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Going from Rhino to fusion 360 Might try Rhinocam

Adam Daake

Aluminum
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Location
Nebraska
I am get a Fadal 4020 delivered in less than a month. I thought I would try Fusion 360 because of the low cost. A Part that takes 20 min to draw in Rhino 4hrs in fusion. What with the automatic dimension when drawing a 2d to extrude I don't need the fricking dimension i just drew it and no layers you can turn on and off. I am really fed up I am thinking about trying Rhinocam.
 
A Part that takes 20 min to draw in Rhino takes 4hrs in fusion!
What is with the "automatic dimension"?
When drawing 2d to extrude a feature, I don't need the fricking dimension! I just drew it! To the size I wanted!
And, no layers you can turn on and off!
I am really fed up!!!

There, I've fixed your question for ya'!

With that said, Welcome to the parametric world!!!
SW, IV, Catia, ProE, UG .......
 
I am get a Fadal 4020 delivered in less than a month. I thought I would try Fusion 360 because of the low cost. A Part that takes 20 min to draw in Rhino 4hrs in fusion. What with the automatic dimension when drawing a 2d to extrude I don't need the fricking dimension i just drew it and no layers you can turn on and off. I am really fed up I am thinking about trying Rhinocam.

well it would take me 4 hours in Rhino and 20 min in SW and maybe 1 hr in Fusion 360.

like anything the more you use the better and faster you get.

now where the power comes in is when you need to change the part, all you have to do is change the dims and if you dimension the part the way you want it to change you may only have to modify one dim and the whole part up dates and the CAM too!!

wont get that with Rhino

and what Seymour said :D
 
RhinoCAM has come a long way the last few years. I've been watching it, and doing demos since it came out. But I didn't consider it mature enough until 2017. It does a nice job. But to be 100% up-front, WorkNC is our main CAM software that we use for all of our 5-axis machines. RhinoCAM handles the simpler 3-axis work for us.

Dan
 
Thank for the rhinocam review I am go to wait till I get my vmc setup and running then try the free trial and go from there.
 
Adam,

what at type of work are you going to be doing? Hobby, contract or your own product?

that is what really determines your choice of what would be your best solution in the software choice.
 
I can tell you that I used RhinoCam for many years cutting molds in the jewelry industry and was very impressed with it. I would buy over again.
 
I have been using rhino 3d for 10 years mostly for hobby use but just downloaded fusion because I want to try the high speed tool paths. I can already tell that I am really going to miss Rhino's command line interface. As far as I can tell in fusion there is no way to specify the exact center of a circle before it is actually created. In Rhino I can type cir then the center point coordinates then the radius or diameter and I have a circle EXACTLY where I want it.
 
In Rhino I can type cir then the center point coordinates then the radius or diameter and I have a circle EXACTLY where I want it.

Yeah well, the "command line" interface as originally developed by Autodesk has been THE most useful and practical ever made.
It was adapted, loved and copied by just about everyone from the 80-s, thorough the 90-s until sometime mid 2000's... ( see where I'm going with this?)

And then the real Millennials came to age and started to more and more dominate the UI world, not only in CAD, but everywhere else.
So now we're stuck with the Googles and Bookfaces dictating how the user should see an application. Ribbon and Win10 Metro anyone?

Interesting tidbit, while all other ADSK products are now strictly Ribbon only, in AutoCAD they still couldn't completely shed the o'l school menus and the command line.
 
amishmafia,

I'm certain I'm not the only person to ever say this, but... "The best CAM program is the one you know". Same goes for CAD.

Yes, if you're in the habit of entering circle center *first* to position a circle, then Fusion will feel clumsy. But just like any other program that is new to any of us -- there is never an overnight adaptation.

I dove into Fusion 360 a few years ago when I "semi-retired" and had time, so I just forced myself to use it, and nothing else. The sketch-based, parametric modeling felt incredibly confining at first (I came from a CAD program that I had used for over 20 years), but now I can design parts/assemblies and generate code in Fusion very quickly... as fast or faster than I've been able to in any other program. Is that because Fusion 360 is better? Not at all. I've just become fairly decent at the parts of it that I use.

I do like their business model though: very inexpensive, constant improvements, and great file translation (because all the translators are very up-to-date and run in their cloud). Additionally, because it's free to use for most hobbyists, the quantity of people contributing "how-to" videos is almost endless. Autodesk has, IMO, done something a bit unique in that they have "enabled" thousands of users to become "tech support contributors". Struggling to do something in Fusion? An answer (or 20 answers) can probably be found on YouTube with a 15-second search. Need a fast answer on how to do something in NX, or Catia?... good luck.

The above is not a sales pitch, it's simply why *I* dumped everything else and started using Fusion. Comfortable with Rhino (or some other program), and don't want to learn something different? Stay with what works -- that's never a bad choice, and keeps you up and running *now*.

Oh.. and fwiw: Fusion 360 now finally has "user configurable shortcut keys", which is really nice.

:)
PM
 
I am using both Solidworks and Rhino (have been for over 20 years now). Both are good programs and it takes me about the same amount of time to make similar part in both - though Rhino is not that easy for mechanical assemblies and for generating drawings, BOMs etc.
Rhinocam is VisualCADCAM. It is available as plugin for SW as well. It is a nice program for up to 4 axis CNC.
 
I did the transition to parametric about 10 years ago. It was certainly jarring at first, but ultimately only took a couple of days to become comfortable with it.

It did not take me long to realise that I would never go back.
 
I definately see the advatages to the parametric side, especially for doing assemblies like mentioned. I really don't do much of that at this point. For me It just seems so strange to have to throw shapes into space randomly then come back and define them. I watched quite a few more videos since my original post. I guess I kind of feel like there should be an option for the user to define the location of shapes, objects etc. I saw in some videos that you are sometimes able to right click to bring up options. What if they made it so you could right click to enter actual coordinates of origin and corner or center and radius etc. If I draw a circle and have to come back to define it's actual dimension later why can't I do it Initially? If I define it initially I don't have to change the values when I dimension it, unless I want to change something. I feel like to run fusion well I would have to learn to use a left hand mouse so i don't have to be constantly switching from the mouse to the number pad.

I plan to force myself to learn fusion because I too like their business model, Especially once I learned about their free subscriptions for hobbyists and startups. For anything other than the most basic cad/cam it seems like you would almost have to be crazy not to try it. To get software to do 4 axis and high speed tool paths in any other software is like 5-10,000. Definitely out of my price range
 
I definately see the advatages to the parametric side, especially for doing assemblies like mentioned. I really don't do much of that at this point. For me It just seems so strange to have to throw shapes into space randomly then come back and define them. I watched quite a few more videos since my original post. I guess I kind of feel like there should be an option for the user to define the location of shapes, objects etc. I saw in some videos that you are sometimes able to right click to bring up options. What if they made it so you could right click to enter actual coordinates of origin and corner or center and radius etc. If I draw a circle and have to come back to define it's actual dimension later why can't I do it Initially? If I define it initially I don't have to change the values when I dimension it, unless I want to change something. I feel like to run fusion well I would have to learn to use a left hand mouse so i don't have to be constantly switching from the mouse to the number pad.

I plan to force myself to learn fusion because I too like their business model, Especially once I learned about their free subscriptions for hobbyists and startups. For anything other than the most basic cad/cam it seems like you would almost have to be crazy not to try it. To get software to do 4 axis and high speed tool paths in any other software is like 5-10,000. Definitely out of my price range
 








 
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