Have the cloud calculate the CAM toolpath

[graziano_creati85ABX]

Good morning,
I wanted to ask if it was possible to have the cloud calculate a very complex tool path, as is done for simulation and generative design, thanks

[TrollTuner2]

Yeah then we can pay extra credits..  Should get a good bump for autodesk in the profits too.   Cost a bit of processing power on the servers although that's not so expensive.   

[FrodoLoggins]

I'd be fine paying extra for tool paths that generate faster but them removing local simulations doesn't make me feel good plus that would just disincentivize them from making any optimizations.

[matty.fuller]

I've often thought this would be a useful feature, and I don't see why there couldn't be a "two lane" solution where you can either use the current method or pay extra for cloud calculation.

The other option that exists is Distributed CAM, which lets you use the "render farm" technique of offloading calculation to other machines you own and have on premises... as far as I can tell this may currently only be available for Inventor CAM and not Fusion. Can anyone confirm?

Link below to documentation:

https://help.autodesk.com/view/INVCAM/2020/ENU/?guid=GUID-808B7305-EFCE-46A1-872F-B92846EC6FE7

[engineguy]

@matty.fuller 

@graziano_creati85ABX 

@FrodoLoggins 
@TrollTuner2 

Oblique 2 Cents worth !!

Just a thought, what is "The Cloud" ? from what little I know it is just another Server(s) in a Rack somewhere in a "Server Farm", so depending on each persons individual local Internet connection will determine how fast anything will be done anyway.

An example that springs to mind is exporting a file, lets assume that I am working Online using the Fusion Servers and I want to export a file that I want to upload here to the Forum, normally that would be done as an f3d file, very fast using the usual Online setup, however if that file is an f3z format then a notice is dislayed stating that it will be done in The Cloud and will take some time, very slow.

I do see the point of having distinct "stand alone" Server(s) that would be available for large computational toolpathing, would be very nice.

However, great as the idea is as I see it it is only going to benefit a few users that have bucket loads of $$$$ and extremely high end hardware available on the desk in front of them connected to an extremly fast Internet connection.

Could just mean it is not a very high priority 😞

I don`t have any of that so I find using "The Cloud" to be slower  🙂

[DarthBane55]

It's the opposite, the cloud would allow people with poor hardware to calculate toolpaths very fast.  The calculation is not done over the internet, it is done at the server location, and the path, which is very small in "kb" size is transmitted back to the user.  This is very fast, no need for a super fast internet connection for this.

[engineguy]

@DarthBane55 

With respect, The Cloud is a a bunch of servers where data that is sent to them is split up into small pieces for security instead of a single lump of data.

A typical example of slow is actually Autodesk current servers, from my location with my poor hardware and slow Internet connection I can go to many different sites in the USA quite quickly, heck, even the NFL during the Superbowl was reasonable.

When I access this Forum it is way slower so that says to me it must be the Autodesk Servers, there are other Forums that I can visit that are way faster, heck even Microsoft is faster 🙂 🙂 🙂

So, if you are correct then I for one would welcome any increase in access/tolpathing/calculating speeds because at the moment as far as I personally am concerned the current setup is pretty dire !!

Come on Autodesk, buck up, it has deteriorated badly (The word "bloated" springs to mind) over the last few years to the extent that sometimes I work Offline !!!!!

🙂 🙂 🙂

[seth.madore]

This is an interesting idea. As a customer myself, I would love to offload some of the CAM calculations to another computer and let them churn away. However, while we leverage the Cloud for some other computations (GD/Sim), we can also observe that the "local" option disappeared......

I'm posting this for two reasons:

1) We do see this discussion and it's benefits

2) I'm a wary customer as well and not ignorant of where this could end up 🤐

[DarthBane55]

@seth.madore yeah it is interesting, and probably would have to be all in if it happened, so personally I am not a fan, just get a better computer if it takes too long hehe.  It would definitely increase the price of Fusion, that is unavoidable due to the massive computing power needed server side.  Downside is price increase and relying on having the internet working.  Plus side is you never have to upgrade your PC again, the computing being done at the server.

@engineguy I think you are potentially mixing 2 things up.  Data server and computing servers I believe are distinct.  An example would be Nvidia GeForce Now, which is an online gaming service.  You can run this on a phone, or an old PC, and you can have the top notch graphics from the latest RTX4080 graphics cards.  There is no computing done on the client side, it is all servers (massive computing power!) doing all the work, and they just send a video feed to you, and all this happens instantly (pretty incredible really).  Right now Fusion is using data servers, except maybe simulation and generative designs (both of which I have never tried).  They are just storing our data for CAM, nothing else.  Just wanted to point out the distinction.

[zwelsh91]

This is a slippery slope here. With Autodesks history on Fusion 360. I could see the whole thing turning into a vending machine that requires "Credits" or an "extension" for everything. Though it would be nice to offload computation of complex tool paths to the cloud for some user. @DarthBane55 is right, get a better computer. A desktop with plenty of "horsepower" can be had for relatively cheap these days. Sub $500 in many cases. My daily driver is a HP Z420 with 32gb of ram a Xeon E5-1620 and an Nvidia Quadro 2000, I bought for $285ish refurbed off New Egg 3 years ago.  We are talking about professional grade design and manufacturing software here not crowd funded open source hobby stuff. I would suspect that a large portion of the Fusion user group is using this as a means to generate income. If you are going to play the game you have to pay to play as they say.

Food for thought is this. In my opinion, most users are using Fusion 360 because the barrier to entry is not $10k-$30k and north of that initial with yearly maintenance agreements of 10%-30% (of the initial purchase price) to keep the software up to date, for many of the other CAD/CAM software on the market. I still feel that at it's price point Fusion is a great value. But it would be a shame to see more and more features put behind pay walls or like simulation arbitrarily no longer offered for local generation and only offered via cloud credits.