Market place for add-ins

[kjellhar]

I'm just wondering.

You have this add-in API in Fusion360, but I can't find any add-ins for download. OK, I can program my own (love the fact that you made Python an option), but wouldn't it be infinitely more useful if we could share. 

Do you plan to set up a place at the community pages where users can share their add-ins. Professional users may want to protect their own code, but since you have a very generous deal for start-ups and hobby users, there would probably be some interest in this.

Kjell

[srinath.jonnalagadda · Accepted solution]

Hello kjellhar,

You bring up two very good points.

1. Need for a marketplace for AddIns
2. Open source type of collaborative development platform for scripts and AddIns

For item #1, please note that Fusion 360 does have a Store Front for AddIns - called Exchange Store. You can acess it from the menu under ? (uppert right of the title bar):

For item #2, we have few ideas in mind - something on the lines of a GitHub for scripts and open source AddIns. Please let us know your ideas for a development platform - would love to hear if there is something you have used in the past that you would consider as a good reference.

Cheers,

-srinath 

[kjellhar]

Hi Srinath.

I didn't know about the Exchange. I tried to search for add-ins, but I found no references. Now that I look at it, it's not excactly buzzing with life. At the moment it is 3 apps available for Fusion; Meshmixer which is free, parts4cad which is a paid app, and Keyshot 5 which is a free trial. Maybe it is well known for other Autodesk users, but it may be that it is a bit undercommunicated that it exist for new Fusion users.

As for the open source collaorative effort, github would be a really nice model. Maybe with a link to the Exchange where you can tag releases in the Git repository that are available through the store front as free apps.

About the development platform, I don't know. Eclipse comes to mind as it is free and easy to expand and adapt. I'm nt sure how well it copes with Python though. I'm a Linux/Mac guy myself, and all my scripting is done in some random text editor and run in a terminal window.

Kjell

[kjellhar]

Hi,

I just read the road map for this product, and I realized how fresh the Add-in API was. At least now I understand why the Exchange did not contain more add-ins.

Kjell

[srinath.jonnalagadda]

@Anonymous - we are actively expanding the scope of API for our product. Curious - what specific functionality are you looking for in AddIns?

Cheers,

-srinath

[kjellhar]

Nothing particluarily right now. I'm still getting my head around using the basic functionality of the product (1 week in).

I was just correcting myself for complaining about the lack of add-ins in your Exchange store.

Kjell