Fusion 360 Licence Changes

For users of Fusion 360 there are a number of subscription changes announced by AutoDesk as from 7th October 2018.

For hobbyists this suggests no changes 'at this time' i.e continues to be free.

What is interesting is that if you already subscribe now at USD310 per annum you will have this subscription frozen AND you get all the Ultimate package now thrown in which was USD1500 per annum. The existing Ultimate users see their sub dropped from USD1500 to USD495 and get a 2 years subs free void period.

This is a very attractive pricing change by AutoDesk. If you are thinking of starting on the learning curve on CAD with integrated CAM you have to give it serious consideration not just for what it offers but for the enormous amount of support through videos both by Autodesk and by third party users on YouTube.

For the cynics who currently use Fusion free and believe that sooner or later they will have to pay then an insurance policy of now paying for the Ultimate package at the USD310 price going forward will give peace of mind. This will be USD495 for all new paying subscribers after the October deadline.

I believe these prices have VAT added for GBP based purchases.

There is a good summary of the changes on the following YouTube by TFI

**LINK**

I'd suggest waiting to see what we announce in the next MEW before making any spending decisions

Neil

I will be interested to see what Alibre has to offer as it was the first 3D package I ever used when it was a few hundred dollars download. No doubt it will be a completely different animal given how it has been bounced around by various corporates since then but it is nice to see it regain its independence.

Just fired up fusion and was greeted with a pale orange bar across the top of the screen (similar to what you get when they want to tell you what is new in fusion after an update ) stating they are changing the tier system and to click on the get started message on the end .

i did this and they have now separated educational, start up , hobby use (aka non commercial or personal use)and professional from each other , it appears the first 3 levels are still free and i signed up for the hobby use as start up i believe requires some proof of usage and i can see this being charged for in the future . I think all AutoDesk has done is spread everything out so they can see who is using fusion and for what purpose .

One word of warning is to back up any files as some of the drawings/ models i had in the left column vanished but fortunately they were old and of no use to me know .

Thanks to XD's warning I was prepared for this when the orange message flashed up! Good news, it doesn't insist the switch be made immediately, but I did anyway. Bad news, I found the online advice confusing. I think this is because the page is mainly aimed at new users who make the choice before downloading the software, with existing users considered as an aside. Or perhaps it's an intelligence test - I failed. After flapping about trying to understand what they wanted me to do, it turned out to be a simple change to the Account, not the software. The package doesn't need to be reloaded, and everything carried on as normal. Updating the account on one machine also updated the other. The advice suggests leaving 30 minutes after switching before restarting F360, mine worked OK immediately.

The differences between Hobby, Student, Small Business and Professional licences are more pronounced. The Hobby licence is single-user (it doesn't support teams collaborating on the same project) and a bunch of add-on tools I've never needed are only available on the grown-up versions. Fusion 360 itself remains fully functional.

Another recent change is causing me more grief, fortunately not serious. Most of my sober CAD work is done on a desktop with a big screen, but I also play with a laptop in front of the telly. Previously, both computers 'just worked' but this is now blocked. Wouldn't be an issue except logging off F360 seems unreliable: firing up the second computer complains the first is still in use, and a screen pops up to kill the session even though the first machine is switched off. Wastes about 30 seconds of my valuable time!

Dave

In addition to the loss of collaboration facilities you also lose access to 'commercial file' translation - although open-standard file translation is still supported.

For those still confused, don't expect that the exchanges on the F360 forum will clear up much! However, it's still worth getting a word in.

If you choose not to change your licence you will still have access to all of the things that are being removed in the new licence until your current 'startup' licence comes up for renewal.

If you decide to go for a paid version, don't use the links that you are taken to by the banner. Instead, follow the link in a 'Blog' entitled 'New Free Fusion 360 Subscription Types' where a special offer, expiring end of October 2019, is posted.

I gave up trying to change my account, mainly due to the online advice that Dave has alluded to. Seems that I'm not the only one that has ended going round in circles. What's your secret Dave?

Steve.

I am not using Fusion (I want to, but need more memory and better graphics) but for your dual login problem cannot you use 'Remote Desktop'. Its not something I have done but have of a friend that seamlessly uses his PCB CAD machine from his lounge couch.

Ian P

My secret is persistent stupidity! I can't quite remember how I found my way through the maze and looking again now I'm a Hobby User the option seems to have disappeared! I think I logged into Autodesk Accounts by clicking my account name top right in F360 and was able to do it from there, possibly via 'Manage Products and Downloads'. I poked around the confusing advice without taking notes and suddenly spotted it. Once found it's easy.

Dave

Now why didn't I think of that! I'll give it a whirl. Ta

See the following support document on renewal as a hobbyist/non-commercial

**LINK**

Even if you have an existing account you still have to follow the 'See if I qualify' path.

Well, supposing that the 'next MEW' is issue 286, which arrived here today, I was searching back and forth for this announcement, but found nothing. Or can someone tell me what I missed?

Kind regards,
Hans

Hi Hans, think you missed the date of Neil's post, sept 2018.

Emgee

shame on me, but as the postings before are from Oct. 2019, it's perhaps excusable.

Kind regards,
Hans

Tested accessing Fusion 360 as Ian suggested using Remote Desktop. Seemed good at first, but it freezes after about 10 minutes. Not sure if this is a Fusion problem or an issue with my computers, local network and RDP. More testing needed.

What does work is signing-out of each and every session. I've found not signing out when using two computers also creates a more serious problem - misalignment between components stored on the server and those in the two different local caches, causing 'There's a later version...' warnings and inconsistencies. Might be a bug or because the Hobby Version of Fusion doesn't support multiple users.

None of this is serious: despite some initial confusion I was able to realign my computers without having a nervous breakdown. Apart from confusion due to using the product on two different computers, I haven't found any loss of functionality due to switching to the Hobby Licence.

Dave

Hi Neil,

I have read through No 287 looking for some news of a cad package (suspecting it to be Alibre) but other than there advert on page 58 I can see nothing about cad software? What am I missing?

Thanks Ian

Oh bugger just seen that Hans quoted an old post, sorry chaps, senior moment and all that.