Cloud and Online Work

[Anonymous]

While I embrace the idea of cloud based data hubs for many of their obvious advantages I 'd like to point out some major shortcomings of this concept:

1. Data integrity

While my data is uploaded to the hub data integrity can be affected by server or network faults - so a local copy is needed that does not erase itself and is hidden away somewhere deep in a more or less hidden folder structure.

better idea: sync local and hub data in the background for selected data sets only

2. App usability

Working with confidential customer data is not possible because upload of intellectual property of a customer (or your employer) to a third party server is usually illegal or strongly prohibited. This limits the use of Fusion360 drastically for me. I must proof that protected data has no chance to get beyond the allowed realm. Practically this makes Fusion360 a no go if I have no proper control about what data goes where.

When working with data sets of clients usually during a meeting where options are discussed and decisions are made based on an available data model the use of Fusion360 is very limited if not useless, because of the long loop to upload and afterwards download data in order to get it rendered. Not to mention the lack of an internetaccess for guests through a companies LAN, which is basically scarce at best in these situations if not totally prohibited.

And at the usual limited bandwidth a normal upload/dowload cycle of a mildly complex construction takes what? 10 minutes? 1 hour? Through a cell-phone connection 2 days? A bit long compared to 1 second opening the data locally.

better idea: transparent access to local data without a forced round trip through the internet

[Anonymous]

Cloud storage is unusable on any government contract.  Security is just too suspect.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

If this is as good as cloud computing gets, I can't wait for the stand-alone version.

I guess perhaps if one was working in a major US city with really fast internet the Fusion experience might be less than awful but for most places in the world, using Fusion is like watching grass grow.

So how about detaching most of the process from the cloud and allowing local files, local working etc. without having to be online all the time?

[roambotics_scott]

Sure «it's never going to happen» and blah blah blah but it says something that this keeps coming up.

It's bizarre that there seems to have been this dictum that «F360 shall be cloud based.». There is nothing magical or even particularly special about the cloud. It's great that it's there to enhance things and make certain things work better, but there is no technical or philosophical reason that it absolutely must be there.

The compass guiding development should be on delivering capability X to the users, not on the technical aspects of how.

For some things like ubiquitous availability of designs and real time sharing / interaction, cloud storage and networking is an obvious and almost necessary thing. Simulations and background rendering scream for cloud compute.. but the bulk of interaction with the app and actually working on designs has zero dependence on the cloud and it's silly to try to force it in there when it has no reason for being there and, in fact, actively works against the capability you're trying to deliver.

Obviously (and unsurprisingly) it's already evolving in that direction because it makes sense, but you should take it all the way. Make it «enhanced by the cloud» not entirely dependent on it for all core functionality.

[Anonymous]

Computing started with terminals and mainframes, we then made personal computers that acted as the work station, now we are back to the original terminal and mainframe approach.

I would suggest looking at Autodesk Inventor or Solidworks if you want a traditional buy and install methodology.

Fusion 360 is unique (except for OnShape) in that it is mostly cloud based. The huge advantage is lower cost for the end user, the ease of updating the app and the ability to work from almost any workstation (useful in a production environment).

Fusion 360 can work offline with offline files, but you usually can only go a week or two before you have to reconnect to the network. I agree that this isn't a great app for those with slow internet speeds, but given the future of cloud computing and the ability for Autodesk to have a captive, and hopefully profitable, audience this will give them a more consistent revenue stream to continue their pioneering work.

[roambotics_scott]

OnShape is a different creature, and I'm sorry but that just sounds like marketing BS not a justification for arbitrarily going back to the mainfram / (not so smart) terminal approach.

Save for periodically verifying licenses, the cloud has nothing to do with the business model, and technically it's cute / nice to have, but far from essential.

Conservatively / without exaggeration, about 99.99% of what I do with F360 doesn't require network connectivity. About the only thing that actually does (even with the app as-is) is exporting STEP files and sending them to ProtoLabs or someone else for prototyping / manufacturing.

Really can't imagine that I'm particularly atypical in that regard.

[Anonymous]

>>I would suggest looking at Autodesk Inventor or Solidworks if you want a traditional buy and install methodology.

I've got perfectly good CAD software which I have been using for a
decade or more. It's substantially faster to work with than SW and
less buggy. A small amount of experience with ACAD was enough to scare
me off that.

Most of what I do is what you might call "real world" mechanical
designs which are made on a machining centre or turning centre… not
simultaneous 5 axis but 5 axis.

