What's new
What's new

Featurecam 2021 now out, and bad news for Fusion 360 users.

g-coder05

Titanium
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Location
Subic Bay
Just got my yearly "Hey pay your Featurecam Maintenance" letter. Yeah, right. I clicked the what's new link and wow,,,What you get for $3,500!!


Simulation
You now have additional control when running a centerline simulation at slow speed. You can use the Stop button or the Escape key to stop the simulation in the middle of a tool-move. You can also use the view controls to rotate or zoom during the tool-move. Additionally, you can use other controls to pause, step forward or backward, or resume with playing the simulation. FCAM-4678

That's it! and those dirty FKS took the Partmaker module back out! Quite possibly the best Swiss Cam ever made and its gone...Unless Generic Default corners the market with his SwissMak Cam:bowdown:


I kept clicking on the news section and Fusion users are gonna get a real eye opener for 2021. They are incorporating Featurecam into Fusion 360. So much for that free to $500 a year. Now the maintenance alone will run $3,500 or more.


Autodesk’s repackaging for Fusion 360 and FeatureCAM software announcement brings new means of agile and collaborative work to manufacturing.[h=2]Autodesk has introduced the new package of Fusion 360 & FeatureCAM software[/h]With Autodesk’s ongoing commitment and investment to advanced manufacturing, they are integrating strategic, next generation workflows that are unmatched in the industry.
They have recently announced that they will be repackaging FeatureCAM under the Fusion 360 brand. For years, Fusion 360 has provided its users with the access to their data in a connected, flexible, and seamless way. While FeatureCAM software has empowered engineers to reduce programming time and increase consistency for a range of CNC applications.
This new packaging positions you to work in new ways so you can begin to take advantage of the next generation workflows available in Fusion 360 with FeatureCAM.
[h=3]Why is this change important?[/h]The fact that the infrastructure for Fusion 360 is recent, allows Autodesk to manipulate and customize the software in a form that may not be possible in some of their more mature products.
The original idea behind Fusion 360 was to combine all the lessons Autodesk had learned from their flagship product, Autodesk Inventor. Autodesk addressed those challenges and capitalized on the ongoing merging between the design and manufacturing world.
In other words, they have created Fusion 360 with the end task in mind—re-imagining the product development process and providing people with access to their data in a seamless way. With the combination of Fusion 360 and FeatureCAM, users can get much more benefits.
[h=3]What does this mean for FeatureCAM users?[/h]
  • Customers will now have access to broader tools across design and manufacturing
  • They’ll have access to technology that’s previously been delivered separately
  • Advancements in cloud computing will provide manufacturing a more collaborative approach
  • Customers can continue to access technology they are currently using today as well as take advantage of technology that can shape their work tomorrow
[h=3]In conclusion[/h]Change, regardless of what it is, can always be confusing and frustrating, that’s why we’re standing by ready to answer all of your questions. If you would like more information on what this means for your business, how this repackaging can benefit you, or pricing questions, feel free to reach out.
 
Just got my yearly "Hey pay your Featurecam Maintenance" letter. Yeah, right. I clicked the what's new link and wow,,,What you get for $3,500!!




That's it! and those dirty FKS took the Partmaker module back out! Quite possibly the best Swiss Cam ever made and its gone...Unless Generic Default corners the market with his SwissMak Cam:bowdown:


I kept clicking on the news section and Fusion users are gonna get a real eye opener for 2021. They are incorporating Featurecam into Fusion 360. So much for that free to $500 a year. Now the maintenance alone will run $3,500 or more.

no mention of the fee going up yet, wonder what/when that'll be...
 
Are you stepping away? I am. I'm done. I refuse to do business with those unscrupulous ass holes.

I've been done with them since 2014 when they changed the UI. I could have handled a gradual change maybe over a few years but that was so drastic I felt like I was re-learning the software. My client in Zhongshan has around 30 or 40 seats of various Delcam/Autodesk products so I do get to tinker with the new stuff when they upgrade but they cancelled all AD at the beginning of the year in favor of NX and Esprit.

You would think they would get the picture that I don't plan on adding maintenance. They offered me some "Special" deal if I would pay the back maintenance to catch up but I keep telling them the UI sucks and there's been no new features in the last 5 years. Heck, they even took the peck turning feature out. That was great for turning copper....

I'm just curious to see how bad they are going to shaft the Fusion users. I mean, AD bought them for $286 Million so I'm quite sure they won't just say "Ah, It's free with your Fusion subscription".
 
From my own interactions with some people representing AD at some level on the FC forum, you've got this backwards.

"Fusion 360 with Featurecam" is just what they're calling FC now, because they've bundled in Fusion, and they want to condition everyone into the mindset that Fusion is the product, and FC is just tagging along.

I fully expect that they will pull a bait and switch on Fusion users, but FC will be a casualty not a forerunner, and whether they jack the price of F360 up to FC levels remains to be seen - I kind of doubt it tbh, they will probably just move more of FC functionality over to additional subscription services beyond the base F360 subscription, when they finally retire FC.

A few corrections also; Partmaker 2021 is still there bundled with the default install, they haven't removed it again, and FC never had a peck turning feature - maybe you were using some UDF addon or something?

I am still with FC - as much as I would like to take Wheelie's stance and say fuck you to AD, I eventually came to the realisation that sometimes you just have to accept that you are being fucked over and move on. I would love to switch, but the reality is that I have too much legacy data in FC, and can't afford the downtime to switch to something new right now. Obviously at some point in the next few years they're going to force my hand when they deprecate FC altogether, but how they handle that remains to be seen...
 
F360 has been included in the FeatureCam subscription for a while now, so i don't know what the change is.
I don't see how FeatureCam can be merged into F360, the methodology for programming is completely different (Feature based vs Model based). I do one offs and repairs, I defiantly don't want to be fucking around drawing a model so i can program my parts.
 
