I'm pretty disappointed in the licensing model for manufacturing extensions. I use Fusion 360 for hobby use. I paid for a commercial license because I felt I should support the product. My machine is similar to a Tormach. I'd be lucky to fire it up every 4-6 weeks. I have a rotary axis which in the two years I have owned the machine I have not yet used, but having seen John Saunders videos promoting 4th axis work I decided to give it a try. So having now gotten organised I find that it is no longer included, even though my 12 month license has not expired yet!
In my opinion the requirement to pay for 200 cloud credits (nearly $400 AUD and almost as much as the base license) to turn on all the manufacturing extensions for 30 days is ridiculous. Why do I have to pay the same rate as a 5th axis job shop? I cannot help but think Autodesk is overthinking the licensing problem. Your issue is people using the free license to post to Mazak, Okuma, Makino, etc many times per day.
Of the extensions that are limited, I would use steep and shallow and rotary maybe twice a year. Hole recognition would be helpful, but it locks up for 5-10 minutes on 300 identical holes in a tooling plate.
How about implementing a proper usage-based license where you allow people to use and simulate all the features, but charge a moderate amount to post? Not only would that be a lot fairer, it would allow people to see if the toolpaths will work for them and encourage Autodesk to produce features that get used and work properly.
On top of that, I can’t even access my profile or log a support case. I can login but your website is throwing 413 errors.
Fusion