What interested me was the cross platform promise of Fusion and the
tool path or CAM module.

What put me off was the length of time taken to upload a model to the
cloud… and then to find out it did not work… I say "work" but what is
mean is that a 3D DXF model does not appear on screen in Fusion at
all. The same thing exported and uploaded as STL does appear on
screen, but…

Fusion does not respect the origin of the par! Not only that, the
screen view of Fusion is wrong. The Z axis is normal to the screen
plane which is fine for computer graphics and blob squeezing but
useless for machinists where Z is vertical.

What this means is that the on-screen view of the part in Fusion shows
the side when you select top view but when you go to the CAM module,
it correctly shows the Z axis as coming out of what was the top view
in my CAD software.

As a check, I imported the same model into three other CAM programs
and they all respected the part coordinates and orientation.

So why not just move the centre coordinate in Fusion? Apart from the
alarmingly clunky Move command, I just don't trust having to move each
layer or part of a model to get it into the right position.

The lack of precision or lets say that lack of apparent precision in
Fusion is alarming to me. And to test this with continual cloud
uploads is like watching paint dry.

I can't believe that this is the way of the future!

D

[jono_rsa]

Until there is a local only option I will avoid this package completely and have already told friends working at other companies to do the same. Every single time I've opened 360 to try it out there has been some issue related to the cloud or internet connectivity. Making this cloud based makes it un-usable in multiple situations for my setup. Seriously guys, what the are you thinking? You have made this completely useless for a huge chunk of your target market.

[roambotics_scott]

Not to keep coming back to this but cloud should enhance the app not cripple it.

I've been sitting for about 20 minutes waiting / watching this

while it uploads a component I just designed so I can download it and insert it into another design

The system is FUBAR when a user can't complete a roundtrip within the app to do something that basic in a reasonable (finite?) amount of time. I'm at a loss for how it's even possible that the cloud round trip for a simple design can take an interminable period of time on my 50-100MBPS connection 

[promm]

Lots of great discussion and feedback in this idea, thank you to all that have participated.  There are two requests in this idea and each have a separate response.

#1. Please see the similar idea in the link below that we have moved to our future consideration category.

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/ideastation-request-a-feature-or/sync-parts-for-offline-usage-from-clo...

#2.  Fusion provides built in data management utilizing the cloud at its core.  Looking towards the future we have invested in what we feel is the best solution for security.  Since Fusions launch we have found that a majority of our customers views on this have shifted.  We utilize amazon's server farms which are some of the most secure data storage systems in the world.  We have improved the ability to work offline and the limatations in the second paragraph should not be an issue anymore.

For these reasons, this idea is getting archived.

Thank you,

Mike Prom

[DDP-ED]

@promm If you guys will make so that at least part of the data could be stored offline, without the Internet, then it's cool. If not, then those who work offline have to give up with regret from Fussion 360.

I have Google drive and the app on the desktop. I can choose with checkboxes which folders to sync, the same with Dropbox, One Drive! Why is it so impossible?!

Why not be flexible?

[DDP-ED]

Fussion is a wonderful CAD, don't kill him for some of the users!

Even if you are right in their guesses for the future, don't burn bridges. Why not do it gradually?

After all, the fact that Google remains flexible, it still creates revolutionary services.

[Anonymous]

I agree, show some flexibility. I have to use another CAD package for my proprietary work.   I can't work with it in Fusion360. I would like too.... I'm not sure what the future holds. I'd like to stay with Fusion, but the lack of local only storage will limit my future use greatly.

[roambotics_scott]

What I still find annoying about this is that there's clearly a ton of demand and as far as I can tell, the app is mostly functional without the cloud stuff (especially if you're not trying to do rendering or simulations) and yet there seems to be this religious commandment that the app shalt require cloud access to function no matter what

[MrBrodie]

Please just make a fully offline version.

I've been trying to evaluate Fusion 360 at my place of employment, but;

• Confidentiality issues are raised by the cloud interaction and every time you go to save, the software seems to try and trick you into saving to the cloud.
• Security issues are raised by how many exceptions and open ports etc are required to get past the splash and login screen
• We work remotely, the internet here sucks and Fusion 360 melts down when it doesn't have an internet connection.

[MrBrodie]

Since Autodesk have said they want to "improve" offline mode, but "can't" make Fusion 360 an offline desktop application. Anyone got any suggestions for something that can do those things?