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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    720

    Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Hey All,

    I know, a bit off topic, but there are a lot of Fusion 360 users here, especially the hobbyist type like me.

    If you haven't opened fusion lately you might not have seen that they are changing things a bit, to me it looks like the biggest change is separating the hobbyist and the small business folks. They are going to ask for a separate registration, with more info from the small business users.

    Another change is that hobbyist won't have access to the software translators for working with other software tile types, I have never used that function, and don't have a clue if it's important to any Tormach users.

    But, the main reason for this post is that they are offering what seems to me, a good deal if you choose to actually buy a seat, $310.00 US vs the normal price of $495. In addition, the 310 price is locked in forever, if you keep you subscription current.

    I know there are folks here that run small businesses, and if any of you are getting close to the upper income limit and think you might need to go for a commercial seat anytime soon, this special might be a good time to do it. The sale price is good until the end of October.

    Terry

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    205

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    To be clear; other then for those who qualify for free service, everyone else who subscribes will not be "buying" a seat (as you might with Rhino Cam). But instead will incur an annual, re-occuring expense. There are pros and cons on each side of the issue.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    720

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Yes, of course it's subscription, not buy, hence the subject line.

    Terry

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Posts
    6252

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Hi All- The Fusion 360 free offer has been a longstanding hook and it had to change to a cost sometime. All of the Autodesk software is now subscription based, can't get a perpetual license. So the free lunch has been had!! Try Freecad will always be open & free. Peter

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    35538

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Hi All- The Fusion 360 free offer has been a longstanding hook and it had to change to a cost sometime.
    It's still free for Hobbyists. But they removed a few features that most hobbyists wouldn't use anyway, like Collaboration. Very little has changed there.

    What they changed was that companies now have to pay for it, unless you can prove you are a startup that hasn't made any money yet.
    Gerry

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    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)

  6. #6

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Has the $100k cap been removed?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Posts
    210

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Quote Originally Posted by CL_MotoTech View Post
    Has the $100k cap been removed?
    It looks like it's now $1000/yr. Vastly lowered but not removed.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Posts
    339

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    This starting to look more or less like a "slow hook & reel-in" type situation.
    As Peter said better, you hobby folks might want to look into FreeCAD. I use it myself for personal custom dev and can't complain about much, certainly won't ever about its price nor my work potentially being held hostage.
    Forum and activity is killer also https://forum.freecadweb.org/

  9. #9

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Luckily my wife is a full time student, so she gets Fusion for free, or well at least I can say it's included in the price of admission.

    Obviously, I am violating the agreement. My business makes more than $1k, but less than $100k.

  10. #10

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Freecad is a CAD application, whereas Fusion (as the name suggests) brings together other elements on top of CAD. So if you are ever planning on doing any CNC work, Fusion is excellent and Freecad by itself is a chocolate teapot. The simultaneous multi-axis CAM in Fusion is a fantastic offering for students and hobby users and is helping to create a whole new generation of engineers. Just look back at how manufacturing technology has opened up over the last 10-20 years.

    The Fusion team have started to introduce "extensions" which are paid-for features such as advanced probing (inspection) operations and fancy toolpaths. This seems to be the way they plan to increase subscription revenues, beyond lowering the threshold. As long as young engineers (and hobbyists like me) are able to use it without damaging their commercial model, we can all win - and for that I am very grateful. I just hope they don't pull any really cunning stunts on us.....

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Posts
    1206

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Quote Originally Posted by Muzzer View Post
    Freecad is a CAD application, whereas Fusion (as the name suggests) brings together other elements on top of CAD. So if you are ever planning on doing any CNC work, Fusion is excellent and Freecad by itself is a chocolate teapot. The simultaneous multi-axis CAM in Fusion is a fantastic offering for students and hobby users and is helping to create a whole new generation of engineers. Just look back at how manufacturing technology has opened up over the last 10-20 years.

