What's your Fusion 360 performance like?

[promm]

Hello,

My name is Mike Prom and I am a product manager on the Fusion 360 team.  We are looking for feedback on what is slow performance.  Specifically we would like to know what operations you are doing when you feel that Fusion is performing slow.  For example editing a feature, selecting a component for a joint, rotating the model…  We are aware of the time it can take to open or save in certain situations and work is being done to improve this.  If you can provide an archive model .f3d and give us the steps to repeat the process in which you notice the performance change it would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you for your continued engagement with the team.

[Anonymous]

It's stuff like that which makes me wonder if I should jump ship now before the whole ship sinks.

[TrippyLighting]

You do realize that this thread was started by an Autodesk employee asking users for feedback on performance ?

[Anonymous]

Yes, and the feedback I'm giving is that issues like what Cekuhnen shows (and similar sketch speed issues I've experienced) is not only annoying and a hinderance but it hurts confidence in the software greatly. Maybe it is a small bug, we can all only hope. 🙂

[cekuhnen]

Well Fusion has many bugs and short comings but big BUT:

1. It is a pretty new software (Alias still has a bug in the patch tool and we are in 2015 !!! )
2. Fusion is more then just the modeling, as it has CAM and I think at one point we get the physics engine back.
3. Considering that how fast they developed the software I am sure with more time they will work on those problems. Otherwise this would not make much sense.

So as long as the current installment of Fusion is not fitting the bill yes I would not switch but I see this product rather improve then going down hill. After one year of testing and teaching it as well I can only say that I saw impressive jumps forward.

That there are a lot of bugs and such is true but thats sadly the part of software development. Considering how much the devs and support listen here in the forum I am more than sure that they are aware of it and work off those problems. I am quite sure the same is true for every other software house.

And for me in my research working with Blender Alias and Fusion now in a fluid workflow Fusion and specifically the timeline and solid modeling tools was so far a blast of experience.

I am not trying to be nice to Autodesk - it is just my honest opinion.

It just takes however time.

Personally for me Fusion is not a replacement for a surfacing tool at all - Rhino or Alias beats it head on. But I think Fusion isn't even trying to compete here. But if you look at the solid modeling tools and timeline Rhino and Alias look like SketchUp trying to be a tool for developing a space station.

So from my side thumbs up to Fusion!

[Anonymous]

I'll freely admit that my comment was dramatic, and I plan on sticking with Fusion for a while. That doesn't stop me from wondering if the sketch issue is indicitive of more serious issues.

Fusion team has a LOT of work to do and they do not have infinite resources. I wish I had come to the game a little bit later so these things could be better ironed out, but then I wouldn't be locked into Ultimate at ground floor pricing. 😛

Someone on here said that we're basically getting compensated to be beta testers by having the early adopter pricing. I definitely think that's true, and I have to remind myself that (regularly)! It doesn't always stop the boiling frustration, though. 🙂

[cekuhnen]

I think the beta testing price is a fair view point.

You pay less but also are not promised more. I know few SolidWorks users who got extremely frustrated about the development there considering they price they pay.

[TrippyLighting]

I made that beta testing remark 😉

At the time I was rather frustrated, but keep in mind that all the reasons for these frustrations at that time have been fixed. I've only worked with Fusion for about two months now. That's a pretty darned good turnaround on fixing bugs.

However I still stand by that remark. I have realized that for $300 a year I cannot expect a fully fleshed out mature tool. But once it is mature I still am only paying $300 a year. That can't be beat.

[cekuhnen]

Yep I think this is a win win for everybody!

[Anonymous]

Im new to CAD and figured this would be a user friendly program that woul cover a lot of bases. Unfortuntely it seems to assume you already have substantial CAD/ CAM experinece to get it to do anything useful. Definately not for beginners. Im going to stick it out and learn how to use this if it kills me. Be prepared for lots of questions. Right now I find the program unpredictable, counterintuitive, and chaotic. Hopefully that will change if I can actually get some instruction on how to use the program.

[prabakarm]

Hi Marty,

Thanks for trying out Fusion 360.  Can you help us understand what you are trying to use the program for so that we might be able to better assist.  I would also encourage you to try out the in-product tutorials as well as the onboarding material which can be found in the thread below.

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/general-fusion-360-questions/get-fusion-360-training/td-p/5424704

Thanks,

Prabakar.

[TrippyLighting]

@Marty,
Would you please enlighten us as to what relevance your post has to the topic discussed in this thread ?
I've had an Internet connection since 1994. Before that I participated in online bulletinBoards. I those olden days when a user that basically just registered failed to inform themselves about the prevalent forums ettiquette and then trampled into a forum and posted concerns ( or shall we say rants ) such as yours they were usually quite frankly told to RTFM http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM
So please follow the link that @prabakarm has posted and when you then come back, perhaps we can have a more educated conversation about your concerns and you will be better equipped to receive and understand help.

Thank you for your understanding!

[cekuhnen]

Mh please try SolidWorks or Alias when you are a new user.

