Meshmixers Future?

[paulRUXNZ]

I was introduced to Meshmixer about 3 years ago and it's become the main tool I use for most of my modeling.  I am curious to Meshmixers future and was curious if anyone else has had these thoughts/questions;

• Meshmixer was last updated in April of 2018. Is there any plans or a date for the next update?
• This forum is under Netfabb. Why doesn't Meshmixer have it's own designation?
• Why is there support for Spacemouse products on Windows run machines and not MacOS?
• What, if any plans does Autodesk have for Meshmixer?

Meshmixer has been such a valuable tool for me and so many others and feel the tools are invaluable and would like to see this continue if possible.

Cheers!

Paul

[Andrew.Sartorelli · Accepted solution]

Hi @paulRUXNZ ,

As product owner for several of our solutions in the additive manufacturing space I strive for us to deliver us much benefit as possible to our user diverse userbase.As you've noticed updates to Meshmixer have slowed down a bit this past year. This slowdown shouldn't be interpretted as Autodesk abandoning the mesh creation and manipulation space. Meshmixer has set of very strong set of technology that underlies it, some of which is used in products like Netfabb and Fusion 360.

In terms of future plans, I can’t discuss any of that regrettably, as priorities and directions can change so I wouldn’t want to potentially mislead you. At present, I can say that we don’t have any plans to discontinue the free access to Meshmixer for both commercial and non-commercial users.

Best Regards,

Andrew

[3DWP]

I was thinking about this too and found this thread. I really hope Meshmixer will be supported, it's such a wonderful program! I like the way it's working already but wondered if there would be an update again, it's been a while.

[Dadadevoh]

Just to continue this thread. I think Autodesk is really dropping the ball with Meshmixer. They have a client base begging for an update. This tool is powerful. It’s not Zbrush but tons of professionals have found use for this little Swiss army mesh editing tool. For a while I was hoping more of the tools would just find their way into Mudbox or something. But it’s sad to just watch Meshmixer die.  

[3DWP]

I know, right?

I hope Autodesk will see this and will continue support and updates. Back when the creator of this awesome tool left the company people were already afraid of this happening but somebody from Autodesk stepped in. Not much has happened since - as expected.

So sad to see a great tool like this overlooked. I'm just happy it works so well already as it is.

[paulRUXNZ]

I know! Imagine if meshmixer included a better alpha brush and sculpting tools like blender or zbrush. It has the capability, but it's not refined. Or introduced a basic parametric modeleling capability like 123d design.  It's great, but could even be better! Eventually I have to learn the Fusion 360, but Meshmixer/123D Design and Blender are still my main workflow.

[Anonymous]

As of right now the website is throwing 403 errors and I cannot find any alternative downloads. Is this the end for meshmixer? I have read elsewhere that the server is on and off for the past few weeks/months. I am reliant on it for support structures as a Dremel 3D20 user.

[paulRUXNZ]

I noticed this too.  It’s scary.  I was trying to look at the manual for reference and I saw this.  Let’s hope not.

[Anonymous]

I was able to download from the wayback machine web archive. Though I really hope the meshmixer website is maintained.

[lostman_amiga]

I would like to see Meshmixer support or export .obj (quads) to better support fusion work.

[paulRUXNZ]

Yes!! I and many others Would pay for this!

[hfcandrew]

Fusion360 just had a huge update for the mesh workspace. The gist of it is adding more and more of MM's tools.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tMEtHIJV6c&t=195s

I don't think we'll ever see an MM update again.

[paulRUXNZ]

That’s good news! I’m going to watch that video!

[hfcandrew]

It's official, check out: https://www.meshmixer.com/

Well as official a statement as I think we'll see:

NEWS (September 2021): Fusion 360 now contains many of the great features you've grown to love in Meshmixer, with continual growth and improvements to its capabilities in mesh coming soon. While we have no current plans to retire Meshmixer, please note that the tool is no longer in development and will not be supported by Autodesk moving forward. As such, we encourage you to download a trial of Fusion 360 to continue getting the most out of what Autodesk has to offer in mesh capabilities, as well as much, much more.

[3DWP]

Very sad.. Strange to feel robbed of something when it's a free program but still. Wish it would have stayed with the creator Ryan Schmidt so it might have gotten a little more development maybe. 

[dannyartbiz]

is Meshmixer still in 2021 free for commercial use ?

[paulRUXNZ]

I watched the video with the Fusion360 updates incorporating more mesh tools.  I'm so happy Meshmixer functionality is finding its way into it!  Very promising, but it falls short of incorporating most of Meshmixers functionality and versatility at this stage.  I hope Fusion360 will continue to incorporate all of Meshmixers tools.  At this point, I work with a lot of scanned data, and Fusion360 just doesn't have the versatility to work with solid and mesh data interchangeably.  I typically convert solids into an stl and incorporate them into Meshmixer. For this reason, I can't justify paying for Fusion360 until it has all of Meshmixers magic.

[paulRUXNZ]

Totally agree! I make prosthetics and mostly manipulate scanned mesh data to generate my models and Meshmixer is perfect for this!  Perhaps Fusion360 will continue to incorporate Meshmixers functionality.  I don't think Meshmixer should have been dropped from development.

[serega_01]

I would like to see MM on the iPad. It seems to me that working with an Apple pencil will be pure pleasure.

[paulRUXNZ]

Yeah it would! Any development would be great.