# Fusion 360 - Hobby License To Be Crippled



## spumco (Sep 17, 2020)

To anyone using F360 under a (free) hobby/personal license - please go read the F360 blog post on the Autodesk site.

I won't bother with detail or commentary here, but Autodesk is downgrading the personal/hobby license.  Functionality will be very limited.

Most importantly, at least from a time-sensitive standpoint, is that models/files will not exportable in STEP format after October 1st.  If you have a library of models you might want to use with some other program, I'd suggest _*immediately*_ exporting those models as STEP files and saving them on your local computer.

If you do not do this you will not be able to get your models 'out' of F360 in to a format generally recognized by other CAD/CAM software.  You can still export in other formats, but nothing like a universal file format used by other software.


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## Technical Ted (Sep 17, 2020)

Thanks for the heads up. 

Here's the blog:









						Fusion 360 for Personal Use Changes | Fusion 360 Blog
					

A comprehensive guide to Fusion 360 for personal use changes — what's changing and what is remaining the same.



					www.autodesk.com
				




I'm sure this effects some uses, but it doesn't really change much for my use. Hope they don't cut anything more down the line.

Ted


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## ArmyDoc (Sep 17, 2020)

If I am understanding this correctly, this will be a big issue for people using fusion 360 to design parts to be printed on 3d printers.

Does anyone have a suggestion for an alternative product?  Fusion 360 is very powerful, and something of a standard.  That's why I registered and started to learn it.  I was concerned that it had to be run from the cloud partly because I have slow internet access and partly because of this very issue.  In the "olden days" you had a CD with the software on in it, and once you paid for it you had it forever.  Now you pay for a license that lets you use it for a year.  That SUCKS!


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## brino (Sep 17, 2020)

Hey gang,

We seem to have (at least) two different threads on this right now.
The other one is here:
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/fusion-360-defunctioning.86864/#post-777623

I myself have not received the email that others have.
I wonder if that's due to feature set used.
All I've done is 3D CAD to export .stl files for  3D printing.

I'll have to dig into the announcement to if/how I am affected.



ArmyDoc said:


> Does anyone have a suggestion for an alternative product?



Much of that depends on the features you use.

There's a good thread on FreeCAD here:
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...-i-am-a-little-intimidated.86448/#post-772624

The first thread mentioned above also says that with a USD $40 membership to the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) you can get a license for SolidWorks.

Their web page says:


> EAA has received a generous offer from SOLIDWORKS to make a personal-use version of the software available to EAA members at no charge!



Some info here:
https://www.eaa.org/eaa/eaa-membership/eaa-member-benefits/solidworks-resource-center

-brino


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## Technical Ted (Sep 17, 2020)

I looked into this a little more and I think the only change that will really limit me is the ability to only have a 2D drawing with a single sheet. I design a lot of assemblies making things for my shop and typically have multiple drawings per model. Maybe a work around will be to have multiple drawing files per model???

We'll see,
Ted


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## brino (Sep 17, 2020)

This page:
https://www.autodesk.ca/en/products/fusion-360/pricing

lists the differences between paid and free versions.

What gets me is this:


> Limited to 10 active and editable Fusion 360 documents



By "documents" do they mean "drawings"?

Can I only have 10 drawings that I can revisit, edit and save?
If so, that kills it for me!

-brino


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## ttabbal (Sep 17, 2020)

The document limit is based on the projects, not the individual parts. You can have more, but in a cold storage setup. You can swap documents in/out as needed. It's not as bad as it sounds at first, but it's annoying. 

For the things hobby users do most often, the restrictions are a bit annoying but generally won't keep you from using it. I think the STEP export is the worst as it kills interoperability.


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## RJSakowski (Sep 17, 2020)

Forever is such a short time!  

When Fusion 360 was first introduced, I specifically asked the reps about the free subscription for hobbyists and was emphatically told the full feature version would always be free for hobbyists.  Having a seat of SolidWorks and general inertia has kept me from becoming immersed in Fusion.  Now I'm kind of glad that I didn't waste the time.

I use Eagle for my circuit board and beginning with version 8, it has been part of Fusion.  I kept the old version 7.2 (released prior to the Autodesk acquisition) on my computer.  As long as I ignore the upgrade messages and work locally, I hopefully will still be able to use it without the new restrictions.
 A comment for Fusion users.  When first introduced, one of the subscription options was monthly where Fusion could be turned on and off by the month. If you are and infrequent user, you could schedule CAD/CAM work for a month to complete a project and turn it off again.  As I recall, the subscription rate was double the annual rate but the cost was better than the full year subscription.


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## Analias (Nov 20, 2020)

I figured this day was coming. I'm sooooo glad I paid the $300/year founder's subscription and get access to the Ultimate version. I also figure that may not last forever, but until it goes away I really don't mind paying it. Fusion360 CAD and CAM is worth it.


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