opening local .f3d files?

[Sandflo]

Hi everybody!

I exported i file to my local drive as .f3d.

But when i try to open it with fusion, it says that its not supported?!

Is this a feature thats gonna come in a later update? Since i Wanna be able to open local f3d files!

Thank you

[cekuhnen]

I think they are aware of the short commings and work on improving this.

[Anonymous]

I sure hope so! A few of us have demonstrated that Fusion currently has the functionality for SAT & STEP imports without using the Fusion translation servers. Fusion can open *.f3d files too without translation, you just have to inject the *.f3d file into the right location on your harddrive to replace an existing offline design.

(see /Users/*username*/Library/Application Support/Autodesk/Autodesk Fusion 360/*userid*/W/F)

I just hope that Fusion team will "unlock" our ability to use these, and many other features. Fusion API currently has ways to import SAT & STEP files as well as open *.f3d files on your local drive, but they have been locked up. I hope that in the near future they will decide that providing a superior cloud experience and enabling a normal offline experience is the best option.

[Anonymous]

Further relevant info:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-ideastation-request-a/please-support-quot-local-only-quot-f...

Interestingly, there's no public spec for the .f3d file format yet (http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/design-and-documentation/file-format-specification-for-f3d/td-p/580468...

Feels very much like a case of Vendor Lock In.  If/when people need to migrate their data to a different solution... it's probably a case of "good luck with that". 😉

[PhilProcarioJr]

Currently at the Forging company I work for I am wanting to get us away from using Solidworks and get them into a different piece of software.

Fusion 360 would definitely be an option if it wasn't cloud only.....(reason) We do a lot of work for the military and they require a certain level of encryption on the files on the web, uploading, downloading and storage. Then there is accountability for the security of these files (which I am positive Autodesk doesn't want to guarantee.)

So changing the forge over is not at option with the current setup of fusion.

Now on to my home business, I personally have a lot of clients (the majority) that do not want their IP in the cloud.

Their reasons are their own and its not my place to argue that with them. So I can't use fusion 360 with over half of my home business work.....

Now fast forward to this weekends problems..I was unaware that I did not setup a key file to be able to be opened offline....my fault yes, but it happened and it screwed me, because I was supposed to have this project done by 10:00 tonight and there is no way to now. Either way I can't afford for you guys to do maintenance, me to forget a file, the cloud service to be having problems....

So being able to work with local files is a must or unfortunately fusion 360 is just a fun little toy to play with.

Just my 2 cents

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I guess the concept is that Fusion == online only, and if people want stuff that respects IP, Autodesk would rather they choose Inventor (or similar).

[SimplyFastMax]

New user, expert CAD/CAM/PLM guy here.   My friend emails me an .f3d file and I can't open it in my software?  It's a native file format why can't I open it???

Then I read the comments in here and my heart sunk as I'm being made aware of the various 'issues' and restrictions.

For sure A360 needs to work like all good cloud based file storage and processing system where your work is kept locally and processed locally unless its a 'cloud function' that's called then synched to the cloud to perform the CPU cloud intensive work (FEA analysis as example) then back down to your local cache with the results.  At any time you have access and own all of your files, as well as making the best use of what the cloud has to offer.  The local cache aka like dropbox/googledrive etc,should be the Distributed File Manager between two locations: Location A, Your local drives and location B, A360 drive.

This would enables secure ownership of IP to meet the need of customer not wanting cloud data

This would enables a normal offline user experience with full reliability in critical, non connected situation, with full unparalleled access to all of your files (like drop box), en store a 'last file synched wins' approach with a 'file diff' tool/'wizard' so that you can make your decision to overwrite or not (basics of client-server file version management).  With cloud it keeps every version anyways so you can rollback (like any good file version management tools).  This is where cloud is very powerful.

I think Autodesk will understand that without local file storage and file work access, Fusion and all of its amazing features and investments into technology will stay a hobbyist and small businesses system only.  The hopes to sell the pro packages like inventor will diminish with time as millennials want more of the cloud features but none of its drawbacks as listed in this thread. 

