FeatureCAM and PowerMill --- are they now part of Fusion only?

[SeymourDumore]

Just went to the FeatureCAM forum and saw that all posts and links to upgrades and the like are removed.
So, then went to the "Products" page, only to find FeatureCAM and Powermill being offered as "Fusion36 with FeatureCAM" and "Fusion36 with PowerMill"

Not that I'm interested in anything ADSK has to offer anymore, just curious if this is the method they choose to finally kill off both products.

 

[Freds]

Hi Seymour,

Essentially yes; in fact it has been this way for at least the last 1/1/2 - 2years (not sure about how long it has been this way with PowerMill). We still use Featurecam which is only available now as the premier version (all the bells and whistles). It is accompanied by a complete suite of tools for Swiss machines (forget the name of that program at the moment). They haven't added any features to Featurecam but were putting out bug fixes for a while.

Not actually offered by Autodesk directly, but available through John Kaney's organization located in Virginia (?). What is missing now are the free posts that used to be available; you have to pony up for mill-turn or more advanced machines. If you have older installs then you still have all the posts that were originally supplied.

And you get a copy of Fusion 360 - presumably to do the CAD work before importing into Featurecam.

Fred

 

[SeymourDumore]

Thanks Fred!

For the record, I am a FeatureCAM user since 2007, and was a happy paying "customer" 'till the end of 2020, at which point Autodesk forced me out of my maintenance contract.
Since then I am frozen with my FC2021 perpetual license, will be using it 'till I can't squeeze any more water out of it.

I am simply wondering because until recently FC was offered as a standalone product with prices clearly listed similar to other ADSK products.

So what you're saying is that FC is now a spinoff of a sort that's supported by a third party?

 

[gregormarwick]

Nothing has really changed except the product names and the ability to buy cut down levels of Featurecam.

Previously Featurecam was the product, with the standard, premium, ultimate tiers, and they bundled in F360 whether you wanted it or not. Now the product is "Fusion360 with Featurecam", and there are no tiers - everything is included in the single product.

It's actually a better deal, as the older Featurecam ultimate was ~2k/year more than it is now. NOTE that this is not any kind of defence of autodesk, I still hate them to my core, just a statement of fact.

 

[Dan B]

With regard to PowerMill it is now Fusion 360 with PowerMill Standard, or Fusion 360 with PowerMill Ultimate (ultimate having simultaneous 5-axis toolpaths). There is no actual link between Fusion and PowerMill. They are two separate programs that don't seem to "talk" to each other, as far as we can tell.

 

[Freds]

Seymour,

Just to fill in a few blanks....as Gregor said, it is 'Ultimate' version that is now the only one available (not Premium). Autodesk uses Automated Solutions Inc. (ASI) headquartered in Waynesboro, VA as the central source to obtain the software and all support. The Swiss programming software is Partmaker. ASI also functions as a Fusion reseller, though I think they derive most of their revenue from providing post processor development services to the Fusion crowd.

Although we've moved over to Fusion for all our new work, we have years of Solidworks design files. So we keep one seat of Featurecam up on subscription and our main programmer uses it every day. As Gregor said, it costs less now for all the software in the 'Fusion 360 plus Fearturecam' package than what is used to cost just for maintenance for Featurecam...but we ain't gonna fight it. :-)

Fred

 

[SeymourDumore]

Thanks Guys!

 

[5 axis Fidia guy]

As a Powermill user for the last 28 years or so ago, I recently had a conversation with an upper head honcho at Autodesk and he assured me that Powermill is going nowhere, and will be here to stay. I still miss the Delcam days however in the worst way.

 

[cj.abraham]

You get access to those products by being a Fusion 360 subscriber.

On a totally unrelated note, ADSK at $195.84

 

[Dan B]

You get access to those products by being a Fusion 360 subscriber.

If you pay a lot more money.

 

[SeymourDumore]

had a conversation with an upper head honcho at Autodesk and he assured me that Powermill is going nowhere

Fidia, you do realize the ambiguity of that statement right?
More ways than one even!

 

[5 axis Fidia guy]

Fidia, you do realize the ambiguity of that statement right?
More ways than one even!

Meaning here to stay, his exact words were, "Powermill is one of those at the very top of the list of best software and it takes very little to keep it there, so why kill it off?" For those that giggle at that, clearly never used Powermill or are not very good at it if they did.

 

[SeymourDumore]

For those that giggle at that, clearly never used Powermill or are not very good at it if they did.

Fidia, the giggle is not directed at Powermill.
The giggle is directed at those who still believe ANYTHING an Autodesk executive says!
Rest assured, if it is so decided by the suits of ADSK, Powermill - as powerful and mighty as it may be - will join perhaps hundreds of other software packages in the ADSK graveyard.

 

[5 axis Fidia guy]

Fidia, the giggle is not directed at Powermill.
The giggle is directed at those who still believe ANYTHING an Autodesk executive says!
Rest assured, if it is so decided by the suits of ADSK, Powermill - as powerful and mighty as it may be - will join perhaps hundreds of other software packages in the ADSK graveyard.

I guess it's a good thing I see retirement on the horizon.