    The Fusion team have started to introduce "extensions" which are paid-for features such as advanced probing (inspection) operations and fancy toolpaths. This seems to be the way they plan to increase subscription revenues, beyond lowering the threshold. As long as young engineers (and hobbyists like me) are able to use it without damaging their commercial model, we can all win - and for that I am very grateful. I just hope they don't pull any really cunning stunts on us.....
    I don't know when you last looked at Freecad.I use the Path workbench to generate programs for my machine.The 4th axis aspect seems to be getting closer to ready for release and the youtube videos will show you more.I don't think too many hobbyists have 5 axis machines yet and it will obviously take a lot of work to develop a post processor that will work reliably.I fully expect it to happen in due course.I would like to learn more about the FEM and CFD capabilities at some point too.My impression is that the Linux version is a little ahead of the Windows version and you may have to enable experimental features and maybe download a couple of additional libraries to get the most from it.It will stay free-thats the way open source works.

  12. #12

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Thanks for pointing out the CAM work that's going on in FreeCAD - apologies for sounding so ignorant and opinionated! It's come a long way since I looked at it a few years back, when it was very limited and impossibly buggy (for me). Looks pretty capable, although I couldn't easily find anything on post processors. Doubtless there is some content on the wiki but it doesn't jump out at you.

    Great to see this work progressing. Hopefully, when / if Fusion cuts off hobby users, FreeCAD will be more than capable of leading the charge.

    Personally, 3 axis simultaneous is my limit unless I win the lottery. But given that I've never bought a ticket, I'm not holding my breath. Beyond Fusion (and FeeCAD), the options for decent CAM are too expensive for most hobby users and students.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Posts
    1206

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Quote Originally Posted by Muzzer View Post
    Thanks for pointing out the CAM work that's going on in FreeCAD - apologies for sounding so ignorant and opinionated! It's come a long way since I looked at it a few years back, when it was very limited and impossibly buggy (for me). Looks pretty capable, although I couldn't easily find anything on post processors. Doubtless there is some content on the wiki but it doesn't jump out at you.

    Great to see this work progressing. Hopefully, when / if Fusion cuts off hobby users, FreeCAD will be more than capable of leading the charge.

    Personally, 3 axis simultaneous is my limit unless I win the lottery. But given that I've never bought a ticket, I'm not holding my breath. Beyond Fusion (and FeeCAD), the options for decent CAM are too expensive for most hobby users and students.
    If anybody needs to know more about post processors for Freecad,this youtube video is worth watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NveptRFfOd0 . I have attached a screenshot to show the selection.


    post processor selection.bmp

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Posts
    1788

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Quote Originally Posted by routalot View Post
    If anybody needs to know more about post processors for Freecad,this youtube video is worth watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NveptRFfOd0 .
    I watched the video but it leaves lots of questions. Does Freecad support things like HSM toolpaths, ramped entry, peck drilling, etc?

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    1145

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Surprised ??? NOT. It will not be that much longer before it is not free to anyone. That is the Autocad way of doing business. You do a lot of the hard work in developement and then they charge you for that privilage.

    Been that way for decades now. Don't see it changing anytime soon.

    (;-) TP

  16. #16
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Posts
    210

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Quote Originally Posted by vmax549 View Post
    Surprised ??? NOT. It will not be that much longer before it is not free to anyone. That is the Autocad way of doing business. You do a lot of the hard work in developement and then they charge you for that privilage.

    Been that way for decades now. Don't see it changing anytime soon.

    (;-) TP
    Yes. Likely the case. However, it is good marketing to hook people starting out, with free. Thus, most have generous educational discounts (or free). The start-up exclusion is another example and makes sense. Unfortunately, any manager that gives product away for free is under a lot of pressure to prove that it enhances the business model and long term thinking is often in short supply.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Posts
    411

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    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.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Posts
    339

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    Quote Originally Posted by maxspongebob View Post
    WTF pulling my hair out.
    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

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Posts
    1777

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    My Rhino 4, pay once and its yours for life, now if you want to update to a newer version then its going to cost you.
    It is also not cloud based..............

    It is also easy to learn or at least it was for me..
    mike sr

  20. #20
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    1422

    Re: Fusion 360 subscription changes

    This was always coming and the main reason I found it difficult to recommend 360.

    Interesting that the first thing on the chopping block is the ability to move to another platform - cunning stunt indeed.

    Sadly, Rhino, FreeCAD etc don't offer the CAM capabilities and anything else that does is going to cost you big time, particularly if you start moving into 4 and 5 axis land.

    Dunno how this one will play out.

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