Fusion 360 - Cloud solving will be the only option available for all simulation

[hmortim]

In the latest update notes of Fusion360 there is a notice:

https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/august-2022-product-update-whats-new/

"Simulation

Update to Fusion 360 Simulation Extension Local Solve Capabilities 

In the up-coming September update for Fusion 360, local solving for Linear Static stress, Modal, Thermal, and Thermal stress study types will be no longer be available.  Cloud solving will be the only option available for all simulation study types as a part of the Simulation Extension.  Going forward, we are focusing on the availability and overall experience that is provided. We are doing this in order to focus on performance, availably, and experience delivered as a part of the simulation workflows. "

Does this mean I will now have to start using cloud credits for the features I used to have access to locally? If that's the case, it's very frustrating because I have invested in an expensive computer to be able to handle this program with ease. I use the Linear Static stress simulation quite often as I make frequent changes to my designs as I R&D. It is not going to make financial sense for me to use this feature on the cloud. My system is quite capable doing it locally without issue.

Please keep the local simulation features available! In fact, I would love to see an expansion of the other simulations to be done locally. Thank you.

[TrippyLighting]

What to high poly meshes and viewport performance have to do with the Cloud Simulation topic of this thread?

[urban_harrysson]

In my opinion the issue is not cloud or native solving, it is that something I paid for is removed. I regularly use static stress, modal and would use thermal if it was possible to do transient analysis. Now this will be removed. So, what will the next feature be that is moved out of that base package and priced three times more than the basic subscription? 

[wmhazzard]

So, when are you going to take local rendering away?

[johnAMKDR]

@keqingsong 

As someone showed earlier, the cloud can be extremely slow. Going that way, charging more, and having an onerous pricing plan for tokens, is REALLY not the way to evolve. Further, I just got a boatload of errors from your cloud solver, another user reports in the forum that his simulations won't run because they are from a version of Fusion that the translator can't handle, and no one from Autodesk has bothered to reply for days.

You admit that you botched the communication; it looks like the whole thing is botched.

[tomas.baborsky]

I am absolutelly the same case.

I bought expensive computer to solve it fastly. Now is my money wasted??? Can Autodesk even do that when I paid for something and they just block it? I might consider suing because Autodesk's money hunger is beyond anything...

The only thing why they do that is money!!!!

Shame on Autodesk! 

So I am ending up of this program. It will be hard to start learning another program, but I won't let myself be blackmailed anymore and I won't rely on unreliable Autodesk.

[tomas.baborsky]

Sorry, but this is just empty bullshit! Community is really angry for that! I am ending up with Autodesk. This is scam. I paid for something and you want just to take it from me? Stole it? Seriously?

Autodesk want more money? Maybe Autodesk will lost them, because many people like me will just end it up and will go to competitor. Who wants too much then will lose everything.

[tomas.baborsky]

Sorry but dont lie to us please. It IS about money. Nothing more. We are not stupid.....

I am going to competitor. First the Fusion was free, then no and now this. This is scam. I bought something and you will just block it? This is already up for a lawsuit.

[olibel270]

Simply unacceptable. Even on the education license (unlimited solves and credits for linear stress), the speed of the cloud solves is excruciatingly slow! I was looking forward to make fusion360 the center of my CAD design for my startup, but being computationally limited by Autodesk leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Will be looking into SolidWorks more seriously now.

[CosmotechTeam]

So here we are, after the unstable update that cost me the entire workday of fight with a software freezing every minute. And local simulation, a single pillar that kept our company from even looking at competition's offer, is now gone behind a steadily reinforced and thickened paywall. This is a breach of a deal we had while buying the subscription. Bring back the local static stress solver or you're going to bleed customers quickly.

[johnAMKDR]

I had to go back and look at the update notes:

"Going forward, we are focusing on the availability and overall experience that is provided. We are doing this in order to focus on performance, availably, and experience delivered as a part of the simulation workflows."

