FUSION 360

[Anonymous]

hi...

I am thinking about using fusion for my cabinet shop. I like the program and would invest

my time designing seed cabinets for my upcoming jobs. But I wonder how long Fusion will be

free. At the moment even if you had to purhase a subscription its very affordable. But again

there is nothing keeping Autodesk from increasing the price to levels too high for a startup.

If it was not indefinite for a small business and a subscription cost $1000.00 a year it would be too high.

12 years of use equals $12000. My take on CAD software is usually if a version was never updated

it would have enough functionalty for 99% of the user base.

[lichtzeichenanlage]

Hi,

you always have the "risk" that licence conditions are changing. Look what Adobe did - they changed from buy to borrow. Sure - you can use your software for a certain time. But at some point you want to use a plugin what's that's not compatible with your version, you need a fix for a bug or your environment (Operating system, platform etc.) changes and your software doesn't run on it anymore. That happens. You want security for more than a decade? Use pen and paper.

BTW:Great subject...

[TrippyLighting]

---

@lichtzeichenanlage wrote:

Hi,

you always have the "risk" that licence conditions are changing. Look what Adobe did - they changed from buy to borrow. Sure - you can use your software for a certain time. But at some point you want to use a plugin what's that's not compatible with your version, you need a fix for a bug or your environment (Operating system, platform etc.) changes and your software doesn't run on it anymore. That happens. You want security for more than a decade? Use pen and paper.

BTW:Great subject...

---

Changing pricing conditions are always a possibility. Management changes, direction and industry focus changes and sometimes licensing conditions go along with it.

The difference is that with a subscription model, if they decide to not support the software anymore they can simply turn it off as recently happened to Artcam.

@Anonymous be careful with your decisions!

I personally use several ways of "backup". I export stuff in a generic format and also use a higher end CAD software that offers a perpetual license.

[jodom4]

Hi Rushikesh,

Thanks for the question. While I can't necessarily make any promises about future pricing changes, or that Fusion 360 will indefinitely have a free tier, or who meets the guidelines for a free tier (current entitlements here), please know that we are committed to serving the enthusiasts, hobbyists, startups and smaller businesses.  

Since day one, Fusion 360 has been heavily adopted by users in this segment, and we credit a great deal of our success thus far to the usage, engagement and feedback from this community - it's is critical to our strategy, and we intend to continue that commitment.

Regarding using Fusion for your cabinet shop, I can tell you that having designed a lot of flat packed furniture and other plywood projects, Fusion is an excellent choice. The parameters make sizing easy, the CAM package is outstanding, and with this new add-in made as a side project by an Autodesk employee I suspect it will make your life a lot easier. Here's a link to a demonstration of the add-in (links to download are in the description).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwWDpQSrz7o&feature=youtu.be

[TrippyLighting]

@jodom4 @Anonymous

I stand by my statements to have a backup strategy. For any business, small or large it is wise to have such a strategy in place.

One thing I can say, however. As a member off the now defunct Autodesk Fusion 360 Customer Advisory Board I had the chance to meet a number of the fine folks at AD including business development and product managers and some of the folks that we see here on the forum. There is definitely a strong willingness and passion amongst these folks to support  the maker community with free and/or low cost option. For me personally Fusion 360 has been an enabler on several fronts!

[lichtzeichenanlage]

Subscription model can cancel the service. Sure. And that's a risk for all that cloud base stuff all of us are using. So having a plan B is a good thing. And a valid backup strategy is a must in IT. And that includes keeping documents in different formats. I can only support your statement.

But looking for a software solution greater than a decade... that's not so easy. 

EDIT: ArtCAM did stop the service, but If I understand the note right, that users still can use the software even after the final shutdown date. So - not a google like hard shutdown.

---

@TrippyLightingwrote:

---

The difference is that with a subscription model, if they decide to not support the software anymore they can simply turn it off as recently happened to Artcam.

@ be careful with your decisions!

I personally use several ways of "backup". I export stuff in a generic format and also use a higher end CAD software that offers a perpetual license.

---

[dillon.moulder]

Hi @lichtzeichenanlage,

---

@lichtzeichenanlage wrote:
EDIT: ArtCAM did stop the service, but If I understand the note right, that users still can use the software even after the final shutdown date. So - not a google like hard shutdown.

---

That depends on whether you have a maintenance plan or a subscription for an Autodesk ArtCAM product. The Key Dates information in the FAQ indicates that customers with an active subscription on 7th July 2018 will be eligible for access to their Autodesk ArtCAM product until 1st February 2021.

Kind regards,

[cekuhnen]

@Anonymous as @TrippyLighting says always run with backups.

However I would see Fusion not as an app but as an environment you can work.

Lets say for three years you have a good time and then things change (meteor crashes on to Amazon servers and we cannot use Fusion anymore).

Then it might be time to look into something new again but in the mean time you can have a blast with Fusion.

As a professional you can be hesitant of changes or embrace changes.

And as folks stated supporting the maker scene is also very important to AD - so I dont think this will change soon.

Fusion is not one of those side projects were AD tinkers and explores.

With that said - I would go with Fusion. It has for furniture very good design tools including also a drawing module.