I asked about this exact issue on another forum & got a different answer. But that particular fellow may have misunderstood and/or 360 newbie. Are you saying if a person was willing to legitimately pay for hobbyist level (or whatever they call the lower priced / non-commercial seat) - you still cant work independently off-line as though you installed all executables on your PC? It still requires internet connection & dependencies? What I was hoping was the typical download/install, design your stuff and only if you are interested in cloud storage or collaboration did you have to be on-line. I could even see a quick connection 'hi, I have legit licence####' and then it lets you work, just to slow down hacker theft. But if a somewhat permanent net connection is required just to do CAD work, I would imagine that could get bogged down & ugly in a hurry on complex parts & assemblies. One day I'm going to have to unplug off the Solidworks $ drug & was just starting to look at 360, but if that's what its about, then Bummer.
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Beware Of Bobcad/cam
- Thread starter swatson144
- Start date
I asked about this exact issue on another forum & got a different answer. But that particular fellow may have misunderstood and/or 360 newbie. Are you saying if a person was willing to legitimately pay for hobbyist level (or whatever they call the lower priced / non-commercial seat) - you still cant work independently off-line as though you installed all executables on your PC? It still requires internet connection & dependencies? What I was hoping was the typical download/install, design your stuff and only if you are interested in cloud storage or collaboration did you have to be on-line. I could even see a quick connection 'hi, I have legit licence####' and then it lets you work, just to slow down hacker theft. But if a somewhat permanent net connection is required just to do CAD work, I would imagine that could get bogged down & ugly in a hurry on complex parts & assemblies. One day I'm going to have to unplug off the Solidworks $ drug & was just starting to look at 360, but if that's what its about, then Bummer.
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2016
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- 171
Read this:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/supp...ow-to-work-in-offline-mode-in-Fusion-360.html
This speaks to using Fusion 360 off-line. Stuff like it needs to connect to the license server every two weeks.
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/design-validate-document/run-fusion-360-without-internet/td-p/5616683
If the Fusion hosting is down it can cause you to not be able to work in a couple of different ways: If you were working off-line and the thing needed to contact the license server (every two weeks), and the license server is down, you're hosed until it's back up.
I read accounts of Fusion getting stuck trying to upload your designs to the cloud when the hosting service was down preventing you from using it. In that case you can delete job files on your PC.
I'd rather see an option to select if you want your designs on the Autodesk site or not. I think the very idea that anyone would not want absolutely everything on-line throws the younger generation of developers for a complete loop.
My understanding is:
You CAN use it off-line. (I do) It must contact the activation server every two weeks. (Seems excessive). It will automagically upload your designs to Autodesk. (But there are ways around it).
Not being able to select if my designs are uploaded or not grates on my sensibilities. It should be an option. I suspect (but have not checked) you can delete them from cloud storage. For me, it's more the principal of the thing, and I have to go out of my way every two weeks as my shop is off-line. I also live in the country and only have wireless Internet with limited bandwidth each month, so I'd rather not chew through it uploading stuff I don't want uploaded in the first place. I don't have TwitFace, MyBook or SpacePlace, nor an I Insterested in Pintagramming anything. I don't Yoggle or Goohoo anything either, and like it that way.
If you can't get your shop computer to access the Internet every two weeks it is my understanding you are out of luck. (Contact Autodesk support. They have great support and actually respond.) They have replied on-line by answering that question by saying they have other options such as AutoCad, etc. (NOT free!!)
That being said:
This is just information I have gathered from on-line reading. You probably should verify it yourself.
Fusion 360 is a excellent program. It might well be worth putting up with the goofiness if you can.
Check out DesignSpark Mechanical. It's free for a hobby license. It's also very nice and very similar to Fusion 360. It's much easier to do threading with Fusion than DesignSpark, and DesignSpark does not have CAM like Fusion does, nonetheless, it's a very nice, modern CAD application.
Hope that helps.
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/supp...ow-to-work-in-offline-mode-in-Fusion-360.html
This speaks to using Fusion 360 off-line. Stuff like it needs to connect to the license server every two weeks.
