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Thread: Your knowledge, please

  1. #31
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    It looks like Fusion 360 will now be free to students for 3 years, free for "hobbyists" for 1 year, and after that the subscription price will be $60 per month (for pay by month), or $495 per year for an annual subscription. I very rarely use Fusion 360 for any of my projects, but I do like the adaptive clearing tool paths which none of the other more traditional CAM programs seem to provide. I have been using Fusion 360 for about 2 years under their free for startups under 100k category. It looks like I will need to change to the hobbyist category at the end of the year, get one more year at no charge, then would need to pay the $495 annual subscription fee to continue to use it. I doubt I will continue with a paid subscription at that price. I would consider paying maybe half of that. It's not something I need to have, but it is fun to play with.
    David

  2. #32
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    AutoDesk has a history of wringing all the cash they can out of a product. The handwriting is on the wall. Since I use VCarve Pro and can upgrade any time to Aspire its time to unhook the F360 wagon.
    Retired Guy- Central Iowa.HVAC/R , Cloudray Galvo Fiber , -Windows 10

  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill George View Post
    AutoDesk has a history of wringing all the cash they can out of a product. The handwriting is on the wall. Since I use VCarve Pro and can upgrade any time to Aspire its time to unhook the F360 wagon.
    Yea...I saw that....I'm now ignoring F360.
    Thanks & Happy Wood Chips,
    Dennis -
    Get the Benefits of Being an SMC Contributor..!
    ....DEBT is nothing more than yesterday's spending taken from tomorrow's income.

  4. #34
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    So it's generally accepted that Rhino 3D is the best choice for 3D work since that's all it's designed for? Then upload to Vectric to create tool paths?

  5. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ronald Blue View Post
    So it's generally accepted that Rhino 3D is the best choice for 3D work since that's all it's designed for? Then upload to Vectric to create tool paths?
    Not at all. Rhino is more capable for some things than Aspire for 3D modeling, but that doesn't make it the best choice. "What" you want/need to model in 3D will influence whether or not you want to/need to make an investment in something. My suggestion is to stick with one environment until you really are comfortable with the ropes and then, depending on what you need to create, investigate your options.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  6. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ronald Blue View Post
    So it's generally accepted that Rhino 3D is the best choice for 3D work since that's all it's designed for? Then upload to Vectric to create tool paths?
    Hi Ronald,
    I don't believe that it is generally accepted that Rhino 3D is the best choice for 3D work (for woodworking). Although I have never used it - I'm sure it is great, but there are many other options available - among them being Solid Works, Aspire, and Fusion 360 to name a few. As Jim has pointed out - it may be better to start with a single program ("environment") such as Vectric VCarve Pro and become thoroughly familiar with it before considering incorporating a separate 3D program into the mix. VCarve Pro can be used for cutting imported 3D files, it just does not have the 3D modeling capability.

    For example - lets say you purchase VCarve Pro for $699. Once you have become familiar and proficient using it, then you might consider upgrading to Aspire for an additional $1300 to add the 3D modeling and other enhanced capabilities. Or you might want to get the Rhino 3D free trial and try it out, and do the same with an Aspire free trial. Then try to make a decision which program will offer the greatest benefit for your intended use. It would actually be less expensive (out of pocket cost) to purchase Rhino vs. upgrade to Aspire. I expect that there would be a significant learning curve for Rhino 3D, so this may more than offset the $300 savings vs. upgrading to Aspire.

    Just some "food for thought".
    David

    VCarve Pro - $699
    Upgrade VCarve Pro to Aspire - $1300
    Aspire - $1995

    Rhino 3D - $995
    Last edited by David Buchhauser; 11-20-2019 at 5:30 AM.

  7. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by David Buchhauser View Post
    It looks like Fusion 360 will now be free to students for 3 years, free for "hobbyists" for 1 year, and after that the subscription price will be $60 per month (for pay by month), or $495 per year for an annual subscription. I very rarely use Fusion 360 for any of my projects, but I do like the adaptive clearing tool paths which none of the other more traditional CAM programs seem to provide. I have been using Fusion 360 for about 2 years under their free for startups under 100k category. It looks like I will need to change to the hobbyist category at the end of the year, get one more year at no charge, then would need to pay the $495 annual subscription fee to continue to use it. I doubt I will continue with a paid subscription at that price. I would consider paying maybe half of that. It's not something I need to have, but it is fun to play with.
    David
    Here is the Autodesk page covering the "free for hobbyists" terms. It looks like it is still free for personal use. Apparently the free 1 year trial is for professional users. I had previously misunderstood the terms of their offerings.
    David

    https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/fusion-360-for-hobbyists

    Fusion 360 free for hobbyists.jpg

  8. #38
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    That $1000 annual limit for "hobby business revenue" is going to be an issue for some folks...but I'm very glad that the true hobbyists are covered for the application, albeit sans support, etc.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  9. #39
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    For the past several years AutoDesk has only provided 1 year licenses. The startup (allowing free commercial use up to $100k) and hobbyists license have been renewable for continuing use. The new terms also specifies that they are renewable if you continue to meet the qualifications, so no change there. The only real change seems to be that they want a little more info (like your website) to qualify as a startup. Just using it for making signs does not seem to be the type of work they seem to consider as a “startup”. So while they have slightly modified the terms, there are still ways to continue to use it for free.

    I use a free Fusion 360 startup license, but also have VCarve Pro and Carveco, they all see use for different projects. Carveco is the successor to ArtCAM, and can do some things not possible with Aspire. When I bought it the introductory price was quite a bit cheaper than Aspire, now it sells for quite a bit more. Still have an ArtCAM license as well when AutoDesk discontinued it, they provided a perpetual license to replace the annual license.
    Colorado Woodworkers Guild
    Colorado CNC User Group

  10. #40
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    I have been using the free "startup" license for commercial under $100K for two years. They recently sent me several emails telling me they are discontinuing this category and offering me a special deal of $369 or so per year to subscribe. I believe their email indicated that they would be discontinuing my subscription category (i.e. not offering it for a free 1 year renewal) for startup under $100k. To continue using it for free, I believe that I would either need to switch to "student educational use" or "hobby use" with under $1000 in annual revenue resulting from the use of their program. It looks like they will still be offering free 3 year (student) and 1 year renewable (hobby) licenses for those two categories - at least for the time being.

    I also use Aspire, Solid Works, Design Edge, MasterCAM, and several others. My current use of Fusion 360 is indeed hobby use - not making any money with it - just fun to use.
    David

  11. #41
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    How do the software companies know how much money is being made?

  12. #42
    You talking about free for under a certain income? Kind of the honor system but if you have a real business they might find out and then there might be some repercussions

  13. #43
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    If I had a "real business" that was actually netting a substantial amount of money as a direct result of using Fusion 360, then I would have no problem paying them the annual fee. As it is, I do have a "real business" manufacturing metal working tooling for metal shaping, automotive restoration, etc. But Fusion 360 has never been involved in this process. I do use other CAD/CAM programs for this - most notably AutoCAD for producing vector files and MasterCAM for creating the tool paths and g-code to run my cnc machining centers. I do use some of the other CAD/CAM programs for hobby/personal projects - including Fusion 360, SolidWorks, Plasmacam Design Edge, VCarve Pro/Aspire, LightBurn, LogicTrace, and several others. I have also recently been looking at the trial versions of Rhino6 and the Rhino CAM programs, but my take on Rhino is that is may be better suited to architectual and artistic applications than the sort of stuff I do.
    David

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