F360 has been included in the FeatureCam subscription for a while now, so i don't know what the change is.
I don't see how FeatureCam can be merged into F360, the methodology for programming is completely different (Feature based vs Model based). I do one offs and repairs, I defiantly don't want to be fucking around drawing a model so i can program my parts.

There is no change:

"Fusion 360 with Featurecam" is just what they're calling FC now, because they've bundled in Fusion, and they want to condition everyone into the mindset that Fusion is the product, and FC is just tagging along.
 
A few corrections also; Partmaker 2021 is still there bundled with the default install, they haven't removed it again, and FC never had a peck turning feature - maybe you were using some UDF addon or something?

I didn't see the PartMaker in the file but maybe I really wasnt looking for it. As for the peck turn, I don't recall it being a UDF. I'm thinking it was 2010-2012 version in the Beta window (Pointer at lower right hand with a shift and left click). Absolutely brilliant feature, used a regular turn cycle then gave a tick box and you add distance to turn and retract amount to break the chip and it would back off at a 45 deg angle a set distance and drift back in.

Im sticking with FC also just on an older version. As much as I dislike Glenn and Christian, at least when they were et EGS and Delcam things got improved on.
 
I fully expect that they will pull a bait and switch on Fusion users, but FC will be a casualty not a forerunner, and whether they jack the price of F360 up to FC levels remains to be seen - I kind of doubt it tbh, they will probably just move more of FC functionality over to additional subscription services beyond the base F360 subscription, when they finally retire FC.



Yeah, that is exactly what I'm thinking as well.
If you read a recent thread on the FC forum about the New and Improved ( NOT ) version, you'll see that their answer for charging us the maintenance fee is to
show off all the wonderful things they're doing to Fusion.

Basically - for the time being - we, the idiot FeatureCAM holdouts are financing the Fusion development.
Once Fusion gets smarter and inherits most of FeatureCAM ( perhaps even Powermill ???) capability, FC will be buried, never to be heard from again.
And that is also going to be the time when current Fusion cheerleaders will get the invitation for a "Come to Jesus" meeting.
 
If you're talking about this thread, I am user gregorANU4T (automatically generated name) who was posting.

Wow! It took the App engineers less time to go off topic in that post than we do here on PM! What the FK, talk about a push for Fusion!!! All that talk about them (AD) building post all the time. Pfft, I'll take XBuild in Featurecam anyday verses letting one of those monkeys try to figure out what I WANT!
 
Wow! It took the App engineers less time to go off topic in that post than we do here on PM! What the FK, talk about a push for Fusion!!! All that talk about them (AD) building post all the time. Pfft, I'll take XBuild in Featurecam anyday verses letting one of those monkeys try to figure out what I WANT!

G-coder, was that you in the last post? Kinda sounded like it....:D

That's what I hate about "sponsored" forums. It's just a way for them to sell their serpent lube. MSC has a similar one and it's a train wreck.

P.S. Now I know why AD wanted me to try Fusion instead of FC. They knew it was gonna get the axe a year ago, but nope, not a peep about it......:nono:
 
If you're talking about this thread, I am user gregorANU4T (automatically generated name) who was posting.

From that thread:

"That is what Fusion is becoming. We are adding FeatureCAM automation, PowerMill high quality toolpaths, PartMaker advance turning, Powershape design functions, Nesting capabilities (that were also requested quite a few times in FeatureCAM) to get the best of all worlds inside of a single solution so that you don't have to worry about using multiple products to be successful in every department of your shop."

So they are trying to get to a point, many years from now, that already exists in NX & other solutions today; all while you fund it with your maintenance/subscription on existing products that are not getting new enhancements?
 
G-coder, was that you in the last post? Kinda sounded like it....:D

Yeppers, After I read that thread I had give them a wave. That dickheads response was even worse than his original "We are not trying to cram anything down anyone's throat". Why the hell did he bring up Fusion in a FC forum?!?!?
 
I would think that FeatureCAM maintenance is a drop in the bucket compared to the F360 subscription fees. If half the users are paid you're looking at what, like $1B just in the base subscription, not counting those who are paying more for the month to month toolpaths and things like generative design. That seems to be the way they are going - adding the higher end functionality on a month by month basis for an extra fee.

They got rid of the tiered base subscriptions in favor of micro transactions so why in the world would they all of a sudden one day decide they hate money and try to jack the base price of an "uberFusion?" I don't see it.
 
Not sure what you mean, but the annual maintenance cost on FeatureCAM is right around 2K ( give and take based on what level you have )

So, for my $2000 maintenance, I have the privilege to provide Fusion users with new FC capability.
 
I would think that FeatureCAM maintenance is a drop in the bucket compared to the F360 subscription fees. If half the users are paid you're looking at what, like $1B just in the base subscription, not counting those who are paying more for the month to month toolpaths and things like generative design. That seems to be the way they are going - adding the higher end functionality on a month by month basis for an extra fee.

They got rid of the tiered base subscriptions in favor of micro transactions so why in the world would they all of a sudden one day decide they hate money and try to jack the base price of an "uberFusion?" I don't see it.

They are definitely capitalizing on calendar now, rather than up-front purchase. It is a shitty business model for the end user!
Everything about it for a shop owner sucks! One of these jack-wad autodiks reps actually told me: "Subscription is great. Only pay when you need it."
My reply: "What kind of heavily complex milling biased CNC machine shop doesn't need their CAM every fucking day! Don't feed me your line of bullshit!".

FeatureCAM maint is a drop in the bucket, if you disregard the entry fee. Some of us paid that fucking fee planning on the long game.
The long game is long gone! Fuck you autodiks :mad5:
 








 
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