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/design-validate-document/run-fusion-360-without-internet/td-p/5616683
If the Fusion hosting is down it can cause you to not be able to work in a couple of different ways: If you were working off-line and the thing needed to contact the license server (every two weeks), and the license server is down, you're hosed until it's back up.
I read accounts of Fusion getting stuck trying to upload your designs to the cloud when the hosting service was down preventing you from using it. In that case you can delete job files on your PC.
I'd rather see an option to select if you want your designs on the Autodesk site or not. I think the very idea that anyone would not want absolutely everything on-line throws the younger generation of developers for a complete loop.
My understanding is:
You CAN use it off-line. (I do) It must contact the activation server every two weeks. (Seems excessive). It will automagically upload your designs to Autodesk. (But there are ways around it).
Not being able to select if my designs are uploaded or not grates on my sensibilities. It should be an option. I suspect (but have not checked) you can delete them from cloud storage. For me, it's more the principal of the thing, and I have to go out of my way every two weeks as my shop is off-line. I also live in the country and only have wireless Internet with limited bandwidth each month, so I'd rather not chew through it uploading stuff I don't want uploaded in the first place. I don't have TwitFace, MyBook or SpacePlace, nor an I Insterested in Pintagramming anything. I don't Yoggle or Goohoo anything either, and like it that way.
If you can't get your shop computer to access the Internet every two weeks it is my understanding you are out of luck. (Contact Autodesk support. They have great support and actually respond.) They have replied on-line by answering that question by saying they have other options such as AutoCad, etc. (NOT free!!)
That being said:
This is just information I have gathered from on-line reading. You probably should verify it yourself.
Fusion 360 is a excellent program. It might well be worth putting up with the goofiness if you can.
Check out DesignSpark Mechanical. It's free for a hobby license. It's also very nice and very similar to Fusion 360. It's much easier to do threading with Fusion than DesignSpark, and DesignSpark does not have CAM like Fusion does, nonetheless, it's a very nice, modern CAD application.
Hope that helps.
Last edited:
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- Jan 8, 2016
- Messages
- 171
peterha- I reread your post and wanted to be specific:
Fusion 360 does not require you to be on-line to work. Processing is done locally.
I emailed Autodesk support inquiring as to how much bandwidth Fusion 360 uses. They replied with a couple of hours. Gotta hand it to them! They have good support, especially considering the hobby license is free. Hard to beat that!
Furthermore, they sent additional email asking if my questions had been resolved. Really... what more could you ask?
Their reply:
Difficult one to answer but the main traffic will be when you upload and download designs. The bulk of the program is installed locally and the computation is mainly using the local processor.
Best regards,
Jon Dean
Autodesk Support Team
They also sent the (see attachment) information.
Additionally, if Fusion 360 get stuck uploading you can clear it's job list:
Windows:
C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\production\JobManager360\<Most Current Application ID (sort by date if mutlple)>\
Locate the jobs.json and the jobs.json.lck files.
Delete both the json and the lck file.
Restart Fusion 360 and review the Upload queue.
I'm guessing that if you delete these files before setting it back on-line again after working off-line, it won't attempt to upload anything. I have not tried it yet, so it's just a guess.
Fusion 360 does not require you to be on-line to work. Processing is done locally.
I emailed Autodesk support inquiring as to how much bandwidth Fusion 360 uses. They replied with a couple of hours. Gotta hand it to them! They have good support, especially considering the hobby license is free. Hard to beat that!
Furthermore, they sent additional email asking if my questions had been resolved. Really... what more could you ask?Their reply:
Difficult one to answer but the main traffic will be when you upload and download designs. The bulk of the program is installed locally and the computation is mainly using the local processor.
Best regards,
Jon Dean
Autodesk Support Team
They also sent the (see attachment) information.
Additionally, if Fusion 360 get stuck uploading you can clear it's job list:
Windows:
C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\production\JobManager360\<Most Current Application ID (sort by date if mutlple)>\
Locate the jobs.json and the jobs.json.lck files.
