Running Fusion with Rosetta 2 on Apple ARM-based M1 Chipsets

[keqingsong]

July 5, 2023 Update 

Hello all, the current Insider Build of Fusion now has native Apple Silicon support, and as you read some of the latest comments in this thread, the results are looking great. Our goal is make it available to everyone by our next product update, which should be happening towards the end of the month. If you want to try it now, you can sign up to join our Insider Program, and get access to the Insider Build. Keep in mind that once you become a member, you are under NDA and cannot sharing information publicly, with the exception of this particular project since it is already public knowledge. 

Click this link to sign-up and join: https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/fusion-360/insider-program

Thank you to those you have who've expressed interested and have been testing it! Please continue to let us know about your experiences. 
___

November 23, 2022 Update

As you know we have been working closely with Apple on native support for Fusion on Apple Silicon Chipsets (i.e. M1 & M2). We are pleased to announce that we expect to achieve full native support by Summer of 2023.

As we have explained in this thread, the delay is a result of the need to ensure 100% compatibility between components from over 100 3rd party vendors including Autodesk.

If you want to access this functionality as soon as possible, please consider joining the Insider Program. If you have any questions on the topic please contact @Rajkumar.ilanchelian.

October 28, 2021 Update

Hey all, thanks again for the passionate discussion here. Even though we haven't chimed into this thread as much as we wanted, we are reading every single response and are actively working on getting Fusion to be natively supported on the new Apple chipset. Here's what I know from talking to the development teams: 
We are actively working on getting native support. This is still going to take some time because Fusion uses a multitude of services to work the way it does (Autodesk-owned as well as 3rd party) many of which are also not natively supported on M1 chipsets yet. We are collaborating closely with those teams to taking the necessary steps to ensure that the services we use are also natively supported. There is a lot of passion internally to get this done as well, so we definitely feel you. Again, I can't not say when this will happen, but as soon as we have something more concrete to share, we'll be sure to update you all. 

April 29, 2021 Update

We've been actively working on resolving the issues mentioned below and are glad to report that these issues no longer exist when running Fusion on the M1 chipset. We are also working closely with Apple and are in the process of certifying Fusion as 100% compatible running on M1 chipsets via Rosetta 2. 

In terms of running Fusion natively on the M1 chipset without Rosetta 2, we are still working towards this goal but is going to take some time to reach. We are confident to say that running Fusion on the M1 chipset via Rosetta 2 should be indistinguishable from running it on an Intel-based chipset, if not faster. 

If there are specific issues you've experience and are not mentioned below (strike-through items), please chime in and respond to this thread so we are aware and can look into it ASAP. Thank you for your continued support! 

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Apple's original press release 

We are delighted to see Fusion being featured in the most recent Apple ARM-based M1 Macbook Pro announcement. Although Fusion isn’t natively compatible on Apple’s new M1 chipset architecture yet, Rosetta 2 should enable you to run Fusion*. We will be sure to keep you posted on our progress towards support of Apple’s new line of chipsets.   

-  
   
* While much of Fusion 360 works as expected under Rosetta 2, we discovered that some Fusion 360 components were not yet compatible. If you run Fusion 360 using Rosetta 2, you may experience issues in these areas:  

·         Switching Team Hubs in the Data Panel  

·         Insert from McMaster-Carr  

·         Explore Generative Design and Electronics Cooling Simulation results  

·         ECAD Tool Libraries and Content Manager  

·         Local Simulation Solves utilizing NASTRAN  

If you rely on the impacted areas for your work, we recommend you to stay on Intel-based Macs until we have these issues sorted out.   

[qkarmark]

Could I just throw this out there?
(Please excuse me if I am repeating an earlier comment or sentiment: simply spit-balling this...)

Mac M1 or M2 --> Parallels Desktop --> Windows 11 --> Autodesk Fusion 360.

compatible?

worth the added cost?

worth the effort?

