000 USD in annual revenue, are exempt from the non-commercial requirement, thus for the free, personal use of Fusion 360.
I thought you were talking about the Startup License having a $1K limit. My mistake.