The good news is that I bought for trial so I've got no skin in the game so I can use it and test it vs. classic systems and see what fits best in the end for my use.  The non local file open restriction is a really bad start to my extended evaluation period...use case 1 failed.  Right or wrong I couldn't help feeling trapped by the solution, like Apple.  Inventors and makers are that by nature, inventive and pragmatic and will want freedom of design and approach (Android) over the 'voice of god' telling them the only way it should be done (Apple).

Even from a pure statistical approach, sticking to 'one side' of that equation will yield a 50% chance that you picked the wrong method and will fail in your market where providing both methods (Cloud and Local Cache) will allow you to analyse how each method is used and how and be able to further optimize local vs. cloud solutions for maximum value to the people who pay a subscription.  This is what is pushing the new buzzword around 'HybridClouds' as early adopters of 'ClassicCloud' are finding out its shortcomings...Yin and Yang.  IBM Bluemix is an example of cloud applications that is subscription based that allows the users to set how they want their storage solution to be set from full public cloud to full private cloud.

I love the cloud and I want to use the cloud for all its goodness but I don't want the cloud to own me since I'm the one paying for it and not the other way around.

Sorry for this rant if the HybridCloud approach is in the roadmap or is to be added to roadmap.

Max

[TrippyLighting]

Short answer to long rant:

Of course you can open that file!

"File->New design from file" and then pick the file from the download location on your hard drive 😉

[SimplyFastMax]

Excellent, thank you for the help!!!  I will try it tonight.

What happened to 'File->Open'?  Sounds simpler than 'New design from file'.  It's not a new design, its an already existing design so the function is named wrong.

It will get me to open this file locally but doesn't address the issues associated with 'Classic Cloud' approach vs. the now more commonly accepted 'Hybrid Cloud' approach

I do some work that requires off-cloud storage by contractual requirements, as well as I need to be able to decide to work offline on the fly, without access to a connection.

Cheers & thanks for the help!

Maxime

[Anonymous]

I do mostly proprietary custom work at the hobbyist/maker/artist level, but I also want to get into prototyping for designers and 3D printing, and do work for the many local defense contractors in our area. Communication of all my projects is done with either screen shots (which show a project's APPEARANCE but not the actual CONSTRUCTION of it), or by "sneaker net," where a file is actually hand delivered on a thumb drive, cd, etc. (one-on-one meetings, until the customer decides to make the work public). Proprietary (and competitive) work of this nature WILL NOT be done by me with Fusion if files are REQUIRED to be uploaded to the Cloud. Yes, it's a nice option for collaborative work, but I work alone. Yes, it's nice to be able to access the files from different computers connected to the internet, but I only work on ONE computer. So those supposed benefits of Cloud access are meaningless to me. I NEED to be able to store the files I create ON MY OWN COMPUTER and be able to back them up on MY OWN thumb drives. To me, being able to create a file on my own computer and then Save it there is pretty basic and obvious. Why anybody else feels I think it should be a good idea for me to hand over my creative or proprietary work to them for "storage and safekeeping" off of my computer is beyond me. For the kind of work I do, a "Cloud Only" option for file storage and sharing means that I can't and won't use Fusion 360 for any custom or proprietary projects. I'll just use it for the small hobbyist stuff. So if AutoDesk's goal is to keep me at the hobbyist level with their software, having a "Cloud Only" file storage option is the best way for them to make sure of that. 

[daniel_lyall]

This is a old post and out of date

[Anonymous]

TrippyLightning -

Kudos your way my new Fusion 360 friend! I'm currently taking a 3D Printing Coursera course, and I've had to heavily rely on Fusion 360's own "Learn from the Experts" How to's, videos and tips, as well as this very responsive community forum to answer all my questions, which only seem to cumulatively add up.