(note: I don't think I would care whether I could Dual Boot)

??

[ashton_osborne]

It’s a good thought, and I’m sure it’s possible, but I don’t think you’re going to get the performance that you’d want unfortunately. I don’t know the inner machinations of computer architecture, but I’d imagine that ARM (which Apple silicon is built off), and x86 (which windows machines are built on) are fundamentally different. The version of Fusion 360 for windows would be x86 based, and then translated to ARM therefore reducing the performance. Anyone second this or am I wrong all together?

[qkarmark]

agreed, the performance would likely be compromised; was thinking mostly of stability, since many comments are referring to native support.

[albertson.chris]

So there are two ways to runs Fusion360 on an Apple Silon based Mac

1) Run the Intel-Mac version of Fusion360 and let Apple's "Rosetta"
translate from Intel to ARM or
2) Run the Intel-Windows version of Fusion360 and let "Parallels" translate
from Intel to ARM

Which is better? Without testing each, my guess would be Rosetta. Method
#2 requires you to run the entire Windows OS on your Mac in addition to
Fusion360.

One solution... I just bought an 2014 vintage Mac Mini (2-Core, 8GB RAM
and a small 265GB SSD) to run some backup software. It was going to be
just a bit of "infrastructure equipment" but I decided to test Fusion360 on
it. For small project the old Mac runs Fusion360 really well. These sell
for $140 on "backbuy" Intel Macs are cheap now. Do this while looking
for some other solution.

[bmxjeff]

So, I'm reading these posts because... Some of them are pretty amazing. In spite of the entertaining controversy and speculation, ... I'm confused, because I'm not having any trouble with my M1 Mac. Native support will be great, but it's not slowing me down or causing trouble. 

Right now, I have 8 documents open at the same time. Modeling 4 parts, and programming and Running the other 4. I'm not experiencing any performance issues and some of these are pretty complex, like Meshes and 100 or more multi axis CAM operations. 

WORK

[albertson.chris]

OK, for you, Fusion360 in Rosetta is working. But Apple will remove
Rosetta in a few years. It is not a permanent product. Then Fusion 100%
will no longer even run on your Mac. You likely have a few years to find a
solution. Buy a Windows PC, Switch to FreeCAD or just keep your old Mac
you have now and never upgrade the software. You have a few years to
decide which of these to do.

[bentwookie]

Ask the PC folks to take a 30% performance hit for no good reason. See how it goes.

[bmxjeff]

See! I love these comments. Completely unfounded and negative.

"Fiction can be fun, but I find the reference section a little more enlightening." - Ace Ventura  

[maruska]

I think it's the challenge with this discussion - just because you're not having issues, doesn't mean that others aren't. There seems to be a lot of inconsistency in user experience on Apple Silicon at the moment.

[TrippyLighting]

---

@maruska wrote:

I think it's the challenge with this discussion - just because you're not having issues, doesn't mean that others aren't.

---

What I quoted above is also a form of negativity I increasingly grow frustrated with. 

Just as some users have posted problems, as they should,  @bmxjeff has posted that he does NOT have problems, specifically performance problems. As he should! Thanks!

---

@maruska wrote:

. There seems to be a lot of inconsistency in user experience on Apple Silicon at the moment.

---

Given all the feedback that I see here on the forum, on the Fusion 360 facebook group and the Autodesk Expert Elite Slack channel, I also don't see a lot of reports of problems that would indicate "a lot of inconsistency". Actually I've heard quite a few positive reactions from Fusion 360 mac users.

Unfortunately those seem to be drowned out by a number of very vocal users who don't actually have "real" problems, but are simply frustrated by having to wait so long for a native version that will provide a performance boost that is unlikely going to make a difference for the vast majority of Fusion 360 mac users.

[bentwookie]

I'll never understand the constituency of cad user that feels the need to lick a multi-billion dollar company's poorly maintained software up and down.

