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Changes to Fusion 360 for personal use

ThirtyOneDriver

Johnathan (John)
Obviously (from other posts) a SW user here:

@PeterT; I've had a cracked version of SW, a student edition, a 'maker' edition and then the 'Veteran' edition - I've never saved to a cloud. I believe that there are trackers imbedded in the .sldprt files but can neither confirm/deny that as a fact. I do know that the fines from SW for using unlicensed software can be hefty and that a friend's commercial business (10 employees, not everything was SW dependent) attracted enough attention to get a visit from SW reps; luckily for my friend, although he hadn't started using the subscription and all of the PCs were still using cracked versions, he had purchased a license shortly before the visit (unintentional coincidence).

The SW 2021 version that I have has a CAM add-in/application - I'm not sure if that's a new this past year feature or not.
It also has a Plastic add-in that allows slicing and 3D Printing (I'm still using Cura as that's what my friend introduced me to originally).

@TorontoBuilder - what versions of the files are you downloading from McMaster Carr (.sldprt I think is what I'm grabbing)? The ones that I've downloaded, opened w/ SW and then saved as an .STL have had threads, etc. and when opened into Cura and printed, they've been accurate.

*in no way am I advocating for or against any 3D CAD service/program

I don't remember if I published this information on my introduction thread or not - it's my belief that SW is provided (free) to active military to encourage use by the defence manufacturing industry (more of a states thing) - it could be simpler than that (I've been told the initial designer/programmer/owner was a U.S. Vet and it could just be a patriotic thing) but I think there's enough of the industry described to create a micro-economy.

When I was 'paying' for the 'maker' license, it was $99 CAD for the year - anything that I've posted since joining could have been done/created w/ that version. I have a "product line" of 3D printed objects for use w/ racing cars (10ish unique designs) that were all created w/ SW, some w/ 'maker' version.

Hopefully the information is useful to someone.
 

deleted_user

Super User
Obviously (from other posts) a SW user here:

@PeterT; I've had a cracked version of SW, a student edition, a 'maker' edition and then the 'Veteran' edition - I've never saved to a cloud. I believe that there are trackers imbedded in the .sldprt files but can neither confirm/deny that as a fact. I do know that the fines from SW for using unlicensed software can be hefty and that a friend's commercial business (10 employees, not everything was SW dependent) attracted enough attention to get a visit from SW reps; luckily for my friend, although he hadn't started using the subscription and all of the PCs were still using cracked versions, he had purchased a license shortly before the visit (unintentional coincidence).

The SW 2021 version that I have has a CAM add-in/application - I'm not sure if that's a new this past year feature or not.
It also has a Plastic add-in that allows slicing and 3D Printing (I'm still using Cura as that's what my friend introduced me to originally).

@TorontoBuilder - what versions of the files are you downloading from McMaster Carr (.sldprt I think is what I'm grabbing)? The ones that I've downloaded, opened w/ SW and then saved as an .STL have had threads, etc. and when opened into Cura and printed, they've been accurate.

*in no way am I advocating for or against any 3D CAD service/program

I don't remember if I published this information on my introduction thread or not - it's my belief that SW is provided (free) to active military to encourage use by the defence manufacturing industry (more of a states thing) - it could be simpler than that (I've been told the initial designer/programmer/owner was a U.S. Vet and it could just be a patriotic thing) but I think there's enough of the industry described to create a micro-economy.

When I was 'paying' for the 'maker' license, it was $99 CAD for the year - anything that I've posted since joining could have been done/created w/ that version. I have a "product line" of 3D printed objects for use w/ racing cars (10ish unique designs) that were all created w/ SW, some w/ 'maker' version.

Hopefully the information is useful to someone.

I downloaded step files. I have only seen it a few times where a thread was missing from a part, and in those cases it was something like a retention nut.

I've downloaded literally hundreds of parts assemblies from mcmaster carr to insert into designs that were perfect and complete
 

PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
@ThirtyOneDriver thanks for comments. It's more for curiosity than anything else. If I had to guess, everything 'other' than a paid license seat will be something like the Maker version. It may be just a function of time & rollout logistics. Hey, it's their ball so they make the rules. I've heard similar stories about the Military justification but who knows. My inside voice says 'marketing' no different than trying to sink the hook at educational level in colleges or universities. You will probably start seeing advertising effort directed towards Green initiatives. Do they truly give a sh*t? I wonder. Dassault the French parent is a publicly behemoth in Europe with roots to CATIA. They acquired Solidworks in 1997 so that's 25 years already. I think they story goes some of the key SW engineers went to Onshape either as a startup providing some tech adrenaline, not sure there. I give it a look every once in a while, but... its like buying a car. Everyone's needs are different. Yes its reasonable to assume SW files are digitally marked & calling home to Mothership is the new normal. No different than many other apps for that matter. The SW legal 'notifications' on licensing 'anomalies', often to their own existing customers, is legendary.