Seems like you fail to realize that a pro tool still needs a basic understanding to get a long with it. Fusion is not 123D Design fortunately. I have thought this software for 2 years now and never did students quicker learn it.

However Fusion also uses a typical sketch based approach to design which is more labor intensive and thus also requires certain pre-planing of a design.

What other CAD applications do you know?

[Anonymous]

Just about any CAD/CAM program that you pick up has a significant learning curve. I haven't been around the CAD block like the two who posted before me, but I started with SketchUp, then Solidworks, then SolidEdge, and now Fusion. There are things I like about all of them; they all do things poorly and quite well. For example, I had to design some audio parts for a client this morning. I completed a design from thoughts to render with the mechanics 80% completed in 1.5 hours. The client loves the design and was extremely impressed with the renders I provided. I think cekuhnen can agree these sorts of things don't happen often in the design world and I can only blame Fusion for it. I wish I had quoted more time because quite frankly I could have tripled the income on that job and probably still had a happy customer. 😛

You couldn't pay me to do machine design in Fusion. Give me SolidEdge any day. Good lord I don't think I've loved software more than I love SolidEdge. But in SolidEdge, with the product design job, it would have taken me 4-6 hours to do what I did in Fusion in 1.5!

[cekuhnen]

"There are things I like about all of them; they all do things poorly and quite well."
So true there is still maybe besides Catia no ueber app that combines solid and surfacing modeling in a good workflow

Alias is fantastic for how much control you have and oh boy the interface but it is perfect for good and accurate A-Surface design.

Rhino itself has way more modeling tools than Alias but no history which makes it a dump modeler.

Fusion has a fantastic solid modeling toolset for the most but lacks the sculpting ability of Alias or Rhino or SolidThinking.

And where Fusion is great at (solid modeling) Alias is pathetically poor at - well they dont focus on that task anyway. SolidThinking might be comparable as a surface modeler here.

In my ideal view they would all do away with this surface / solid modeler division and simply combine it into one UI.

You want 2d sketches and solid extrusions perfect work like in Fusion - you need freedom of position and fast ideation tools then create your curves and surfaces like in Alias.

That would be a dream to have both under one belt.

[Anonymous]

Sure, I'll enlighten you. Why is it assumed that everyone knows the basics
with this program? Its pretty unfair to anyone trying to get into CAD/CAM.
The most basic functions were totally ignored or not explained at all,
making the "tutorials" useless to all but those who dont need them.

How does someone actually learn this stuff without getting jumped on for
asking basic questions?

[Anonymous]

The in-product tutorials are my prime example of what was meant by "its assumed you already have CAD/CAM background." They all featured pre-rendered lamps and engine parts and stuff, which is great for advanced users, but not for someone trying to learn. I jumped from CAMBAM to this and cant even manage to make a block with some holes in it using A360. Is there some VERY basic tutorials to get started with?

The "onboarding" material was like another language. Im not trying to be insulting, im sure the progam is brilliant. So sure in fact that Im buying it and sticking it out until I learn how to use it. For now the "beginner" level is stratospherically over my head. And the answers I get in the forums simply raise more questions.

[TrippyLighting]

I did not jump over you because you have basic questions but because you violated basic etiquette in a forum.  This thread that was started by an Autodesk employee to receive user feedback from more expereinced users about Fusions 360 Viewport Rendering, Sketch Solver etc. performance.

Creating an off-topic post about your frustrations with Fusion 360 in this thread is really not OK.

If you have specific questions I am happy to help you through your frustations but please do so by creating a new thread.

Have you watched the first video following the link in @prabakarms post "01 - Introduction" ?

If you have specific questions it's fine to ask but open a new thread that has an approproiate subject line such as "Questions about 01 Ntroduction video". Chances are that other new users may have similar questions and can then search the forum to find answers so the help provided does not only help you but also others that come fter you!

Edit: I'd actually suggest watching at least half or the videos in that series, not just one to see where it;s going and to get an overall feel of Fusion 360.

[Anonymous]

hey Marty start a new thread and I'll try to jump in it

[cekuhnen]

Well two things:


First this thread is about performance questions not how to learn Fusion so you are actually posting in the wrong thread.

Second Fusion is pretty simply and logical to use because it follows an established method most other CAD apps of that nature use. But you need to know the syntax to get along with it. Otherwise it will be frustrating.

So if you have questions or need help go to the main forum and post your needs, or Skype me and I will help you to get started with Fusion.

Once it makes click the software is pretty logical and straight forward.

Also as a note Fusion is not for beginners which is why most of the tuts do not cover the needs of people new to 3D!

[TrippyLighting]

Sorry, little correction. Fusion is not ONLY for beginners 😉

The basic principles can be explained in about an hour provided you have the right teacher. If you are not shy of clicking buttons and experimenting thn you can get quite far.

However, Fusion also offers tools that are interesting for very advanced professionals such as Claas, who teaches industrial design and is used to rather sophisticates software such as Alias.