If this was any other physical tool in your shop, and if you had any comprehension of how it was actually constructed, my guess is you wouldn't be so dismissive. 

Through comments employees have made, my own inspection of the frameworks they use and my own experience creating and porting large code bases, I think I have a good-enough foundation for believing engineering and managerial mistakes have been made which have turned this port into a multi-year ordeal.

As a paying customer, I don't believe it's my responsibly to be happy and positive about that.

[brandonXNQ6E]

When I am running Fusion 360 all day, I usually get 1-2 lock ups or crashes.  It's not catastrophic and I usually don't lose a lot work (I have had to go back to the "save, and save often" mentality), but it's quite annoying to do with a product having an autosaving feature and creates a new version with every save.  These issues did not occur on the intel version.  While I would like the performance boost of a native version, the crashes are a problem.

I would be happy to wait if Autodesk just fixed what is causing the crashes.  After months of submitting reports, the problems persist and the native version is nowhere to be seen.  That, is why I am frustrated.

[TrippyLighting]

---

@bentwookie wrote:

...

As a paying customer, I don't believe it's my responsibly to be happy and positive about that.

---

No but you don't have to make outright negative and belligerent and intentionally offensive posts on a public forum 😉

[bentwookie]

Guy comes in to troll us and I'm the belligerent and offensive one. Whatever.

[ctbrahmstedt]

Yup, after 3 years of using Fusion, and a full year of dealing with their
lack of support on M1, removing local simulation, and their “support”
agents, I just went back and bought a Solidworks license. I was able to
install SW, remake my part, setup the simulation environment, run the sim
and get the results, all while Fusion was still processing a single
simulation.

I don’t have the time to deal with buggy software, I just need my stuff to
work. If I have to go back to Windows, I’m just going to use Solidworks. I
thought I was going to be rusty, turns out, not so much. I recommend giving
it a shot.

[ctbrahmstedt]

@TrippyLighting, in my personal experience, the local performance has been
fine, more or less. The issues I've been experiencing are crashes, lockups,
or just unexpected behavior.
Randomly/frequently I'll experience the following:
-"Can't trust the server certificate, Continue?" And it stays in this alert
loop until I force quit and reboot.
-The orbit box in the top right will just stop functioning, so I can't snap
to a right/top view. Have to reboot.
-Lines can start to be drawn, but when clicked to confirm placement, they
disappear. Have to reboot to return view/functionality.
-Browser tree will stay on top of all windows, including Chrome, a regular
OS browser window. The stackup is: Main Fusion window in back, then Chrome,
then browser tree on top of that. Have to reboot.
-User prompts, like dimensions, play/pause controls on CAM, etc will show
up off screen. Either on a second monitor, or just seeing 3 pixels of the
prompt off the right hand side of the screen when using a single monitor
and not being able to drag/interact with it.
-Top navigation commands often freeze. I can whip the model around, but I
can't switch the workspace from Design to Simulation. The button is just
dead, or I can browse, but clicking "simulation" doesn't switch the
workspace.

The most annoying part is that it's intermittent. Just enough to make me
think I'm crazy, or not be able to repeat a problem to report a bug. I've
been experiencing these problems for exactly 1 year, and none of the
problems have been addressed, in fact, they've been getting worse. I'm
making very simple, single component parts, and not pushing Fusion hard.
I've been told by Autodesk that they have engineers frequently testing on
all hardware and they haven't seen this. I find it hard to believe because
I experience this often and I'm an intermittent user. Also, say what you
want about Macs, but their hardware is very consistent, so it's not like I
have a weird driver issue with an oddball graphics card. To me, it sounds
like Autodesk has stopped trying to convert users to their platform and are
now stripping feature support to drive profits. Their in chat support has
now been outsourced to China/India, which makes it impossible to get
support besides simple questions. For those on Mac, if you're using Fusion
to make a profit (as opposed to a hobbiest), I recommend getting Parallels
and just buying a solidworks license. It's a bigger bullet to bite with a
$1500 yearly maintenance fee on top of the $4000 license, but it's much
more stable, runs locally, and even if you stop paying for the maintenance
fee, you still get to keep the perpetual license. I'm sure you could run
the Windows version of Fusion in that environment and it may be more
stable, but that doesn't fix the feature stripping like only cloud based
sims/exports/etc. YMMV.