 

ThirtyOneDriver

Johnathan (John)
Information I was provided about the owner was unsolicited from a semi-celebrity I got to work with at a trade show (racecar sponsorship stuff) - he was an American Vet and when we were discussing what US military units I had worked w/ in Afghanistan (one was a US NAVY outfit... the semi-celebrity's former unit) it led into a snowball of information... allegedly, he knows/got to know the SW decision maker through his service and they were still friends and in contact w/ one another (circa 2015). Based on how I obtained the information, I believe it to be credible in scope but perhaps lacking details.

I'll read through the goengineer article you posted @PeterT

Semi-celebrity's US NAVY unit was engineering based so perhaps that's part of the "link" that completes the circle (SW originator's MIT team connection, access to recruit team of engineers, motivation for accessible 3D CAD program).
 
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jcdammeyer

John
Premium Member
@ThirtyOneDriver thanks for comments. It's more for curiosity than anything else. If I had to guess, everything 'other' than a paid license seat will be something like the Maker version. It may be just a function of time & rollout logistics. Hey, it's their ball so they make the rules. I've heard similar stories about the Military justification but who knows. My inside voice says 'marketing' no different than trying to sink the hook at educational level in colleges or universities. You will probably start seeing advertising effort directed towards Green initiatives. Do they truly give a sh*t? I wonder. Dassault the French parent is a publicly behemoth in Europe with roots to CATIA. They acquired Solidworks in 1997 so that's 25 years already. I think they story goes some of the key SW engineers went to Onshape either as a startup providing some tech adrenaline, not sure there. I give it a look every once in a while, but... its like buying a car. Everyone's needs are different. Yes its reasonable to assume SW files are digitally marked & calling home to Mothership is the new normal. No different than many other apps for that matter. The SW legal 'notifications' on licensing 'anomalies', often to their own existing customers, is legendary.




I do have the 'free' version of Fusion360, mostly just to compare step files etc. As yet I've not been able to comfortably use it for drawing anything. I could never really be productive with the original windows Autocad. Even TurboCAD bought circa 1992 just made no sense to me and it was buggy.

The breakthrough in CAD for me came with AlibreCAD.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibre_Design

In it's life it's gone from AlibreCAD/CAM to Geomagic and then back to AlibreCAD w/o AlibreCAM (Mecsoft VisualCAM which I now also have). To date, including SprutCAM, FreeCAD, VisuaCAD, and Fusion360 the Alibre model of design is the only one that seems to make sense to me. But entry into the Expert model is not cheap. Same with Mecsoft VisualCAD/CAM. Haven't looked at RhinoCAD/CAM.

However with the loss of integration of the part files into CAM software and instead having to export STEP files for import into VisualCAM I'm again interested in Fusion360. Guess I need to watch some tutorials.
 

PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
Based on how I obtained the information, I believe it to be credible in scope but perhaps lacking details.
Well that's great to hear IMHO. Hope I'm not coming off as having a viewpoint or perspective on this (other than generally getting old & jaded LOL). My USA based ex-employer had specific hiring policies for positions to ex-military which was their particular mode of investing in people. One of my ex-military buddies in particular would benefit from this, that's more where I was coming from.
 

ThirtyOneDriver

Johnathan (John)
@PeterT - you may not be jaded enough... lol
I don't pretend to know everything that is going on (could be meant in way too many ways); there are a few things that I've been exposed to that I've tried to really pay attention to.
My experience w/ public tenders supports that key people/products/brands could benefit even when things appear to be neutral and ethical - it's possible to 'spec' out certain criteria that only certain suppliers/products could meet and therefore narrow the selection that a purchaser could select from - the purchaser could potentially meet all ethical/legal requirements (be completely innocent of knowing that client/tenderer had a bias) while still awarding a contract/purchase agreement to a targeted product/service.

This makes me believe that there would be benefits - that scenario could also play out from an HR perspective... ... is a new job/role targeted if there is only one person in the country that has the qualifications and they just happen to be retiring from the position that created the role? lol - guy is deceased but used to brag very often about how he managed that.
 

deleted_user

Super User
Just had to update my fusion license...

All I had do was download the program, when I went to install it gave me the option to just open the existing version on my computer, no more expired notice.

That was far easier than last year
 
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