I needed to be able to do this in order to grade a peer assignment, since the A360 Web Viewer (not sure what it's called), lets you rotate the model, but not really understand whether the components and joints are grounded or created with properly established contact sets. Plus, the teacher speeds through his lectures, and expects you to know topics he doesn't even cover, as well as demonstrating things with examples he had already previously drawn, so it figures. It's annoying to be expected to do a homework/assignment, without even being taught the "prerequisites" of certain aspects of what is being asked to do. But I guess one has to work with the material, right?

Prompt/Assignment

For this objective, you need to build a design very similar to the example I built (the professor's example). There needs to be one body that is a base with a cylinder. The second body needs to be a cylinder with a top detail. Both need to be made components and the base part “grounded.” A joint between the two components needs to be created and a contact set established. Then export the public link.

Link:

http://a360.co/2h9Us5b or http://a360.co/2iAql7b

or

https://myhub.autodesk360.com/ue2a831d9/g/shares/SHabee1QT1a327cf2b7a8733d528bb2ba604?viewState=NoIg...

At any rate, thanks, with this little piece of knowledge you shared, I was able to properly grade my peer's assignment.

[inventor-121]

I too have terrible latency issues, I have a powerful workstation computer so that I can run CFD, FEA, and CAM on it without a problem. My internet connection however is stuck on 15Mbps dial up which often turns into 20-30 kbps on a good day as I am not the only one using the internet in my house (to wire a decent connection for fusion would cost me tens of thousands of dollars just in the connection fees and there is no higher bandwidth options for our house) which makes loading files from the cloud an absolute nightmare. I live in a major city in a developed country to boot. This makes the cloud based collaboration near impossible. 

I'm currently a student and live with my parents, yet the reason I've decided to forgo Fusion in favour of Inventor is because it sometimes takes hours to load a file for what amounts to 2 minutes of actual work. Given my situation as a student Fusion is terrible to work with. My father is a small business owner and he wants to use Fusion as well however the latency (and outright crashing) of our network connection has soured his opinion of what is otherwise a very good program. He's not recommending it to other small business owners as a result of that and already 100 other small business owners have taken his word and given up on Fusion. 

It's simply not possible to be always online in my country even in large cities with a connection that Fusion actually likes. I've had instances where I wanted to work on a file on the way to school as I had an idea on the train but had to scribble it on my arm in permanent marker as despite my laptop (before I got the desktop) being open, all because Fusion had to load the file from the cloud.

I'm from Canada 

[rinMJQG5]

I was part of a facebook group and a fusion 360 was shared, for everyones benifit, but I couldn’t open it. It would have been good to be able to open it. 

[TheCADWhisperer]

---

@rinMJQG5 wrote:

I was part of a facebook group and a fusion 360 was shared, for everyones benifit, but I couldn’t open it. It would have been good to be able to open it. 

---

You have replied to an ancient and out of date thread.

Can you File>Export your *.f3d file to your local drive and then Attach it here to a Reply?

[Oliver.Stuart.PeterDE5N9]

I often work in remote locations without reliable internet access.  The cloud based limitations might not me an issue if you live in a large city in the United States but where I often need to travel to the feature is almost unworkable.  I use F360 as a holiest but have paid the full price for the app since I generally find it very useful and intuitive.  I think fusion has not considered its full customer base with regard to this support and for the annual prices charged for my licence I would have expected better.

This is pretty much my only major complaint of F360.  There are other idiosyncracies that can be worked around but this one is a show stopper given where I often find myself.  Hell, even my 1st year in Texas the internet would go down for days at a time.

Common F360.  Give your high paying customers what they need to be efficient!

Peter Oliver

[TheCADWhisperer]

@Oliver.Stuart.PeterDE5N9 

I have read your post several times and I am still not sure of the issue (especially as related to this old thread)?

1. Are you having trouble Exporting to local drive and then opening?

That should work flawlessly.

2. Or is your issue really that Fusion is a cloud-based app?

That is the very intention of Fusion - right from the start.  It can be used locally with some caveats, but that is not the intended mode.  Perhaps you are using the wrong application and should be using something like Autodesk Inventor Professional.