Read that carefully. Note the repetition of words (double down on focus). Note the strange use of "availably". All around, badly done and it doesn't look good on Autodesk.

I have been working with tech support on a heat transfer simulation that used to run quickly and give reasonable results. Not anymore. If you can't make an upgrade perform better than the original, why bother? And how do you have the nerve to charge for it?

I'm also seeing more frequent "not responding" messages and spinning circles. Any suggestion that the problem is my Internet connection is actually an indication of the flawed nature of the Cloud paradigm.

The pricing is an affront; as a very small business trying to not waste money, I could tolerate buying $100 worth of credits, if they did not expire. The current minimum and short validity are not acceptable.

[mzulchDTD74]

So now that you are not relying on the OS. We can have Fusion 360 on Linux too. Oh wait.......

[urban_harrysson]

It is clearly so that Autodesk is going to increase the price of Fusion 360 over time. New feature will be payed add-ons (like the Product Design and Manage extensions) and existing functionality will be a payed extension with some face saving remaining functionality (like Machining and Simulation). If you add up the extensions Product Design, Manage and Simulation you have to pay approximately 3000 USD extra per year and seat, on top of the basic subscription. 

The next step will probably be Electronics and Rendering. In my opinion it now better for me to switch back to Solid Works and KiCad for the next project. For FEM I am looking on Ansys Discovery (very cool!!) or the normal Ansys. If you buy a Solid Works license up front, it would be approximately the same price as for one year with Fusion 360 with the mentioned extensions. And I don't need to update it since it is a mature software. KiCad is free or as much as you can donate.

The downside for me is that I like to use my Mac and now I need a Windows computer as well, probably a powerful gaming computer.

[rhetths]

If Autodesk stopped investing so much money on developers to degrade the program, they wouldnt have to charge so much.

[electronic_lichens]

Cloud simulation is slowing my workflow by a lot. It's a lot worse now... taking hours for something that use to be minutes.

[hmortim]

I haven't had to simulate anything since the release but I'm not looking forward to it after hearing this.

[jmarini29]

Definitely moving to Rhinoceros + grasshopper, with open-source solutions like alpaca4d. Terrible move from fusion I won't renew the license next year.

Even Altair make a bold move with OpenRadioss. You are going backward.

[khokeson]

This is literally the straw that's breaking the camel's back. I will never professionally recommend Fusion again.

Large assemblies are very difficult to manage and janky. Drawings are still garbage after all these years. And now you're literally forcing people to buy "credits" they don't need to solve basic linear statics and the likes. No thanks. Not worth it. What's next, you're going to force people to pay for rendering? You're going to charge per line of GCode? Wanna add a fillet? That'll be $0.50. What a joke.

I've been the hugest advocate for Fusion since about 2015. I've used it professionally, taught it professionally, convinced many people to adopt it, and now I regret it. Never again. The current state of 3D CAD is garbage.

[Antony_White]

This is not an acceptable change to a software solution mid subscription, to make such a sweeping change to the service level provided without any consideration to the financial and operational impact it will have on your customers implies you have either lost touch with your customer base or you have decided than now is the time to increase your monetisation of an at least temporarily entrapped customer base that will now all be considering their cost of migrating elsewhere.

Simulations that use to be solved locally for free within 5 minutes, now cost me around £10 and take 10 minutes.  I'm punished in time and cost on simple simulations that I use for iterative design.

I have just requested my IT department search for alternatives to Autodesk and Fusion, the financial cost is one thing, but I cannot recover the time the loss in flexibility causes.  Once we are gone, we will not be back but I guess that was in your financial planning and we are just acceptable losses.

I'm genuinely disgusted by shark business practices like this, Very Poor Form! 

[RandomGgames]

You say "working towards expanding the capabilities", but this update is literally doing the exact opposite of that, removing features people use. That's is such a blatant lie it's not even funny.

[m629312611]

I agree a 100%

Feeling quite screwed after spending a little fortune in a capable Machine!