[brandonXNQ6E]

---

@ctbrahmstedt wrote:
-"Can't trust the server certificate, Continue?" And it stays in this alert
loop until I force quit and reboot.
-The orbit box in the top right will just stop functioning, so I can't snap
to a right/top view. Have to reboot.
-Lines can start to be drawn, but when clicked to confirm placement, they
disappear. Have to reboot to return view/functionality.

---

I randomly experience these problems as well

---

-Browser tree will stay on top of all windows, including Chrome, a regular
OS browser window. The stackup is: Main Fusion window in back, then Chrome,
then browser tree on top of that. Have to reboot.

---

I have consistently experienced this issue on both Intel and M1 machines.  Seems to happen more often when I utilize the full screen mode.

-User prompts, like dimensions, play/pause controls on CAM, etc will show
up off screen. Either on a second monitor, or just seeing 3 pixels of the
prompt off the right hand side of the screen when using a single monitor
and not being able to drag/interact with it.

---

Perhaps this is the same issue I have been having, Fusion acts like there is a dialog box I need to interact with, but none can be found and I cannot do anything unless I Force Quit.

[albertson.chris]

Bugs and glitches are not even the worst part. Apple will
certainly remove Rosetta from a future MacOS release. Then Fusion360 will
not work at all except on what will be by then, very old Intel-based Macs.

My exploration of FreeCAD is going well. At first, I tried to use it like
Fusion and thought it was awkward. Then I learned how FreeCAD's "take"
on parameters and sketch constraints is just different from Fusion360's and
actuary better. I think a transition can happen after about 4 to 6 weeks
of study and practice.

[P.IM]

Just throwing this out there. Piss-poor performance for simple parts -- intermittently -- on my old Intel Mac, is what brought me to this page to begin with. I heard some folks were having a good experience on Apple Silicon, and badly needed an upgrade anyway, so I picked up a new M1 Max MBP, hoping that my experience would be better simply due to much faster / more up-to-date hardware. Figured Autodesk would come thru eventually with a native version. (Now I'm having my doubts, since they went radio-silent after several folks here pointed out the supposed "real" reason Autodesk uses the law as a shield in this forum.)

The experience with the brand new top of the line MBP is just about the same -- works OK about 35% of the time, but crappy enough to drive me insane and want to throw my laptop against the wall. My precious baby... Yeah, that's what using Fusion does to me. Never tried on a PC. I even spent a few weeks binging the basics, following courses. I learned that a small number of issues were related to how I was using the software, but even after learning proper setup and techniques, again, working on pretty basic stuff, there are still bizarre, inexplicable problems. Lots of getting stuck in a loop of an alert being triggered. Lots of random crashes. Icons not loading properly in the timeline. The list is immensely long. I don't see how this could be a pro application... So glad I never paid for it. Probably never will unless Autodesk gets new leadership that cares just a little less about fulfilling their corporate duties to their shareholders, and a lot more about making the best possible product. This is a friggin joke. 

I'm sure if I had one of the random machines that somehow runs Fusion perfectly, like these fan boys out here, I'd have a different impression. But for me, as a bit of a software elitist, Fusion is an atrocity of user experience. Haven't touched it in months due to the trauma caused by using it intensely for a few months before that. 

[TrippyLighting]

---

@P.IM wrote:

...Now I'm having my doubts, since they went radio-silent after several folks here pointed out the supposed "real" reason Autodesk uses the law as a shield in this forum..

There is a large difference between "pointing out"   and fact less and purely speculative and rather ill informed posts.