Converting Geomagic Files to Fusion 360

[Anonymous]

I have just subscribed to Autodesk Fusion 360, having been using Alibre Design and then Geomagic when Alibre got bought by them for the last 7 years or so. I learnt CAD on Autodesk Inventor and prefer the platform to Alibre but I could not afford the Inventor license. However now with the introduction of Fusion 360 I now have the possibility of returning to an Autodesk Platform with what looks like added benefits with Fusion 360. There are some hurdles to this as I ask below:

Are there any downsides to Fusion 360 like creating 2D drawings?

I would like to convert my Geomagic (what used to be Alibre) models, assemblies and drawings to Fusion 360. Is this a possibility and if it is how much would it cost me (per part / drawing / assembly) to get it done? I see there is capability to convert other 3D CAD files but do not see Alibre or Geomagic listed.

My other question is: How do I save files to my computers hard drive rather than to the cloud if I wish to do so?

[TrippyLighting]

You cannot directly convert Alibre Part and Assembly files into Fusion 360 with the expecteatio thatthe featre tree you see in Alibre is maintained.

You'll have to export in SETP format.

If accurate technical drawings are a must for your work my assessment at this point in time would be that Fusion 360's drawing package is miles away what you can do with Alibre.

If you can live with Fusion 360's limitations in the drawing enironmentthen it might work for you.

Fusion 360 keeps it's data in the cloud. Other than offline mode there is no ability to store files offline on a specified harddrive location.

[TheCADWhisperer]

Do you still have access to Alibre?

If so, can you save the 3D files in a neutral format like *.stp?  (I think you are out of luck for the existing 2D files - save them to PDF.)

Fusion 360 is a cloud based app - you work on your geometry in cloud storage, but you can Export a local copy of the *.f3d file for back-up.

[HughesTooling]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Are there any downsides to Fusion 360 like creating 2D drawings?

2d drawing in Fusion are pretty basic at the moment. I used Alibre from V5 then Geomagic and found the 2d drawing quite limited and slow to get to where in the 2015 version but Fusion is not as developed as V5 of Alibre, hope Fusion develops faster than Geomagic did!

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@Anonymous wrote:

I would like to convert my Geomagic (what used to be Alibre) models, assemblies and drawings to Fusion 360. Is this a possibility and if it is how much would it cost me (per part / drawing / assembly) to get it done? I see there is capability to convert other 3D CAD files but do not see Alibre or Geomagic listed.

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Although there are translators for other programs they only import as dumb solids, no history. You can export as stp and import into Fusion but if you want editable designs with full history you'll have to start from scratch.

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@Anonymous wrote:

My other question is: How do I save files to my computers hard drive rather than to the cloud if I wish to do so?

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You can export from Fusion and save as f3d files as long as there are no linked parts in external designs. If you have linked designs you can export from the Dashboard in Chrome and save as an f3z file. Working with offline files does not work as smoothly as most other programs though. If you have a problem\dislike of using the cloud Fusion might not be for you.

My reason for giving up on Geomagic was the maintenance went up every year for less and less new features, no support in the on-line forum and no information about what might be added, you'll find the exact opposit with Fusion!

Mark

[utekcnc]

I learned CAD on SolidWorks and then bought my own license of Geomagic.   I still have it, but haven't renewed maintenance the last time now.  I'm using Fusion more and more.  There are parts of it I really like, especially the cloud part of it.  I like how I can import 2016 SW files.   My biggest hangup is drawings.  They simply are not usable if you are doing something outside of your own shop.  I'm a small shop and am using Fusion inside my shop, but when I create drawings for customers I go back to Geomagic.   I'm thinking within a year or two the drawings will be much better in Fusion.

[Anonymous]

Not to bring up an old subject, but....   we are in the decision making process on how much we want to utilize F360.   Currently, we're using Alibre (geomagic)/BobCAD  and are looking to change to a better CAM software.   Really like what we see with F360 from a modeling/CAM perspective, but the 2D drawings side of things is a real let-down.  There is so much missing from it still, (it's now 2020 and this thread is four years old).   The 2D drawing tools in Alibre are leaps and bounds beyond what F360 is capable of.   We would really "like" to be all-in on F360, but after a month of weighing the pro's and con's, we just cant talk ourselves into switching to F360 for modeling/2D drawing.  It sucks because you loose the link between CAD/CAM.  Oh well, maybe someday the improvements to the F360 2D drawing envirionment will be improved, but even after watching a Youtube video from Autodesk last week about 2D drawings improvements, there really isn't enough or anything that "great" to even reconsider.