Delete both the json and the lck file.
Restart Fusion 360 and review the Upload queue.
I'm guessing that if you delete these files before setting it back on-line again after working off-line, it won't attempt to upload anything. I have not tried it yet, so it's just a guess.
Last edited:
Thanks for info. I didn't want to hijack this thread about 360, so will stop here. But this online/offline discussion has been very educational & clears up something that just wasn't transparent to me. Optional cloud storage, collaboration, occasional licence validation, no problem. But I have zero interest in shuttling my own parts & assembly files across the internet in order to work on them. Either that's the way 360 intrinsically functions or an ill conveived marketing idea - but a non-starter for me. I think the statement from the Community Manager pretty much sums it up ... this is a cloud product with an offline mode that is best suited for brief periods of non-connectivity. If you need a fully offline solution we offer other products for that.
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2013
- Messages
- 1,199
My experience with bobcad has been ok, I bought 26, 3 axis standard, didn't use it for about a year, then when I needed it it didn't work, it kept crashing, so as a last resort "we're not really supposed to do this but" the guy sent me a download of the most recent build of my version, now it only crashes sometimes. I have to save alot, I only use it for cam
I'm not sure how smart the new version is but I hate that you have to draw redundant geometry sometimes to trick it into doing what you want, especially when it's seems like a no brainer
I'm not sure how smart the new version is but I hate that you have to draw redundant geometry sometimes to trick it into doing what you want, especially when it's seems like a no brainer
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2013
- Messages
- 595
I'm sorry but your idea of OK is a lot different than mine. Bought V25 A few years ago, and all I can say is never again. I used that soft exactly 0 times. It crashed more than I can stand. They only called like 200 times to get me buy V 26 or V 27 after told them I'll never buy anything from them again. I'm using Fusion 360 now, cost 0 for hobby users. Bob Cad/cam wanted $100s for help after the first 45 days. Auto desk has never asked for a penny to give help. If I ever have pay for 360 no hesitation it's great.
CH
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- Jun 15, 2013
- Messages
- 1,199
They tried the same expired support with me, but I literally told them it was *******t and they fixed the issue, I too have started using fusion for my mill-lathe (turning only) ops, but I like bobcad for milling, and I like solid works for modeling anything I'm going to mill, when I need to engrave a pcb, solid works to draw then export as dfx I think, open in bobcad and run an engrave tool path. Personally I don't like bobcad, I like bobcam tho, fusion is pretty easy, but the post for mach3 or general fanuc turning is not perfect, the model looks kinda different in mach3turn, and the part did reflect the difference, but that's for another post
I'm not sure I'll ever buy from bobcad again, I hated their turning option in the demo, not nearly as easy as mill
I'm not sure I'll ever buy from bobcad again, I hated their turning option in the demo, not nearly as easy as mill
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- Apr 12, 2012
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- 579
I actually like the turning in BobCAM. It can use canned cycles which is how I write from scratch. I teach the young MR's with canned cycles which allows an easy progression of learning . They can take a generic 4 shoulder pin and with <8 edits change it to another pin learning along the way and quickly being productive.
Steve
Steve
Fusion360 is cloud based. That said, it's clearly attractive. Vectric offers a pretty good alternative 2 1/2D program for $150 that you actually own. I've been running Turbocad 16 for years; Cut2D Desktop is a pretty good alternative, with excellent support.
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- Feb 2, 2014
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- 1,219
All of the Vectric software is excellent and easy to use. Free demos of the full version (just can't cut your own design) with great tutorials.
I tried Auto cad, and several other packages but just couldn't make it work. With Aspire from Vectric I was able to show the resident Auto Cad tech how to model his 3d design and output the code to the machine and I exported it back into Auto Cad to give back to him.
Ray
I tried Auto cad, and several other packages but just couldn't make it work. With Aspire from Vectric I was able to show the resident Auto Cad tech how to model his 3d design and output the code to the machine and I exported it back into Auto Cad to give back to him.
Ray